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Showing posts from December, 2010

Let's hope it's a good one

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I wish everybody a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Lets hope it's good one Let's hope we can avoid the repeated missed opportunities that has blighted our game over the years Thankfully, Crusaders are still with us and still have the opportunity to add to their growing band of supporters and build on the great work carried out in Wales recently.  I'm sure we'd all like to forget the the calamitous Leighton Samuals regime which was awarded a three year SL franchise and embarrassed the RFL and it's vetting procedures. We can all be wise in retropect and it's great to see us not repeating similar mistakes made with Paris St Germain (PSG) and Gateshead. Paris St Germain, who were  the mother of all missed opportunities, played in the initial SL competition all those years ago and were a great success. They were a high profile, capital city, French club who plaid in front of big crowds and were very competitive using French players despite compet

My Wife Punches Harder - Top 5 RL Fights

5. Ellery Hanley v Les Boyd Wigan v Warrington in Milwaukee 1987 Unfortunately this incident took place in a showcase match in the USA and was an embarrassment for the RL community. Great fight though! 4.  Mal Maninga v Peter Dutton Brisbane Grand Final 1980 This proves that our "friends in low places" can also mis-behave in prestigious matches and it involves Mal Maninga who has since come close to being made a saint. 3.  Stuart Fielden v Willie Mason Australia v GB  -  Four Nations 2006 This wasn't really a fight but more of a one punch KO. Fielden asked for it, had been asking for it for years but fortunately for him nobody was willing to take him on. Until he met Willie Mason that is and he has never been the same player since. The aura was destroyed. Amazingly, Willie Mason stayed on the pitch despite this and another incident in the same match where he maimed Sean Long. It illustrates how weak and easily intimidated referees are in international

2013 RL World Cup to be held in England and Wales

The 2013 RL World Cup draw has been made with fourteen teams competing in England and Wales. In an attempt to avoid one sided games, some elements of the successful 2008 format have been retained with two "super groups" providing three qualifiers each for a quarter final stage.. Group A  -  3 qualifiers Australia, England, Ireland, Fiji  Group B  -  3 qualifiers NZ, France, PNG, Samoa Group C  -  1 qualifier Scotland, Tonga, European qualifier Group D  -  1 qualifier Wales, Cook Islands, Atlantic qualifer Atlantic and European qualifying competitions are scheduled for 2012. USA, SA, Jamaica and either Canada or Japan will compete for the Atlantic qualifier spot while Lebanon, Serbia, Italy and Russia are expected to compete for the European Lets hope the RFL have more success in 2013 than they did in 2000 when the World Cup held in the UK almost forced them out of business. I heard rumours at the time that the then RFL chief Neil Tinnicliffe allegedly sold