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Wheldon Road isn't up to SL standards .

That's sadly a very common view. I remember a time when the RL family used to sell out Wembley and you'd see every professional club's shirts. The disenfranchising of RL fans outside the top flight has led to this decline. We almost feel like we are not really part of the game anymore.

Absolutely now people are saying where’s the players like Farrell or Sculthorpe in the modern game. When Farrell and Sculthorpe played people used to say they are no Hanley or Schofield. Back in the 80s my dad would say Hanley and Schofield weren’t a patch on Huddart and Murphy.

Ive looked on the forum Today for the first time in ages , wow what a meltdown , re the Rochdale Topic. The one thing i will say is ..if i have anything to say i will use my own name. Lets just leave it at that..relax ,enjoy your rugby All the best.

The game I was at last night, kicked off slightly later than the advertised time- 19.47 rather than 19.45 but there was a bad injury where a player received lengthy treatment before being carried off on a stretcher to where an ambulance would collect him. That stoppage was more than 10 minutes, that's less than the Muslim officials took to break their fast, this is what I was saying earlier, anything can cause the delay of a football game, if a person is setting their watch and making travel plans based on the game starting and ending at a specific time then the problem is that person, not the cause of the delay.

Agreed but then be radical with the changes, wipe the slate clean and look at the game as a whole not just one section. What we have now got with just a few tweaks is the 'licensing years' all over again, it is the same but with a different coat of paint. It is designed in such a way that after the initial introduction and settling period it will be impossible for clubs outside of the initial - chosen 12 - to ever rise to it, or for the incumbents to leave it. The scoring system has been really thought about and is purposefully weighted to do exactly what the committee of the 'Framing the Future' did those years ago in choosing who would be the elite and who will be the onlookers. The licensed years did not last the test of time simply because those clubs on the outside were waning and the game in that section was struggling, it needed rejuvenating and sensibility prevailed in 2015 when the licences were rescinded and P&R was reintroduced. There are those (usually fans of SL clubs) who say the Championship can have a vibrant competition all of it's own, well that didn't prove to be the case in licencing it was dying a slow death in a dead end street, and it will do the same with IMG's methods. Licensing lasted 6 years 2009 to 2014 inclusive, if the same happens again and the Championship is going downhill by 2030 IMG should be confined to the history books as licencing was "tried and it didn't work".

Saw Will coming off the pitch and looking a little discomfort. Even though he was directly next to me near the dug out I was unaware of the severity of his injury. Just hope the lad has a speedy recovery. Barrow fan.

There is no equivalence. There have been numerous posts explaining that soccer is different in every respect. Birmingham City have just announced a long- term plan to invest over £1 billion in a sports campus. Birmingham. city are 23rd out of 24th in the Championship and average crowds of around 20k. In comparison, ours is a Mickey Mouse sport with club financials at the lower end of the SME spectrum. We can only just put together a 12 team SuperLegue competition and even then, too many of those are living a hand to mouth existence, with unarguably only Saints,, Wigan, Catalans, Leeds and Wire operating sustainably. IMG deal is our last chance .

Tried quoting Brookie, but the threads been locked. Cian Tyrer, who you had on loan last week, returned to the yeds and scored a double hat trick. The last player to do that for Oldham was the great Ike Southward in 1960. Don't know what you feed em up there but it's working wonders for us.

It's eight years since Tony Smith led any side to more victories than losses in a league season, and it sure as hell doesn't look like 2024 will buck that trend. Seems more and more like a 'yesterday's man' with every week that passes.

Well done all, not only do we have a full squad, with players in their proper positions more or less, but also a coach, and representatives from every SL club (I think). Looks like it might struggle to make the playoffs though! 1 Krisnan Inu Widnes 2 Liam Kay Toronto 3 Kevin Iro Saints 4 Junior Sa'u Wakey 5 Marcus Bai Bradford 6 Danny Orr Cas 7 Lachlan Lam Leigh 8 Ligi Sao Hull FC 9 Tommy Lee Giants 10 Andrew Gee Wire 11 Jesse Sue HKR 12 Andy Hay Leeds 13 Willie Isa Wigan 14 Ken Sio Salford 15 Tyrone May Catalan 16 Joe Mbu London 17 Sam Moa Hull FC Coach - Tony Rea

What an odd comparison. Also your version of very smart and 'looking feminine' might be different to younger people but it doesn't mean you are correct. Also what you are saying about the younger generation here, is exactly what the older generation will have been saying about your generation when you were young. Im sure the same will be true for 'RL was better in my day' attitude as well.

I don't disagree with this Harry. Licensing was a disaster last time when we even saw crowds diminish in the top flight. It won't take long for people to realise they can't get into SL (Spreadsheet League as my football mates laughingly call it) and the history repeats itself. The only other viable option for RL without P&R is to completely separate the game into Summer and Winter competitions as per my earlier posts. What simply won't work is a fudged halfway house like we currently have. As it was during licensing, our sport is sadly a laughing stock.

You have hit the nail when you talk about the difference in perception between fans of Championship teams and SL teams. I followed RL for years and it was always my number one sport until IMG. As a fan of a championship team I no longer take any interest in SL and if the whole lot went bankrupt I wouldn’t care less but ultimately I don’t think anything will change so I will just keep going to watch the championship and not care about the rest.

I was at a football game this evening where the game was stopped for a moment so a player could break his fast. I don't think I've ever seen this before. I always love to experience different cultures and it was nice to see.

Stats- Astley-2 tackles. one miss. 2 tackle breaks. 3 try assists. 9 carries=107m M Turner-6 tackles.one tackle break. one clean break. one try assist. 15 carries=94m Morgan-6 tackles. one miss. 2 tackle breaks. one clean break. 14 carries=101m J Turner-4 tackles.3 offloads. 2 tackle breaks. 2 try assists. 14 carries=123m Tyrer-3 tackles. one miss. 8 tackle breaks. 7 clean breaks. one try assist. 21 carries=199m Craven-16 tackles. 2 tackle breaks. 2 try assists. 11 carries=38m Ellis-5 tackles.one tackle break. 1 carry=0m Kopzcak-17 tackles. one miss. one offload. 16 carries=106m Wildie-32 tackles. one miss. 5 carries=22m Farnworth-27 tackles. 3 misses. one offload. one tackle break. 12 carries=103m Wardle-29 tackles. one tackle break. one clean break. one try assist. 7 carries=100m Lawton-20 tackles. one miss. 2 offloads. 4 tackle breaks. 3 clean breaks. one try assist. 12 carries=130m J Chapelhow-20 tackles. one tackle break. 15 carries=104m subs PLT-4 tackles. one offload. 3 tackle breaks. one clean break. 8 carries=102m T Chapelhow-15 tackles. one miss. 10 carries=90m Hirst-9 tackles. one tackle break. 7 carries=62m Johnson-13 tackles. 9 carries=43m Tyrer's stats are obviously immense but this was a proper team effort. Outstanding.

Next time we’re all complaining about our form take a moment to consider what can happen on a rugby match for our entertainment

For any Hull supporter that's the most encouraging sentence in that article. Whether it leads to anything substantial is another matter but we need some new blood and some new money at the top.

Having looked at the highlights, I remain convinced that the wrong decision was given in relation to Lewis Carr being stripped of the ball early in the second half. IF it wasn't a steal in a 2-man tackle then it was at least knocked out by Fleming and the ball went forward. At best, a penalty to RAMS - at worst a scrum with RAMS head and feed. Instead, it was 'play-on', Widnes scored and the game was effectively gone.......... Fine margins, eh ??

Hi T73. Regarding the match v Widnes. You say fine margins. Ok we conceded four try’s against the early season table toppers. Try 1 conceded a penalty in Widnes 20 and they had the wind. Gained approximately 40m with touch kick and a few tackles later Langtree slips a ball out in two man tackle. Two men both experienced and basically poor effort in defence. Two later try’s by the hooker were just telegraphed pee takers. You are correct about the try re Carr it was a blatant two man ball strip. In conclusion I ask again “What special things did table topping Widnes do to beat us”? Answer absolutely nothing. We were soft. Also noticed in defensive contact we had some players just laying prone on the floor. The two occasions I recall were both DR players. Not sure if Ian Watson coaches that. Scramble to your feet asap without giving away a penalty with a view to at least making yourself a nuisance towards the attacking player. A classic example was the hooker at acting half near our line and stepping over the prone player before scoring. I stand by my original assessment that we were soft all across the park on Sunday. You have to earn fine margins.

Ike once told me that the fee was £11,000 plus the price of a bottle of whisky ( hence £2 and 10 shillings) to create a new world record… chairman Tom’s idea!

My thoughts exactly, just get everyone fit for the games against kieghley because they are the key games and we've got them three times ,but we want everyone fit for all the games not for just kieghley.

I don't know the injuries of the four - and now two other's as well with Johnstone and Abdull. Steve McNamare is really showing his skill and what ever!

Tara Jones will be the first woman to referee an English men's pro RL game on Sunday when she takes charge of Oldham v Cornwall in League 1. Poacher turned gamekeeper and vice versa on a weekly basis for Tara. As a player, she's quite cute around the ruck. By cute, I mean borderline illegal, constantly pushing her luck, crowding and niggling. Different when she has the whistle.

Well done Tara.

And to add, it was at Emley, where public transport is limited to 1 bus every hour either direction to either Wakefield or Huddersfield. Not many people rely on public transport to get to Emley, more fool them if they do

I remember seeing a documentary about Town with Ike and Andy Key being interviewed and they asked Ike where he got his speed from. In his own inimitable fashion he said "I had 3 owlder brothers, so I ran to git yam frae school afor them so I'd git fed frae t'fust pan o' chips".

Or the random posters on an internet forum who would get sad at this

I find this whole situation quite comical, and some of the thoughts of some of the other posters are as always, enlightening. It feels strange as a London fan, currently in SL - I have been told I must love IMG as I am a fan of a club in the SL. But also as a London fan, I have also been told that I must hate IMG as they will be the reason London will be relegated this season. People will always think that the sport they grew up watching was the better "spectacle" then what we see today. Football fans that grew up watching in the 70s and 80s I am sure say similar things to what a lot of RL fans in those age ranges say, that's what humans do - they view what they experienced themselves at younger years in a more promising way then it actually was. London will perhaps win 1 game this year, maybe, if we get lucky and one of the other teams has a bad day. I didn't really expect us to get anymore than 1 win, so I feel pretty indifferent to my team losing every week. I certainly am not motivated to go watch them every week in person. Personally, I don't think there is enough money in RL to have open P/R between SL and the Championship. I think clubs need to build more sustainable bases both in SL and in the lower leagues all across the sport. It is embarrassing how small time RL is.

How many rounds was it before Wakefield won a game last season? Seems a like for like replacement to me. Any issues with London being in SL is more a reflection on the play off system to determine the winners of the second tier, not on the idea of relegation.

Jam

Rugby league has been dying or dead in this country for the last fifty years if you believe what you read. It's still here. Trust me, it could survive relegating Hull, Leeds, Warrington, whoever. Locking in the same teams who in your opinion have put it on life support will make no difference whatsoever.

Neither have Hunslet, unforunately for them...

Rugby League is the number 1 sport in Australia in this country RL is much lower down the pecking order .We have a following who attend games of less than 50k .Ballot SL supporters and over 95% will be for IMG with no relegation.Ballot the Championship and League i supporters and 95% or more would be against them.

The specific number of 92 teams irrelevant in this case obviously. Can't agree with the broader point with all due respect. Get promoted against the odds in a scrappy win and then fight for your life in the new higher tier, that's proper sport to me. Get promoted and know that you are damned from the outset due to a spreadsheet? What a massive turn off

I agree with you on those points. They still had something to play for though for most of the season for nearly every team across the 92 teams, other than the bottom few in the old fourth division. There will always be dead rubbers, but far many more when you take away the threat of relegation on the field of play. There will also always be a decrease in motivation (eg why would London bother spending money to compete), interest (why should I go to watch my team try and win the league when even if we win it I already know we will just be stuck there next season) which in my opinion eats down at a sport from the top, isolating fans

I prefer P+R to licenses/franchises/grading, some of you may prefer otherwise, that is fine. I also believe like last time it was tried in the UK, this will cause more harm than good to the overall Rugby League structure and will not achieve the 2 main goals the game should have, get more people playing, and more people watching. The difference between a team at the bottom of Super League and a team at the top of the championship is that one is in the Super League and one is in the championship, drawing an arbitrary point in time and making that difference permanent is not fair (even if technically promotion is still possible the reality of the system will prevent it in all but exceptional circumstances) or a good idea for growing the game as a whole. This version of licensing is not a good one, and the criteria need to be adjusted (but seemingly are not going to be), even if you like the theory of grading, this is not the best practical way to do it. Pointing out it is better than some other stupid idea posted on a forum, or that the clubs voted for it (nobody ever voted for something that would harm them before...) doesn't change the obvious problems with the system and it won't solve the bigger problems the game has. Dividing the increasingly small pie in different ways is the opposite of what we need, a bigger pie. Short term gains for some is not the way to build long term goals for the whole sport.

1385 of the 2520 at Doncaster were Wakefield fans

I'm pretty sure you can't lose existence and lose extinction at the same time. Relevance - really? What relevance have we now? Players - so where would all the players who don't make the elite play? You could argue that it would increase access to players as the 'franchisers' would use the competition to blood / develop players (as per Aus). Visibility - again really are you actually being serious? The only valid point is stadiums for those like us that share with football teams. The rest shows a complete lack of understanding (or caring) just how dire things currently are outside the top flight.

Couple of things that may have changed since last time you visited us: The restaurant bar at the back of the stand is now members only, us riff raff can get a drink etc from the concourse beneath the stand. There is also a beer cart which seems to be the kept a secret for some reason that sells at the bottom corner of the stand but hardly anyone knows it's there. Car parking is all done via the web or an app, here is the direct link to use Car Park 2 on Sunday. Alternatively you can scan the QR code on the signs in the car park or pay at the ticket office you do not have access to the internet. https://www.yourparkingspace.co.uk/locations/show/3314552678?rental=short&start=2024-04-14T13%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&end=2024-04-14T19%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&season_plan=mon-sun&skip_availability=false&interval_count=1

Until the clubs realise they have to split the cash 14 ways

Some of Ike's family came to one of our games last year to receive his Oldham Heritage Certificate, was lovely to meet them. I believe he was our record signing from Town at the time & then we sold him back to you 2 years later for our record sale!

For the record, I'm not stating that either Rogers or Campbell should be removed from society whilst awaiting trial, I was merely pointing out that there's a double standard in some people's opinions on both situations.

Fabulous

I'm sure I'll be corrected if I've not got this right, but the Champions League TV rights are 5 billion € pa. To play, you have to qualify, so no promotion or relegation. Same for the Europa League, same for the European Championship, same for the World Cup. If the RL Championship clubs want to break away and run their own version of the sport, and if any current SL clubs want to joint them, then just do it, for that way lies oblivion. The one issue I have with the RFL's approach to SL is that it requires clubs and their fans to think long term, with the emphasis on "think". As the end of the first quarter of the 21st. century approaches, thanks to IMG, the sport is finally becoming professionally run.

You were doing OK till you got to the bit I have highlighted, do you actually believe that? There are so many parts of the scoring system that suits the incumbent SL clubs and has the Championship clubs behind the 8 ball. As for the second highlight, just open your eyes a little wider Ant and see if you can actually see the wood for the trees.

Hi LeeF , completely agree that on field performance does have much more of an impact than just the 25% or 20% mentioned . It's the same with the catchment area . Not only should this be removed on the basis that teams have no control over it , the very fact that a team has a larger catchment area is already scoring them more points on attendance , fandom and other related areas . We should remove the catchment area (in my opinion) and allocate the 1.5 points to the on field perfomance score . I think a good idea would be to add the 1.5 points (taken from Catchment area) and award it for CC instead . As an example you could award 1.5 to winner , 1.25 to runner-up , 1 to losing sf , 0.75 losing qf , 0.5 losing r16 and 0.25 to teams reaching last 32 . This would also make the CC more attractive to clubs .

A bit unfair on the comments re Brad Walker I think. I was very skeptical on him at first but been impressed with his kicking and passing to set up attacks. He is not a runner I agree but he does alot. Today wasn't his finest but you could say that about a few others also. No names. We can't seem to control a game at all, don't make alot of yardage and let teams run at us meaning we start in our own 25 to many times. I could go on and on but am a fanatical fan who wants us to do well so not being negative. But come on let's improve massively in ALL areas.