Over the years, the League Express Mailbag has become a staple of the paper, with fans getting in touch in their droves to share their thoughts on a wide-ranging amount of topics revolving the great game.
As a result, we’ve decided to share some of the best letters received with you, readers of TotalRL, so you can get in on the debate.
This week’s letter comes in from Chris Heinitz in Featherstone, who has been left frustrated with errors within the RFL.
Don’t forget, everyone is free to send in their thoughts to the Mailbag every week. Simply follow any of the three options in the picture above to get in touch.
I recently wrote to Nigel Wood about the appalling inaccuracies of information on the Rugby League’s website, and at the same time, the gist of the letter was published in Mailbag.
The reply I got from the RFL (which did not come from Nigel Wood) was frankly pathetic.
The fact is that it is not a ‘small number of errors’, it is a huge number that would not be made by anyone who has any knowledge of Rugby League.
I was in Toulouse to watch Featherstone. The following day I looked up the report on the website because I wasn’t sure who had scored one of the tries.
This was the listed Featherstone starting team (they actually had the substitutes correct!): Ian Hardman (correct), Misi Taulapapa (no, played centre), Luke Briscoe (no, played wing), Anthony Thackeray (no, played stand-off), Darrell Griffin (no, played prop – Darrell Griffin on the wing, what a laugh!), Keal Carlile (no, played hooker), Sam Brooks (no, played prop), John Davies (no, he didn’t even travel to France!), Scott Turner (no, played wing), Matty Wildie (no, played scrum-half), James Lockwood (no, played loose forward), Jason Walton (correct), Josh Hardcastle (no, played centre).
Frankie Mariano who played in the second row, wasn’t listed at all.
It makes a total laughing stock of our sport’s governing body. They blame the problem on the Press Association, but it is the RFL who chose to use the Press Association for supplying information that is clearly beyond their capability.
In addition, the website is a nightmare to navigate, but I did manage to find my way to a page listing all-time records. Presumably they don’t ask the Press Association to do that for them.
You would think the RFL would know their own records but there is even an error there. Correctly listed for goals in a match is the 22 that Jim Sullivan kicked for Wigan against Flimby & Fothergill in 1925. Are they unaware that there is a joint holder of this record? Tom Hemingway also kicked 22 for Blackpool Panthers when they beat Gateshead Thunder 132-0 in a Championship 1 match on May 16, 2010. I don’t know how many attempts at goal Jim Sullivan had, but amazingly, Tom Hemingway kicked 22 out of 22!
Come on Rugby League. You can’t complain about lack of attention to our sport when you can’t even get things right on you own website. It’s about time you set someone on who knows what they are doing – and no, I am not looking for a job!
