We should remember that the clubs turned down the cash sponsorship deal with a gambling firm, but then it doesn't fit in with having a good whinge about everything.

What if an article on the Bulls situation said the RFL were not to blame? Would people believe it, or wait for one to be written which suited their point of view?

it hits the nail on the head the game is a mess below SL its a disaster as for SL how many clubs could stand alone without a sugar daddy

Most of what he says is true and probably applies to the majority of professional sports; it does seem rather churlish to run the article the day after the CC final, but I guess that's what they do.

It might not be all bad - I've long held the view that the reason the RFL can repeatedly get away with incompetence, raging nepotism and rank amateurism is that no one outside the game actually cares; if there was more scrutiny on how the game was run, perhaps the best people for the job would emerge, start taking decisions for the good of the sport and make sure that the public money it does receive was better spent.

The big problem with our game, is its a small game, played in a small part of a small country in Europe !

The British press are not interested in the NRL, or any other overseas RL success, just domestic sport, and we are a very poor product in their eyes to Union, even though its a complete bag of crap. The other problem is that with the exception of the onfield product, Union is better in every other aspect of the game, from media, sponsorship, profile, International, Euro cup comps, and management, the fact that the game is pants is irrelevent.

Great point. The GUARANTEE that does come from the Bradford debacle is that the franchise system is now completely comprimised and any team that isnt awarded a licence would quite rightly have a legal case to pursue. The fantastic news for every right minded RL supporter is that promotion and relegation will inevitably come back.

Excellent analysis Rumour13. Does anyone know the guys pedigree ? Has he written this article because he is genuinely concerned for the direction in which our game is going?
Or is he ,as I suspect, yet another media guy jumping on the popular bandwagon of putting the boot into the game I love so much?

rlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Calvinrl

Seems he's an experienced and respected sports journalist. He helped set up the English Institute of sport and has been a consultant to various sports funding bodies. However, he is a 'southerner' and a soccerball fan, so he probably has an issue with wasting funding on such a minority sport in which he has no interest.

This is the kind of journalist we should be selling our game to and getting him on side.

Thanks for that Coco.
Yeh seems to be well respected.
Always suspicious as I have spent much of my time attempting to convince people with deaf ears about The Greatest Game.
Seems he is one who of those who we need on our side if we are to progress the cause of RL.

If we are to progress the cause of RL it's probably less about getting people in side and more about getting shot of people who are clearly seen to be holding it back.

cant fault em R.L controled by muppets it as bent as 9 .bob note
bet its fixed to keep Bradford in top 8.