This article was a mixed bag, as pointed out above he does highlight some of league's advantages over football and some of the points it makes are true.

However this is where you can tell the journalist is a smug arrogant toff wanting to patronise the sport of the working classesTribal rituals were observed at Wembley yesterday in what was the sporting equivalent of a Moonie wedding or a May Day military parade in honour of the Dear Leader in Pyongyang. Commitment to the sacred tenets of the self-styled “greatest game in the world” was absolute and unyielding.'"

disappointing from the indie that. is this a new crusade from the Russian owner to pander to the views of Se demographic as a way to drum up some more readership ?
does Dave Hadfield still do their regular coverage ?

His wife will probably endorse the comment that he doesn't know the definition of excitement.

Interesting to see some of the media reactions to the Ashes now that its over, you would have thought cricket was the ultimate sport of the Middle England media but they are generally being negative, saying apart from an exciting First Test it was a dull series played on lifeless pitches, with negative tactics and bad umpiring.

The broadsheets are running these lines today and it was all over the radio shows last night.

So I don't think we should be too paranoid about criticism, the media does lay in to other sports. After the 2011 RU World Cup the English media were particularly negative.

The big difference though, that comes in some of the RL articles, is a general nastiness about the sport and what it represents, ie flat cap northerners with no future. When the media lays in to cricket or RU it isn't laying in to the sport itself or its followers, it's just having a whinge about what's on show.

I was going to line the bottom of the budgies cage with it, but decided why should Joey have the privilege. Anyway joey can’t read….lucky old Joey I say.

The big difference is that other sports get large amounts of coverage all year round so a big negative article is well balanced with the good and the size or the article is in proportion to the the coverage that the sport would normally get. In Rugby league this is certainly not the case and in many of these Newspapers you cant even usually find a match report from a game the day before and if you did it would extend to a paragraph or two. However then out of the blue, usually well timed just before or after major occasions to undermine them, we then get a full page or double page spread that would equate to a full months of normal RL coverage for that paper.

These negative articles are usually written by people that have never written about the sport before, have no connection with the sport and are often written by Rugby Union journalists with an axe to grind who quite frankly have no credentials to write about Rugby League. I could deal with the large negative articles if they were part of a balanced reporting of the sport, as in the other sports you mention, but they certainly aren't.

Strange as he intimates he's got family in Cumbria and something of a RL background.

Probably not been accepted by his southern peers, which isn't really surprising as he does come across as being a tool.

Having said that, if you cut out the sarcasm, much of what he says is true and we should maybe just put two fingers up to all the none believers and keep the game up north.

I've sent an email to Brian Barwick at the RFL requesting that he puts his "little black book" to good use regarding this article.
I await his response.

He's a journo and a word smith, essentially taking him on in a battle of words, especially on a medium like twitter is playing to his strengths. The guy's tool, the best thing to do would be to just ignore him as thats what people like him fear most.

Quick glance at his wikipedia page and he's a southerner, born in Watford.

Poor bugger.

Well we never would have guest! Now my feeling of inferiority has just got even worse.

I got a nice reply from Mr Barwick who has raised this matter with senior executives at the RFL to the Independent's piece for their thoughts and interest.
Credit to Mr Barwick for his prompt reply.

Didn't he mention that his dad was from Cumbria?

Being born in Watford to a cockney is akin to being born in Workington.

Agreed it's a poorly written, lazy piece of journalism.

Did anyone else think of Anchorman when they say the image at the top of the article?