https://www.totalrl.com/garry-schofield ... al-column/

https://www.totalrl.com/garry-schofield ... al-column/

I know many in Rugby League disliked him but I always enjoyed reading his column. He told it how he saw it and I have no issue with that. He was always a good player to watch throughout his career.

I did have the pleasure of being on the tour with him at the World Cup in 2017 it was a blast. I wish him well with his health and hope he can still enjoy the sport.

Good? He was a brilliant player.

Who was it that he had a spat with in his column and they responded with comments about his weight?

Andy Farrell

"One reason I'm not too sad to be finishing this column is the sport just doesn’t excite me anymore. The on-field product isn’t anywhere near as entertaining as it should be."

He's right. Good luck to him.

It’s why he was called controversial, he knew the sport on the field was/his becoming garbage to watch but got called out for saying so. Wonder who in the press will pick that baton up.

Whilst I wish him well and agree that he was a star turn on the pitch and share some of his concerns about RL as a 'product' there is an inherent problem with being controversial.

Too much of it and you lose the impact of your messaging...."oh it's only so and so sounding off again" and this is before the subversive agents of cancel culture step in.

Fair comment but at what point do you stop speaking your mind and why is it classed as controversial. 2 guys in the pub speaking about sport are not controversial because nobody knows them.

I have never understood why a coach or an ex-player or anyone in the media can not say how they feel without it being classed as controversial. Expect someone will educate me.

Don't expect any one on the Sky / BBC set up to raise their head above the parapet. It's all "amazing" remember.

We will have to rely on falling TV viewers, TV deals, and live attendances.

Opinions are great and I don't think anyone should stop speaking their mind, but I would offer that two guys in a pub aren't controversial, not because "nobody knows them" but because they have a limited audience.

As soon as you have one (an audience) which doesn't seem that difficult in 'this day an age' with more platforms than a night at a 1970's disco, then you might want to consider what you say, a case of 'know your audience'?

Or maybe not, you'll get a critique no matter what, but sometimes if your best known for being controversial for the sake of it 'just' to stir things up, then some of the good stuff will inevitably get lost as people dismiss or ridicule the content based on reputation alone.

Again all good points. But you are Disco Stu

I literally can't stand him, he just talks S#!t most of the time for attention it seems, well he used to, not sure anymore as i've ignored all his articles for years and years now.
But i don't wish that on anybody, awful news to hear for him. But he does have a point here, the game isn't as good as it used to be, not as exciting or as physical as it used to be. But i still love it and won't stop watching or supporting the game.

I’m still here so you’ll get you dose of controversial and whatever else you want to all it.

Schofield is quite a unique character.

He has a high opinion of himself but he's quite in touch with ordinary fans. He regards himself as the greatest player who played the game but he never sought to be part of a clique of ex players or media who saw themselves as above ordinary folk. I used to live in Leeds and you'd see him in the pubs watching the games on Sky and he'd chat to anybody about rugby league. He was funny and friendly with people and you rarely see that from sports stars, they always try to keep themselves a bit apart from the riff raff. Everybody in Leeds knew who he was and so he was always getting attention but he seemed happy to exist among the ordinary fans as one of them.

His views tended to be populist and predictable: too many overseas players, clubs don't give young lads with talent the chance to develop, the game these days is crap compared to what it used to be. But over time I think a lot of people started to agree with him especially on the last one. He never fell for any emporers-new-clothes style hype.

And for those of us old enough to remember him as a player he was absolutely world class. There were some incredible British players back then with him, Hanley, Offiah, Davies, Edwards.

It is very sad to hear of his health problems and I wish him all the best.