DCMS announces £16 million emergency loan to the RFL to keep the sport afloat during the crisis.
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The NRL is back, behind closed doors. Brisbane currently hosting Parramatta. There is simulated crowd noise though I understand it is added on the TV feed and not audible in the stadium. I've only been watching since the start of the second half (didn't realise it was on the FTA Sky Sports channel until then) and no one has shouted "gerremonside", "forward" or "you ******* blind ****" so there is a bit to do on the realism.Comment
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The context here is you can spend $22 to get a cardboard cutout put in the empty seats....
https://twitter.com/adamfadamf/status/1266311753249558530?s=19
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My god it was good to watch live rugby league again yesterday.
I would have been up at Magic Weekend at St James?s Park last weekend introducing my south coast girlfriend to the absolute misery of watching The Mighty Trin if things had been different. Ho hum. Best case for spectators being able to attend is apparently 1st October now, but I?m not sure how likely that is to happen.Comment
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I had both of this morning's games on as my work background and was impressed at the level they were playing at. Think this year is probably a write off for the UK (for spectators) but if they can pull off the World Cup next year I'll get to as many games as I can (I'd already applied for the volunteer scheme for the Newcastle games).Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View PostComment
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What the FUCK is going on at Wakefield Trinity?
Who is the cunt who's persuaded them to pull that stunt?
Or are they all cunts anyway?Comment
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Yes
I know "the knee" is a gesture, and probably only just a gesture.
But if you're not backing it, you're accepting racism in the breach.
And that's the same as enabling it.Comment
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Twitter is not a great place tonight (I know).Comment
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Didn"t take long for old head Tim Sheens at Widnes Vikings to realise that the issues in the team pre - lockdown were all up front. Out go the Chapelhow twins ("promising" since they were teens, now mid twenties and still not kicked on) and the lightweight Sam Wilde. In come two substantial and experienced units in Matt Cook from Cas and Lee Jewitt from HKR to add a bit of much needed mongrel to a pack that was getting knocked about even having stepped down to the Championship. More to come apparently. Looking forward to next season already.Comment
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Adam Walker to Leigh. Very decent signing gor a Championship club.Comment
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Although this thread dedicates itself to British RL it would be remiss not to note the achievement of Penrith Panthers in becoming 'minor' NRL champions (i.e. top of the ladder in the regular season) after a typically brilliant desruction of North Queensland.
I first became seriously interested in RL qhen.my wife and I moved to Widnes in 1984, adopted the Vikings (as they later became) as my team and began to follow them home and (often) away as my love of the game developed. At that time my only access to NRL was weekly VHS videos of Channel 10 rugby coverage (the Australian RL version of 'Match of the Day') which I could rent for a night from my local video shop. Based on nothing but the skills of Greg Alexander I became a Panthers follower, although they were far from competition top dogs and have tended to remain honest mid table dwellers since.
However this team is different. Lead by Ivan Cleary (whose appointment was initially not well received by a majority of Panthers' fans) this vibrant young team have swept all before them with, to date, a single defeat all season. But the stats can't describe the week by week brilliance of this team. I cannot recall a better set of 'unloaders' - the ball is kept alive even under the most heavy defensive pressure and the back up play is astoundingly good. Half backs Nathan Cleary (son of the coach) and the wonderful Jarome Luai have been consistently adventurous and excellent. The pace and intelligence throughout the whole side is phenomenal with young centre Stephen Crichton clearly a superstar in the making.
If you have any interest in seeing a sport bekng taken (if you'll pardon the cliche) to another level then go search for match highlights from Panthers' games on youtube. You won't regret it.Comment
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That's a Proustian rush - I used to rent them from the local Spar which had a video rental outlet in a converted store cupboard. Macron Video from Wigan used to distribute them and I think at least some of them used to mix Channel 10, Channel 9 (WWOS) and ABC coverage. The other link to Australian media was getting bundles of Rugby League Week via Open Rugby magazine, and when visiting my grandmother in Workington I could buy two-week-old copies in the newsagent.Originally posted by Tony C View Post
When I did my NRL pilgrimage (ten years ago now, time flies) we went to see Penrith v Melbourne. Up to the Blue Mountains for walking and lunch, and then back down to Penrith for an early evening kick off. Good local club which seemed to be at the heart of its community (much like Cronulla, my own adopted team, who joined the league at the same time of course). We didn't get chance to go in their Leagues Club but it seemed substantial and popular. Great place to watch a game on a warm evening, stood on the bank with a beer in hand in the setting sun.
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Ha, yes, it was the Macron videos I was referring to. Similarly I used to drive from Widnes to a newsagents in Thatto Heath in St Helens for my Rugby League Week fix. Worth it, too, a great magazine.
I have no such stories of a pilgrimage but on my single visit to Sydney I did get to a game. Having a choice between Souths, St George or Canterbury we chose the latter and saw Bulldogs destroy Newcastle at the Telstra on the way to second place in the ladder. They went on to beat Roosters in the GF. My abiding memory of the game was watching a rampant young Sonny Bill knock the life out of the Knights pack and a sensational show at halfback by Braith Anasta which inevitablyhaf me thinking "if this guy isn't a Kangaroo how good are they down here?". Curiously Anasta was wrangled away, with some bad feeling from the Bulldogs, in the following post season to Roosters where he failed to reproduce his old form.
Sadly never got to Penrith.Comment
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Yes I've rambled on here before about RLW, it was a brilliant magazine and presented RL in a way that light years away from how it was portrayed over here (although Open Rugby itself did borrow heavily from it). Between that, the videos and the building of the Sydney Football Stadium it was clear that Australian RL existed in a different dimension altogether from what we were used to here - even before that was proven on the pitch when they toured here. Years later I took out a subscription to RLW as a treat to myself but it was a shadow of its former self and it only staggered on for a few years afterwards.
One of the other games we saw (we went to seven over two weekends) was Canterbury hosting the Roosters and Anasta played for the latter in that game - he had a better time of it that year (2010), helping them to the final.Comment
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Yes, Harry Edgar did his damnedest to elevate the profile of the game during his tenure at Open Rugby but it was always tough going. I very rarely buy one these days, choosing to get League Express every week for match reports and the rest on the web. 40/20 magazine doesn't do it for me at all.Comment
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Did anyone else pick up tickets for next year’s (or possibly the year after’s) World Cup when the first presale went up this morning?
Number 2 son and I will be at the opening game in Newcastle, England - France in Bolton and the final (both for the women and the men). All four children and I will also be at Kingston Park for Scotland - Fiji.
We’ll hopefully fit in a few more games along the way but wanted to make sure we got the cheap tickets for the big games (?70 in total for 2 of us to be at the opening game and final isn’t bad at all).Comment
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I don’t know if it’s my work computer or their website but it’s painfully slow and I got nowhere so I sacked it off. It’s Rugby League, I’ll be fine for a ticket pretty much anywhere for this.
I will probably buy at a later date. Maybe.Comment
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It’s incredibly slow, but when did the machinery around English rugby league ever run quick?
I’ve no doubts that tickets will be available for pretty much everything until the day, but the cheapskate in me wanted to nail down a ?30 ticket for a World Cup final in any sport (or two as it’s a double header).
Once we’re sure the tournament dates are nailed down and the football fixtures come out we’ll sit down and plan any other trips - although I’ve been told the semi final in Leeds is out as it apparently clashes with Steps and my wife therefore has other plansComment
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I'm getting nowhere on the website, I'll try later on my own laptop. I'm of the same view - tickets will be easy enough to come by but would like to pin down the cheaper tickets where necessary.Originally posted by gavc23 View Post
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I know I could do my own research, but is the release today to just guarantee that you get a ticket? That is, the prices don't increase as we get closer to the dates?
Looks like my first ever live RL experience will be at the Riverside.Comment
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The prices themselves don't increase but there will only be so many at the lowest price band so they will go first. I might be being disloyal to the cause here but chances are (particularly for games in relatively big venue like the Riverside) that closer to the time there will be all manner of discount codes and other offers to boost sales.Originally posted by sw2borshch View PostComment
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Yeah, early sale today is mainly a good chance to buy cheaply for those who plan to see quite a few games. Prices don't change but there may be less availability when the next sale window opens.Originally posted by sw2borshch View Post
I've piled in with an initial 8 games but will probably add to it nearer the time. I'm doing:
Scotland v Italy (Newcastle Kingston Park)
Tonga v PNG (St. Helens)
Wales v Cook Islands (Leigh)
England v France (Bolton)
PNG v Cook Islands (Warrington)
Lebanon v Jamaica (Leigh)
Samoa v France (Warrington)
England Women v Canada Women + Men's 1/4 Final 2 (Anfield)
Will add two, possibly three more to that but can't do the semis and final because of other commitments. Also conscious that I could lose a couple of those if international travel is back to pre-Covid normal and they turn out to clash with Liverpool European away trips.Comment
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