International RL Blog

We have an all Lancashire SL Grand Final (Wigan is in Greater Manchester and St Helens is in Merseyside but let's not quibble about details) and coupled with Warrington's successive Challenge Cup wins, the future of Lancashire Rugby League seems bright. Or is it? Rugby League has traditionally been a northern sport with strongholds in Yorkshire and Lancashire but with seven Yorkshire clubs and only four Lancashire clubs SL is unbalanced. While Wigan, St Helens and Warrington are dominant forces, other traditionally strong clubs such as Oldham and Swinton are mere shadows of their fomer selves. Hull KR have demonstrated how dormant support can be reinvigorated and the RFL urgently needs to produce a format where clubs outside SL can proper. Even a former glamour club like Salford have struggled but their new stadium is finally under construction in a high profile position next to the M60 near the Trafford Centre. The local amateur game has been largely swallowed up by the gl

Another problem faced by International RL is the lack of referee credilibility. Referees should be neutral and selected by a strong, independent International Federation which will not tolerate any interence. Nothing is more off putting than a touring team arriving e.g. Australia and bringing it’s own referee. The home spectators then have to watch a game played under different rule interpretations than normal. France have particularly suffered from this during the past twenty years A strong independent International Federation should also ensure that the same rules are adhered to (as much as possible) worlwide and sufficient neutral officials are available. At the moment the Australians seem to have a veto on referees for their matches meaning that an NRL referee or a tame Super League referee is always in charge. This stinks I do not doubt the professional integrity of any referee anywhere but all referees should be impartial and more importantly, be seen to be impartial. For

A leaked e-mail has recently come to my attention written by GB RL boss and Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) board member Richard Lewis. It concerns International Rugby League eligibility rules and part of it is shown below:- "the international eligibility rules are totally wrong. I and the whole of the RFL have tried on numerous occasions to get the rules changed at international board level. We have failed because Australia (in particular) and New Zealand have an advantage by keeping the rules as they are, so changes are constantly filibustered out" It is from a reliable source and contains no great surprises. It certainly explains a lot. It is very silly that Jarad Hayne should be allowed to play for Fiji in the World Cup then a year later turn out for Australia. Likewise Chris Bridge played for Ireland then England and many other examples could be given. Players should not be able to swap nations like they swap clubs. This sort of thing damages the credi

Terry said later that his wife punches harder  -  one of the best

During the Super League era, almost all silverware has been won by the so called "big four" of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens and Wigan. If my memory serves me well, Sheffield and Warrington winning the Challenge Cup are the only exceptions. The last three Grand Finals have involved the "big two" of Leeds and St Helens. Surely all fair minded RL fans deplore this situation and hope another team can triumph. I am certain (anybody want to bet?) that Bradford won't win anything this year. Under Steve McNamara and his successors they have been woeful. I realise they have worked under financial constraints but so have other teams - look at Crusaders. Bradford have under performed and need to improve dramatically My really hoped that Warrington would break the monopoly of the "big four" but their defeat by St Helens in the first round of the play offs has put this in doubt. They under estimated St Helens who played well and the conditions were certainly a l

It hasn't been a good season for the Catalan Dragons. Bottom of the SL table says it all. They lost two of their best players from last season in Greg Bird and Adam Mogg and obviously suffered with injuries but the squad didn't seem to want to play for Kevin Walters. Maybe he was unhappy living in France ( the South of France near the beach! I wish?)  but he always looked so miserable and it is very difficult to enthuse others in these circumstances. I'm glad to see he's got a coaching appointment lined up in the Queensland competition and I wish him well. The Catalans have been very well served by overseas players in their short existence. I can't speak highly enough of Dane Carlow, Casey Mcguire and others but more recent acquisitions have been very disappointing. Steve Bell did not live up to his reputation, Setamanta Sa has been a let down and other players seem to lack motivation. They really need some big physical fowards who can do a similar job to Jason

Recently I watched a re-run of the 1978 Challenge Cup Final between Leeds and St Helens on BBC 4. It was very enjoyable but different. The pace was slower, the players were obviously not as fit and you could see how different size players performed different roles e.g. big props like Chisnell and Pitchford played as did fast wingers like Smith and Mathias. The physical confrontation was not as intense but the players stood much deeper and showed more imagination with their ball handling. There was no gamesmanship and the referee was not concerned about modern obsessions e.g. quick play the balls. They were also less concerned about retaining possession than present day players probably because the hooker could win back possession in a contested scrum. The contested scrums made a big difference to the game but I personally thought they were a farce. Leeds won if anybody didn’t know and this was in the days of three point tries. The game has obviously developed and moved on a