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Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

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    #26
    Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

    Ray de Galles wrote: I don't suppose there's any chance that the regenerated club could re-adopt the 'Northern' suffix?
    If Richardson is successful with his bid then it looks likely the club will continue under the Bradford Bulls name as he has already acquired the domain name for Bradford RL and stuck Bulls branding on it.

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      #27
      Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

      RFL is considering four bids to reestablish a RL team in Bradford.
      https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jan/09/bradford-bulls-new-club-rfl-bids

      http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/bradford-bulls/fans-would-have-pivotal-role-in-one-of-four-bradford-rl-bids-1-8325623

      There's a bit of background to the problems here. (Though it gets the year of their relegation wrong - they went down in 2014 and lost the million pounds game, failing to win promotion, in 2015.)

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        #28
        Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

        They seem to have picked one.

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          #29
          Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

          Yep, looks increasingly like it's the Chalmers NZ bid. Wonder if they will stick with the same name, colours, badge etc, or start afresh with something new?

          We can be pretty certain it wasn't Richard Lamb's bid anyway.

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            #30
            Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

            And now Bradford seems to be up and running and playing in preseason. Leeds have helped out by loaning four younger players for the first month: Half back Jordan Lilley, Hooker Sam Hallas, Back Row/Forward Josh Jordan-Roberts and Prop Mikolaj Oledzki. Lilley got a good run in the Leeds first team last year so looks to be a handy addition.

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              #31
              Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

              Guardian preview:
              https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-helmets-required/2017/feb/03/super-league-championship-rugby-hull-kr-bradford-bulls

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                #32
                Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                The start of that Guardian article wound me right up. I'm not sure how you can call Super League lopsided for not having teams from those well known former Super League powerhouses of Newcastle and Coventry in it.

                Perhaps I just need a good lie down...

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                  #33
                  Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                  Sort of like a "Big Four/Six" without Chelsea or Manchester City

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                    #34
                    Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                    The Mighty Trin wrote: The start of that Guardian article wound me right up. I'm not sure how you can call Super League lopsided for not having teams from those well known former Super League powerhouses of Newcastle and Coventry in it.

                    Perhaps I just need a good lie down...
                    Gavin Willacy knows his stuff usually and I'm willing to see that as bad editing rather than anything else, particularly the but at the start. There is a valid point there - that RL in general does not have enough big city teams - however it doesn't make the lower divisions necessarily lopsided by having 'big city Sheffield' (who are Sheffield in name only, playing in Wakefield) playing so called 'village teams'.

                    Although RL would benefit commercially from having more properly established big city teams (and there is a good counterfactual to pursue in if RL had taken hold and endured in other big Northern cities the way it did in Leeds and Hull), it would be at the expense of town teams like St Helens, Warrington and Widnes, where the game has thrived precisely because the local teams can compete at the top level of a sport and are supported by the community much more closely as a result.

                    As ever, the Super League story (the European version, not the Australian version) looms large here - part of the agenda when Super League started was to move towards a 'big city' league with some of the smaller teams merged together to create new ahem 'markets'.

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                      #35
                      Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                      A couple of cracking World Club Series games over the weekend, at least from a Super League standpoint.

                      Warrington came out flying, and it was unrelenting stuff. I was at Wigan yesterday, and it was a cracking atmosphere, unfortunately Cronulla never really got into it and made some sloppy handling errors which meant they just came up short of making a proper match of it.

                      One odd thing, which I've only seen in Under 7s games over here, a Cronulla coach spent most of the game on the pitch seemlingly orchestrating the team from just behind their line. I think eventually the ref got fed up with him and ushered him off to a rousing cheer from the crowd.

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                        #36
                        Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                        US posters may be interested to note that "Fox Soccer Plus" (available on cable and online) is showing several Super League matches every week, both live and with replays.

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                          #37
                          Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                          Well they won't be watching Wigan v Widnes tomorrow night as it's been postponed to preserve the pitch for the Wigan Athletic game as the Latics' season is 'at such a critical stage' according to their chairman.

                          What a load of codswallop.

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                            #38
                            Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                            BBC have made coverage of the Siddal - Toronto Challenge Cup game available worldwide

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                              #39
                              Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                              Watching Warrington v Castleford at the moment, and Cas have run in 4 tries in 9 minutes! Cracking game so far...

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                                #40
                                Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

                                https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/06/super-league-clubs-could-relocate-south-or-abroad

                                A number of Super League sides have been alerted to expressions of interest from cities in both England and abroad who want to inherit an existing top-flight franchise. The RFL is receptive to the idea and has told clubs they can apply to move their franchise to a different city should they wish. While no clubs have yet lodged firm interest in doing so, off-field issues mean the news has interested some sides.

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                                  #41
                                  Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                  A piece of my formative Rugby League upbringing died today, the Australian magazine Rugby League Week. Back in the mid to late 80s as the Australian game started to streak away from our own, Rugby League Week was the bible for those of us who took an interest (to accompany the weekly VHS compilations you could hire from video shops in the north, distributed by Micron Video of Wigan).

                                  Week old copies were available at certain newsagents in RL towns (including in West Cumbria) or available by post from the offices of Open Rugby (our own bible, that took a lot of cues and occasionally content from RLW), from whom you could also get bundles of random back copies on the cheap. It brought tales not only of the Winfield Cup, but State of Origin, the Queensland competition, New Zealand, lower grade and even the state comps in the RL backwater states like Victoria and WA. All well written and expertly presented, often with imaginative covers that went beyond the standard action shots.

                                  A few years ago, feeling flush I took out a subscription for a year, but it was a shadow of its former self. The Internet (and all games being live on TV) had made match reports obsolete, and analysis and softer coverage was well catered by the large number of RL TV and radio shows available in Australia. All that was left were lifestyle type pieces, retro features and fantasy league stats, and evidently there was a limited market for that stuff.

                                  Shame, but inevitable.

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                                    #42
                                    Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                    And in today's draw for the Challenge Cup fifth round, the balls coming out of the microwave are Salford and Toronto.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                      From loverugbyleague.com:

                                      A four-year international rugby league calendar is set to be revealed in the autumn, following an RLIF board meeting earlier this week. The plans will include an England tour Down Under in 2019, as well as an RLIF Nines World Cup. It was also confirmed at the meeting that 16 nations will compete in the 2021 World Cup, to be held in England...Regarding the 2021 World Cup qualification format, it was confirmed that all eight quarter finalists from this year’s World Cup will be awarded a place as of right. The 2021 competition will comprise of seven teams from Europe, six from Asia Pacific, two from the Americas and one from a play-off series hosted in Middle East/Africa...The RLIF board has also confirmed its support for an Emerging Nations World Championship in 2018, and that Italy have been recommended for full membership of the RLIF.

                                      Cas are playing some lovely stuff this year, with Hardaker and Gale on fine form in particular. Meanwhile their former winger, the 23 year old New Zealander who retired in the summer, is trying to get into the England RU team. Really endears himself to you, that guy.

                                      The off-field shenanigans surrounding Wakefield are a bit disturbing though. I don't know how serious the suggestions of selling their SL place to another city is.

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                                        #44
                                        Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                        I opened this thread to belatedly post that international news, but you beat me to it Kev (and welcome back).

                                        Interesting stuff, even if it's a bit yeah, we'll have one of them, one of them, two of them (there is also talk of a second Nines World Cup taking the 'world tournament' slot in 2023).

                                        Interesting to see what the England tour will actually consist of - it's not going to be a full blown tour of old, and doubt it will be mid season (can't interfere with Origin), which leaves an end of season tour as being most likely (I'm assuming the Nines World Cup will be preseason, or maybe even mid, as it can be done in a weekend). And although it's not the purist view, I'm glad they are sticking with England for this and not reverting to GB as was predicted.

                                        Want - a three game series vs Australia, with a warm up in PNG on the way, and a test in NZ afterwards.

                                        Likely to get - one offs vs Australia and NZ, possibly a warm up vs Samoa in Campbelltown or somewhere (or against France at Leigh Sports Village).

                                        Italy are back in the gang, having apparently sorted out their governance issues - yet another example of RL's self harm tendency, where two factions emerge and spend all their time fighting each other instead of developing the sport (see also USA until recently, and more spectacularly Australia in the 1990s).

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                                          #45
                                          Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                          Wasps are to look at setting up a super league club. It would be the death knell for Coventry Bears if it went ahead.

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                                            #46
                                            Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                            Brett Ferres gets a much deserved 6 game ban for a 'crusher' tackle on Oliver Gildart in the Leeds v Wigan game.

                                            Tweets an 'I didn't mean it, wouldn't ever do that intentionally' apology, which doesn't really cut it if you saw the tackle.

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                                              #47
                                              Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                              England have got a Test this weekend, kick off at 1040 BST in Sydney against Samoa. I think if you want to watch it you need to pay for a stream through the RFL as the BBC didn't offer an acceptable amount of cash, apparently.

                                              Cas are still going well, aren't they? The Sky match tonight with Huddersfield could be interesting as the latter put in some lovely tries at Leeds last week.

                                              Toronto made it as far as round five of the Challenge Cup, but now we're down to the last 16 with those matches starting in a week's time. The Beeb have a couple of those:
                                              Castleford v St Helens 13 May, 14:30 live BBC1
                                              Warrington v Widnes 14 May, 15:00 live BBC2

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                                                #48
                                                Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                                This one is indeed a humdinger.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                                  Toronto Wolfpack win their first home match 62-12.

                                                  More importantly, they drew over 6,000 people.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Bully's Special Prize: Rugby League 2017

                                                    And had some punches thrown. They've fully embraced the game, it seems.

                                                    Good summary of the last week here, including the four internationals . Positive noises coming from England about going down under as a group, giving them a chance to sample what the World Cup will be like.
                                                    http://www.rugby-league.com/england/article/39998/set-of-six-this-week-in-rugby-league

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