I dont know, they cant be in 10 day quarantine before every game though, same happened in the NRL with NZW then the storm

We also have to factor in the French Governments response to Covid. They have already effectively put an end to international RU club rugby.

Going by today's projections of vaccine delivery a SL start date of 25th March could well see crowds returning to games.
The Gov't say they are proposing to have the top four vulnerable group vaccinated by mid February. Other vulnerable groups by mid March.
You'd hope by then the number of hospital admissions of Covid patients will have dropped off substantially.
If all that happens as everyone wants it to happen then there is no reason why crowds could not be allowed back.
I do hope so.

How SL handle the fixtures matters less to me as I just want to get back watching rugby.
They'll probably drop the Magic weekend but most of the rest will go ahead I think. They could go back to two games at Easter and everything else could fit in then if they drop Magic.

With the pressure the Gov't is under from their own MPs to get the economy going then getting crowds into grounds could be a good indicator of their intentions.

That's the west stand sorted then.

Hopefully the vaccine will eventually lead to very small death figures but I personally would be concerned if the government fully relaxed restrictions on that measure alone. We need to reduce transmission as well or we're in a state of perennial vulnerability from mutations, long Covid, vaccine protection expiring, fear in the community etc.

It feels a little silly to discuss this purely in the context of rugby league as its having such a huge impact in all aspects of life. But in terms of the World Cup, I don't think it will go ahead without numbers of both deaths and cases reducing to negligible levels.

Drop the loop fixtures and just play the basic 22 home and away league games and Challenge Cup games which I understand will this year be only play by the profesional clubs.

That should be sufficient in what will be another year of turmoil, especially with a World Cup near the end of the year.

And I'll ask you again where does the money come from?
There is an agreement in place with the BBC and the sponsors for the Challenge Cup, the clubs need that money, you can't just walk away from it, just as we didn't last year.

There will also be a contract with Sky and Betfred to fulfil which will require a minimum number of games to be televised. That can be overcome by televising more games per week.

There will come a point in time where all fixtures cannot be fulfilled because of the world cup and fixtures will either have to be dropped or scheduled for mid week games.

You cannot keep pushing things to the right.

What would be better for clubs? Dropping some loop fixtures and Sky reclaiming some money back or getting some live crowds back?

Those who advocated cancelling the season last year or significantly reducing games in the upcoming one haven't been in touch with the financial realities of the sport. For some it seems it simply doesn't come into their thinking.

The clubs did have to give up some of the Sky money last year, even with the increased number of games televised. I would have thought the amount of games shown in 2020 was similar to 2019 but the rebate was likely owed due to the games being played across a 4-5 month period rather than 9-10.

I assume there is also a clause in the Sky contract that dictates what days / times the matches need to be played to maximise Sky's audience and hence advertising revenue. Movement away from this may also result in giving some money back to Sky.

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hope its not true about easter

How do you mean? I'd rather have Wigan v Saints later in the year in front of fans than on Good Friday in front of no fans. I'm sure the supporters from both Hull teams would feel the same about their game.

What if that doesnt happen? What if fans arent allowed in until lets say August and and the game has already been played then regardless, would you rather have it on good Friday then?

I'd rather take that chance of the game being played later than definitely NOT being played on Good Friday.

Good Friday is my favourite day of the year without doubt, but no fans at the game just isn't the same.

Play them both as late as possible with as many fans as possible.

Not sure I understand your point. Agree with the two comments above, do what we can to give those games a chance of being in front of fans. It's better from an enjoyment perspective and from a financial perspective as they will surely sell out if full crowds are back at some point this year (I've no idea how likely that is).

I dont see a route to crowds until autumn and that's in the best case scenario where vaccines significantly reduce deaths and cases. With new variants cropping up all the time lots of uncertainty on whether that scenario will come to pass. Really hope I'm missing something and we get back to games.

On a separate topic, I wonder whether the recent court decision on insurance payouts for small businesses may be beneficial to some RL clubs.

You're just trying to impress me again aren't you?

Just a stepping stone to impressing Jukesays

Instead of having a go at each other about what should be done about the season, supporters should be asking why the RFL have already put the season back two weeks when other professional sports like Football, Rugby Union etc are stlll operating as normal in what is supposed to a increasing terrible Covid- 19 situation.

The more weeks the RFL put back the start of the season, it is obvious that lower number of games will have to be played if the World Cup is to start as scheduled at the end of the domestic season, irrespective of exsisting contracts and financial implications for both clubs and the game in general.

Midweek games later in the season in front of fans > Weekend games in February behind closed doors

Not too sure how many mid-week games could be done though.

Imagine playing Friday, Wednesday, Friday or something along those lines. The players won't be recovered, there will be more injuries etc.

I think we would end up with more rotation as we did last year. That's a worthy sacrifice if it means more games can be in front of crowds IMO.

I hoped it wouldn’t be this way but the 2021 season is about the survival of the sport in this country. Anything else is secondary to that (I’m obviously talking in rugby terms and not making light of anything happening in the world before anyone gets on their high horse).

If that means we start later, have more or less games, have the magic weekend or not is all irrelevant.

IMO the WC needs to be pushed back, some countries are already talking about travel restrictions for the duration of 2021, it would likely haemorrhage money if we tried to go ahead this year.

Completely agree with over the World Cup,they need to act decisively and soon rather than spinning it out on the hope of half full crowds,better surely to grasp the nettle and hope for a celebration of RL next year?