I already know about that and signed a petition to maybe influence those with more weight to get him released.
And I disagree, it's a very good example and you miss the point entirely!
It's about getting training to those at grass roots level, to those that have influence at local level, that being in schools in areas that we currently don't have a foothold. If union are able to do this in a far away land where there is no history of the sport then we should at least be capable of doing this in regions other than the areas that are already strongly invested in RL. They have 5 union leagues that compete regularly in UAE and are prepared to invest more time and money to get it to flourish.

Meanwhile the RFL have failed to fund people in the Southern regions at least to go into schools and try to recruit, engage and enhance the profile of the sport, there are hardly any development officers any more hence why schools that did start playing league and playing in the national comps (certainly in Hertfordshire) no longer play any league whatsoever, not even casually.

That Sol was put in jail is irrelevant to the point and you missed it by a Carlisle mile

I didn't miss your point at all. If you want grass roots investing in then we need to be starting here in the UK, not in a country where promoting it can get you jailed.

No, you banged on about someone being in prison, that was nothing to do with the point I was making, yes imprisoning someone (albeit briefly) on the back of dodgy circumstances is not good but the point you clearly missed is that to broaden the appeal of the game RL needs to be doing what RU are doing. You missed that entirely and then had the effrontary to tell someone else they missed the point.
Just typical really.

But in a country like UAE how can you promote grassroots if doing so, puts your liberty and freedom at risk. Any other country and I'd agree but Karen has made a valid point.

Thank you for understanding where I was coming from. Not sure how simply pointing out the difficulties RL has suffered over there is 'banging on' but hey ho.

I do agree that RU at grass roots level is far superior and after working at the U20s RUWC in 2016, it's clear to see that the RU supports all ages very well. We could definitely learn a lot from them.

By working within that country's rules and regulations. It makes no odds whether we agree with or morally object to the rules and regulations in a foreign nation, if we want to be there then we need to adhere to their laws.

And their rules and regulations state that RL is not a separate sport so you tell me how you'd promote it at grassroots level without the risk of a prison sentence?

Easy. Firstly you establish a competition that doesn't 100% rely on Union players, Union Kit and Union pitches being used. You do this with the express written permission of the governing body, none of which the Mokdad competition did. He himself played Union nearly every week he was in the UEA........the flawed governance is something that can be "worked within" to start....once the game grows then the RLIF can begin discussions with the governing body to establish a separate body for governing RL.........just because we think it's unfair doesn't mean the UAE agree with us....things over there dance to their tune and not ours.
The fact that a mistranslated media piece caused this is a perfect example of the importance of dotting "i's" and crossing "t's" in that part of the world, where as Mokdad himself has said that he shared a cell with someone charged with breaking wind in an elevator.......There is a terrific Irony in that we slag off the vichy in South Africa but somehow want to do business with a nation that charges you for farting?