Woods etc is hardly responsible for Australia being very, very good at RL nor the Irish not playing much RL.

I don't think it fair to compare with Australia 2008 as a benchmark. Australia has RL as first or second sport and their team were favourites to win.

Fair play to the RFL. They be crap at many things but this worked very, very well. I know the argument that Woods isn't really responible for this but he picked the right person. If he had picked the wrong one then we'd blame him for that so credit to him. (But more to Sally Bolton).



It was ever thus. The thing is that RL is not considered to be a national sport by many and Broncos (or Crusaders) didn't change that. Is the Super League Show shown in London or Wales at peak times? No, it never was. Oddly enough it was and is shown in the North East.

Engage are an insurance company from Harrogate less than 20 miles drive from Red Hall. Few people have heard of them in any context other than sponsoring SL.

To be any different, we need more than just a token outpost club.

Absolutely effing ridiculous. Another 10 days as if the past 10 months hasn't been long enough. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/25207002

Absolutely effing ridiculous. Another 10 days as if the past 10 months hasn't been long enough. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/25207002

Ah....a differing point of view is rubbish now is it?

0.0027% increase in average attendances.
167,000 more fans or 57% delivering only 10% more profit
BBC viewing figures beaten by friendly Union Internationals?


2 Italians and 7 Samoans out of 34 players.......window dressing is exactly that, window dressing


The only thing that will break this dominance is a team of ex-pat Aussies playing under a flag of convenience! Short-medium term????:CRAZY:


Ireland were 5th in 2008.......REMIND ME HOW THEY KICKED ON?? How's the international calendar looking for 2014? Will those NRL players be flying to Italy for the games v Serbia/Russia?


Yet they are still ranked #4 in the world.......



You call it rubbish, I call it factual analysis. I know which one is backed up by facts and which one is fanciful bollox

Great RLWC 2013 BTW, just not the game changer that some are claiming it to be!

Hey at least we are predictable another 10 days ok 10 working days sooo we WILL know in 2 weeks

Unless that becomes yet another 2 weeks.

Sorry for the few young players still contracted (5 or 6 of them). They know no more than we do about what's going on.

Gutterfax. What constitutes being Irish. Are you Irish cos you're born there? And finally are you Irish born?

The Irish Diaspora is estimated to include close to 100,000,000 people, which is not bad considering the Island of Ireland has about 6.5 million people. Any one of these people could answer a question on a census questionnaire regarding "heritage?" with the response IRISH.
Irishness (sic) in a sporting sense is usually along grandparent rules, which Sir Jack Charlton, AKA God Almighty, used and abused to great effect getting "us" to Euro 88, Italia 90 and USA 94. Rumours of mothers only having to have drank Guinness were wide of the mark, but of the 22 players in those tournaments, there was at least 9 Irish born players involved. Other sports have also used the grand-parenting rule, including Union, but none of them have managed to compile an "International" team of 24 players not born in Ireland, to represent Ireland. Given the 5th place finish in 2008, the performance at RLWC 2013 shows the level of "legacy" in the last 5 years in Irish RL





No I was born in the QEII hospital in Welwyn Garden City to Irish Parents. I was taken to Ireland aged 10 and placed in a Boarding School not long afterwards....leaving after 6 years to serve 3 years in the Dublin Licenced Trade as an apprentice before returning to the UK to run pubs. I moved to New Zealand in 2009 and am now a permanent resident here. I hold (and have always held) an Irish passport, am a full signed up member of ABE (anyone but England).I played Gaelic Football for Wicklow, basketball for Leinster and Rugby for London Irish and have 2 tattoos, one a Celtic cross on my left arm, the other, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish logo on my right arm.

I can confidently say that if I had been good enough to play for England or Ireland.....I would have chosen Ireland or nothing. I am a plastic Paddy....as were the 24 guys in the RLWC 2013 squad.........or the 22 Plastic Scots, 23 Plastic Italians, 16 Plastic Americans, 22 Plastic Cook Islanders etc.

Blimey. Thanks for the history. So you are similar to a couple of "the fellas" that played for Ireland in that they were born of Irish parents but not in Ireland. And co-incidentally the same as James Hasson who chose his allegiance to play for Ireland rather than where he was born.... England.

Same goes for any of the aussies born of Italian parents.
Same goes for any of the aussies born of Scottish parents.
Same goes for any of the aussies/kiwis born of Cook Islanders parents.

Always loved the Irish myself. Because I grew up with and went to school with so many of the feckers. Victoria Smurfit or any of the Corrs girls are always welcome round my gaff. Even though I don't know them.

Back on topic. Ian Ramsdale has a clearer picture of what's going on than most of us, and he still finds plenty to be confused about.

Here's his latest assessment, posted this morning

No it`s not a clearer picture, it`s just a rehash of every rumour that has surrounded these boards for many months.......tells us nothing.

Quite frankly I am sick of the `announcements` regarding our clubs future coming via bloody Twitter or some other social media source or third party, it`s about time someone from the club thought about the few remaining fans as a whole and when they have something to say to have the balls to stand up and tell everyone where we are going with this train wreck of a club.

Don't we all think that?

BTW, I did not say that IR's piece was a clearer picture.