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Batley have never been in the top division at any time that we’ve had multiple divisions. Not once. I doubt it’s been their goal for a very long time, if it ever was. So what does IMG’s role in Super League have to do with them? Anything they’ve done in the past to build their club, and its connection with its community, has never relied upon the promise of some sort of sunlit uplands in another league. It’s been about the enjoyment of today, and the building of local roots for tomorrow. It’s been about being part of the area they’re in, and doing what they do for many other positive reasons that don’t rely on some nebulous idea of needing the “benefits” of promotion. Basically Batley are the living, breathing embodiment of how there’s a genuine, sustainable, enriching, rewarding life in rugby league without doing that. They’re a standard bearer of the future model, not a critique of it. Hopefully Featherstone and others can learn the right lesson from Batley’s excellence.

If we hadn't have gone again this year I don't think we would've gone next year to be honest. We have to keep backing the team, we knew it would be difficult and it is.

It’s higher than Halifax’s average if memory serves me right, and an 1,800 all-pay gate obviously turns over much more than a 1,500 gate with season tickets. If that’s grounds for it being a waste of time then I must be lost as I had a cracking afternoon despite the fairly one-sided scoreline.

Apart from a few of us who are realistic most of our fans have probably started watching only recently, ie last 20 years, they were brought up watching good teams contaning the likes of Brough, Crabtree, Lunt/Drew, Hodgson, Robinson etc and saw us in cup finals, play off semi finals, top 3 of the league regularly so have this idea that we should be up there with the likes of Saints/Wigan/Wire/Leeds etc as the top dogs of British RL, because realistically we will never be that with the things that hold the club back they expect us to win everything every year and never lose a game so when we don't they throw their teddies out of the pram and demand everyone gets sacked and sulk and don't come and watch, in fact most of them don't anyway as seen by our crowd numbers. They have this unrealistic view on our club that we are underachieving when the fact is we overachieved really between 2008-2015, we finished top of the league in 2013 and our crowds went down every season after that but yet those that have stopped coming say they won't come back till we win a trophy.....madness!! They won't listen to reason, they expect a trophy every season despite us not winning one (LLS apart) since 1962. They expect us to magically find money for NRL superstars when only 3,000 of them bother to buy a season card, they expect the players we do have, hard working and good squad players but not the most talented lads to produce 5 star performances every week and destroy all in front of us, because they don't they expect us to 'get rid of them' and replace them with a superstar player Jeez our 'Fans' facebook page has 'legal' people keeping an eye on it due to the venom and downright bile that is posted on there, even when we win it's never good enough. There's a small bunch of us who are realistic and don't have ridiculous expectations of our club but who use the correct channels to let the club know our concerns rather than just attacking individuals. I speak to our club officials on an almost daily basis and i know how hard every single staff member of the club works as well as volunteers from the Supporters Association who chip in, it hurts them to read some of the stuff our so called fans write but yet offer no support whatsoever when the club really needs it. I cringe reading some of the stuff, i'd love the club to have a magic wand or a fairy to grant 3 wishes but unfortunately they will never happen but some of our fans think this is exactly what the club should have!. I'm happy to see the club stiill alive, i'm delighted when we win and content when we lose and put the effort in but findourselves not good enough on the day and like most fans if i feel the effort wasn't high enough i will criticise too but next day i'm back to being a supporter and doing my best for my club as a supporter, it's a shame others who claim to be don't! Some of our fans are horrible, nasty people and their expectations and lack of them coming to the fore have made them like that.

Well done Batley. Following on from your two displays against Fev and now this. I hope you are as proud of your players as we are proud of ours at Fev. Two super league clubs got hammered this weekend against their fellow super league opponents while two championship sides gave their super league opponents a run for their money. Well done.

Baffles me. They’ve got so many advantages over other clubs, so much potential to be genuine contenders. Yet they’re just dire year after year. Different players, different coaches, same outcomes. It’s not even ‘underperformance’ because when the same outcomes have been happening for years, it’s just performance. This is their level. But why?

Agree with this, Super League is not the be all and end all of Rugby League, some club are more than happy to be a success in their local community and are, and do well off the field rather than like professional football where everything revolves around getting as high as you can to make as much money as you can. I've never in 36 years of following RL ever thought of Batley as a club who desperately want to get into Super League, i'm sure they wouldn't turn it down if they thought their club were ready for it on and off the field, but they seem to be a great club who's supporters and townspeople are bloody proud of what they are and what they continue to do for them. Batley is a proper rugby league day out these days, a great atmopshere inside and around the ground and the ground has been developed into a smashing place to watch and enjoy the great game, they seem perfectly happy up there that that's what they want to be and fair play to them. It would be wrong for the media and people to presume that IMG/SL are holding clubs like Batley back, unless of of course clubs like Batley come out and say otherwise.

Rugby League in Norway continues to grow thanks to a determination to invest in young homegrown talent rather than opting for heritage players. SHORTLY after...View the full article

Well done Leigh for overcoming a monumental effort from Fev. The difference in the two teams was very poor defence out wide from Fev. Two of those tries would have certainly been stopped with a little more organisation. AND the obvious new rule that Super League teams can pass forward on occasion if they've got momentum. Proud of these players especially with all that's going off at the club. They are a very committed group.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/23/batley-bulldogs-castleford-tigers-challenge-cup-rugby-league?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwAR2MQbpMOw976qMXS4b2Ky-lE9IwaysxESfshClcCBhPrq9F0SxJ3-FP5bU

Unsurprisingly some seem to be shooting the messenger with regards to Featherstone not paying players & others their due

Well was at the match today and I must stop predicting matches , we had lads who pulled a shirt on today that weren't 100% fit and they tried their best and that's all I ask as a fan for them to do , we have played two teams that have throw a lot of cash about and we have been hit with injuries, support was great again, keep it up lads , on to Newcastle next and am saying nothing about the score UTT

Years of practise.

Proud as punch today with the effort.

You don’t like the competition, we get it. But this theory about the attendance at the final is nonsense

Not necessarily, there's more to football than the vastly over rated Premier League. Football at grassroots level, like most other sports is a different beast to its professional cousin, it's generally more sociable, generally less anti social, generally more entertaining and certainly less stressful, it's not all about winning at all costs and sacking managers if they don't, it's about standing shoulder to shoulder with and having a pint, having a chat with opposition and your own fans in a generally friendly environment. Certainly beats sat in a half empty John Smith's or MKM stadiums watching dross and not feeling excited or entertained.

I agree and disagree, and I'm not sure I 100% follow your post, which may be why. I'm not sure I agree that football is the issue here, they still have many cups, have great followings at cup finals and absolutely make a fuss of them. I quite like the balance they have. Of course some things will be more important than others, but I do think when we just abandoned many historic comps we did lose something interesting. Following the Aussie model somewhat has harmed us imo. The Cup has to survive, and has to thrive, the decade where Wire were prominent in the cup was one of teh most enjoyable times, the more clubs and fans that experience that the better imo.

Yes I noted that too, really ungracious and unnecessary from Lam, they'd just survived a scare and gone through to the next round - would it have killed him to say something nice about how we pushed them all the way? Apparently so, not much class unfortunately. Agree re Leigh deserving it, but there wasn't much in it - massive credit to the lads - and but for some of those 'marginal' calls going Leigh's way who knows what might have been. Good luck to 'em anyway in the next round, I'd rather they win it than a bl**dy Wigan or Saints. Again (yawn).

For me it's a retro weekend. All teams playing in a kit from a successful season. Maybe that celebrates a significant anniversary too.

For those unfamiliar, the Rugby League Development Fund was an initiative started by a group of fans (via the RL Planet website) that raised funds, mostly through a membership scheme and every so often would make a donation to a developing RL nation. I think it ran for about 5 years before eventually fading away for a number of reasons. It often gets brought up by many of us on here, how great it would be to get something like this going again. I believe a few people from here were involved: @Gomersall and @deluded pom? and probably some others. So this is an initial post to gauge interest to see how many people would be interested in joining such a scheme if the idea were to be revived again? One suggestions I have on how it could work: We gather a bunch of people in developing nations, and each one provides a monthly update of what is going on in their nation. This could be exclusive content for members (maybe via Patreon or one of those sites). Membership could be as little as £5 a month and then once a certain amount is accumulated (say every £1000) then a donation is made to a certain country. Would like to hear other people's thoughts on this and maybe if someone from TRL can comment as well? If it were a TRL-endorsed initiative, it would give it a lot more credibility too.

Is anyone else finding Gadwin one of their favourite players of recent years? He's bounced around a number of clubs, seemingly falling out with one or two of them, but finally seems to have found his spiritual home at Fev, and more than that, the responsibility he has taken on this season since the departure of some of our older props/middles has been immense. Having been regarded for much of his career as an impact player for short stints off the bench he's now our clear-cut most important middle (along with Addy but he plays a different role) and is playing big minutes every week and charges into the opposition in both attack and defence. Love watching him play.

This topic is titled "Fev not paying staff". The RL media has been criticised in the past for not being tough enough in it's approach. Easy peasy ( and this applies to ALL clubs) 1. have all the players been paid in full? 2. Has the money deducted for pension contributions been paid? 3. Has the club passed on to HMRC the income tax and NI contributions it has deducted from players wages? 4. Has the club paid it's suppliers in line with the TS and C's?

Some folk still like it: Bulldogs’ spirit reminds us why rugby league heartlands must be cherished | Challenge Cup | The Guardian

I thought Lam was very condescending to Fev, by saying it was Fevs cup final. Sorry Mr Lam this how Fev attempt to play every game. Leigh were just another team we had to face. By the way when you mention if we'd have had all our players fit. As soon as you said that any credability you had regarding the game. Was lost.

Crowd at The Shay announced at 1800+.Thought there a few more in that although it was a younger audience than usual. Think Fax must have been in the schools this week dishing out a few free tickets.If that is the case don,t know if they are counted. Not a great weekend with all 8 results going to form and a lot of one sided scorelines although the 4 Championship clubs did better than 3 SL teams.

Ihttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/23/batley-bulldogs-castleford-tigers-challenge-cup-rugby-league?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwAR2MQbpMOw976qMXS4b2Ky-lE9IwaysxESfshClcCBhPrq9F0SxJ3-FP5bU Absolutely spot on article.

Exactly. Get stuck in. It's tough this year as most team have made improvements and it won't be any easier next year. You've done this before, you can do it again. Good luck to you.

Between 7-8 players who would almost certainly have been playing if they were fit. Fair play to the lads who are pulling the shirt on every week

Exactly this, we've pretty much played championship teams up until this point, Oldham and Keighley will be far ahead of everyone in this league IMO, we've got them out of the way now, so it's time to regroup and see how we go against the rest. Injuries aren't an excuse, they are an absolute fact, especially with so many ruled out.

That's entirely my point and its not just about Hull born players, its what they produce full stop. I strongly suspect if these lads had been going into a setup and academy like Wigan for the last 20 odd years there would be an awful lot more. They are quite obviously not being developed properly and the investment/personnel is not there. Hull FC have been doing something badly wrong. I also played at that amateur club you are referring to and played with lads that went on to play for GB, we lost against West Hull every time and those lads were outplayed. Sure it doesn't always translate to professional level but it is a very decent measure and it certainly shouldn't result in the huge, glaring difference in outcomes that we see. That differance comes from what happens after they sign pro.

But this youth talent rarely results in top class international players. Who was the last Hull born Hull FC international player? Kirk Yeaman? Being good at youth level doesn’t mean you’ll make it to the top. Mikey Lewis is another one of very few Hull born international players in the last couple of decades to put a time scale on it. For whatever reason Hull born players don’t make the transition to top class pros in the same numbers as the two teams you mentioned. One amateur club in Wigan has produced more GB/England internationals than both professional Hull clubs combined since I’ve been watching the game.

I'm in. Choosing the correct clubs/countries to invest the money in is key however. Start up clubs is surely the target?

Mine won't be a popular view. But the more I think about it, the more I think that the last-16 format we've got (12 SL + 4 best of the rest) is fine for the late season competition we probably need when (1) the Challenge Cup starts this early and (2) there is no automatic promotion and relegation. We have cultivated a toxic notion, partially imported from football, that 'the league' is the only thing that counts. Fanbases of the 'nearly' clubs - mine amongst them - have had their interest sustained in the past by relegation battles or minor cups. Warrington haven't won many league titles but we have a cabinet full of Lancashire Cups and a few Premierships and Floodlit Trophies. Now you can sneer at those (and people do), but look at London and Hull now: their seasons are on life support a month into the season. Depending on the draw for the next round we could have 4 or 5 teams whose season is basically over by mid-April. Market that.

He's up there with the best props in the league. Missed him enormously against London in the playoffs.

Playing Centre for the Roosters currently, pretty tall (around 6’3 I think). played fullback for France B and I believe he has played a bit of halfback before, so he is a pretty versatile backline player. Him and Sacha Kouassi (Villeneuve Player) both wen’t on trial last year with the roosters after being scouted, Griffier got signed Kouassi didn’t. Griffier played for Salon who are in Elite 2.

I like the idea of CC winners and SL winners starting the season but you lost me at Huddersfield!

Great effort from a fev team disrupted by injury and a sin bin , looking at the way they've started this year bodes well for a very competitive TOP end of the championship

I agree. It's typical RL mindset, get over excited, focus on one thing and then be disappointed when it isn't the silver bullet. There is little reason for SL to be involved in Vegas.

It's hard to see any light at the end of tunnel as a Hull fan currently. We are woeful on and off the field, and I don't see how that will change any time soon. Maybe Hull KR hammering us next week (and I mean a proper, historic hammering) would actually do us a favour as it would leave Pearson with no option but to act. By that I don't necessarily mean sack the coach (although that may well be part of it), but it might make him realise that the fans have had enough, and the way the club is run has to change. Although more than likely he will just bury his head in the sand, tell everyone to trust the journey that we are on, and then release a new shirt. I don't mind us being rubbish if we are at least showing a bit of ambition and trying to make positive changes. Wakefield got relegated last year, and yet honestly, I would trade places with them in a heartbeat. They have put together a good squad, they want to bounce straight back, things are happing with the stadium. It's a long process but if you a Wakefield fan you at least have things to look forward to a be excited about. We on the other hand feel like a club that is dead on our feet. We don't even have the release of relegation to allow us to clear the decks and start again, because unless something drastic happens our grading isn't going to see us go down for at least a few years yet. I've never felt as downhearted about the club as I do now, and I know that many many other fans feel exactly the same.

So it’s Heritage round in the NRL. Just watching the start of the Knights game and all players running out with their heritage flags - I saw KPP with the England flag, as you’d expect and then just as it was cutting away another England flag. At first I assumed it must be Will Pryce, but obvs knew he wasn’t down to play but after rewinding noticed it was Jayden Brailey. Apparently both parents were born in England. Arguably more grounds for England selection than Radley and he seems proud of that fact. Not saying he’d get in the England team btw, but maybe one to watch.

I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea - there were approximately 4-5k Brits there this year, with no SL/WCC involvement

The WCC challenge will go the way of the dodo if it isn't part of the Las Vegas festivities. With NRL now planning on picking the Vegas teams well ahead of time (by May), if the NRL champions are ultimately one of the Las Vegas participants they will obviously not withdraw from the big money event to fly over to Wigan or St Helens instead.

The boys gave it there all today hard to decipher SL from CH great first half a bit of a replay from last week with Cas scoring at the death and early in the first half, no disgrace for our boys a couple of mishaps in front of there line second half instead of points and it could, have been more exciting, proud of the boys today no shame in the defeat! Cas will be relieved they got thru the game, on to the league now which is more important to our guys!

Not British but French. (didn’t know what thread to put this in) Enzo Griffier on fire for the Roosters SG Ball team (U19s) scored 6 tries in his last 3 games. The Roosters are top of the SG ball ladder and undefeated 8-0. I think the sky is the limit for Griffier, he is a starring player for the best U19s team in the world. I expect to see him play regularly for the U21s side after the SG ball season ends in a few weeks. Could also be in line for a nsw cup debut if all goes well. NRL is firmly on the cards for Griffier in the next few years.

The Isuzu FA Vase Season 2023-24 Prize fund payments Round Winning club Losing club First round qualifying £550 £160 Second round qualifying £725 £225 First round £825 £250 Second round £900 £275 Third round £1,125 £350 Fourth round £1,875 £600 Fifth round £2,250 £725 Sixth round £4,125 £1,350 Semi-Final £5,500 £1,725 Final £30,000 £15,000 The FA Vase is for (effectively) divisions 9 and 10 of English football.

I think the opposite - the game is crying out for variety. This seems to be designed to deliver about 6 installments of the same fixture across the season.

Not necessarily. In fact, I'd be going for clubs with a proven track record, that is then looking to expand. For example, team in country X, their men's team is going well and looking to expand and add a youth or women's team. Start-ups can be risky. I have seen so many attempts, that have just fizzled. So orobably better to invest in some that already have some runs on the board, which is a sign of persistence. Persistence is the #1 requirement for long-term survival. Anyway, this is very much step 2 and 3 things we are discussing now. Better if we keep gauging interest and then working towards getting it up and running.

Moore and Cooper, both top quality championship signings. You know what you're getting with those two. Plenty of years still left in both aswell. A couple more like that every season, keeps us solid.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/03/23/data-shows-full-potential-of-nrls-us-strategy/

Jasmin Paris first woman to complete gruelling Barkley Marathons race https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68643341 What a fantastic achievement