Agreed. It amazes me sometimes. On BBC yesterday morning they had a Sale fan who was moaning that he couldn't get tickets for the next RU World Cup and a RU representative saying they were doing a ballot for tickets!

Our game (IMO) is far superior to RU yet we're miles behind them in every sense!

I tweeted the RFL last week saying they need to try to do something to encourage our elite players to stay in SL and if they can't, at least to stay in RL. Their response was, players come and go!! They said we need to concentrate on developing young players and that the teams who have won the GF recently have the best youth set ups. I replied by saying that there is more to RL than the GF and we also need to focus on retention of those players.

They said throwing money at the game and big pay rises doesn't help anybody which razzed me right off. I said it's not done RU or the NRL any harm and I told them I'm 44 years old and never seen us win a series involving the Aussies. I got no reply to that!

Yep. Exactly the same last year.

The same as last year yes, but as a day out to have a look at some of the younglings I'd actually like to have an option if you please. No problem trying to attract the corporates (also probably why Farrell is the guest speaker at the dinner - to appeal to the rah-rahs), but are there any figures from last year's event to back up the efficacy of this approach? Given that it's been going on between Broncos & Skolars for some years, has anything actually come from this "networking" attempt (sorry - hate that term).

It's actually more an indictment of the state of sport in Comps. The Bitch Thatcher started the wholesale sell-off of school land & her lick-spittle, Major carried it on with Blair & Brown not doing anything to reverse the problem.
The only places left that can conceivably grow our future elite athletes [iare [/ithe fee-paying schools, so it's no surprise (nor a problem, IMO) that a disproportionate number come from that direction.
Until we stop leaning so far towards academic subjects in curricula & cater for those people who are never going to remember Pythagoras' theorem let alone revel in Dickens or Maxine Peake as Hamlet (she was fab, by the way), then the demise of sport in state schools will continue until it crosses the point of no return. If it hasn't already.

I'm sure there'll be other opportunities for you.