When I picked my copy in WHSmith, the back cover flapped open to reveal a young lady in an England shirt, heels and her knickers posing in changing room showers, with a weak pun about April Showers (ahead of the next issue). At the front was the 'Random League' section for bizarre stories and I thought 'poo, they've turned it into a Lad's mag'. To my relief the stuff in between was decent enough.
I was a bit alarmed, though, that Steve Mascord thought the Huddersfield 6 should be named, shamed, fined and suspended even if no charges are brought or successfully prosecuted. WTF?

What mag/paper is this? I'm suddenly interested.

the 2 papers are worth a read but league express is easily the better. league weekly has a bit of an old man's feel to it like the old rugby leaguer and news that's days old. league express news seems to be more like updated news after the games. but it needs more features and player interviews like it used to have

rlw is miles better after the redesign. it now feels like a proper mag in its thickness and professionalism. the random league stuff was a bit bizarre and the championship investigation didnt really investigate very much. it didnt really offer much opinion either. at least you got that from schofield and the last ed. but hopefully it will carry on improving.

Martyn Sadler and Tim Butcher were simply fans who were disillusioned with the standard of RL press coverage in 1990 (?).

They ain't been to no media school.

But they did something about it, backed themselves financially, and set up League Express.

Dave Hadfield helped start up the Bolton team in the early 80's and i seem to remember he was an RL fan well before that. Ste Fox has followed the game for around 35 years I would guess. I could defend one or both but I don't suppose its worth it but the FACT is they are both RL through and through and have been for decades.

I was referring more to the newspaper correspondents than the likes of Sadler and Butcher. I have no issue with their reporting really.

Not creeping or anything just because Steve Fox has posted here but I have always found his articles,whether Widnes related or on RL in general, to be entertaining and informative.Likewise Hadfield.His book up and over was most enjoyable.But hey,we RL fans like to slate players,reffs,administrators,fans etc so why should journos escape the wrath.

I like Dave Hadfields stuff, the Jon Wells column and that George bloke who does the blog on BBC. He is very good.

Ive always thought it would be good if League Publications tried a monthly kids style RL mag in the style of Match Football magazine. I loved Match as a kid for the stickers, posters and easy to read articles. Something like that for kids might really help promote the game to a young audience.

Im confident in the heartlands it would sell well enough to be a goer? Maybe SOR for amatuer clubs??

To be accused of stating "the bleeding obvious" makes me sympathise with Gordon Brown when he is accused of bullying.

No doubt Gordon would like to bully his accusers, if he could be alone in a room with them, and similarly I feel like coming out with "the bleeding obvious" in response to this criticism.

I suppose I could have said that Leeds have had a bad start this season because it's the Chinese Year of the Tiger (Cas Tigers, geddit?), combined with the fact that Brian McClennan stopped going to church, Gary Hetherington forgot to pay the groundsman, and Wakefield employed a witchdoctor to cast a spell on Leeds at Belle Vue.

None of that would have been obvious, so maybe I'll point it all out in my next column.

I don't know whether I state "the bleeding obvious" every week, but if you read the column on 15 February you might have spotted a piece about the tendency of first-year coaches winning the Super League title.

A lot of people, including several coaches, have said to me since that column came out that they had never spotted that particular trend. But maybe it was obvious to you.

Anyway, having got that off my chest, thanks for reading League Express, and criticism is always more valuable than praise, so you are doing us a favour. Obviously!

Was it your cat that we ran over?

I also ran the line (once) for a St Bedes ARLFC North West Counties Division Six fixture so any suggestion that I lack an in-depth knowledge of the game is very hurtful.



Thanks Dad.

Some of Wadski's ideas are great. I'm not a huge stats man myself but i'd definately like to see more of a personal touch with interviews the man on the street can't hear regarding club life in general

Wow. That sounds like a smart piece. I assume you compared the performances of coaches who are in their first 2nd 3rd 4th etc year in post. And factored in the clubs' pre and post coach seasonss. The number of new coaches in clubs outside the Bulls /Saints / Leeds must be very high yet few manage to win SL! If it is merely an observation that a club finishing 1st or 2nd one year then finishes 1st the next year with a new coach it could be virtually meaningless.

With the backing of analysis it will be a meaningful insight. Without thoughtful analysis it is a dreary partial observation.

Too many RL journalists confuse surface observations with insight. I am sure your piece was the later. I will go and dig it out.