Quote ="MattyB"Maurice Watkins disagrees with you. menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... o-strength '" The final nail or last push that I need to persuade me RL is dead in the water. The above literally makes me feel sick. Another head in the sand moment.

Quote ="MattyB"Maurice Watkins disagrees with you. menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... o-strength '" The final nail or last push that I need to persuade me RL is dead in the water. The above literally makes me feel sick. Another head in the sand moment.

Interesting to read so many views about this on here. For the first time in ten or more years I didn't get a season ticket this year, largely due to the feeling at a lot of games last season that the league increasingly doesn't matter in that the league leaders shield is belittled despite the difficulty there should be in winning it over any other trophy. This was pretty much compounded by a team that had played rotten rugby all year turning it on for a handful of games to get called 'champions' - the wrong title for something that took such relatively low effort - and be rewarded with the WCC.

I have watched in increasing bemusement as folk on social media get themselves worked up to a frenzy for certain regular season matches, especially the odd folk who set off ten hours before kick off to some away games like it's some kind of cup final, when you can see plainly that the points on offer are minimal in value and as I mentioned in another thread, part of 27 games simply jockeying for position to have a very slight advantage in a 3 week knockout competition. My concern about continuing to follow Wigan is that my little boy is at an age now where he wants to come to games genuinely, as opposed just to come as something to do and eat Haribo's whilst asking how longs left every 3 minutes, but I'm struggling to get the enthusiasm to take him. I will state point blank that I didn't take him to the Leeds game as I thought paying £14 to sit a 6 year old in the East Stand couldn't be justified.

Having been involved with an amateur club that has been under the RFL for a few years (as opposed to the recent switchers from BARLA) I have seen for a while that there is a huge 'jobs for the boys' culture within the organisation. There are a lot of people doing jobs there who would clearly not hold a position of similar responsibility within any other private or public business and after the first few instances when I was new to it going to them for help or guidance on matters, I realised very quickly that the best way to work with them was on a 'need to know' basis as they inevitably threw spanners into the works. I won't go into massive detail but examples like having a 10 week summer season followed by a 3 week break before a 2 week play off series last year or even with this season after dozens of new clubs joined, starting the season with a 5 week knockout comp which meant if you were knocked out in week 1 you had no game for a month after your big season opener. Both of these formats were planned centrally by the same group of individuals who produce the SL level play-off format. Reading that Maurice Watkins article makes me want to hit something!

The other point folk have touched on is sky. Not only the inane commentary (most annoying example in recent weeks was Eddie Hemmings belittling the Joining Jack kids singing pre-match v St Helens) but their dreadful picks of sub-standard games. The way they attempted to pump drama into the 'battle' for 8th place in the last few rounds was pathetic, subjecting us all to a load of end-of-season lower table error fests. I've always knocked SS off at the end of the SL season anyway but honestly don't think I'll bother re-connecting it next year. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many games I've enjoyed on there this year. Again it doesn't justify the monthly cost relative to the overall cost of a tv package if you're not a soccer fan, and I'm definitely not one of those and resent subsidising it. I'll echo some earlier posters and say go and watch some youth or amateur games, never mind the academy. What you get may not have a load of dancing girls and a half time mascots race but you will see players putting everything into games that matter to them.

It certainly is very frustrating! Rugby League as a product is one of the best there is and this is proven by the fact that friends I have introduced to the game have all loved it. However the more they start to understand the game the more they see its flaws and question why certain things are going on.

What opened my eyes to fact Super League is struggling, is since my involvement with the Coventry Bears, Wigan's games against Salford, Wakefield, Widnes just haven't been appealing. Even my girlfriend who has been a Wigan season ticket holder for years has enjoyed Coventry Bears games more, due to the closeness and intensity of them.

Something drastically needs to be done but we all know nothing is going to change with the current people in charge.

Sky gave us Widnes v Hull late this season which had sod all riding on it. We wakefield v Widnes late on as well before the farce of Salford v Wakefield at Leigh that also nothing riding on it by time it was played. A total joke!

When is the current Sky Deal up?

The emergence of WiganTV may help sway my decision too. If I can watch extended highlights on a Monday after the game, that will do me fine I think.

Quote ="MattyB"Maurice Watkins disagrees with you. menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... o-strength '" Shock of the week. Another RFL director tells us the RFL are doing a great job.

Quote ="MattyB"Maurice Watkins disagrees with you. menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... o-strength '" Shock of the week. Another RFL director tells us the RFL are doing a great job.

new deal takes it to the end of the 2015 season.

Will be interesting to see what happens when that deal comes to an end. I guess its much to hope for a huge bidding war seeing millions of £'s pumped into the Rugby League?

It will probably become the Sky Sports Super League with no money swapping hands for them to show games

not really surprised by some of the downbeat posts, as some of us seen it coming.

there is a lot of good things going on in the sport, i.e sport england and the money from the tv deals etc.

for ages i and others said that increasing to fourteen teams with a top eight system would not work, especially with no relegation. your playoff race has to be where finishing just one place higher with say two or three games left would benefit your team.

i would...

have 12 teams possible even 10, now that the ink is dry on the aussie tv deal.

top 5 playoff.

reward teams in some way who bring players through the youth system. even more so now with the tv deal down under.

get shut of wood and appoint someone from outside the game. people will start to see how good lewis was the longer we have wood in charge. as they say you don't miss them till they have gone.

get shut of cummins. the standard has nosedived since the aussie (forgot his name) left.

consistency in the handling of discipline in red hall.


i don't mind P&R as long as we don't end up with just another yo-yo effect.

they can pat each other on the back for things such as the increase in crowds (and rightly so) but the test will be to keep those fans and if the clubs keep taking the mick out of the fan by just needing to do enough then they only have themselves to blame when one day they ask where did they all go.

Totally agree re Sky commentary. For example in the NRL grand final the commentary team were quick to drop comments on the James Graham bite, Phil Gould moved the debate on to the action straight away. Compare that to the 30 minute debate Eddie, Phil, Brian and Stevo had over the red cards at the millennium magic game v saints, totally runing the rest of the game. All Eddie has talked about in recent weeks is who should win coach of the year.

What annoys me the most about the play-off's is that more than half of the league is eligible. madness

I was going to start a topic about this last night, but didnt get around to it.

Ive been a Wigan season ticket holder since 1988 and up untill the last 2 years have gone home and away, infact the only two grounds ive never been to that have involved a wigan game is Catalans and Brisbane.

However I really dont see the point in renewing my season ticket next year, its not a new thing either, Im just going out of habit and the fact that I have a ticket now, I have my match day routine down to a tee and arrive about 10mins before the match as opposed to what used to be an hour before.

It isnt even a financial thing as I get my season ticket as a gift. It really comes down to what is the point of going to 27 pre-season friendlies, I mentioned on here before the home game to warrington that I wasnt basing a great deal of importance on the match as it didnt really matter as all we had to do was play well for 1/2 games at the end of the season and we would be in the grand final, unfortunatley we didnt manage that!

I watched an NRL game for the first time in about 5 years this season and then had to go and sit through a Wigan game that same night, cant remember who it was against (may have been hull) but it was the final nail in the coffin, I felt like a blind man who had gotten his sight back and realised he had married an ugly bird! It was painfull to watch.

And then we read that the RFL think everything is great, im not sure what is more terifying, the state of the game and the fans attitude, or the RFL's perception of the game and the fans attitude.

Great post Sir

I've been saying for a long time that the regular SL season means zip. I'm not knocking Leeds or any other team who exploit this, but frankly I am at the point of thinking what IS the point of the regular season. A club with the squad that Wigan have will make the top 8 (and arguably the top 4) without breaking sweat.

It annoys the hell out of me that IL stands up and defends the top 8 system, showing complete disgregard for the fans who pay good money week in, week out.

Some Chairmen are taking the public for mugs and I'm not sure if I want to be one any more.

I don't know why they're patting themselves on the back south about the crowds increase it was inevitable. We lost crusaders and gained widnes always going to have more crowds and the big one we had saints playing in St. Helens again. To think the rise in crowds is an achievement is just ridiculous then you have the fact that our crowds have gone up most years for a while now it's nothing special.
We also had the magic weekend somewhere accessible for more fans.

The rfl are blind and its beginning to feel like the blind leading the deliberately ignorant.

Would people accept Leeds as finalists more if they came from 5th in a top 5 system? Genuine question.

I think that under a top 5 system it would (and quite rightly) be much harder for a team to qualify from 5th and therefore the answer would be "Yes".

I think the honest answer to this question is yes. Logically, I would have thought they would have to perform better per se during the season to obtain that finish in the league, compared to a stat that I saw Bilko quote for the last two seasons.....Wigan/Wire 78% league win ratio, Leeds 58%.

To be fair to Leeds though, although they had an easy (on paper) opening game if they win it this year they will have

played Catalan in France with a fantastic home record
played Wigan at Wigan the league winners
played the league runners up and CC winners.

Well I'll bring this back round to my fuss being over the regular season. Leeds to me for two years now have had zero incentive to go for 4th place. They to have been quite happy to sit in 5th and get a home game first rather than have to travel straight away to Wigan/Warrington. I think they realised the chances of beating either of us two twice are far less that one off. Thats not their fault but its one of the big flaws in this current system. Thats my main point. Warrington also had a big chance to go for 1st place after beating us, but didn't bother with it because they didn't need it. Seriously, look at the second half for the season and find me a match featuring the top 5 that counted for anything.....I can't remember any.

I have read this board from start to finish and I agree with the sentiments entirely. It's not right that teams are allowed to field weakened teams and risk losing league points in the knowledge that it won't matter as they will still finish in the top 8. I include Wigan (v Widnes) and Wire (v Salford) in that as examples. The top of the league should be the holy grail of any sport and not a 4 game knock out competition!

With the salary cap as it is in Oz compared to here, gone are the days of the games elite players coming here even if it was just for a bumper pay cheque as they used to do. Our game is far inferior to theirs and the gap in standards is growing.

We are the poor relatives and cannot sustain a 14 team competition and expect any kind of real intensity. However, I fear the clowns at RFL will not listen to the fans and will continue to spout pap. There is an element of greed in our chairmen who want more fixtures and more revenue that comes with it.

That of course starts the vicious circle of revenue allows clubs to spend on players but those clubs who could afford to spend are prevented from doing so due to the cap.

The only answer is to generate money through sponsorship as the NRL has but with the lack of intensity in our weekly rounds, I fear that won't happen and we are destined to remain the poor relative for the distant future.


I have loved the NRL on Premier this season and will continue to get the majority my RL enjoyment via that avenue.

a top five system would not just be about improving the post season but would mean that every point gained by the teams chasing a playoff place could make or break their chances in the playoffs.

In the old top 5 setup, these are the games: (winners in green for the sake of it [I think this is right)

Week 1:
Warrington vs =#00BF00Saints
Catalan vs =#00BF00Leeds

Week 2:
Wigan vs =#00BF00Saints (Winner to GF)
Warrington vs =#00BF00Leeds

Week 3:
Wigan vs =#00BF00Leeds

Grand Final:
Saints vs Leeds

No duplicate games, no boring games. I'd pay to watch every single one.

Would I be correct i saying the 5th place club in a top 5 play off would have to beat 4,3,2 & 1st (all away in consecutive weeks)to claim a grand final win.

Now that would be some achievement