International joke

[JonM]

Whilst there is an element of the Monty Python 'trying telling kids today and they just won't believe you' the means of entertainment were fairly limited in those far off days.

All true - but fact is there are plenty of options for people to do other things. RL has to compete with plenty of alternatives both for kids playing and for spectators. The huge wedge of cash the RFL gets from Sports England suggests the govt recognises that getting kids playing RL is good for everybody.

It's not just RL that struggles to compete with soccer for kids attention. My youngest son is playing union. From what I see, a llot of kids playing union round Cambridge do so because they're basically too fat or too posh to play football. Clubs are not that close together either - we typically travel 30-45 minutes for away games to places like Harlow, Bury St. Edmunds, Braintree, Huntingdon. If a town the size of Widnes has 3 junior clubs, that is definitely a hotbed as far as most of the country is concerned. 

RL has over 1000 people working full time in it - compared to maybe 30 (at most) in the 1970s. There's more people playing in the UK than there were in the 1970s and more people watching. That's a funny kind of dying.

I wonder if switching junior RL to summer would be a good move - much easier to practice skills, light in the evenings, no standing round freezing to death, no competition from soccer? Obviously you have a problem with holidays, but maybe it's the way to go?

[Paul D]

This is precisely what so many 'old f**ts have been saying for years.  We used to have our own style of play in half backs with a different emphasis.  That gave the Aussies a job to do trying to pick our game rather than us playing a second rate  Aussie style.

Simple facts are, the RFL tried to speed the game up and were bombarded with criticism simply because the referee applied the rules.  TV and the coaches just wanted to go on as before and the RFL buckled.

Make the game faster, encourage sharp backs by making the quick tap legal again, stop the lying on, make the packs bind properly.  It's all there, just use it and the players will get faster and better.  Allow the game to carry on as it is and we will never get back up there.

PNG made a great effort, with largely Championship players.  Get their best players back, with good coaching help, and we will be fourth in the world, not even a scrappy third!

Spot on, we used to have our own style of play, I don't mind blowing our own trumpet but when we (Widnes) were top of the world we had our own kind of style that brought the best of both worlds together, we had the fitness and the pace of the Aussies along with their defensive tactics, but going forward we blended UK guile with ball players like Tony Myler, Derek Pike, Mike O'Neil and Les Holliday with the power and pace of Joe Grima (before he had one scoop to many) Kurt Sorenson, Emosi Koloto and Ritchie Eyers.  We had backs with power, pace and most importantly flair.  We need to get back to this type of game again so at least we can give the Aussies something to think about.  I do not think there is one single ball proper playing prop or second row left in the world, they are all basically battering rams.

[johnf]

All true - but fact is there are plenty of options for people to do other things. RL has to compete with plenty of alternatives both for kids playing and for spectators. The huge wedge of cash the RFL gets from Sports England suggests the govt recognises that getting kids playing RL is good for everybody.

It's not just RL that struggles to compete with soccer for kids attention. My youngest son is playing union. From what I see, a llot of kids playing union round Cambridge do so because they're basically too fat or too posh to play football. Clubs are not that close together either - we typically travel 30-45 minutes for away games to places like Harlow, Bury St. Edmunds, Braintree, Huntingdon. If a town the size of Widnes has 3 junior clubs, that is definitely a hotbed as far as most of the country is concerned. 

RL has over 1000 people working full time in it - compared to maybe 30 (at most) in the 1970s. There's more people playing in the UK than there were in the 1970s and more people watching. That's a funny kind of dying.

I wonder if switching junior RL to summer would be a good move - much easier to practice skills, light in the evenings, no standing round freezing to death, no competition from soccer? Obviously you have a problem with holidays, but maybe it's the way to go?

  Magic Jon - made me laugh lots (true though it undoubtedly is].