International RL Blog

Crusaders  withdrew their application  for a new three-year SL licence in July due continuing financial problems.   They have announced that they intend join the other Welsh professional outfit, South Wales Scorpions, in the second tier of the RL pyramid. Campaign groups supporting the Crusaders have backed the move. CLICK HERE for more information      

Just like the X Factor, we were all quivering with anti........cipation and finally.......... it was announced, Widnes would be re-entering the Super League competition next season. We should all applaud this because it begins to rebalance the competition away from Yorkshire and back towards the former Lancashire Rugby League stronghold. Although they haven't got massive potential, Widnes have got good facilities, will get reasonable crowds and will be competitive on the field of play. Warrington are in the process of becoming a major Super League power and Widnes are their natural derby opponents. This is a major advantage in it's own right. We should not applaud the decision (which apparently has been made) to abandon the mid season international against France and play an Exiles XIII instead. Although I can understand the need for England to play competitive matches in preparation for the Four Nations this is a step backward for Int...

After their recently experienced financial tumoil and with no new ground on the horizon, Wakefield Trinity (forget the Wildcats) as they are traditionally known look to be on a fast train out of Super League. It's early days but they need to be in the top eight so that the RFL cannot exclude them when the franchises come up for grabs. John Kear is a thoroughly nice guy and a good coach who has worked miracles in the past. It will be difficult but not impossible Castleford and Harlequins with their fine early season form have demonstrated the way foward for Wakefield  and everybody else. Through hard work and good coaching it is possible to achieve good results with young, home grown players. We all like to watch genuine stars and Willie Mason falls into this caetgory but the majority of overseas players playing in the UK are an not needed because they are no better than the home grown equivalent. It's great to watch Rhys Evan...

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...

There has been much talk recently of England players such as James Graham and James Roby joining Sam Burgess and Gareth Ellis in the NRL and how this will improve their game and also make our international team more competitive. It is a free country and if any player wants to play in the NRL I wish them well but to suggest, as some have, that this is the only option open to England and it's players is silly. There are some big clubs in the SL with big budgets. With or without injuries, we should be able to compete with Australia and NZ. Anything else is defeatest talk Steve McNamara was an unsuccessful SL coach with Bradford and the same is true with England. I accept that some young players gained some good experience but coaches are judged on results. St Helens have been very succesful in the SL era with their cavalier, off-the-cuff, keep the ball alive style of rugby which is a joy to watch at home but suicidal in the international arena. We must be mor...

I thought the English players in the recent Four Nations looked  very tired. The RFL should look to ways to reduce their workload and a reduced number of matches in SL is an obvious option. The clubs would complain about reduced turnstile receipts with some justification but in reality, scarcity adds value and this should improve revenues in the medium/long term in addition to providing more the intense, competitive matches the players need. Fewer imports are another obvious modification we could easily introduce especially in crucial positions e.g. half back. To be fair though the RFL have addressed this issue A squad system as used in cricket/RU and cricket is another possible alternative where selected players are on central contracts but the number of club matches they can play is severely limited. Kevin Pietersen is an extreme example of a centrally contracted cricket player who doesn't seem to...

So, our national side was defeated yet again and it's time for English RL's annual self appraisal. We're depressed and down hearted and some of us might be thinking, is this really more trouble than it's worth? In 1817, while living in Venice Lord Byron wrote a famous poem called "So, We'll Go No More a-Roving" expressing doubts about his hedonistic lifestyle Maybe we should stay at home too and concentrate on club competitions. We could quit international RL and allow our friends down under to continue to develop their NRL code of football with two referees and no corner flags. We could continue to proclaim how good SL is every year and forget about beating the Aussies. Absolutely not. Like Lord Byron, we must go a-roving. He carried on and died seven years later We must continue to participate and develop International RL or the sport will wither and die. I was alarmed at the lack of coverage g...

Let's face it, the Four Nations competition currently taking place in NZ/Australia have been a shambles. As always, I make my comments before the final matches but no sponsor, poor scheduling, low crowds, uncompetitive matches and very little media attention mean the ARL should hang their head in shame. I was relatively optimistic after the successful World Cup in 2008 but as that proud Aussie, Russell Crowe said on Twitter " ARL should be doing everything possible to help strengthen other nations league sides, not do everything possible to win. The big picture is the important thing for international league games, not simply for Aus to win" Absolutely right. The ARL don't seem interested in International RL and prefer to focus on the NRL and SoO which is very short sighted. For me, the most disappointing aspect so far was that yet again an important international match involving Australia was refereed by an Australian. I do not doubt ...

I remember saying to a friend of mine a few years ago that you couldn't beat International RL for drama in sport. I'm deliberately writing this in the middle of the competition and I still think this is true. We could do with some more variety and more unpredictability but for sheer entertainment, International RL is great When, when, when will the English team perform to their true potential. Sam Burgess and Gareth Ellis have been stars in NRL this year and there are plenty more like them. Graham, Roby, Westwood, Tomkins etc are great players in SL if they can just do themselves justice on an international stage. Greg Eastwood has been very ordinary all year in SL but he performed well when it counted. Australian administrators please note. I’ve just said that Greg Eastwood performed when it counted i.e. in an international match. They are the pinnacle of any sport and should be treated as such. Anybody who treats a...

So far so good. France have played before good crowds including one of 14000+ against an Ireland side who are not a big draw. Likewise, Wales have seen an improved crowd against a Scotland team without any big stars which is encouraging. We can't be complacent and an attendance of 700 approx for the Scotland v Wales match is not good enough. The Ireland/Scotland teams contain very few home based players unlike the Welsh/French but we are making progress and building soild foundations. We have attracted a prestigious sponsor and wasn't it great to see neutral referees too? The European Cup 2010 can be regarded as a success and I am deliberately writing this before the end of the tournament. Maybe other countries e.g. Italy, Serbia, Russia etc could be included, it should be held on regular basis and England should compete too. A similar competition should be organised in the southern hemisphere along the l...

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...