Quote ="Alexs Dad"I dont try to be difficult or sarcastic, if you can't answer a simple question or have a discussion without sulking then thats your issue.'"
Sulking....are you real?
There are bigger things to sulk about - like what happened on Sunday.
Quote You made it seem like the game was at deaths door pre Sky. Whilst they may have added a lot, take a few minutes to look at the balance sheets of the clubs and tell me the game is healthier now than it was in the mid 90's. '"
It was at deaths door for the pro game. Leeds where on the brink, and so where W1gan - biggest clubs in the game. How many times was it that W1gan went to Wembley in a row (1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95) how many times did W1gan win the league season after season (1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96)- do we really want to see that again ? One club having all the best players playing FT and the books could only be balanced if they went to Wembley and continued to be successful. Clubs like Leeds and Widnes tried to break it up but ended up worse off. Great times indeed. Like I said lucky we moved into Summer, and got the Sky investment.
Quote We're nowhere nearer beating the Aussies and have not produced one world class half back despite being fully pro for the best part of 15 years and tens of millions of pounds going through the clubs coffers.'"
France made history in 50's by beating Aus in Aus - had Sky been around then 10 years later and they declined a little during this would you have stated similar to what you say now about GB
.....they went down hill just like we did since '88 (the glory time when we came close but still didn't beat them). We had some great players then yes, but we have had other battles to contend with like greedy clubs getting giddy and wasting money like little kids in a candy store. That is all clubs including ones at our level squadering cash given us.
RL in Aus is massive but in this country some fans (are you one?) prefer it to be kept a big secret and played in pockets of areas in the north. Until we have more peaople playing the game thus giving the international teams a bigger pool to choose from we will struggle against the Ausies, including that world class half back (though you should have said better than Aus HB's). In the 80's 90's did we not pluck the best RU players to help us out - from a amateur sport, and could we have stopped Union taking our best players had they seen sense and been professional years earlier than they did? Was there more going on than there is now ? Its well known this country is suffering from lazy over eaters with the playstation/internet revelotion etc. Its so so different. Unyet all this backdrop is ignored, when nowadays its just as likely a top player can later play for England RU or England RL who is from Leigh. Because you have the pathway right on our doorstep. You never know we might see a young Leigh lad make it good in RU, and be in a winning WC squad - now how many people would that influence to the dark side ?
Quote Stadia have not improved unless they've been provided by others, and the quality of rugby is no better than it was back then. Watch some of Freds videos and see. I'll admit its a different approach and the players are fitter but as a spectical I honestly don't think its any better. '"
RL have messed up with the stadia criteria. IN P&R the RFL let Wakey in SL on promises. When a club with similar facilities win GF and ask to go in SL they are told no your stadium is not upto stadard. But wait a minute Mr SL what about Wakey? errrr.....Git, if only we had told Wakey to sort themselves out before entry.
The licences have not finishd te 1st season yet. But judging clubs this way gives RFL a chance to kick them out, unlike the farce before. Whether they are strong enough to do it is another matter. But for 2009 licences after my annoyances subsided I suppose you had to give them this 3 years to sort it.
Regarding the games I do actually agree to a certain point about a lot of games being dull especially this season. You get seasons like this in football too. Hopefully next season will be better.
Quote In my lifetime, the best performance by a country mile from a GB team against the Aussies was in Sydney in 88. We have not come anywhere near matching it. Nor have we produced players like Hanley, Edwards, Connolly, Myler, Woods, Lydon.'"
Great players yes. But to blame SL and Sky as some have seems too convenient. Money was squandered at 1st, and because of mentality of clubs (remember it happened in 80s/90s too teams trying to catch W1gan) chasing quick fixes etc, and things like salary cap brought in to help curb it. P&R taking up half the top leagues clubs thoughts because of the dreaded PT league trap door. Give licences 5 years or so and then see how we are. There seems to be more home grown players being given the chance by a lot more clubs this season, but of course this isn't highlighted so much. Time will tell....
Quote The game has to evolve I agree but it wasn't as bad as people think it was and certainly not saved by Sky.'"
The professional game was saved by Sky. Do you really think RU would have left us be after years of pillaging their players ?
Quote Despite bringing prosperity to players pockets, what Sky have also done is put the game at risk. If they pulled out the game as we know it would be in a far worse state than it ever has.'"
The game is indeed at risk if Sky pull the plug. Isn't that the same with most football clubs. Are you telling me the Prem would manage without £1.5billion quid from outside broadcasters alone, never mind the mind-boggling money we get from Sky and the benefits the game gets from the exposure it gets that gets even more money in.
Once we stand still and stop having ambitions of speading the gospel is then the count down to losing a lot of TV money.
Also look at the history of the game especially before the second world war and all the pioneers that spread the game, and enabled nations to not only play the game but be better than us. RU was king in France in the '30s, and one ex RU man started the revolution (Jean Galia), and if it hadn't been for the RFL seeing this opportunity (ie the French had been banished from the intl game at that time) then there would be no RL there now. France where beating us and Australia approaching the war, and became bigger than RU in a very short time. What happened later of course was a travesty.
Thats my last input on this thread.....
.....they went down hill just like we did since '88 (the glory time when we came close but still didn't beat them). We had some great players then yes, but we have had other battles to contend with like greedy clubs getting giddy and wasting money like little kids in a candy store. That is all clubs including ones at our level squadering cash given us.
