Why do people buy OPINION SHEETS?

We have TV, radio, t'interwebby etc and still people buy these things.

Can't people work things out for themselves or are they really influenced by biased opinion writers who follow a set agenda prescribed by their owners.

I haven't bought an opinion sheet in years and as for "news" they are so far behind it's a joke.

Morning Star used to be the best for rugby league. Full round up every Monday morning.
Don't buy papers nowadays, easy and sensible option for the rugby league fan.
League Express every so often and Sporting Life.com every few days.

Buy a regional or local paper instead I can't ever understand any RL fan EVER buying the Guardian, Daily Fail or Telegraph. They loathe RL, The Yorkshire Post MEN, and most regional papers give decent RL coverage. Comment very welcome from Crusaders fans on this welcome? I used to read my brother in laws Chronicle when I was up in Newcastle and it gave Thunder very good coverage.

The former RL journalist for the Telegraph, John Whalley was exceptional. Unfortunately, he left the paper a good ten years ago.

I heard Connor McNamara commentating on a Latics match on Five Live, complaining about the state of the DW pitch and saying they played rugby on it. Funny thing was, it was before Wigan played Crusaders in the first fixture.

I'm glad Rugby League only thrives in Working Class Northern areas because otherwise instead of Watching England V NZ at Huddersfield in the company of likeminded diehard fans you'd be surrounded by thousands of pompous turds like Torygraph reporters and readers. The only time Tarquin doesn't wear a suit is when he's at the rugger.. what what what. Experienced it only the once when Wigan played Barth at Twickers and hated it. There was a lad next to me about 19 who actually snorted, turning to his friend and saying "wow this is priceless Bartholomew, we're totally staffing them in the racks" No word of a lie. Me and my dad were sat on the front row and my dad actually fell asleep on the wall in front of our seats. I don't want Rugby League to change or for different types of people to start watching OUR game it would ruin it for me. (The fans that were into all that Bullmania rubbish that have all disappeared were equally as annoying)

eh lad. Did you grandad hand down that flat cap you're wearing.
The game will die without new fans...regardless if they are tarquins or jemimas, read the torygraph or the sun or used to own a pit or just worked in one.......without supporters the game will die.

People have been predicting the demise of the game forever and a day and it won't die, having a team in London has done absolutely zilch to improve media coverage and actually results in less people watching live Rugby League each week than without them and even more of a laughing stock when a team playing at the top level of our sport in a Capital city with millions of people can't even get 5000 people in, they should be giving tickets away And how many decent players are coming through the ranks? Total waste of time if they want our sport to grow they want to get centres set up in the inner cities of Birmingham and the like, I may be old fashioned and bigoted but I'd rather watch West Hull and Wigan St Pats with normal people than Super League with Tarquin and Jemima.

So where do the Crusaders and the Scorpions fit into the Class War?

Mate if they get kids playing the game from a young age in those areas through development and the like then I'm all for it but you can't just create a team from nothing and expect them to do anything more than just cling on to survival.. I think the scorpions idea is good but the irony is in order for Crusaders to survive they have to get rid of any young local lads and replace them with Aussies, the very thing that will keep them going will kill them in the long run. I think the Welsh could generally get into Rugby League with time but they want at least a few proper Welsh playing or it#ll be seen as a joke so they wont bother.

I think most people would agree with that, Regarding the Crusaders the fact is the do need a bit of "instant success" now to get a decent following going but I do hope in the long run they are a predominantly Welsh team!

I like gpartin's sentiments but he's so totally misinformed it's untrue.
And if we're talking about working class, the Welsh are definately that, no offence

On what points am I misinformed? I believe 100% that in order for a team to survive and thrive there needs to be a proper infrastructure in place. I believe that the game can do well in Wales but long term I think it will be through the Scorpions rather than the Crusaders and I wonder how many people have been put off in South Wales through the whole Bridgend debacle.

I am also fully aware that the Welsh are working class and didn't suggest otherwise mate which is one of the reasons I think it has a chance. If there is any evidence to suggest that the venture into London has raised the profile of the sport in any way I'd love to see it Rugby Union fans will look at Harlequins RL in the same way we look at Leeds Tykes, as a poor imitation. I also think that if Union fans were a target in London then using the name of a club which is a rival to the majority of Union fans in London is probably not the best thing to do.

Rugby League has done well increasing the number of clubs nationwide at a grassroots level over the past few years and things will take time but you can't just plonk a club somewhere and give them free rein to sign as many Aussies as they like and expect them to survive. If the RFL want these clubs to last then they need to be subsidising tickets to get people through the gates, assisting with Marketing and even bunging the teams a few quid to get a few big names on board. When new clubs fail they end up looking stupid.

Nothing like a sweeping generalisation.

Quins are producing plenty of players, the lowest amount of overseas players in Super League, Crusaders haven't got rid of anybody to be replaced with aussies, the players as they are promoted to first team will be moving to N Wales and it's funny that you mentioned Hull because Hull KR a couple of years ago had almost as many overseas players as Crusaders. No you can't count dispensation players like Lovegrove and Gene, they're still foreign players.