League Express Mailbag – Monday 21st February

FAREWELL TO THE GREATEST
Farewell and saluté Johnny Whiteley, the greatest of the great.
Opinions will always differ as to who is most deserving of the accolade, but in all my seventy years as a Rugby League fan, with due respect to memorable other stars, I have never seen a better loose-forward, or indeed aa forward in any position.
As an overall contributor to the sport, Johnny Whiteley must be way out on his own.
World Cup winner, Ashes Test winner, Ashes winning manager, coach, captain, leading Hull to the Rugby League Championship and hands-on youth coach until well into his eighties.
My memories of storming Johnny Whiteley performances are many. But one stands above all others; his virtuoso display in the second Test against Australia, at Headingley, in 1959.
Outgunned in the first Test at Swinton, Great Britain made radical changes for the second Test, including the introduction of a teenage Neil Fox, at centre, Jeff Stevenson at scrum-half, and the man harbouring fitness levels twenty years ahead of his time, Johnny Whiteley, at loose forward, all of them replacing more established stars.
Assiduous offloading by Whiteley spearheaded virtually every British attack, while the mighty extent of his covering and tackling (especially on Australia’s flying, class-act centres, Wells and Gasnier, almost defied logic.
Befittingly, it was Whiteley himself who then combined brilliantly with Stevenson, late in the game, to crash over for the winning try, which Fox goaled from under the posts.
The series was thus level.
Although the Aussies brought in their own (until then injured) loose-forward legend Johnny Roper for the deciding, third Test, at Wigan, it was Johnny Whiteley who once again proved himself the king and the loose-forwards supremo.
What a man! What a star!
Roger Ingham, Skipton

 

GREAT TRIBUTE TO A HULL GREAT
Hull FC may have been subsequently well beaten by St Helens, but the club deserves great credit for the wonderful tribute to Johnny Whiteley before Saturday’s match.
The way it was organised and supported by the local authority was commendable, as was the deeply respectful observation of it by supporters of both sides.
Lizzie Jones was, as usual, at her very best and this very moving occasion was captured admirably by the excellent Channel Four broadcasting team.
I am old enough to have seen some of Johnny’s sporting career and had the privilege to meet him on several occasions in later life. He was a great Rugby League player and coach and a very decent human being, who thoroughly deserved the acclamation he received.
David Hinchliffe, Holmfirth

 

ARE SAINTS THE CHOSEN ONES?
What St Helens have, especially since Kristian Woolf took over as head coach, is a culture of personal responsibility and collective accountability.
Each player takes it upon himself to do everything correctly and to the best of his ability, with no excuses. Every player has internalised this philosophy, and with it the accountability that is so vital to any successful organisation.
St Helens do everything the right way. Their playing style demonstrates clarity of thought, control of emotion and precision of execution, which is reaping its deserved reward.
They have an aura. An attitude, or more precisely a mental toughness, that affords them the opportunity to do what they do so very, very well.
Under Woolf, St Helens are advancing the game of Rugby League. I suggest that the players make it look so pleasing on the eye, in large part, because of the coaching philosophy internalised between their ears. They possess confidence, constancy and control; they are supremely mentally tough.
As individual players, each is, of course, wonderfully talented. But when you couple that with mental toughness, then you have got something.
At season’s start, all teams are called; by its end, it is difficult to see any other than St Helens being chosen.
Dr Michael Sheard, Northallerton

 

NO-GO AREA AT WARRINGTON
When are we going to see action taken against Warrington fans?
It was only last season that I wrote about our coach windows been smashed when visiting their ground and a bunch of them trying to intimidate and fight fans outside the ground.
Now it has happened to Castleford. There are no excuses for this. There is an element that follows that club that seems to be intent on looking for trouble.
I’ve seen numerous people comment on social media rugby sites about issues they say they’ve had with Wire fans.
I’m in the later stages of my life and I love going away, but I won’t be visiting Warrington this season, at least until they get a grip of these morons
Mike Wright, Hull

 

THE TERRY BUTTON
How prescient of the inventor of the mute button to realise that one day, Terry O’Connor would become a summariser.
Dave Campbell, East Hull

 

CHANNEL 4 ADMIRED
Congratulations, Channel 4!
At last a wonderful presentation of our game, done professionally from start to finish.
I particularly admired the match commentator for actually commentating on the game and in such a passionate, snappy way. The Sky man. albeit not the best, can hardly get a word in due to his two awful summarisers.
And why does Sky even have two summarisers? One, as shown by Channel 4, is more than enough, especially when he keeps his comments short and to the point. Well done Kyle Amor!
All in all, a great game, superbly presented.
Allan Livingston, Dunoon, Argyll and Bute

 

DIFFERENT RULES
After a great weekend, the greatest game is back.
There are quite a few changes, mostly for the good. But what has not changed is the refereeing.
I fully appreciate the job that our referees do and not for one minute would I accept the job if it were offered to me.
What I cannot understand, having watched four games over the opening weekend, is that it appears that every referee we have is playing to different rules.
Our game is based on speed, yet listen to the number of times our refs shout “move”.
In all four games listen to the number of times our refs shout ” move “. In some games it is every tackle (meaning that lying on is taking place). In others, where teams know the rules, it is very rare.
And offside at the play the ball? I know teams are very quick, but do our refs know how far ten metres really is?
Yes, refereeing is not an easy game, but can anyone tell me if referees train together and get advice on how to adjudicate? I don’t think they can or we would get all of them making the same decisions.
The coverage on Channel, however, was far superior to that on Sky Spots, especially the commentators.
I cannot believe it but I miss Stevo. At least his comments were about the game, not the drivel given by ‘Baz and Tez’ who talk about everything but the game.
If we really want Rugby League to be taken seriously we must show that the people running the game take it seriously, not only the supporters.
Francis Clarke, St Helens

 

GET BACK
As soon as the first tackles of the new season were made the familiar cry “Gerremonside” went up.
Alright, the game is fast and defending players are out of the blocks like a shot, but when the attacking team are well inside the last ten metres, the ref could at least make sure all defenders are standing behind the try line before the ball is played.
So far, there is no sign that is going to happen.
In one of the televised games the other day, the ball was being played about two feet from the opponents’ try line, yet every defender was standing in the field of play.
The camera clearly showed one defender so far out from the line, he was standing behind the attacking player playing the ball, yet the ref totally ignored it and pressed on.
Yellow cards and red cards are needed here. Attacking sides are being penalised.
Bernard Winstanley, St Helens

 

ROCHDALE AWAITS
I was really looking forward to watching the match on Monday the 31st of January and I was not disappointed.
What a breath of fresh air; the whole production was first class and such a change from Sky Sports.
Mr Carney needs to get himself smartened up and they also need some new match commentators.
I was sorry to read that Garth Walker is leaving after all these years. I did enjoy reading his Championship Focus articles each week.
He really left on a high with his last contribution. I agree with every word of it.
I will miss him but wish him all the best in his new venture.
Perhaps he will have time to go and watch Rochdale now.
Mrs Kathleen Fern, Halifax

 

PROUD MILLOM
Being born and bred in Cumbria, I remember well the powerful Millom amateur Rugby League sides of the 1960s 70s and 80s; the Luptons, Mossops, Jim Bowden etc.
Unfortunately, in recent times the club appears to have experienced something of a slump in fortunes.
I have often wondered why, but reading the team sheets of the recent Barrow v Newcastle, London v Whitehaven and Workington v Featherstone matches gave me a bit of a clue.
Workington had three Millom Knights in their lineup – Hartley Dawson, Marcus O’Brien and Ethan Bickerdike.
Whitehaven had two in their team – James Newton and Andrew Dawson, and Barrow Raiders had four Millom lads on the bench – Nathan Mossop, Brad Crella, Charlie Emslie and Ethan Kelly.
That’s almost a full team of players Millom RFC are providing for the semi-professional ranks of South and West Cumbria, something the club should be very proud of.
David Shepherd, Wakefield

 

DRAGONS TAKING US FOR A RIDE
Darren Bridge (Mailbag 14th February) said the Catalans have failed in the experiment of being given a place in Super League and I agree.
As I recall, the Catalans were given a place to benefit of French Rugby League and were expected to do three things.
Firstly, to improve the profile of Rugby League in France and to be fair, to a certain extent they have done that.
Secondly, to try and improve the French national team, but how are they going to improve their national team when they are only playing two or three French players? They are only going to do it by bringing on players of French origin.
They won’t improve France by hiring a load of foreign players. They were expected to bring young French players through the system, expose them to a higher level of rugby by playing in Super League, but in my opinion they haven’t even tried to do that.
The Catalans are taking the RFL and Super League for a ride. They have no intention of doing what they are supposed to do by being given a place in Super League.
The RFL should tell them to stop signing foreign players. In other words ‘shape up or ship out’.
The Catalan experiment has failed. And let’s not forget that two great clubs were sacrificed to this Catalans experiment; sacrificed for nothing for an experiment that has been a complete failure.
Joseph Hamill, Widnes

 

CHANGE NEEDED AT TOULOUSE
At the end of last season I wrote that Toulouse Olympique’s promotion to Super League was good for the sport, and having two French teams in Super League was also good for the sport.
Financial backers would come out of the woodwork to support the club, I wrote. Money would be available for the club to sign backroom staff, mainly from the Southern Hemisphere, and Sylvain Houles would not be coach for the new season.
How wrong I was. None of the above seems to have happened.
The club seems to have stayed loyal to the background staff, players and coach who worked for them last season – the cheap option but the wrong one.
Toulouse were not in the right physical condition to play at Super League level, which to me says the conditioning coaching is not good enough. Everyone watching could see the players were tired by half time. They need a conditioning coach of NRL quality.
Sylvain Houles says that the players he needed to recruit were not there in the off-season.   Was he really saying the money was not available? Not good.
If Toulouse does not act now, they are looking at a trap door, and I mean now. Even if they acquire a conditioning coach of the right ability, it will take another ten games to achieve the fitness levels necessary to compete. That is half a season gone.
And if that happened tomorrow, they would need a head coach capable of coaching at that level, which Sylvain Houles really is not. He would make a good assistant to a coach with a proven pedigree at that level.
Two strong French teams in Super League would be a good thing, both for our clubs and for French Rugby League.
Let us not forget that Toulouse were the best team by far in the Championship last season.   What does that tell us about the rest?
John Wheeler, Sandbach, Cheshire