International RL Blog

France U16s defeated England U16s 34-26 in the first Test at the Stobart Stadium in Widnes on Friday 29/3/13. In a closely contested game from start to finish, it was the French who left victorious thanks to a spell of domination in the second half which saw them score three tries in 15 minutes to overturn a 14-12 half time deficit. CLICK HERE for more info Despite a defeat in the second test, the French proved they are more than competitive at this level and have the raw talent available. They lack the sophisticated coaching and development schemes available in England and Australia but hopefully Les Catalans (and possibly another SL franchise) will put this right 

The Trinidad and Tobago Rugby League Association has been recognised by their Ministry of Sport, the second Carib bean nation to achieve such a mark. They look forward to playing matches against Jamaica, USA and Canada in the growing North American scene. Interest exists in Guyana and St Lucia too  CLICK HERE for more info

From the Pacific peso to parity with the greenback and now beyond: the Australian dollar goes not so much from strength to strength but from historic new high to historic new high. CLICK HERE to read more RL teams in the UK can no longer afford to sign top Australian stars and transfer traffic now predominantly heads towards the NRL where GB stars, if they're good enough, can earn good money. James Graham, the Burgess brothers and others now play in Australia and demonstrate this. Ryan  Hoffman, Brett Finch etc have returned from Wigan to Australia, Leeds have signed two unknowns and Warrington haven't signed anybody at all.  Nobody can doubt that top international Australian and NZ stars enhance our competition but on too many occasions our SL clubs have employed far too many ordinary players (and coaches) from down under. For too long our young players have been denied opportunities as a result and too many talented players have become disillusioned   The curre...

Has Dickie's got a new meadow? CLICK HERE  to find out "Dickie's Meadow", a well-known Northern expression, possibly refers to Sandals Meadow where the battle of Wakefield took place and where Richard met his end. The common view held that Richard was ill-advised to fight here. The expression is usually used to warn against risky action. ("If you do that you'll end up in Dickie's Meadow") CLICK HERE for more info

"At Last" was a famous song by Etta James very much associated with the civil rights movement and was used as part Barak Obama first inauguration. Beyonce famously sang a cover version at Glastonbury. While the start of the 2012 Rugby League season can't can't claim the same historical significance as Obama's inauguration and no player has legs like Beyonce we are seeing a welcome innovation. AT LAST an effort is being made to market rugby league The Bradley Wiggins and Sam Tomkins clip produced by SKY was fantastic. CLICK HERE to see it AND the Rugby League of Extraordinary People footage was shown during the FA Cup games on ITV  

I have just discovered these two photos of an empty Station Road just before it was demolished. This "graveyard of the Aussies" is now an anonymous housing estate on the outskirts of Manchester but I prefer to remember it in its full glory hosting Rugby League Tests Matches and full to the rafters. It's an indication of how times changes and it's also very very sad. Not very far away is the City of Salford Stadium which was built at considerable expense by Salford Council as the home ground of Salford City Reds and it's opening was supposed to herald a new dawn for the club. The council have now withdrawn their support and the future of the club is now in serious doubt. This is understandable in these harsh economic times and is also very sad but it begs the question, why did the council build the stadium in the first place? Surely the stadium will be a white elephant if Salford Reds go out of business. Surely it was all or nothing i.e. no support no st...