Could the Super League and Championship be reinstated on the NRL model?

[Manfred Mann]

The NRL is planning to play on as long as possible (i.e. until the time a player gets infected) by playing without spectators, and probably by relocating all teams soon to a remote town in western Queensland.  So long as the competition continues, the NRL and the clubs can continue to receive the money from the television contracts, and the players can be paid. We don't know how viable this will be, but that is the plan.

Could this plan be replicated in Super League, and perhaps the Championship?  It would mean finding a remote town, with no current Covid-19 cases, and with enough accommodation for 12 teams if it was only the Super League involved. And it would require Catalans and Toronto teams and coaches and support staff to be admitted to the UK, to stay for the duration of the competition.

Is that plan viable? If not, many British rugby league clubs are going to collapse very soon. 

[Number 16]

Is it silly season already?

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

The NRL is planning to play on as long as possible (i.e. until the time a player gets infected) by playing without spectators, and probably by relocating all teams soon to a remote town in western Queensland.  So long as the competition continues, the NRL and the clubs can continue to receive the money from the television contracts, and the players can be paid. We don't know how viable this will be, but that is the plan.

Could this plan be replicated in Super League, and perhaps the Championship?  It would mean finding a remote town, with no current Covid-19 cases, and with enough accommodation for 12 teams if it was only the Super League involved. And it would require Catalans and Toronto teams and coaches and support staff to be admitted to the UK, to stay for the duration of the competition.

Is that plan viable? If not, many British rugby league clubs are going to collapse very soon. 

Or how about they comply with what everyone else in the country is doing, to help reduce the spread of this dreadful virus. 

[Hela Wigmen]

The NRL season is suspended. 

[Man of Kent]

I wonder if the RFL & BBC might be looking  at televised behind closed doors Challenge Cup games?

The sixth round draw almost seems designed for that, with little travel required for each tie.

[Hela Wigmen]

13 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

I wonder if the RFL & BBC might be looking  at televised behind closed doors Challenge Cup games?

The sixth round draw almost seems designed for that, with little travel required for each tie.

Yeah, let’s drag the medical professionals away from their jobs to sit and watch Wakefield v Featherstone, that’s a good idea. 

[Man of Kent]

23 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Yeah, let’s drag the medical professionals away from their jobs to sit and watch Wakefield v Featherstone, that’s a good idea. 

Wasn’t aware they worked 24/7...

[barnyia]

The teams aren't training together, how would the catalans get to widnes? I know the catalans are all confined at home and training on their own in the house/garden. 

[Hammerless Nail]

Instead, how about gathering all twelve Super League coaches (well, eleven coaches and some random bloke from Hull) together in a carefully cleaned and sanitised oxygen tent and have them fulfill fixtures by playing Subbuteo table rugby? It's bound to be popular with those Brits who hanker for a nostalgic return to a rosy past of Blitz spirit and independence, because it'll be just like bringing back Fred Truman's Indoor League.

Obviously, it won't be entirely realistic, because I doubt there will be a way of making the Liam Marshall figure flap its arms around after it's played the ball like a wounded pigeon trying to take off, or to have the Sam Tomkins figure constantly moaning to the referee, but it's got to be more realistic than finding a town with a stadium and without any cases of Covid-19 and then shipping a load of potentially infected people in.

[Rupert Prince]

4 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Wasn’t aware they worked 24/7...

Well occasionally they sleep and eat, if they can find the food.

The death toll is likely to keep rising and the burden on the NHS (And on the rest of us) is going to rise as well.

What is happening in Italy is incredible. It's no use 2nd guessing because no one knows.  Except it's going to get worse before better.  Right at the outset, after his first announcement Boris pointed out that many of our loved ones are going to die. We have to bare what is happening.

[Rupert Prince]

3 hours ago, Hammerless Nail said:

Instead, how about gathering all twelve Super League coaches (well, eleven coaches and some random bloke from Hull) together in a carefully cleaned and sanitised oxygen tent and have them fulfill fixtures by playing Subbuteo table rugby? It's bound to be popular with those Brits who hanker for a nostalgic return to a rosy past of Blitz spirit and independence, because it'll be just like bringing back Fred Truman's Indoor League.

Obviously, it won't be entirely realistic, because I doubt there will be a way of making the Liam Marshall figure flap its arms around after it's played the ball like a wounded pigeon trying to take off, or to have the Sam Tomkins figure constantly moaning to the referee, but it's got to be more realistic than finding a town with a stadium and without any cases of Covid-19 and then shipping a load of potentially infected people in.

Why not choose a few other people you are gratuitously bigoted over for good measure. Perhaps we could all join in with that game.  

[paulwalker71]

5 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

I wonder if the RFL & BBC might be looking  at televised behind closed doors Challenge Cup games?

The sixth round draw almost seems designed for that, with little travel required for each tie.

Was that meant as a joke?

The Government is rushing through legislation today to give them powers to force people to stay at home. We are likely to be entering total lockdown in the next couple of days. Expect to see that enforced by the police and army.

Anyone who thinks that it would somehow be acceptable for 34 sweaty blokes to grapple with each for 80 minutes is living in fantasy land. I know referees like to keep teams 10 metres apart at the play-the-ball, but it's pretty difficult to play a RL game whilst keeping 2 metres distance for the whole game!

It's not happening...

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 hour ago, paulwalker71 said:

Was that meant as a joke?

The Government is rushing through legislation today to give them powers to force people to stay at home. We are likely to be entering total lockdown in the next couple of days. Expect to see that enforced by the police and army.

Anyone who thinks that it would somehow be acceptable for 34 sweaty blokes to grapple with each for 80 minutes is living in fantasy land. I know referees like to keep teams 10 metres apart at the play-the-ball, but it's pretty difficult to play a RL game whilst keeping 2 metres distance for the whole game!

It's not happening...

As well as some on here I'm wondering whether some of the clubs' chairmen spouting about finishing the season and relegation exemption are watching the same news bulletins or even living on the same world as me?

[Man of Kent]

2 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

Was that meant as a joke?

The Government is rushing through legislation today to give them powers to force people to stay at home. We are likely to be entering total lockdown in the next couple of days. Expect to see that enforced by the police and army.

Anyone who thinks that it would somehow be acceptable for 34 sweaty blokes to grapple with each for 80 minutes is living in fantasy land. I know referees like to keep teams 10 metres apart at the play-the-ball, but it's pretty difficult to play a RL game whilst keeping 2 metres distance for the whole game!

It's not happening...

Easy, fella. Nobody is suggesting this would be any time soon!

It’ll restart eventually and perhaps behind closed doors first. And as cup crowds are generally quite poor, perhaps they will resume British RL with the Sixth Round?

[Manfred Mann]

16 hours ago, Number 16 said:

Is it silly season already?

 

Not according to Michael Carter:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/22/coronavirus-leaves-super-league-facing-13-team-season-next-year

[TIWIT]

7 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

As well as some on here I'm wondering whether some of the clubs' chairmen spouting about finishing the season and relegation exemption are watching the same news bulletins or even living on the same world as me?

SL owners have always lived in world of their own.

[Oldbear]

I see what MoK is saying, when things do start up again, it’s unlikely to go from lockdown to total freedom, it will be a bit at a time, and the chances are the first games may have to be played behind closed doors so why not get the cup out of the way first?