Joyless fun sponge writes some more words

[Damien]

10 minutes ago, Worzel said:

Mine was definitely funnier, and had more brevity.

4/10, must try harder

PS: You being in Brighouse and around 30 is just a coincidence I take it?

Ash Hope – Total Rugby League

[Ash Hope]

53 minutes ago, Worzel said:

Mine was definitely funnier, and had more brevity.

4/10, must try harder

PS: You being in Brighouse and around 30 is just a coincidence I take it?

I fully submit as, of course, you are the ultimate judge of internet content.

4/10 from you is a high compliment, indeed. Many thanks, dear oracle of the keyboard.

PS: I no longer live in Brighouse. I live under a mouldy office chair in my Auntie's heroin dungeon. Something like that, whatever you wish to satisfy your image of me.

I do hope the spirits of personally targeted journalists don't visit you in the night.

[Ash Hope]

52 minutes ago, Damien said:

Ash Hope – Total Rugby League

Thanks for sharing my work

[Ash Hope]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Surely you didn't take Worzel's post literally? Nobody drinks Fosters any more do they?

Surely you didn't take mine literally? No human has furry fingers, no?

[Worzel]

21 minutes ago, Ash Hope said:

I fully submit as, of course, you are the ultimate judge of internet content.

4/10 from you is a high compliment, indeed. Many thanks, dear oracle of the keyboard.

PS: I no longer live in Brighouse. I live under a mouldy office chair in my Auntie's heroin dungeon. Something like that, whatever you wish to satisfy your image of me.

I do hope the spirits of personally targeted journalists don't visit you in the night.

They’d probably come to the wrong house. But as long as they wear one of those trilbys with a bit of paper sticking out of the top of it then they’re welcome to come in for a nice cup of tea. ️ 

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Ash Hope – Total Rugby League

I know. It just amused me

Love how the West Yorkshire doom and gloom mafia circles the wagons. I mean, it’s not like a small clique of closed-minded, negative people has been holding the sport back for decades or anything..! 

[Dave T]

24 minutes ago, Ash Hope said:

Surely you didn't take mine literally? No human has furry fingers, no?

I have been to Yorkshire before. 

[Ash Hope]

6 minutes ago, Worzel said:

I know. It just amused me

Love how the West Yorkshire doom and gloom mafia circles the wagons. I mean, it’s not like a small clique of closed-minded, negative people has been holding the sport back for decades or anything..! 

You got me here, guilty as charged.

All those hours spent digging for interviews for any positive story from El Salvador to Africa were all to totally hold the sport back.

I didn't want it to ever get to the Elon Musk-funded Super League years of rugby league on Mars or Saturn. What can I say I just love the M62 corridor so darn much.

Adiós anyway, fellow Earthling. I've donated more than enough time to the internet today. Tell everyone I'm off to go shout verbals at my local under 11s grassroots team, while they train - it's your narrative from here.

[Worzel]

2 hours ago, Ash Hope said:

You got me here, guilty as charged.

All those hours spent digging for interviews for any positive story from El Salvador to Africa were all to totally hold the sport back.

I didn't want it to ever get to the Elon Musk-funded Super League years of rugby league on Mars or Saturn. What can I say I just love the M62 corridor so darn much.

Adiós anyway, fellow Earthling. I've donated more than enough time to the internet today. Tell everyone I'm off to go shout verbals at my local under 11s grassroots team, while they train - it's your narrative from here.

You chose to come here and circle the wagons around the world’s second-most morose journalist, out of professional loyalty. That was a wholly voluntary exercise, but thank you for your service. Farewell and bon chance. 

[Just Browny]

2 hours ago, Worzel said:

You chose to come here and circle the wagons around the world’s second-most morose journalist, out of professional loyalty. That was a wholly voluntary exercise, but thank you for your service. Farewell and bon chance. 

Are you sure? I feel like a random LPL journo is sent to the crease on here every time one of their peers is getting some stick. 

[EagleEyePie]

10 hours ago, Dave T said:

There are plenty of negative things that can be written about and sometimes we just have to suck it up.

But these couple of articles from Bower have been particularly galling. Basically they have been positives turned into negatives, which is just weird and unnecessary.

On the Cup article, to focus on amateur teams having to move grounds to brand it a failure is odd, particularly when one of those was a huge success over at Hull. To ignore things like the match ups in Cumbria etc isn't an accident.

On the season overall, to highlight the positives, more interest, ticket sales up, Vegas etc. and then focus on clubs needing investors is just a weird take.

I get that certain RL fans tend to get off on "telling it like it is" but this is pure negative spin.

 

In fairness the article isn't about 'the season overall' it's about the finances of Super League. Maybe it just wasn't as clear from the article itself but the author posted 'Wanted to write about the health of rugby league's finances ahead of the new season' when sharing the article.

If you're going to write an article about the sports finances then it's going to be quite negative, at the moment. Discussing the finances of the sport is quite pertinent given the issues that Salford, London, Whitehaven and others have faced recently.

Reliance on investors may be becoming more and more necessary in all sports but it doesn't make it a good thing. Some sports are more vulnerable and I think it's fair to say that both codes of rugby are currently more vulnerable than the majority of football clubs. The biggest issue in football is almost certainly the Championship which is on a completely different level of unsustainability, but the sheer depth of the sport means it's relatively safe overall. Rugby union has lost clubs recently, rugby league has come very close.

In a weird way our strength in terms of the games finances is also the games weakness. Compared to a lot of football and rugby union clubs it doesn't take as much money for a rich investor to prop up a team, but that's because there's so little money in the game. The fact that the losses are increasing should never be viewed as just being the reality of modern sport when the loss of a club in rugby league has a much bigger impact. Any article about the finances of rugby union would be pretty doom and gloom too. It's the unfortunate reality at the moment.

There are plenty of positive things happening in the game that will hopefully bring about an upturn in fortunes, but we also can't get ahead of ourselves. The increased attendances and viewing figures and the positive direction that some clubs seem to be going in needs to start making a material difference.

I notice Aaron Bower has been at Wigan this morning. Hopefully the article he writes will be a positive one. There's potential for finances to improve but it might take a while for the overall picture to look more optimistic.

[Just Browny]

This Donald McRae piece on Sam Burgess is excellent.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/feb/11/sam-burgess-interview-warrington-rugby-league-luke-littler?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

[Dave T]

28 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

In fairness the article isn't about 'the season overall' it's about the finances of Super League. Maybe it just wasn't as clear from the article itself but the author posted 'Wanted to write about the health of rugby league's finances ahead of the new season' when sharing the article.

If you're going to write an article about the sports finances then it's going to be quite negative, at the moment. Discussing the finances of the sport is quite pertinent given the issues that Salford, London, Whitehaven and others have faced recently.

Reliance on investors may be becoming more and more necessary in all sports but it doesn't make it a good thing. Some sports are more vulnerable and I think it's fair to say that both codes of rugby are currently more vulnerable than the majority of football clubs. The biggest issue in football is almost certainly the Championship which is on a completely different level of unsustainability, but the sheer depth of the sport means it's relatively safe overall. Rugby union has lost clubs recently, rugby league has come very close.

In a weird way our strength in terms of the games finances is also the games weakness. Compared to a lot of football and rugby union clubs it doesn't take as much money for a rich investor to prop up a team, but that's because there's so little money in the game. The fact that the losses are increasing should never be viewed as just being the reality of modern sport when the loss of a club in rugby league has a much bigger impact. Any article about the finances of rugby union would be pretty doom and gloom too. It's the unfortunate reality at the moment.

There are plenty of positive things happening in the game that will hopefully bring about an upturn in fortunes, but we also can't get ahead of ourselves. The increased attendances and viewing figures and the positive direction that some clubs seem to be going in needs to start making a material difference.

I notice Aaron Bower has been at Wigan this morning. Hopefully the article he writes will be a positive one. There's potential for finances to improve but it might take a while for the overall picture to look more optimistic.

That finances are tough and clubs are not sustainable without investors is not new news, or tbh even news at all. 

The headline of "Bright lights of Las Vegas cannot dim the dark clouds over Super League" is clickbait nonsense.

This kind of article would, and should be seen as a hatchet job in the week leading up to the start of a season that promises plenty. This is the kind of article that the sport has had to put up with from unfriendly media throughout its history, without the balance of gushing coverage at other times.

And when we consider that there was a similar negative article about the cup draw in the lead up to a really positive Challenge Cup, then I think it is fair to question the motives behind such coverage.

[EagleEyePie]

4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

That finances are tough and clubs are not sustainable without investors is not new news, or tbh even news at all. 

The headline of "Bright lights of Las Vegas cannot dim the dark clouds over Super League" is clickbait nonsense.

This kind of article would, and should be seen as a hatchet job in the week leading up to the start of a season that promises plenty. This is the kind of article that the sport has had to put up with from unfriendly media throughout its history, without the balance of gushing coverage at other times.

And when we consider that there was a similar negative article about the cup draw in the lead up to a really positive Challenge Cup, then I think it is fair to question the motives behind such coverage.

It is news when the biggest story of the off season has been Salford's financial issues. It was another example of how precarious the situation is for those clubs who aren't fortunate to have the wealthy investors. It's the reality of the situation that some clubs are more vulnerable. It's particularly notable when one club is probably spending enough on the Vegas trip to have seen Salford through the entire season. That gulf between the haves and have nots is a story.

I didn't agree with the Challenge Cup article, and if it turns out the article that will be published this Thursday is a negative one then I will have to eat my words. 

[Hopie]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Are you sure? I feel like a random LPL journo is sent to the crease on here every time one of their peers is getting some stick. 

You can't see why a journalist would want to defend a colleague, or dissuade someone from making personal attacks about journalists based on opinions in articles. It is reasonable to disagree with an opinion, or point out a factual error, but baseless attacks based on disagreements are just pathetic.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, EagleEyePie said:

It is news when the biggest story of the off season has been Salford's financial issues. It was another example of how precarious the situation is for those clubs who aren't fortunate to have the wealthy investors. It's the reality of the situation that some clubs are more vulnerable. It's particularly notable when one club is probably spending enough on the Vegas trip to have seen Salford through the entire season. That gulf between the haves and have nots is a story.

I didn't agree with the Challenge Cup article, and if it turns out the article that will be published this Thursday is a negative one then I will have to eat my words. 

We can choose what the stories are. Sports clubs cost money can be written at any time, any month, any year. 

[Worzel]

4 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Are you sure? I feel like a random LPL journo is sent to the crease on here every time one of their peers is getting some stick. 

Good point 

Amusingly, the key tenet of Ash Hope’s defence of the world’s second most negative rugby league journalist was “that’s not fair, you don’t know if he meant it, he had to write with that tone because that’s the only way to get paid”

So maybe the other fella was just on a mandated assignment too, and secretly agrees with me

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Hopie said:

You can't see why a journalist would want to defend a colleague, or dissuade someone from making personal attacks about journalists based on opinions in articles. It is reasonable to disagree with an opinion, or point out a factual error, but baseless attacks based on disagreements are just pathetic.

It wasn’t baseless, it was very much based. Aaron has agency, and so do I. If he wants to drag our sport down on the eve of our most exciting season opening in years, whether because he truly believes what he writes or (as Ash suggests) he just cynically says this stuff for money, then he can suffer my legitimate ire. 

[gingerjon]

9 hours ago, Dave T said:

We can choose what the stories are. Sports clubs cost money can be written at any time, any month, any year. 

It's telling when it's the immediate follow up to the "this new Challenge Cup format is terrible, Wests are going to all be injured and Halifax hate it" article.

[JohnM]

11 hours ago, EagleEyePie said:

It is news when the biggest story of the off season has been Salford's financial issues. It was another example of how precarious the situation is for those clubs who aren't fortunate to have the wealthy investors. It's the reality of the situation that some clubs are more vulnerable. It's particularly notable when one club is probably spending enough on the Vegas trip to have seen Salford through the entire season. That gulf between the haves and have nots is a story.

I didn't agree with the Challenge Cup article, and if it turns out the article that will be published this Thursday is a negative one then I will have to eat my words. 

I find it strange that in recent weeks there have been three instances that might - or might not- be linked.

1. The article subject of this thread.

2. Criticism of the Challenge Cup 

3. An apparent attempt to "Bring Back Nigel"

4. Plus, of course, the Brian Carney article.

Edited February 12 by JohnM

[Exiled Wiganer]

As someone who buys the Guardian, I think their coverage is really good over the course of the year.
 

As a leaguie, the biggest story of the off season was Salford being  awarded a licence and then having to go begging for a handout, before being saved by a non leaguie run property business. the article was fair - my issue is that we get so little coverage (excepting the Guardian from that criticism) that we are right to be aggravated when our limited bandwidth stresses negatives. 
 

I would go easy on Bower - we would be very very much poorer without his coverage. Oh, and as for piling onto Ash, that level of bullying has become par for the course on thread after thread. 

[RP London]

On 09/02/2025 at 18:28, Damien said:

Wouldn't it have been great to have seen a really upbeat article about the new money coming into SL and financial backers making SL more competitive than ever before. Clubs like Salford, Hull KR and Wakefield on the rise and challenging the status quo. He could have also talked about the upcoming opener in front of what looks like will be a 20k crowd with Michael Buffer etc and Vegas. No lets moan about IMG getting £400k instead, again:

 

 

Sorry those are just opinions.. provable fact opinions maybe.. but definitely not "the truth" 

[RP London]

On 11/02/2025 at 09:41, JohnM said:

Its easy to focus on the editorial content of L.E. and T.R.L. and easy to forget the other content and reporting. In my view , no other organ comes close in terms of  width, depth and accuracy.  

Martyn is entitled to ask the questions he does, on the big issues of the day and the season, and he is right to expect clear and concise answers, even if , on occasions, the answer may be "no comment".

H..o..w...e...v...e...r

Its his relentless taking of sides, especially in terms of  IMG, Beaumont,  etc, that is open to criticism. Sure, he has a view, but I don't think such partisan campaigning should come without a trigger warning.

My problem on this is that they actually dont seem to ask the questions.. plenty of questions to ask like "any chance of knowing when the ashes might be on and where"... but there never seems to be the type of questions asked that we ask here.. an easy job would be to take half the threads on here where we are battering around what we "think" is happening and put it to IMG/RFL/clubs etc to try to get to the bottom of it.. TRL and LE just appear full of opinion pieces now

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, RP London said:

Sorry those are just opinions.. provable fact opinions maybe.. but definitely not "the truth" 

With some the truth simply seems to be whatever angle you can attack IMG with, say the game is gone and a way to get your buddy Nigel back at the RFL.

[Ash Hope]

11 hours ago, Worzel said:

Good point 

Amusingly, the key tenet of Ash Hope’s defence of the world’s second most negative rugby league journalist was “that’s not fair, you don’t know if he meant it, he had to write with that tone because that’s the only way to get paid”

So maybe the other fella was just on a mandated assignment too, and secretly agrees with me

The key tenet was about personal attacks.

Journalists do homework and research when they write articles : https://thirteenrugby.com/2021/02/18/my-struggles-with-anxiety-and-grief-took-me-to-the-brink-but-after-learning-the-importance-of-talking-it-wont-define-me-anymore-itsokaytotalk/

Disagree with an opinion, sure. Disagree with mine. But research a man before you make wild assumptions about his personal life or family, more for your own sensibility and image - if anything else.