International RL Blog

 I've recently watched Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini giving a TV interview in faltering English and seen England soccer manager Fabio Capello struggling in the same way. It made me thankful for small mercies because at least England RL coach, Steve McNamara is English. The Australians have always appointed Australian RL coaches as have NZ and Welsh coach Iestyn Harris is from Oldham but has consistantly represented Wales. Monsieur Bobbie Goulding is doing a fine job as coach of the French national side but he is from Widnes. The French are usually very good at preserving and promoting their national culture and identity in the face of fierce attacks from golbal americanisation. Muticuluturism has no place in France where everybody is expected to adapt to the French way of life including learning the language I'm glad that Adam Mogg and Dane Carlaw didn't play for France. They might have improved the team temporarily but they were obviously Australian althoug

In chronological order with no consideration of merit The First International RL match 1 st January 1908               Wales 9   New Zealand All Golds 8                Aberdare In 1907-08, Albert Henry Baskerville organized a group of New Zealand players for a professional tour to the UK against Northern Union opposition. Dubbed the All Golds they included Australian susperstar Dally Messenger as a guest and played a total of 46 matches including the first RL international against Wales . Although the All Golds led 8 -3 at half time the Welsh came back strongly and Dai Jones scored a try with only minutes to go. They held on for a famous victory although Dick Wynard of the All Golds missed a great opportunity       Dally Messenger                      Albert Baskerville        Rorke’s Drift Test 14 th July 1914                    Australia 6 Northern Union 14            Sydney The 1914 GB Lions tour to Australia became controversial when the third and deciding test w

There is no need  for the RL community to be pessimistic even in the current financial climate. The glass is half full The RFL can continue to plan for slow sustainable growth without getting over excited. There will be set backs but the salary cap can be a vital tool used to maintain a fine balance between traditional and new which can work in partnership towards a common goal. There are some existing, successful SL clubs from relatively small towns who are currently thriving but will inevitably reach a limit. In a free market, a team from a town like Warrington cannot compete with a team from a city like Leeds. When the Warrington club tries to expand it inevitably encroaches on the territory of neighbouring SL teams like Wigan and St Helens who have the same problem. Other SL teams such as Crusaders or Les Catalans do not have this problem. They might not currently be as successfull but the potential is much greater. Gate receipts and sponsorships are important but they are no

Last week I watched some of the England v Wales RU match on TV. The action on the pitch was very dull but I quite enjoyed the numerous shots of the coaching staff where ex-Rugby League stars Mike Ford, Shaun Edwards and Roly Phillips were very much in evidence. The match itself featured ex-NZ RL international Shontayne Hape (playing for England ???) and the undoubted star was ex-Wigan player Chris Ashton. If Rugby League players/coaches are in such great demand does the sport itself have any reason to look at the future with anything other than great confidence? These people have not been missed and if RU cannot produce it's own talent, isn't that a problem for them? It's brings to mind the enternal, internal debate between the optimists and pessimists within us. Is the glass half empty or is it half full? This weekends Millenium Magic event was certainly entertaining stuff althought the huge stadium was nowhere near full. Surely the aim of playing these games in Cardif

The new RL season started yesterday (did anybody notice the publicity?) and one of the first matches will see Toulouse entertain Dewsbury in the Northern Rail Cup. The Toulouse RL team represent a large, vibrant city in southern France while Dewsbury come from a small Yorkshire town in the traditional English RL heartlands. Throughout the season Toulouse will travel to and from similar small towns in the north of England and most of their away matches will take place in front of pitifully small crowds. The English RFL are paying the travel expenses but is this money well spent? Surely it would be much better to use this money spent subsidising travel arrangements to relaunch the French Championship. It certainly needs it because the removal of two of the strongest teams in UTC (renamed Les Catalans) and Toulouse has decimated a once strong competition. There aren't many clubs left, most are struggling and some of those are the result of mergers. This severely limits the chances