There's something a bit different about Rugby League World

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

Looking back on the Championship and League One games I've attended this season (after the RFL's crackdown on photography, only the amateurs really interest me these days), it would have been difficult to miss the programme sellers:

Batley (24pp, £2, on sale outside the main turnstiles);

Dewsbury (24pp plus teamsheet, £2.50, on sale from a kiosk outside the main stand);

Hunslet (16pp, £2, on sale outside the main turnstiles);

Sheffield (40pp, £2.50, on sale between the turnstiles and the 'stadium');

Whitehaven (28pp, £2.50, on sale between the main turnstiles and the Kells End and Pop Side);

York (16pp or 24pp, £2, on sale at the main entrance).

Ok that's great. I'm not looking to have an argument about it.

[M j M]

So there's enough of them still about to generate an article?  

[John Drake]

9 minutes ago, M j M said:

So there's enough of them still about to generate an article?  

Well, you never know. Watch this space...

[bobbruce]

On 7/30/2018 at 11:48 PM, John Drake said:

You can't really go wrong with Offiah and Hanley. Genuine sporting superstars that members of the general public would easily have recognised back then.

If you had to reshoot that cover now, who would you pick to go on it?

Russell Crow and Shaun Edwards. 

[Lapsed Leeds Fan]

Bought my first issue of Rugby League World in a long time a couple of weeks ago and it led me here. I used to browse this forum a lot a few years ago so I thought I would register and give you my thoughts on the latest issue.

Firstly, I got my copy at the Channel Tunnel so that’s a big plus for your distribution team. It was the last copy as well so it looks like you have a decent readership at Folkestone .

Overall I’m really impressed with the mag and having read Open Rugby / RLW off and on since the 80s it’s now returning to the quality which makes me want to buy every copy. One thing which doesn’t seem to have been mentioned much on this thread is the price. I think £3.99 for this amount of reading is a real bargain, especially when compared to some other sports mags which are at least a fiver for far less content.

I really liked the articles on Carlisle and Doncaster, and the ‘where are they now’ features are always a good idea. I also like the teams of the month but probably for a different reason to many others. I like to see the shirts which teams are wearing, particularly in the lower divisions. As someone who has not kept up with the game as much in the last few years it’s great that I can now see the lower division kits. For this reason one suggestion would be to increase the size of the pictures of each individual player? I appreciate 13 pictures on an A4 page is never going to be easy, but it’s just a suggestion. 

One regular article which I think would always be interesting is something on tactics. It could be written by a current coach of a team at any level and would simply describe a current tactic they use and why. I remember there used to be some really interesting threads on this forum about why teams employ certain tactics and a quick column on this every month would keep casual readers in the loop. It could also explain terms like ‘the wrestle’ and ‘winning the collision’ in jargon-free, cliché-free language. These are things which many RL fans take for granted but you only need to have a period away from watching the game to realise that things move on all the time. It might also be good evidence to show other sports fans who think RL is nothing more than 13 people running into each other.

My only other suggestion would be to try and have some better quality photographs rather than relying on ones obviously taken from picture libraries or submitted by the subject of the article themselves (see the international section for loads of examples of this). However, having read this thread I appreciate that photographers are expensive and if it’s a toss-up between keeping the cover price down and better photographs I appreciate that you would probably want to go with the first option.