Well, the whole reason I suggested an additional cup was because I don't want to see more meaningless league fixtures. Teams end up going through the motions to end in a playoff place or stave off relegation - too many dead rubbers when you don't get the main prize for coming top any more.

Cup rugby is do-or-die, especially a cup like the RT was. You had big clubs (see the Widnes and Leeds example above, 1991-92 who were already realistically out of the league running) going for it, you had clubs like Warrington and Bradford the season before who were fairly poor sides but knew if they could string 4 wins together in a cup competition it would be a memorable season for them and their fans.

On a more immediate note :

How will clubs adapt the matchday experience when fans, who've been away for over 12 months, return to the stadiums ?

If it's a return to overexcited beer drinkers hurling abuse and spilling beer around I'm not sure some will enjoy the return, having been in relative isolation for so long. Furthermore how will they appeal to those that have got use to money saved by not going each week, and attract new fans who might be desperate for a new experience ?

Okay, it's RL, I'm sure the planning is just to dust off where things were pre-lockdown and carry on as it was, but there is a chance for change now if they took it.

I share your concerns with "getting back to normal". Do the careful ones amongst us look forward to popping to the loo at half time and shuffling 6 inches away from the next man. I don't really think we will get back to "normal" for a very long time.

It will only take as long as you, the individual, make it.

It's whether that previous 'normal' is also the right thing to be striving to go back to - or should alternatives be explored to enhance the match day experience ?

I'm not just talking Jedward, the Wire Flyer and face painting, but also how fans behave and treat others around them - and how different people might need different time / methods that cope with an eventual return to a full stadium - noting that lockdown has probably made us all change behaviours.

It amazes me that despite the biggest killer by far being poor lifestyle habits the British and human race continues to get fatter and lazier. But then a virus comes along and all of a sudden the blame falls on anyone but us individuals.

Maybe one day we will target the source of the problem instead of lining MPs friends pockets with trillions of dollars. It takes the individual to accept responsibility and take ownership of the problem though. And that’s just not part of the ultra-capitalist mantra. Let’s keep drinking the Kool-Aid and hope that another virus doesn’t emerge... because the country certainly hasn’t got any money left in the war chest.

Is there anything more ironic than the sight of fat people wearing masks, while filling their shopping trolleys up with cake?

There's no irony there, you wear masks to, primarily, stop spreading things to others - whilst reducing your own life expectancy by poor diet choice doesn't.

However, that's straying now a bit from the topic of RL.

My thoughts.

1. Bring back or allow a bit more biff, the game is very flat without it.

2. The game needs to be promoted to a wider audience. Being from the south I have never played the sport. As a kid it was always football at school and a bit of rugby union. Which I detest. But I have grown to love the sport over the last ten years, and got a season ticket a couple of years ago, although I can only go to a quarter of the games. I think if it was promoted to people down south, I know they have London broncos etc but if there was a cheap coach going from London or people who are interested in union/stag do as a alternative to horse racing, the sport is exciting especially if someone who has not be bought up with it as a child. The grounds could attract more fans to all teams.

3. Get rid of Thursday night games

It was part and parcel of the entertainment, but I can't ever see it returning. We live in a changed world, and parents won't want their kids to have to go through such stuff. Which is fair enough, I can't offer an argument to that despite the fact I loved a good hit and a watching a match boil over into a scrap.

I think our best chance is champagne-stuff attacking rugby. People used to watch RL because it was the open code with lots of scoring. I'm not sure why we changed that.

A 10 team league would be a disaster., and should be avoided.