And let's not forget 9 of the Thunder squad are from Newcastle/Gateshead, plus one southerner from County Durham. In terms of giving opportunities to genuinely local players I'd bet Thunder do as well as most clubs and better than a fair few. Isolated clubs like Thunder need a (very) few extra non-quota players simply because they have no surrounding established rugby league areas to draw from. If heartland clubs don't like it, they should have tried a bit harder in the intervening century or so to spread the greatest game past York.

aha.....a sensible post.

www.overstream.net/view.php?oid= ... ch&skip=12 When all else fails To all Gateshead fans please be aware that the above may contain strong language , therefore you view at your own peril This is a ' Popman ' production as I would not want to claim credit for his work

www.overstream.net/view.php?oid= ... ch&skip=12 When all else fails To all Gateshead fans please be aware that the above may contain strong language , therefore you view at your own peril This is a ' Popman ' production as I would not want to claim credit for his work

Quality

Probably the funniest RL-related video (well, sort of!) I have ever seen. The guy deserves a medal for that brilliance!

Sir I take my hat off to you, sheer brilliance

Quote ="bowes"Looks like Leigh East is a malicious rumour, but this seems to say Bramley, Warrington Wizards and Carcassonne were being lined up although since Bramley haven't applied and don't have a suitable ground and since it would be reckless to A. have a French team in Championship 1 , B. it would be reckless to take another French team out of the French Elite at this stage, C. Championship 1 and French Elite are a similar standard and D. taking Bramley and Warrington Wizards out of RLCN would kill the league stone dead, without taking any expansion clubs up, so I hope the rumour is untrue viewtopic.php? ... 1&start=15'" isnt there to be a scottish or irish team supposed to be joining the semi-pro ranks next year?

Quote ="bowes"Looks like Leigh East is a malicious rumour, but this seems to say Bramley, Warrington Wizards and Carcassonne were being lined up although since Bramley haven't applied and don't have a suitable ground and since it would be reckless to A. have a French team in Championship 1 , B. it would be reckless to take another French team out of the French Elite at this stage, C. Championship 1 and French Elite are a similar standard and D. taking Bramley and Warrington Wizards out of RLCN would kill the league stone dead, without taking any expansion clubs up, so I hope the rumour is untrue viewtopic.php? ... 1&start=15'" isnt there to be a scottish or irish team supposed to be joining the semi-pro ranks next year?

Actually with the closeness of the league this year, I almost said standard then.. I'd be tempted to only go one down this year. Draw up potential Ch1 candidates and offer funding for expansion areas, good funding, the RFL will make some money this year in the 4N, see what interest you can drum up. Just my 2c

Pure Genius!

Ironically (or may be not so) the footage is from a film called Downfall.
Sounds about right for Leigh.

Like a cable cart, gone right over your head...

No

Don't be so patronising

Its not established in that area for a very good reason = no-one is interested.

And the smart alec swipe about hundred years is a bit cheap - how long have teams in the north east been playing the game? I believe that South Shields had a team in the 2nd division from 1902 and Newcastle had a team in the same division from 1936. I also believe there have been teams come and go at regular intervals since then. You can hardly blame heartlands clubs for the game not taking off in certain areas.

Obviously fans from clubs like Gateshead will say they want extra Aussies - they've all seen the Celtic model and how desperate the RFL are to get teams in from different areas.

I know a lot of people don't like football, but I just don't see what the problem is with everyone playing to the same rules and just let the teams get on with it. Same applies for the salary cap, surely the cap just restricts growth and possibly hinders development - I mean how many youngsters possibly have turned away from the game because the wage prospects are far better in other sports such as football and union (not to mention regular bog standard jobs as well). The big argument against not having a salary cap is about the same teams winning every year - doesn't seem to harm the premier league footie does it? By all means have a % of income cap to stop teams spending more than they can afford but apart from that, let teams sign who they want, pay them as much as they want and let the strongest teams take centre stage. After all, all of the nurturing and and encouragement and money ploughed into certain clubs, has the game ever really took off in Wales, the north east, possibly even London? With a level playing field we'd soon find out. Thats not to say they wouldn't do well, but at least they would have earned it playing to the same rules as everyone else.

As Wigan have shown in football, a bit of investment can go a long way. The opposite is true in rugby though - Widnes have someone who is prepared to invest heavily in the club, but with a strict quota and salary cap, how can he set Widnes aside from the rest of the clubs in the division? The lowering of the salary cap in the Championship could turn the division into a bit of a lottery, like the NRL - which is fine apart from the fact that promotion and relegation still exisits. Next year Batley could finish top and Widnes bottom - is a lottery the best way of finding out which clubs will be allowed to apply for SL next time round? Leigh are another - its quite obvious that they want to make a big push next year, surely they won't be able to keep the players they have signed if they go down with the lower salary cap in the Championship 1 - if Leigh can afford them and players want to go there, why not let them? The concept of artificially restricting teams is totally bonkers.

I don't know. How many?

Absolutley top notch video!

I really hope so

Quote ="bowes"No'" really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i

Quote ="bowes"No'" really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" It think he meant that its been called off due to the credit crunch. hopefully they can sort something out for the season after.

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" It think he meant that its been called off due to the credit crunch. hopefully they can sort something out for the season after.

well if the plan has changed, im not sure that there will be a change in the make up of the leagues for what would be just one season,

the uneveness was just a stop gap before another team entered, and the team to even it up was supposed to be the scottish one

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" If there was do you not think something would have been said about it since that article in February?

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" If there was do you not think something would have been said about it since that article in February?

knowing RL, not really!

but my point wasnt that there would be a scottish/irish team in there, simply that that was the plan,

hence the uneven league for what was supposed to be one year, and these ideas put forward on here are based on the premise that there was no rhyme or reason behind the uneven leagues, there was, and probably still is a plan to put in a scottish/irish team within the next 2-3 years and that would even up the league

Iv'e never ever heard of a RL game being a 'good laugh' before.Seeing a quaity stand up comedian live in concert is a good laugh or watching a 3 stooges film,but a game of RL?How odd.

If it was going to happen, they'd have announced it months ago.

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" Bordeaux were supposed to join SL in 1997 and Hearts, Walsall and Dublin were being lined up for 1998, along with dozens of similar proposed teams never materialising (Crystal Palace were meant to have a pro side as were many other soccer sides in the 80s, along with the SL early years hysteria)

Quote ="SmokeyTA"really? www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 31231.html [iDavid McNeil claimed the new-look Scotland Rugby League Limited was established last year to build on Scotland's successful World Cup qualification and to oversee the entry of a Scottish club in the RFL's semi-professional Championship One for the 2010 season. [/i [iMeanwhile, Scottish champions Edinburgh Eagles - favourites to land a place in the Championship - are aiming to line up alongside the league's semi-professional clubs when they take on Leeds Metropolitan University in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday[/i'" Bordeaux were supposed to join SL in 1997 and Hearts, Walsall and Dublin were being lined up for 1998, along with dozens of similar proposed teams never materialising (Crystal Palace were meant to have a pro side as were many other soccer sides in the 80s, along with the SL early years hysteria)