Sorry guys if i put you off your tea Its going great guns there for me and having some good RL banter with a few of the cast! In fact i will be wearing my shirt on the street but unfortunately before filming next week! Im Continuing to network and become friends over there as that has helped me in the past when I got Andy Sugden (Kelvin) to the club as ambassador along with Bruce Grobelaar. In addition the Emmerdale team to Belle Vue for the 2 events i organised for Brennan and Adam. Would be nice to see some other familiar faces in our great City!

On the original point we definately should be proud of RL. A sport that displays such controlled aggression and toughness with a fantastic level of discipline. A game where the referee is reffered to as Sir and where players wipe away the blood to shake hands with opposing players after each and every battle. Fans that can walk, talk and stand together whilst the action takes place with little or no Police presence. I have said before and say again Society can learn things from RL!

As a sport I think we have an inferiority complex, in part thanks the to writings of people such as Frank Keating, who are held in high regard, and have made numerous pops at Rugby League over the years.

If we ever had someone of that level in the nationals to talk-up our sport, it'd be part of the battle won, but blog after blog on the BBC website talking up the 'pulsating' (dull) England/Wales 6 Nations game and with comments knocking our sport don't help either.

couldn't agree more. our sport is seen by most people south of barnsly as a mere Provincial Sport which is a great shame. I am not a fan of Rugby Union but possibly because I dont really understand it if I am being honest but we maybe should not try to be something we are not and concentrate on getting it right in our heartland! The RFL seem to have an idea that by spreading the game it will grow. I think they are wrong. Get it massive where it is big already and it will grow. then and only then can you start to spread but if we cant getthe basics right then we should not try to run before we can walk
the SL licence issue is a prime example of this.
We are now looking at the possibility of 3 years out of SL at the expense of a club in France, a club from Wales and a Club in London who lets face it dont have a great travelling support. Surely Wakefield v Cas is a much better income generator for the game rather than Wakefield v Crusadors?
Rant Over.

Oh and another thing, we need to get Rugby League back more on BBC. It is great on Sky with some superb coverage but how good were the good old days of Rugby League with Eddie Waring on BBC.
EEEE, Them were the days!! ( with a TV Icon at the helm )

We do need more terrestial TV coverage, but it has to be better than The Super League Show is, on the budget of 5p it seems to have. See ITV's treatment of Premiership union for example. The SLS seems an afterthought, and indicative of how the sport is percieved inside the BBC, remember the quote of Pat Younge a few years back saying we had 'sold our soul' by selling the rights to BSkyB, at the same time the RFU had sold England home rights to…BSkyB.

There was an interesting interview on Sky Sports News yesterday with a sports business analayst on the Arsenal takeover story. He explained how American's couldn't understand how you can invest and run a club as a business in this country because of the ever-present threat or relegation.

Franchising in North America allows teams to go through cycles of success and failure on the pitch with no threat of going out of business because your funding is smashed once out of the top division. Leeds, Southampton, Bradford, the Sheffield clubs, Charlton etc. are major examples of this.

Eventually, that system in this country should see much more financial prudence, and Mr. Glover's comments on spending to the cap when income allows bear that out.

(And, of course, there are very, very few travelling fans in North American sports!)

Yes, though I don't think it will ever happen, I'd love a show like the Footy Show over in OZ, on British terrestrial TV. What makes that show, is the big personalities, the fans in the studio and the bit of comedy they have in it. I'm not sure if it can be recreated on British TV, with British RL personalities, but there defo needs to be something on, that's superior in content and entertainment value than the super league show.

I'd love to see a nationwide TV show with Colin Murray and George Riley presenting it.

Also maybe things will change with digital tv coming in nationwide, options other than BBC1,2, ITV, C4 and C5.

The RFL need to consider exposure as well as the bottom line.