Eednud Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 This probably won’t happen as the NRL clubs wouldn’t be too happy and doubt the ARL/NZRL would sanction it. https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/rugby-league-world-cup-brad-takairangi-indigenous-all-stars-maori-blake-ferguson/a1a65190-97a4-4504-80d2-cb6ffb9fb4fa 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 (edited) Great idea. I can never understand why Blake's opinions aren't more widely sought after. Maybe Joey Barton's wisdom should be called upon to solve the problems with the soccer World Cup. He could chair a committee. With Anthony Stokes, Islam Feruz & Andy Goram as members. Stokes might have as good a chance of making an "acceptably orthodox" All-Ireland XI as Blake has of making his own proposed XIII. John Hopoate's proposals for a change in tackle etiquette before a play-the-ball need considering too. I'm just joshing, man. Edited July 25, 2021 by FortescueFotheringhamSmyth 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Aotearoa Maori played in RLWC 2000 - they beat Scotland by 1pt at Firhill and avoided bottom in their pool. Other Nationalities and the British Amateurs have also played in tournaments. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 New Zealand and Australia have pulled out of the World Cup. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12366617/rugby-league-world-cup-determination-to-host-2021-tournament-despite-australia-new-zealand-withdrawal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clockwork Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 It just seems that Rugby League constantly has the attitude of the desperate simpleton from a sink estate buying a tenner's worth of scratch cards. [emoji19]Sad but true, RL in the UK just doesn’t seem to be able to sustain any prolonged interest outside its core traditional support, despite perhaps punching above its weight with its long standing relationship (£) with Sky. Just going on the relatively small following on P&B, I don’t recall a single post or review on the Challenge Cup final (Saints Vs Castleford) the weekend before last, one of the season’s true showpiece events, it just seemed to pass by. Shame really, as I don’t think there are many sports on TV that match Rugby League for non stop action and excitement as a casual/neutral sports fan. The strength, speed, fitness and skill of these guys is just incredible. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 (edited) When London Broncos played at Brentford in the early Noughties, I used to go a fair bit. I think I went to 10 games in the last season there, which meant I could only have missed 2 or 3, as they played a couple of games at Leicester & Maidstone (?) while the pitch was relayed. I admit I went down to 2 or 3 the following year when they moved to Harlequins. Not far away but much more difficult to get to by public transport... which illustrates the thin ice on which sports teams attract floating fans. The point is, though, that the media coverage London Broncos received was phenomenal. The Evening Standard was still a proper "paid for" paper back then. The sports editor was clearly a Rugby League fan. There were regular full page features or interviews with coach Tony Rae or star players such as Paul Sykes or Steele Retchless. At the time, Broncos would do well to pull 3,000 for a home game with Halifax or Salford, though they might get 5,000+ for St.Helens or Wigan. The 4 London Rugby Union clubs in the Premiership regularly pulled 10,000 fans. Wasps won league titles and 2 European Cups but the Evening Standard gave Broncos just as much coverage as they gave the Rugby Union lot. BBC London had live commentary on Broncos games. They often won more games than they lost, they got to the Challenge Cup final in 1999, they got good media coverage, but the club didn't attract any more fans than Leyton Orient pulled in Division #4 and never looked likely to grow. Rugby League has never come close to cracking the London market and probably never will. So how the blazers thought they could crack Toronto is beyond me, even given the superlative efforts of the people running the Wolfpack operation. Same goes for the choice of World Cup venues. They might have half-filled them with semi-eager schoolkids for 2 weeks, but interest would have waned immediately and the money would almost certainly have been better used to support the game elsewhere. Given the Draconian measures that Australia and NZ have been taking re: Covid-19 for 18 months now, it almost defies belief that there seems to have been no ongoing communication on the chances of postponement, relocation or downsizing. Total Covid-19 deaths in Australia are still below 1,000 (almost exactly the number of Aussies who die every day from other causes) yet Sydney and half the country is once again under what amounts to curfew and martial law. It's incredible that the withdrawal seems to have simply crept up on everyone. *Edit* - I'm just in a cranky mood, as my 15/1 bet on Parra for minor premiers was finally sunk this morning by Easts... the club I used follow when I lived in Paddo. Edited July 29, 2021 by FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Updated info. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Clockwork said: Sad but true, RL in the UK just doesn’t seem to be able to sustain any prolonged interest outside its core traditional support, despite perhaps punching above its weight with its long standing relationship (£) with Sky. Just going on the relatively small following on P&B, I don’t recall a single post or review on the Challenge Cup final (Saints Vs Castleford) the weekend before last, one of the season’s true showpiece events, it just seemed to pass by. Shame really, as I don’t think there are many sports on TV that match Rugby League for non stop action and excitement as a casual/neutral sports fan. The strength, speed, fitness and skill of these guys is just incredible. I certainly only take an interest in the internationals. That's mainly as they played their European Cup ties and WC qualifiers at Galashiels for a few seasons which I went along to and quite enjoyed - I prefer it as a spectacle to union tbh. Also went to Scotland-USA at Salford back in RLWC 2013 then England-Scotland and Australia-NZ in Four Nations year we qualified. They are hamstrung by the fact they only really have 3 decent countries, and NRL down under don't really seem to have much sympathy with the international game or trying to grow the sport. That said there have been plenty debacles trying to grow it up here too: look at the sagas with London Broncos, Welsh Crusaders and Toronto Wolfpack. They missed opportunities by not establishing a Scottish club in the lower levels at our peak a few years ago, not playing a Four Nations game in Scotland, plus even played 'home' warm-up and WC games in Workington, Featherstone and Barrow! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Queensland sunny one day, shut the next! Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and a few other areas going into a snap 3 day lockdown from 4pm local time today so rest of this week’s NRL games are off. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 6 hours ago, Eednud said: Queensland sunny one day, shut the next! Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and a few other areas going into a snap 3 day lockdown from 4pm local time today so rest of this week’s NRL games are off. Checked Flashscore 1st thing this morning and wasn't entirely surprised to see the "P-P"s up. In some ways I'd love to hear the "science" behind a snap 3-day lockdown... but there's plenty of Caroline Aherne material on YouTube if I fancy being in a "Don't know whether to laugh or cry" mood. For 18 months now, every Western leader's Covid-19 policy has resembled a Pommie batsman facing Shane Warne for the 1st time, but this has to take the cigar. PM Palace-Chook retained her position by a landslide in the Queensland election last year. The average Aussie is right behind her and her batshit medical officer Jeanette Young. Australia is a remarkably law-abiding nation when someone in a uniform says "Jump!" Victoria's Powers That Be have been in touch, but NRL chief V'landys looks set to send his minions into the fields of northern Queensland, hoping to clear cane toads from large enough patches of scrub for a few games to take place. Good on yer, sport! Let's hope he pulls it off. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 NRL sweet talking sees permission granted to allow play to resume with 3 games on Sunday and 2 on Monday all nehind closed doors. SUNDAY 1.50pm: Knights v Raiders at Suncorp Stadium 4.05pm: Storm v Panthers at Suncorp Stadium 6.25pm: Dragons v Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium MONDAY 6pm: Bulldogs v Titans at Suncorp Stadium 8.05pm: Sharks v Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 (edited) 11 hours ago, Eednud said: NRL sweet talking sees permission granted to allow play to resume with 3 games on Sunday and 2 on Monday all nehind closed doors. SUNDAY 1.50pm: Knights v Raiders at Suncorp Stadium 4.05pm: Storm v Panthers at Suncorp Stadium 6.25pm: Dragons v Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium MONDAY 6pm: Bulldogs v Titans at Suncorp Stadium 8.05pm: Sharks v Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium Yep. He's done well there. Young was making agitated noises last weekend when some bounder of an NRL player or coach was seen passing a bag of marshmallows from a balcony on one floor of a hotel to someone above. I suppose it might not have looked good to come down hard on footballers when film stars are jetting in and out. Mind you, Wee Nicola, Ms. Aitken and Polis Glesca had no problem with Indiana Jones filming in the middle of Glasgow a fortnight ago when fans were still not allowed in stadiums. It'll be odd to see how things go in the closing weeks, with some gaps in the ladder. Some teams might ease up if they're sure of a top-2, top-4 or top-8 berth with 3 weeks to go. 5th or 8th makes no odds if all the finals games are going to be on neutral territory. Penrith v. Melbourne today quite possibly a Grand Final rehearsal. Melbourne had covered the handicap in 13 of their 14 straight wins until scraping past NQ for a 15th win on the bounce last week. They've often covered the spread comfortably. Easy to forget they were 1-2 after three games. Panthers look to have gone off the boil a tad, even though they've won all four since their own long winning streak came to an end with the two losses when half their starting side was playing Origin. Edited July 31, 2021 by FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Typo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortescueFotheringhamSmyth Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 ... and spare a thought for the Bunnies and Dragons fans. There were pics of a few of them in the stands at Rockhampton, so I'd guess the game was only called off 90 minutes or so before kickoff. Presumably some of them hacked 900 miles up there from Sydney last week, now they're 400 miles north of a game they're not going to be allowed to attend. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 1 hour ago, FortescueFotheringhamSmyth said: ... and spare a thought for the Bunnies and Dragons fans. There were pics of a few of them in the stands at Rockhampton, so I'd guess the game was only called off 90 minutes or so before kickoff. Presumably some of them hacked 900 miles up there from Sydney last week, now they're 400 miles north of a game they're not going to be allowed to attend. The gates would have opened early as there were local and QRL games scheduled at the venue from 11am. Doubt any fans had travelled up from Sydney for the game as apart from border areas all of NSW is a red zone for travel to QLD. So 14 days quarantine unless classified as an essential worker. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 The World Cup has been postponed for a year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/57630566 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 12 hours ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said: The World Cup has been postponed for a year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/57630566 Unwelcome but unsurprising... also assumes Australia & NZ will be 'back in loop' by next year, as they'd assumed ahead of this year. Hadn't fixed up hotels etc. so I'll likely just roll my tickets over. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Rabbitoh’s Latrell Mitchell probably out for the season after head high tackle on former team mate when at the Roosters, Joey Manu’s. Probably should have been sent off instead of just put on report and sin binned. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Sea Eagles Reuben Garrick equals then breaks the record for most points in a regular NRL season with his first and second conversions against the Cowboys in Townsville. After a third conversion just before half time Garrick is on 292 points. Previous record holder was Hazem El Masri of the Bulldogs with 288 back in 2004. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajwffc Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Warriors to play a 3rd season outside New Zealand as they will be based at the Dolphin Stadium in Redcliffe https://www.warriors.kiwi/news/2021/09/09/redcliffe-confirmed-as-new-base/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 7 hours ago, peasy23 said: This is a 4 points for a try zone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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