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.

My word. With fans like this, who needs enemies?

The majority of RL's fans don't deserve a decent administration, and because of the way they act probably won't ever get one as good as Lewis again. After all the work Lewis put in to turn our game around (totally ignored by these cynical apathetics), it's still not good enough.

The best thing that could probably happen to rugby league is these ignorant moaners stop claiming to be RL fans and just stay away. We might be in a position to actually attract genuinely pleasant and appreciative followers then who can spread the word and make RL a happy and entertaining place rather than a miserable and depressing one.

You can't pick those. Smokey didn't pick those in his argument. You must stick to his choice of towns, otherwise his "city" game will die on its 'arris.

Wigan borough has about 300k people in a conurbation of 2.6million people, St Helens is a town with nearly 200k people, Huddersfield is a town of 150k people Warrington has 200k.

Leigh has 43k, halifax 83k, Swinton 41k, Dewsbury 54k, Batley 50k, Keighley 51k.

Pretty big differences. You can have Castleford and Widnes in the flatcap competition if you want. Lets see if their fans want to be involved or whether they want to be in the franchise fairies league?

I've been watching the game since the early 80's and I still think you're a numpty. It's not just new fans who lack flat caps, as much as your inverse snobbery would like to think so.

Your right it's the norm for every half decent company to enlist a company to short list sponsors. It's the chairmans job to present the best possible solution to his clubs. Why did certain sponsorship offers only get disclosed after Stobart had been rubber stamped?

As for your international comments was that the international game in 2001 when we nearly won the ashes? Remember them ashes tours? Or would it be 1990? Or even the 1995 world cup were by 33k crammed into central park to watch England v Fiji ? Oh and not a welsh or London club insight of the top division. Yeah real dark days!

You'll get 1,500 per match. If yer lucky. Still, if they're all fawning over the RFL hierarchy you'll be happy.

Aye thought is was us flatcappers fault....you'd best get the super league clubs to give more free tickets out to fill the ground eh?

Failed at tennis destroyed rugby league, great cv the man as,no smoke without fire seems odd he is jumping now just as the super league chairmen start to question recent events in our sport but if you think getting sponsors for nowt is the way forward well who am I to question it.


Failed clubs

Players deported

Uk drug agency question the integrity of the rlf

And a franchise system that does not stop clubs going bankrupt

But Wigan town only has approx 81k. Halifax has about 216k in a "conurbation" Still a provincial northen town. And your figures for St Helens town and Warrington town are not right either. But hey ho, you carry on old chap.

Translation: "I have no clue I was just mouthing off and now I have to make a feeble excuse rather than expose my weak argument to further scrutiny".

Thought so.

or 1996 when we beat Fiji then lost 3-0 to NZ, or 1997 when we got beat by a team which wasnt even full Australia, or 1998 when we didnt play, or 1999 when we nearly got beat by Burleigh Bears, then were humiliated by Aus and NZ and struggled to beat an NZ maori or even 2000 when the world cup damn near killed the game.