The M62 Friday night myth continues to bemuse me. I don't doubt there are some horror stories out there but in 20 years of leaving Leeds or Bradford at about 5-5.30 on a Friday night I've never missed a kick off in Lancashire, even when they were at 7.30 in the old days.

As for Headingley. I guess the RFL might just want to make this game pay. They want to get a decent crowd, which will inevitably need to tap into a decent directly local support base. So we're pretty much down to Headingley, DW, KC or Odsal to begin with. For me Headingley is the most logical place to hold it out of those four.

Headingley is a legacy stadium which presents its own problems but then again it is the most significant ground in the history of the sport and carries with it a cache that a flat pack stadium just doesn't have - particularly if you're trying to establish a new tradition. But unlike every other historic stadium in Super League this also isn't some -heap which has not been invested in. Other than (possibly) Naughton Park I doubt any other traditional ground has had as much spent on it in the past 20 years - we're looking at £10m+ in the pavilion, N and S Stand refurbs and rebuilds, Carnegie Stand etc on top of which is the amount Leeds have ploughed into other corporate facilities on the site which lead to that money generating machine that Hetherington is so proud of and which the RFL will be hoping to tap into.

As the RFL knows Headingley dumps over the rest of the league in the corporate facilties respect not just in terms of spaces available but in the proportion of those spaces being filled and the rates which can be achieved. I doubt the Exiles game will get the full house most Leeds games get but it will do better than in any other stadium.

The Leeds pitch issues are covered here:
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... _1_2240103

The official club line is the RU team "is not to blame" but also that the pitch "couldn't sustain all year round rugby" which to my mind are one and the same thing. No RU = no requirement to install a new pitch. IMO.

The M62 Friday night myth continues to bemuse me. I don't doubt there are some horror stories out there but in 20 years of leaving Leeds or Bradford at about 5-5.30 on a Friday night I've never missed a kick off in Lancashire, even when they were at 7.30 in the old days.

As for Headingley. I guess the RFL might just want to make this game pay. They want to get a decent crowd, which will inevitably need to tap into a decent directly local support base. So we're pretty much down to Headingley, DW, KC or Odsal to begin with. For me Headingley is the most logical place to hold it out of those four.

Headingley is a legacy stadium which presents its own problems but then again it is the most significant ground in the history of the sport and carries with it a cache that a flat pack stadium just doesn't have - particularly if you're trying to establish a new tradition. But unlike every other historic stadium in Super League this also isn't some -heap which has not been invested in. Other than (possibly) Naughton Park I doubt any other traditional ground has had as much spent on it in the past 20 years - we're looking at £10m+ in the pavilion, N and S Stand refurbs and rebuilds, Carnegie Stand etc on top of which is the amount Leeds have ploughed into other corporate facilities on the site which lead to that money generating machine that Hetherington is so proud of and which the RFL will be hoping to tap into.

As the RFL knows Headingley dumps over the rest of the league in the corporate facilties respect not just in terms of spaces available but in the proportion of those spaces being filled and the rates which can be achieved. I doubt the Exiles game will get the full house most Leeds games get but it will do better than in any other stadium.

The Leeds pitch issues are covered here:
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... _1_2240103

The official club line is the RU team "is not to blame" but also that the pitch "couldn't sustain all year round rugby" which to my mind are one and the same thing. No RU = no requirement to install a new pitch. IMO.

thanks for the link MjM - interesting stuff

any drainage problems are,by definition deep rooted and I suspect there is no proper system installed - if one does exist then it neeeds re-doing which would mean digging up the pitch completley,installing drainage,plus underground soil heating using the recommended STRI specifications or even UGGA specs - this doesn't come cheaply and would mean the pitch being out of action a couple of months realitically.

thanks for the link MjM - interesting stuff

any drainage problems are,by definition deep rooted and I suspect there is no proper system installed - if one does exist then it neeeds re-doing which would mean digging up the pitch completley,installing drainage,plus underground soil heating using the recommended STRI specifications or even UGGA specs - this doesn't come cheaply and would mean the pitch being out of action a couple of months realitically.

The main point is that the pitch issue has been addressed at almost tedious length over and over and over again by Leeds; when the team was winning things its condition early in the season each year gave the fans something to whinge about but by the end of each RL season it is perfect before being abused again horribly over the winter.

The Leeds board though also seem obsessed by the thing and find it entertainingly easy to be side-tracked into never-ending discussions of baked subsoil, the perils of the residual undersoil heating wiring and whatnot. So contary to what you seemed to be suggesting it has been one of the obsessions at the club and plenty of money has been spent to address what can be addressed within the scope of practical operations and without disrupting the playing schedules of either team like Huddersfield are enduring this year and IIRC Wigan last.

It is covered in yet more detail here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/live-at-leeds.html

and here:
www.pitchcare.co.nz/magazine/article/465

and here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/headi ... indow.html

and here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/kioti ... pions.html

and here:
www.therhinos.co.uk/news/4619.php

The main point is that the pitch issue has been addressed at almost tedious length over and over and over again by Leeds; when the team was winning things its condition early in the season each year gave the fans something to whinge about but by the end of each RL season it is perfect before being abused again horribly over the winter.

The Leeds board though also seem obsessed by the thing and find it entertainingly easy to be side-tracked into never-ending discussions of baked subsoil, the perils of the residual undersoil heating wiring and whatnot. So contary to what you seemed to be suggesting it has been one of the obsessions at the club and plenty of money has been spent to address what can be addressed within the scope of practical operations and without disrupting the playing schedules of either team like Huddersfield are enduring this year and IIRC Wigan last.

It is covered in yet more detail here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/live-at-leeds.html

and here:
www.pitchcare.co.nz/magazine/article/465

and here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/headi ... indow.html

and here:
www.pitchcare.com/magazine/kioti ... pions.html

and here:
www.therhinos.co.uk/news/4619.php