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A leaked letter Derek Beaumont has sent to Championship and League 1 clubs


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The point is, how many spectators could Oldham entertain under predicted social distancing rules if they were allowed back? Don't forget that the over 70's and those with vulnerable people within their household might not venture out. I am in that group and for me live streaming would be a godsend, especially as we would be able to watch our clubs' away games without travelling.

This could also set a marker for when the Sky contract ends, live streaming of away games on a pay per view basis could bring in more income for the host club than away fans coming through the turnstile, especially at far away venues like London & Toulouse? If we are to invite more foreign clubs into our competitions the fans who cannot afford to travel should not be denied the right to watch live games on TV or streamed. It would also mean you wouldn't miss games when away on holiday. Fans should always come first! 

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As much as i dislike Beaumont, he makes some very pertinent and well thought out points here. Yes there are still some question marks remaining, particularly surrounding Toulouse, London (are they expected to travel to Yorks/Lancs every game) and his letter seems very much focused on Championship clubs but not League 1.............when actually a greater proportion of clubs in League 1 were keen to resume the season but I agree there should be a desire for all parties to try and resume

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. The real point is that he makes sense (again) and he is putting the sport and fans as the main priority. Why should football or Super League for that matter be any different ?  We have the technology, we have the infrastructure and with the correct planning, we could still watch RL in some capacity whether you are old or young and whether you want to watch live or not. 

Playing Rugby is a job, and Furlough is simply doing peoples heads in. Why are Rugby players be any different ? They want to go back to work. I'd be depressed if one League could go back to work yet Id be told to 'stay put'.

He has hopefully given Elstone and his cronies food for thought because there is more to RL than just SL. He has given a balanced view on how the season can progress and true fans and Chairmen of Championship and C1 clubs can only support his view ?

The stadiums in Lancashire and Yorkshire I would ponder would be the Reebock in Bolton and Huddersfield. Plenty of room for self distancing, good motorway links and football in them divisions will be binned anyway. Why would it have to be an existing Rugby ground ??

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3rd sentence tells you everything about the premise on which this idea is based. "This is an opportune time when many sports are not functioning to gain great exposure to not only rugby league but to Championship Rugby League." As if RL will get the go ahead and no other sports will.

Also he (conveniently) forgets to mention the cost of testing, isolation between testing and playing a match. As much cloud cuckoo land as some of the stuff posted on here

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24 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

3rd sentence tells you everything about the premise on which this idea is based. "This is an opportune time when many sports are not functioning to gain great exposure to not only rugby league but to Championship Rugby League." As if RL will get the go ahead and no other sports will.

Also he (conveniently) forgets to mention the cost of testing, isolation between testing and playing a match. As much cloud cuckoo land as some of the stuff posted on here

Latest news Super League may restart in August,although it wasn't delivered by a Cuckoo

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1 hour ago, sentoffagain2 said:

Latest news Super League may restart in August,although it wasn't delivered by a Cuckoo

May being the operative word. It's not up to either SL or the RFL when they start, it's entirely down to the Government. The articles make it clear that it is a 'wish' but folk read them and take them as gospel. There's a blooming long way to go on anything getting going again - look at the return of schools as to how clear advice and actual knowledge about the disease actually is. (Very) Close contact sports are probably going to be amongst the last things to get going. And about the cost of actually playing, who's paying for that? For testing alone you can gauge the likely costs from these facts: 25000 tests for Bundesliga clubs will cost £2.2m and for 10 games of soccer the cost to Stevenage was going to be £140k. Add in the cost of accommodation - players will need to isolate between testing negative and playing, (or do you test their whole family and make them all isolate at home?) - the fact that furlough will end as soon as players return to training.....

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4 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

He has given a balanced view on how the season can progress and true fans and Chairmen of Championship and C1 clubs can only support his view ?

I'm not entirely sure that remotely follows... Yes it's a (reasonably) balanced view on how the season *could* progress, but that doesn't mean that "true fans" (I love "true fans" because it's usually used to separate "those who agree with me" from "those who disagree with me") or indeed anyone else needs to row in behind it.

Especially the Chairmen, all of whom will know exactly how much money their club has got (which, let's be honest, is usually how much money they personally want to spend - with their directors), and exactly how practicable it is for their iown club to do anything.

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I haven’t read the article (apparently I don’t have permission) but I can guess the article was leaked by “Degsy” with the following points. 

- The Championship can’t be cancelled, without any proper proof as to why other than his self interest. 

- He conveniently proposes that all Championship and possibly League One games too all take place at one venue, which is convenient as he’s Leigh chairman and he has access to a venue that has numerous changing facilities. 

- He fails to raise any points about the financial cost of testing. 

 

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I can't read the article because it's behind the TRL paywall, but I read the piece in this week's League Express which I assume was the same or similar.

So far as I read in LE, he fails to address several fundamental points:

1. Will Sky give permission for games to be streamed? If not, then the idea is dead anyway

2. Has he got a better platform for streaming than Our League which I have constantly found to be unreliable. That's OK when it's free but there's no way I am paying for Our League until it is significantly upgraded

3. What happens to Toulouse and London?

4. Who is paying for all the testing kits and other expenses?

5. Assuming he would allow all season ticket holders to access the stream for free (or is he expecting them to pay a second time?) what makes him think that all of the non-season ticket holders would be willing to pay for the stream? Whilst it might be viable for a team like Leigh to sign up sufficient paying customers to make the streaming viable, are there really enough non ST holders from teams like Sheffield and Whitehaven to justify them bringing back players from furlough?

6. Would be still want to do all of this 'for the fans' if it was decided that there wasn't going to be any promotion this season? Or is this actually motivated by the opportunity to get into SL?

 

 

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He frankly is talking a load of ?.

He forgets to say about the cost of testing the players.

He forgets to say about the cost of hiring a venue.

He doesn’t say a thing about the lack of gate money.

And I think more importantly If a stadium did host 3 matches a day then surely after one team left and the other one uses the facilities then surely they would need a deep clean to remove any potential infection.And that takes time and costs money.

 I don’t think it is feasible to resume the season unfortunately.

The man is a fantasist.

The season should be canned.

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Unless the plan is to use Leigh then the cost of hiring a venue prohibits this happening before we have even got to the other points. There is no plan for Toulouse and I just can’t see the motivation for the part time clubs who would have to take players off furlough and I assume share in all the other costs, yet get nothing back except the chance to lose to the full time outfits. At least in the normal world they get to enjoy a bumper gate from the excellent followings that the likes of Leigh & Fev bring, something this pandemic has removed for the foreseeable future.

I do think Derek Beaumont should be commended for trying to come up with a solution, and I must say I do like the live streaming idea (I could watch Thunder from Canada), it’s just I don’t see any way the lower leagues can resume till next year.

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1 minute ago, Oldbear said:

Unless the plan is to use Leigh then the cost of hiring a venue prohibits this happening before we have even got to the other points. There is no plan for Toulouse and I just can’t see the motivation for the part time clubs who would have to take players off furlough and I assume share in all the other costs, yet get nothing back except the chance to lose to the full time outfits. At least in the normal world they get to enjoy a bumper gate from the excellent followings that the likes of Leigh & Fev bring, something this pandemic has removed for the foreseeable future.

I do think Derek Beaumont should be commended for trying to come up with a solution, and I must say I do like the live streaming idea (I could watch Thunder from Canada), it’s just I don’t see any way the lower leagues can resume till next year.

The LSV would also have to be hired.

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16 minutes ago, SL17 said:

The barriers are changing daily.

They really aren’t. This is a slow process of change with COVID infections still rife in this country; even worse overseas. We are not going back to normality anytime soon.

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10 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

They really aren’t. This is a slow process of change with COVID infections still rife in this country; even worse overseas. We are not going back to normality anytime soon.

 Have I missed where it was stated who was funding the testing of the players,staff and those allowed to enter the stadia? How much will it be costing? What happens if 1 player is tested positive - are all teammates and opposition players quarantined? Where are the protocols

that allow team training? How long will the players be training before playing the games?

     No reserves,but resilience,persistence and determination are omnipotent.                       

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7 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

The stadiums in Lancashire and Yorkshire I would ponder would be the Reebock in Bolton and Huddersfield. Plenty of room for self distancing, good motorway links and football in them divisions will be binned anyway. Why would it have to be an existing Rugby ground ??

Not if games are played behind closed doors, what would be more important would be the ability to play three games in succession while maintaining social distancing between the participants of the other games, so extra changing and shower facilities and somewhere to warm up would be more important. Batley, Keighley or Featherstone may be ok with cricket field and pavilions next door, and there must be similar options at some other grounds? If showers are not up to standard players could at least get changed in one facility then have their clothes and possessions transported to the stadium.

Once spectators are allowed, I would like to know whether standing or sitting 2 metres apart would be the safest option? I wouldn't like to be sitting in the middle of a row when someone wanted to pass me to go to the toilet!

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7 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

. The real point is that he makes sense (again) and he is putting the sport and fans as the main priority. Why should football or Super League for that matter be any different ?  We have the technology, we have the infrastructure and with the correct planning, we could still watch RL in some capacity whether you are old or young and whether you want to watch live or not. 

Playing Rugby is a job, and Furlough is simply doing peoples heads in. Why are Rugby players be any different ? They want to go back to work. I'd be depressed if one League could go back to work yet Id be told to 'stay put'.

He has hopefully given Elstone and his cronies food for thought because there is more to RL than just SL. He has given a balanced view on how the season can progress and true fans and Chairmen of Championship and C1 clubs can only support his view ?

The stadiums in Lancashire and Yorkshire I would ponder would be the Reebock in Bolton and Huddersfield. Plenty of room for self distancing, good motorway links and football in them divisions will be binned anyway. Why would it have to be an existing Rugby ground ??

Based on the comments from the 'other code' it will take at least 8 weeks for players to get back to playing condition taking us until August and guess what? That's the start of the football season. IF RL is allowed to be played soccer will definitely be too, so I think you'd find that football in those divisions will be far from 'binned'. 

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12 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

For those residing in cuckoo land, furlough will not be here in July and certainly not in August - so without furlough how will clubs pay contracts, PT players will be back on the day job also 

 

It's been extended until 31st October, do keep up https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-furlough-scheme-until-october 

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