tickles me how the only fans defending the clown lewis are the new to the sport pop corn munching franchise fairies,you don't see the damage he as done to clubs outside of super league were HIS daft ideas for our game as destroyed the sport in our towns.

Were once clubs were vibrant and the talk of the town they are now tescos and asda, and these clubs stumble along with out any of this pot of gold he keeps for the top table.

This is the same great man who under his great leadership cannot fill out wigan or huddersfield for internationals even with tickets being given away for nowt,aye tricky dicky as been a god send for rugby union in this country.

As someone said in the usual non heartland veiw they will properly appoint someone from the heartland and retreat well I hope we do and we start to rebuild these great old clubs who only need a fraction of the money HE as wasted wandering around wales and bloody london to make them strong again and have a vibrant competition with one up one down,none of your inventing franchise nonsense to save a team who were wandering around wales and one currently roaming around london.

Its our sport and yes we are waving our flatcaps proudly in the air tonight

So do us all a favour and follow lewis out the door if you don't like our flatcaps...its our sport after all

Could that cap be flatter?

This, This is what I mean. The flatcaponlymyteammattersifyouwerenchingparishesplayeachotherin1901withonemanandhisdoginaholestadiumdrinkingmildandeatingpiewhileshoutingforrardafteradayin'tmineyouarentarealfan idiocy that the game has to put up with.

Being head hunted??? Seriously the guy is a former Tennis player isn't he? Hardly casting the net too far were they, oh hello old boy, look our school ties match what a coincidence. Fancy a F***off big payrise rah rah rah snort snort.

Give it a few years wimbledon will only be available and Sky.

Bugger me I need a flat cap and a whippet.

Rich sick to death of hearing if you don't agree with all these numpties who only started watching it in the last 5 years think they know best for our sport and if you don't tow the line your a flat capper....well guess what us flatcappers are made up he as gone


And guess what when they have drifted off to watch under water snooker or super crown green bowling us flatcappers will still be watching our sport without the fairies and there stupid ideas

I started to type a long reply to this but I won’t bother – call me a cynic but I don’t think you would be open minded on the subject

What I will say is that I had a season ticket at Central Park for over decade and played my amateur rugby in Ince so I’m not one of the “new to the sport pop corn munching franchise fairies” you mention. Lewis is a massive loss to our sport but you can’t blame him taking the job in SW19... it will be fantastic for him

Oh, and there is a Tesco now where my beloved Central Park used to be... although I don’t think that was Lewis’s fault

And you know what the game was better for it,we had contessed scrums we had tackling we didn't have you franchise fairies fluttering around with your pie in the sky nonsense,and cheering becuse a bloody hooker as ran 10 yards sorry metres from a play the ball.

Watch the door doesn't hit you on the way out if you don't like us flatcappers its our sport and we want to reclaim it brother

When he took the job was the Challange cup on the BBC under threat? Seriously if RL wasn't on the BBC when i was a kid i doubt i'd ever have got interested in the game.

Just cracked open a can of mild to celebrate the news may take the whippet out for a walk once I have emptied the coal out of the tin bath and boiled some water

I think Lewis has been arguably the best administrator the sport has had.

Sadly in the last few years he has been taking more of a back seat role, and we have seen IMO the somewhat erratic influence of Mr Wood.

He took over what was a bankrupt joke of an organisation and has made it into a large money spinning operation that is highly respected within UK sport. Lets remember the clubs themselves were having to give the RFL their money in order to keep it afloat. Now the RFL is handing out £30 million a year to the professional clubs to help keep them afloat.
He was instrumental in relaunching international RL. This was despite the opposition from many within the game both here and abroad.
He has done the impossible and brought about the re-unification of amateur and professional arms of the game.
He managed to implement the salary cap and introduced franchising guidelines, which are looked on with envy by other sports.The franchising criteria in particular have forced clubs into modernising their business operations rather than being happy to merely exist.
He oversaw a huge expansion in the numbers playing the sport nationally. This has allowed the RFL to tap into massive sources of Government grant aid to grow the sport. Something in the past they never benefited from.
He oversaw the sponsorship portfolio move from one of Beer and Fags to one of highly respected brands such as the Cooperative, Gillette, Valvoline, Stobart, Heinz.

Ultimately the biggest compliment that can be made of his tenure is that he has been in demand from elsewhere, and has finally gone back to the sport he loves Lawn Tennis.

Under threat? its on the protected free to air list so you can't claim that for tricky dicky lad

Yep the game was better for it, as evidenced by the higher attendances, better facilities, and more money that was available in them days, oh............

I tell you what, lets have two different competitions, one can be based in small provincial towns in northern england, in places like Leigh, Halifax, Swinton, Dewsbury, Batley, Keighley etc, watched by flatcappers like you, and a competition in cities like Leeds, London, Perpignan, Bradford, Hull etc watched by franchise fairies like me.

At the end of the season we can compare which competition has more fans, better facilities, more money etc to see whether there are more flatcappers or franchise fairies so we can see whose sport it is. Deal?

Bradford are happy to Merely, The Crusaders would have been very happy to merely exist....

Yes it is now, didn't look so good 12 months ago did it.

Only the final is sweetheart.

Its why you can watch a game this very weekend in the challenge cup on Sky.

The irony is - Richard Lewis represents everything Coddy hates - Tory boy endorsing an elitist system in a sport which has its roots in the heart of working class England. While slamming a class splitting David Cameron on the Sin Bin he effortlessly slides into c*cksucking mode on the VT where he espouses the virtues of a man in Camerons image. Hypocrit.

Good riddance to a fool who has :-

Taken 5 clubs in to administration under his franchise/salary cap reign

Got a college sponsoring our major knock out competition

Got a transport company to paint a dozen wagons and give us rock all in cash for a premier competition despite significant rises in attendance and viewing figures

Stopped every dream (bar one) out side of the SL after 2008.

Gave the Championship viewing rights to premier sports, resulting in no tv income, less commercial income, exposure and fans to the game outside of SL

No hope of plugging the talent drain to union and no chance of tempting a union player our way due to a very restrictive salary cap that stops you buying top players but presides over 5 clubs going in to administration

I'm sure I only scratced the surface above.

All hail Richard Lewis...... On yer bike tricky dicky. You almost ruined a game! Get yer coat and feck off!!

I,m surprised the ETC have took Lewis back on board, they must have short memories when through policy he destroyed british tennis between 1987 - 2000. Remember Tim Henman and Kris Rusedski were damning of him for the way he devalued and fragmented the sport to the effect that Henman and Rusedski had to find coaching abroad at cost. Seem to remember the Davis Cup squad lost to Equador, this turned the stature of the sport into 3rd world status, Lewis got sacked after that due to his abysmal policies.

These so called blue chip sponsors pay less in real term now than your so called fag and booze sponsors you seem to turn your nose up at?

Aye we now have stobart who painted a few trucks and the lower league are televised on a thursday night and recieve no money whatsoever for being shown on air great move that.

Internationally we are AT OUR lowest point ever,whys he gone tell you why because this upcoming world cup he as set up will crash and burn and who will employ him after that

He's not thick our tricky dicky

To be fair, sport by its very definition is elitist.

Castleford, Widnes, Huddersfield, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, are all brilliant cities and not northern provincial towns are they?

You can't make comments like that on here. Tricky is God

This page ain't big enough.

Lets address your idiocy in order
Fag companies legally cannot sponsor a sporting competition. It was necessity that forced us to look elsewhere.

The SL clubs chose the stobart sponsorship over other offers, all these offers were sourced by IMG, not Richard Lewis, IMG are a huge, massive, multinational company that negotiates sponsor/broadcast rights for sports with individual clubs bigger than our entire sport, they are elite in that industry. If thats the best they could get, its because it was the best available swapping London for some small northern pit village isnt going to make Gillette or Coca-cola suddenly decide to spend millions on RL

Finally, if you really, honestly think this our lowest point ever in the international game then you must be one of these five minute fairies you seem to disparage so much (i dont get the fairies insult, it seems a strange link to be thinking of if you ask me, why would it be on your mind) There was a time not so long ago we barely had an international game, never mind a competitive international team.