Sat 21-Sun 22 Aug: The Betfred League 1 Match Thread

[DavidM]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

Great result for Donny it is still up for grabs. Great boost ahead of Workington at home next week.

Next week will decide the title I’d reckon 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Cripes - seven tries to three! Cru really looking the business (hope I haven't put the hex on them for posting that). Rochdale next Saturday (please note) which could be a bit tougher than it looks. Any Rochdale supporters coming down need to remember that we're playing at a popular seaside resort and it's August Bank Holiday weekend, I suspect that if we'd known that we were playing in Colwyn Bay when the fixtures were compiled we'd have asked not to have a home fixture next week.

[weighman]

Deserved win for Doncaster . 

[OriginalMrC]

Big win in the end for the Bears winning 50-18 after a dominant 2nd half. Good way to finish in the last home game.

[Rob Nash]

41 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Next week will decide the title I’d reckon 

Not sure. Crusaders will have more say in it than Dons. It's unlikely we'll pick up home wins against both Town and Cougars. Not impossible but not realistic.

[Rob Nash]

 

[Hopping Mad]

1 hour ago, BD20Cougar said:

What a game you picked! 

Yes, just arrived back in York. Can't complain at the entertainment or the drama in that one!

Found myself on the sunny side of the Pennines, too.

Good to see Rochdale have relaunched a printed programme (£2, 28pp) this season, their 150th anniversary. Down to the pro-active supporters club, I was told.

[DavidM]

13 minutes ago, Rob Nash said:

Not sure. Crusaders will have more say in it than Dons. It's unlikely we'll pick up home wins against both Town and Cougars. Not impossible but not realistic.

Not for you , for us . Two games after that we should be winning 

[mickmike wilson]

1 hour ago, Johnny Ringo said:you can only see a win at home for Barrow against Skolars next week. 

I wouldn’t bet on it, Barrow have been ###### in the last 2 games with the heavy hitters almost invisible. 

[OriginalMrC]

I have to say today's win felt bittersweet. Its been a great season and the first the Bears have been truly competitive. Sad to say though unless there is some sort of reprieve felt like the last home game in league 1. Really hope that's not the case but happy that we managed to get win and to give the players a great thank you at the end. 

[Derwent]

Crusaders were deserved winners against a Town team who were flat from the first minute. Town’s 2 wingers had a combined total of 3 pro games between them and Crusaders exploited their defensive naivety on a few occasions. 
 

Town were architects of their own downfall on occasion, at least 5 times they had Crusaders pinned in their own 20 and gave away silly penalties that relieved the pressure. Our discipline was shocking today. Eddie Hemings used to bang on about “penalty, penalty, try” on Sky - that happened 3 or 4 times today.

Full credit to Crusaders, they were good enough to take advantage and deserved winners. They don’t play spectacular rugby but it’s effective. 

[dead man inc]

29 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I have to say today's win felt bittersweet. Its been a great season and the first the Bears have been truly competitive. Sad to say though unless there is some sort of reprieve felt like the last home game in league 1. Really hope that's not the case but happy that we managed to get win and to give the players a great thank you at the end. 

I’m afraid in my opinion the SL clubs (& majority of their fans ) just don’t care enough/at all about L1 or the longer term future of the game in some of the northern lower team towns, yet alone in the expansion areas! (Honesty is my only excuse) They will end up taking the ‘relatively minimum’ funding from L1 and use it to play about half a players wages.

The Keighley/Skolars game was not a classic, but Keighley brought a decent away contingent down & it was clear to see how much the club meant to them & the community. It also gave a Skolars team now consistently made up of a majority of London grown/based players an opportunity to test them self & develop.

Cutting funding to L1 will probably cull the expansion teams in exactly the areas the sport needs to develop new fan bases which would be bad enough, but it is also likely to snuff out some heartland teams with histories of over 100 years - the impact of losing the teams in these communities will be massive & have a longer and bigger negative effect than just not having a rugby team.

Do any/the funding/structure changes happens at the end of this season, or next? My limited understanding is that next season L1 will be funded the same, but it’s the season after they are likely to get next to nothing?

[OriginalMrC]

15 minutes ago, dead man inc said:

I’m afraid in my opinion the SL clubs (& majority of their fans ) just don’t care enough/at all about L1 or the longer term future of the game in some of the northern lower team towns, yet alone in the expansion areas! (Honesty is my only excuse) They will end up taking the ‘relatively minimum’ funding from L1 and use it to play about half a players wages.

The Keighley/Skolars game was not a classic, but Keighley brought a decent away contingent down & it was clear to see how much the club meant to them & the community. It also gave a Skolars team now consistently made up of a majority of London grown/based players an opportunity to test them self & develop.

Cutting funding to L1 will probably cull the expansion teams in exactly the areas the sport needs to develop new fan bases which would be bad enough, but it is also likely to snuff out some heartland teams with histories of over 100 years - the impact of losing the teams in these communities will be massive & have a longer and bigger negative effect than just not having a rugby team.

Do any/the funding/structure changes happens at the end of this season, or next? My limited understanding is that next season L1 will be funded the same, but it’s the season after they are likely to get next to nothing?

You've hit the nail on the head. 

The funding cuts are for next season which I think are one of the main issues. The Bears like many clubs were expecting a reduction and had planned ways around how to deal with it. However not at the level which has been talked about which is around a 60-70% cut. The rug will be pulled under them and there's very little time to put in place a plan for next season. As you said initially it will likely be so called expansion teams who feel the brunt but others will follow without a doubt. As I've said a few times the RL press silence on the issue is deafening 

[Rob Nash]

42 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

You've hit the nail on the head. 

The funding cuts are for next season which I think are one of the main issues. The Bears like many clubs were expecting a reduction and had planned ways around how to deal with it. However not at the level which has been talked about which is around a 60-70% cut. The rug will be pulled under them and there's very little time to put in place a plan for next season. As you said initially it will likely be so called expansion teams who feel the brunt but others will follow without a doubt. As I've said a few times the RL press silence on the issue is deafening 

Nobody should be cut loose. What exactly is an expansion team? It's a backwards way of looking at where the game should be heading. It's about producing players. The greater the net the greater the catch. Teams like Coventry, Skolars, the 2 Welsh teams aren't someone's vanity project. They all add something tangible to both the community and professional game. 

To make a point closer to home (for me). If the Dons and the Eagles didn't exist would there be the number of juniors playing in South Yorkshire even that there are now. Bentley for example run teams from 4 and up. Hillsborough had a junior team playing before today's main game at the Keepmoat. Take away "expansion clubs" and you deny this opportunity.

[fearnowt]

Wow, what a result!

Been a real grueler at work this weekend, but what a lift to carry me through the last two hours, which suddenly passed quite easily before clocking off.

So, on to next Saturday when all roads lead to Colwyn Bay for the bank holiday game by the seaside. Surely we can get our first four figure crowd since our Championship season in 2014.

[robt]

Photos from today Donny v Barrow match - http://terracemedia.co.uk/gallery/index.php?/category/68

[gogledd]

23 hours ago, Derwent said:

They don’t play spectacular rugby but it’s effective. 

I thought two of our seven tries were pretty spectacular!