My first season back in 1997 I remember squad numbers were all over the place, halves of Robbie Paul, Glen Tomlinson or Graeme Bradley each with 1, 2 and 3. Stuart Spruce at 28, James Lowes at 25, Steve McNamara with 26, Bernard Dwyer with 23. Number 9 eventually went to outside back Kevin Crouthers. 10 Nathan Graham, 7 Paul Cook.

Them wot days.

Don't like squad numbers. Bit of a gimmick.

They are a gimmick I agree, or at least not necessary. That said, there are benefits, not least the chance to for clubs to sell shirts with lettering and numbering, which must add a bit to income. Generally, I don't think it matters over much with your own team, since you usually know who is who without numbers most of the time, but with other teams, and particularly in the lower divisions where players aren't as instantly recognisable, it's easier to keep track of who is who with squad numbers and names on the back.

I guess, in truth it's really just a case of aping soccer.

It saves money for the clubs also, for example if you have 4 players that will interchange playing 6, 7 & 9 during the year and one player is a size "M", one in size "L", one a size "XL" and one a size "XXL" then you have to get 4x3 shirts (12 plus the relevant spares), etc. where as if they have their own suqad number then you only need the 4 shirts (plus spares).

The thing is, I've seen the players before wearing numbered training gear that wasn't theirs. They just happened to pick it up and put it on.

Until the official shirt numbers are announced, I'd not get over excited by things like this

Agree, significance value is pretty low, and players may well also 'hang on to' training gear from one season to the next, and come to think of it, wasn't Gaskell no. 17 last year?.

Yes he was...

I think in honour of the various players that oversaw our progressive fall from grace we should retire numbers 1 to 99. I'd like a string of digits on the back ideally.

If they had a mixture of letters (some upper-case, some lower), numbers and special characters, fans could safely use their favourite player as a password.

I'm not planning on getting excited by things like this after the official shirt numbers announcement, either.

Oh do, please......there's no-one talking anything much at the moment - and I'm getting lonely

I recall seeing union teams with letters instead. Is it written in the rules that we must identify players numerically? And even then could we use Roman Numerals. A prop already has a big X on their back, and under my system they still would.

Wa wa waaah. Roman numeral puns.

I think both league and union sides have used letters in the past, though just why I can't imagine. I certainly can't remember any league team doing it in recent history [depending on what you regard as recent, I go back to the mid 1950s, though early memories are more than a bit hazy...]. I think a union side was still using letters in the last 10 or 15 years though, as I can remember the fuss when they changed.

Can't think of any puns - largely since, even with our large squad, we're not getting beyond xxix or if you prefer xxviiii

Meh. That's just your opinion.