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Craig Lingards Comments


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2 hours ago, redjonn said:

although saying "if you are safe from relegation what's the point of winning unless financially rewarded" doesn't say much for any of the public/fan base paying to watch a game.   

This entirely right.

(Before I go any further, I absolutely recognise that this is not unique to Rugby League but it does, for me, expose what is wrong with sport at its core today).

I agree with most of the post on Twitter. But...

Saying that winning a game is only relevant if you get financially rewarded is fundamentally wrong.  When did Rugby League clubs or players only start winning games when they were rewarded.  Of course I get that professional players need to earn a living and pro clubs need to generate revenue and remain financially viable, but that should not affect the desire to win any given game on any given day.

Fans are the heartbeat of all professional sport and they feel the joy of every win and the pain of every loss.  To say you are only motivated by the financial side just disenfranchises and disregardes those very people.

I'm not picking on one person but a coach is saying this on a public forum where the fans plug into the staff and players.  What message does it send to the fans.

It is the same mentality that led to a thread on here on 'whose season is already over' on the 14th of April.  If we played the game to enjoy it and feel the ride and passion for 80 minutes of one of the toughest sports on the planet, it shouldn't be over until the final hooter in the last game of the year.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Financial reward is a big thing, though. Say the difference between finishing inside the play-offs in the Championship is significantly more rewarding than finishing one position outside of the play-offs, relatively speaking, that’s possibly the difference between Player A getting a new contract or being on a scrapheap heading into uncharted waters for clubs outside the big league. 

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5 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Financial reward is a big thing, though. Say the difference between finishing inside the play-offs in the Championship is significantly more rewarding than finishing one position outside of the play-offs, relatively speaking, that’s possibly the difference between Player A getting a new contract or being on a scrapheap heading into uncharted waters for clubs outside the big league. 

yep get that but that's different than saying his comment in the article - yep we get win bonus or for finishing in a better position in a competition... what's the point in winning if not financially rewarded could be same for fans whom go to game to be entertained... what's the point in attending if no chance of being successful and especially if the team isn't going to try its hardest to win. Most of us should just stay at home most of the time...

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1 hour ago, redjonn said:

yep get that but that's different than saying his comment in the article - yep we get win bonus or for finishing in a better position in a competition... what's the point in winning if not financially rewarded could be same for fans whom go to game to be entertained... what's the point in attending if no chance of being successful and especially if the team isn't going to try its hardest to win. Most of us should just stay at home most of the time...

Most of the teams outside of Super League (and plenty in Super League) have no chance of being successful anyway. 

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3 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Financial reward is a big thing, though. Say the difference between finishing inside the play-offs in the Championship is significantly more rewarding than finishing one position outside of the play-offs, relatively speaking, that’s possibly the difference between Player A getting a new contract or being on a scrapheap heading into uncharted waters for clubs outside the big league. 

Leigh 2018 springs to mind 

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1 hour ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Most of the teams outside of Super League (and plenty in Super League) have no chance of being successful anyway. 

Different levels of success , once you achieve one , there is usually another a bit better/bigger/higher 

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5 hours ago, redjonn said:

although saying "if you are safe from relegation what's the point of winning unless financially rewarded" doesn't say much for any of the public/fan base paying to watch a game.   

NRL is well funded and popular, and it does not have relegation.   So that is a red herring.  But evrtything else said is fair points all round.  Enough SL clubs turned their back on investment moneys.

The TV deal is the least of our worries.

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Lingard asks what would we do if offered a 50% pay cut.  As a direct result of the consequences of the pandemic, I was offered not just a 50% pay cut but a sensational 100% one.  In other words, i was made redundant.

I am one of the lucky ones in such circumstances.  I did my job for the pleasure of it.  The pay for my part-time post very modestly augmented my works and state pensions.  However, i feel sorry for those who lost their jobs and have families to support, mortgages or rents to pay and so on.

Decades ago, when I dabbled in the dark side as a player at modest third or fourth team level, we played for fun.  No payments (well, not to us - we paid to play); no competition points.  Maybe, if you cannot see the point of playing any sporting fixture for the sake of winning that fixture itself - no more, no less - it's time to give up playing or coaching.

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10 hours ago, Dunbar said:

This entirely right.

(Before I go any further, I absolutely recognise that this is not unique to Rugby League but it does, for me, expose what is wrong with sport at its core today).

I agree with most of the post on Twitter. But...

Saying that winning a game is only relevant if you get financially rewarded is fundamentally wrong.  When did Rugby League clubs or players only start winning games when they were rewarded.  Of course I get that professional players need to earn a living and pro clubs need to generate revenue and remain financially viable, but that should not affect the desire to win any given game on any given day.

Fans are the heartbeat of all professional sport and they feel the joy of every win and the pain of every loss.  To say you are only motivated by the financial side just disenfranchises and disregardes those very people.

I'm not picking on one person but a coach is saying this on a public forum where the fans plug into the staff and players.  What message does it send to the fans.

It is the same mentality that led to a thread on here on 'whose season is already over' on the 14th of April.  If we played the game to enjoy it and feel the ride and passion for 80 minutes of one of the toughest sports on the planet, it shouldn't be over until the final hooter in the last game of the year.

This is probably why our form has dipped.

I like Craig as a player and coach but how can the players be motivated if he is of this opinion?

 

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I fear for Leigh next season. Not only have they had to try and find extra cash this season because of SL teams greed, they will likely drop in to the Championship with no money and team full of players that are out of contract and will sign for bottom SL clubs. As a club this could take them years to recover from.

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27 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Who is Craig Lingard?  

Batley Bulldogs coach

Two comprehensive defeats in the past two games suggests that this negativity is seeping through to the players.

I don't disagree with what he says, by the way

 

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19 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

There are mitigating circumstances , timing of a new TV deal combined with a global pandemic not seen for a century , then throw in the Toronto fiasco 

There certainly are some very heavy mitigating circumstances. Toronto isn't one of them as Leigh kindly stepped in. 

The TV deal has been slashed so had they started to talk about that and 2022 from the start of the season I would guess there would have been absolute mayhem. Letting clubs know how much each of their central distribution is going to be 2022 onwards when it's obvious there will be both  losers and bigger losers, and probably no winners was not something to do at the start of the season.

Why? Because if some clubs are very unhappy with what's planned for 2022 (which seems will be inevitable) would they have carried on in their current "business as usual" way? and happily continued playing? I have read about how the smaller TV deal may send some clubs to the wall - why push this now when the season is in full swing, and  providing SKY with their RL content is the most important thing

Not bringing forward what may be a massive argument......

 

 

 

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18 hours ago, Dunbar said:

This entirely right.

(Before I go any further, I absolutely recognise that this is not unique to Rugby League but it does, for me, expose what is wrong with sport at its core today).

I agree with most of the post on Twitter. But...

Saying that winning a game is only relevant if you get financially rewarded is fundamentally wrong.  When did Rugby League clubs or players only start winning games when they were rewarded.  Of course I get that professional players need to earn a living and pro clubs need to generate revenue and remain financially viable, but that should not affect the desire to win any given game on any given day.

Fans are the heartbeat of all professional sport and they feel the joy of every win and the pain of every loss.  To say you are only motivated by the financial side just disenfranchises and disregardes those very people.

I'm not picking on one person but a coach is saying this on a public forum where the fans plug into the staff and players.  What message does it send to the fans.

It is the same mentality that led to a thread on here on 'whose season is already over' on the 14th of April.  If we played the game to enjoy it and feel the ride and passion for 80 minutes of one of the toughest sports on the planet, it shouldn't be over until the final hooter in the last game of the year.

I think the point that is being (badly) made is that for the clubs, they're looking at the cost of getting through the season without being relegated and basing their season on that. 

If there is no return on investment for doing anything more than getting through the season and surviving, then there is no incentive for clubs and their owners to invest in players, coaches and facilities. 

As for the "passion and pain of every loss stuff", I think we're over that. We play too many games for fans to get too upset over one loss, or too overjoyed at a victory. 

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17 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Most of the teams outside of Super League (and plenty in Super League) have no chance of being successful anyway. 

That's an incredibly narrow definition of 'success'

When I was watching Oxford success could be measured in any or all of 'not finishing bottom of L1', 'beating a Northern team', 'not getting hammered' etc

(by that yardstick they were actually remarkably successful)

but I never thought they were going to get to SL. I'd have hoped, if they'd bedded down, they might have eventually had a tilt at the Championship. If they'd done that in 10 years that would have been successful.

For other teams it might be not yoyoing between L1 and the Championship, or cementing themselves as a top half Championship side, or stopping the rot in L1 after years of mismanagement etc.

I accept Oxford are a bad example as demonstrably they weren't successful...

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1 hour ago, paulwalker71 said:

Batley Bulldogs coach

Two comprehensive defeats in the past two games suggests that this negativity is seeping through to the players.

I don't disagree with what he says, by the way

 

That may be a tad harsh, even though they have now lost 3 on the bounce each defeat has been to teams that are higher in the league. Its no surprise Batley are having a slump as they have a tiny squad and have a large number of players with injuries. I guess though it could be said his comments are trying to deflect away from that form a little.

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55 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

I think the point that is being (badly) made is that for the clubs, they're looking at the cost of getting through the season without being relegated and basing their season on that. 

If there is no return on investment for doing anything more than getting through the season and surviving, then there is no incentive for clubs and their owners to invest in players, coaches and facilities. 

As for the "passion and pain of every loss stuff", I think we're over that. We play too many games for fans to get too upset over one loss, or too overjoyed at a victory. 

Again, without trying to get personal, these comments emphasise the deep seated problem we have at the heart of the game.

Of course professional clubs and professional players need to stay financially viable.  But this idea that there is no incentive to win games if you cannot win promotion or you have escaped relegation is just plain wrong.  You win the game because the game is there to be won and your fans want and expect you to see every game as one to win.

As for the joy of winning and the pain of losing.  Last year League 1 football clubs (to be clear, soccer, as there is a debate in another thread) played 46 games in the league plus additional games across several cup competitions.  I know people personally who cared about every single one of those results.  And continued to care when relegation was not a threat and the hope of promotion was lost for another year.

If we have talked ourselves, as a sport, into thinking that individual games don't matter then no wonder there is a malaise surrounding the sport that is clearly visible on these pages. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

I fear for Leigh next season. Not only have they had to try and find extra cash this season because of SL teams greed, they will likely drop in to the Championship with no money and team full of players that are out of contract and will sign for bottom SL clubs. As a club this could take them years to recover from.

Pretty much everyone will be in the same boat in the championship next year with regards to finances, i'm not overly worried about Leigh as 2019 showed even when recruiting a PT team from scratch we can pick up some handy players based on our above average crowds for the championship. We'll get picked off if we get relegated, but we should still be able to keep a chunk of the squad.

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19 hours ago, Dunbar said:

This entirely right.

(Before I go any further, I absolutely recognise that this is not unique to Rugby League but it does, for me, expose what is wrong with sport at its core today).

I agree with most of the post on Twitter. But...

Saying that winning a game is only relevant if you get financially rewarded is fundamentally wrong.  When did Rugby League clubs or players only start winning games when they were rewarded.

Early 20th century, I would think, though late 19th wouldn't be unreasonable. 

The idea of 'winning' pay and 'losing' pay is an old and well established one in our game. 

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The game has always been about winning money for player's, playing for the love of the game is fanciful in a professional environment, that's why player's would tolerate imports from Union or abroad recieving more money than them, because they could help them earn winning money.

We criticise clubs for their lack of forward thinking yet how can we expect it when they don't know what they are currently playing for or with in the future, just playing a game and expecting a substantial crowd to turn up is long gone, people have many more options open to them than to stroll down to the local club and watch them get hammered every other week.

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