2014 Round 2 :: Bluebags v Titans

[Monk]

vs

Game Thread:
* This is a game thread only. Only game posts can be made here - team lists, substitutions, and articles.
* Any other posts may result in loss of points and is at the discretion of the referee.
* Only original articles, not used in previous games, will be marked by referees.

Naming Teams:
* 5 -V- 5 (+ 3 reseves for home side; +2 for away)
* No 'TBA' or changing players named
* Captains must stick with original teams named

Rules: http://www.forumsevens.com.au/rules.php
Official Word Counter: http://www.forumsevens.com.au/wordcount.php

Kick Off: Sunday 11th of May
Full Time: Monday 26th of May 2014 (9:00pm Sydney Time)
Referee: Non Terminator
Venue: Henson Park

 

[Titanic]

It seems that tradition has been lost in the F7's, so I'll remind you. This match is played between the Titans and the Bluebags for the Sandy Crack Cup, with the winning team determined by the highest aggregate of scores between the teams over the entire season ... and here she is:

 

[Titanic]

Titans team

1. bgdc
2. Hoggmaster
3. Misanthrope
4. RUG13Y
5. Titanic

Bench
6. Amadean
7. Tittoolate

 

[Drew-Sta]

Gents, is there any possible way we could push the deadline out to Tuesday night? I've had some personal stuff interfere this weekend and I simply haven't had the time to write anything (and won't til tomorrow evening post FT).

I don't often ask for this, and I know I'm not cap'n, but I know the Bag's are tight on numbers and it looks like we won't have a reserve this match.

 

[Misanthrope]

Misanthrope, ignoring Drew's pleas for mercy, rushes out onto the field for the Titans.

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Alternatives

​

It’s been a rough few years to be a Newcastle fan. So much so, in fact, that there have been times where I’ve been glad to be out in the rugby league wasteland that is mainland China. With the exception of a brief spike in interest among expats during State of Origin period, one could almost pretend the game didn’t exist most of the year.

Which, if you’ve been paying any attention whatsoever to the form of Newcastle this year, is more blessing than curse.

Even with this rugby league blackout at my fingertips, I still find myself checking scores or, if I’m feeling like a bit of self-flagellation, tuning in via entirely legal stream to watch my team play. Almost every time, I found myself wishing somebody had slapped some sense into me and delivered an alternative to the bamboo shoots under the fingernails, single drop of water on the forehead, lemon juice poured in wounds sensation that I get watching our team flounder about like a down-syndrome fish trying to juggle marbles.

For the benefit of my fellow Novocastrians who can’t help themselves, here are a few alternatives to watching a Newcastle Knights game.

1. Wait for Harold Holt: Head on down to Cheviot Beach in Victoria and join a few hundred Cronulla fans (they heard there might be a premiership to be found here) and wait for our former Prime Minister to come in. It’s akin to waiting for Darius Boyd to actually do something during the game, but there’s a slightly higher chance you’ll actually witness something.

2. Have a staring contest with a marble bust: Rather than sit through one of Wayne Bennett’s press conferences looking for some indication he actually gives a shit about the 30 point loss you just witnessed, instead lock eyes with a marble bust and see whether you or it breaks first.

3. Call your mother-in-law: It might seem like an extreme measure, but eighty minutes of listening to the woman your wife will one day resemble complain about her goiter and the fact her live-in boyfriend hasn’t sexually satisfied her in weeks will pass with you dry heaving one or two times less than you might watching Kurt Gidley try to be a first grade footballer.

4. Pass a ball: Do what BJ Leilua can’t do and take a football and pass it to somebody. Marvel at this professional footballer’s apparent inability to do something that one might assume would be a requirement of his job.

5. Play catch with a toddler: Resemblance to Leilua aside, a toddler actually has a similar level of ability when it comes to catching a ball to Knights’ winger, Aku Uate. While the result will likely be the same, it’s infinitely easier not to get angry at a giggling toddler, and you won’t find yourself barred from entering Fiji anytime soon. Trust me, it’s a nice place.

6. Punch through a wet paper bag: Your fist can feel what it is like to brush off a Chris Houston tackle attempt.

7. Watch your 1997 or 2001 NRL Premiership DVD: If you’re lucky enough to have one of these on tap, watch it and pretend that the side you see run out every week is some cheap Chinese knock-off rather than the real deal.

8. Stay up late in a library: If you’re wondering why Newcastle couldn’t attract top quality players even with a former billionaire’s deep pockets, venture to your local library and stick around for a few hours after the doors have closed. You are now experiencing Newcastle’s night life, and should better understand why the club pays overs for guys like Chris Houston and Kurt Gidley.

9. Find a silver lining: As bad as things have become for Newcastle fans, it’s sometimes easy to forget that there are others who have it worse than us. There are people who deal with famine, poverty, and terminal illness every day. Then, there are Cronulla fans. Those poor bastards.

10. Eat a tub of Haagen-Dazs on the toilet and weep like a bitch: This often happens to me after watching a Knights game, so why not cut out the painful part and just skip straight forward to the binge eating and self-loathing. With the time you save, you can start a hobby. I hear origami is coming back.

As you can see, there are alternatives to enduring a Newcastle game. There’s also The Mighty Newcastle Knights Facebook group.

Nobody should suffer in silence.

WORD COUNT: 750 (including title).

 

[DB]

Newtown is coming,Hear the Bluebags humming, plays over the PA, as DB is the first to hit the field for the 'bags.

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4 Point plan to improve Rugby League

1. $$$
I understand Rugby League has developed from a sport into a business, but this does not mean exuberant prices can be utilised. A few weeks ago I went to Remondis Stadium to watch the Sharks play the Panthers. Now I’m not a Sharks fan (Being a Dragons fans, I’m far from it), but it was a mates birthday. To stand on the back of the hill, with $30 odd worth of beer, it cost me $25. For General Admission. To have a seat it can go from $45 to $30. For me, these seats are $10-$15 too expensive. For a family of four, $40 - $60 extra, can be the difference for this family. West Tigers in Round 6 took on a full strength Cowboys side at Campbelltown Stadium. A crowd of 6456 turned up for that game. Grant Meyer, Tigers CEO stated that the next game was ‘make or break’ for the Campbelltown faithful. He then instigated a promotion which included $10 General Admission tickets, for a game involving a Broncos side missing many key players due to injury and Origin duty. The result was a crowd of16,511, and a new life for the West. With massive work, and promotion within the community, there is no reason why no club should have anything under 10,000 fans attend.

2. Referees
Where to start? Unfortunately every week, it doesn’t seem to be a player pulling off the game winning move. It is the referee who has cost a team the game – Just ask Ricky Stuart. My issue is, and it is a downfall from the increase in technology, is that they pretty much have a camera, and a camera angle to cover every part of the footy field. Does this heap more pressure on the referees? Of course it does. People need to remember that not everyone is perfect, no matter how we want to see ourselves. People make mistakes. The referees have a split second to make a decision whether something has occurred. We have hindsight in the form of replays. I would love a captain or coach challenge system to be brought in, but only for try scoring/saving plays. My other grip, is if the video ref can overturn decisions in terms of trys, or foul plays, why not when it is clear a ball has been raked out, or when a team clearly knocks on?

3. Representative Football
One of the highly contentious factors in NRL is representative football, particularly State of Origin. The line in the sand should be simple. The location of the first club for a player, that should be the state they play for. No ifs and buts. I do not think international football should have any bearing on what state you play for. We should be doing everything we can to promote the international game. If this includes Jarryd Hayne lining up for NSW at fullback, then for Fiji at the end of the year, so be it. The more NRL players included in the ‘minnows’ squads the better it is going to be. Can you imagine the National Stadium in Suva for a Rugby League Test with NRL stars playing. The stadium would be at capacity of its 30,000, plus the rest that would turn up. Should Kiwi’s, Pom’s, and Islanders play Origin? If they are eligible, why not.

4. Regional Games
Country Rugby League has given us so much over the year. 4 out of the eight Immortals of Rugby League represented Country in the City/Country Match, and many past players are seen as a who’s who of rugby League. So let’s thank the Country by taking games out there. Many pre-season matches are played out in ‘the bush’, but who is really excited about seeing a game with twice as many substitutions than players on both teams. One representative game is not enough. Playing competitive NRL games out in the sticks, is a way of saying thank you to the many people that make rugby league great. Why not have a ‘Country Rugby League’ Week, where every game is in a different Rural Town, and the whole week is spent on promotions, and fan participation opportunities for the people in these towns. I would guarantee these games would get a lot more than some of the grounds in Sydney get.

Rugby League is a simple game. Why do we need to complicate it.

746 Words

 

[Hoggmaster]

Hoggmaster, fresh off his man of the match debut last week, comes out swinging. 749 words

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​

Bit of Biff
​

With State of Origin swiftly approaching, I thought I’d take a walk down memory lane this week and share some reminisces from the first series I encountered and my thoughts on the eradication of ‘biff’ from the sport.

Those of you who know me know that I’m a dirty, filthy Pom and didn’t grow up with the sport. Association Football (soccer) has always been my game of choice, but there has always been a very real and lasting gripe I, and many like me, have with it. Footballers are softer than a sponge which has given up on life. Watching a grown man fall over, screaming in agony, because another player got too close to his $500 hair-do makes me want to vomit. Enter rugby league.


Origin 2012 was the first lasting memory I had of the sport. In the first half of the first game a brawl broke out and Michael Jennings, clearly with some anger issues to work out having been dropped to the reserves by the Panthers, galloped across the field to punch Brent Tate. My surprise was compounded by the fact that the criticism wasn’t because there had been a fight, that was perfectly acceptable, but because Jennings wasn’t initially involved and shouldn’t have jumped in.


Finally, I thought, a sport that recognises that sometimes some people just need to be punched in the head. Having been raised on the handbags and push me-pull you fests of football, this was the most refreshing thing I’d seen in sport since darts legend Andy ‘The Viking’ Fordham went into serious training for the world championships by increasing his daily beer intake to 60 bottles.


Origin 2013 couldn’t come quick enough and, low and behold, Paul Gallen didn’t disappoint smacking Nate Myles with 2 pearlers. What Myles did to deserve them, and for that matter how he stayed standing, is still a mystery to me.


Between games 1 and 2 though, the NRL changed the rules, and farce ensued as 4 players were sent off in game 2 for throwing punches. The NRL decided enough was enough and to soften one of the last bastions of manliness in sport. This was confusing to me for 2 reasons:
1. If they were ashamed of this ‘barbaric’ practise in their sport, then why did every single promotional video package for the 3rd game play up the rivalry by showing the fights?
2. Sport fans are tribal in nature. If you want to convert other fans to your sport, something the NRL are always claiming they want, then why would you sanitise your product and remove one of the key differences your sport has to theirs?


My first point highlights the hypocrisy the NRL has displayed. In the age of corporate sponsorships and million dollar TV deals, the NRL want to hide their working man, mud on the face, blood on the shirt roots, and appear as a slick, polished product. They are keenly aware though that their primary, and potential, audience want to see a bit of biff. Thus we see the NRL’s eloquent and lamentable solution, openly condemning whilst privately exploiting.


My second point regards bringing in new fans. Some people do find fighting unsavoury, but in most of us there is still a little bit of that Roman spectator sitting in the coliseum, baying for blood.


The penalty for pushing someone, let alone throwing a few bombers, is so great in other sports, that players are afraid to sneeze in the same direction as each other. So here I was sitting in a bar with Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and of course Poms, all united, watching a game that wasn’t our own, but filled the void that our own sports left. It’s from this unique perspective that people start watching the game and begin to appreciate it for all its other facets.


On Wednesday, when I head to my local bar I won’t be going to see a fight. I’ll be going to see the majesty of Rugby League’s show piece series. I’ve fallen in love with the game itself and will not feel short-changed if there are no fisticuffs.


A bit of me though will always remain in 2012. People from all countries, all walks of life stopped watching their own sports being projected on to the fancy big screens, and turned to watch the small TV in the corner, and witnessing what their games did not give them: Men, not boys.

 

[afinalsin666]

Baggers Team

1. Afinalsin666
2. Drew-Sta
3. MickyJ
4. DB
5.

 

[afinalsin666]

El Capitan rolls onto the field for the Baggers, his writer's block slain.

750 on the dot.

----------------------------


Raiding Season

The Greatest Game of All prides itself on being equal, prides itself on each team having a fair go. They tout the salary cap as the equalizer, forcing teams to ditch superstar players they have spent hard money on to develop. There is no way around this, they will find you out and you will cry. However, in practice, the representative season is in fact the great equalizer.

Successful teams are raided. You know it, you've seen it. Successful clubs have their stars stolen from them and they are forced to blood new players in an effort to field a team. Melbourne Storm lose their Origin players, the four most influential in the club, for months. And if there happens to an injury, then they are gone.

Happily for me, and probably most other fans as well, NSW are not plundering the ranks of last years winners, but going after those in form right now. It is rather spiteful, but I don't care, that means the Bulldogs get brought down a peg. They get raided. They get equalized.

Or do they? Right now, yes. Fans of the lower rung teams get to jeer at the suffering of the top rankers, and Raiders can defeat the Cowboys by as much as they want. The balance is restored.

Until the Origin guys get back. Working with and against the elite each state has to offer is like running a dungeon with a double XP and double loot drop chance. Everyone in the bottom is still scrapping and mucking with low level goblins and the occasional orc, while the Slaters and Thurstons and Gallens are out killing dragons and beholders. Then when the heroes get back from their epic quest, all paid up with TV money loot and a few levels higher, the balance again shifts.

Unfortunately, this is a repeated cycle. Even Mitchell Pearce, who is like a bard with no spells, hanging around in the background and only coming along because of his connections with the quest givers, gains experience. This contact XP is what allowed him to win the cup last year, with the help of a few mercenaries his bosses picked up from the town square.

So yes, we are happy that the Bulldogs are bought low for now, but that double XP hurts. The halves could come back quite a few levels higher than they are now. Would that be equal then? Probably not. There is always a chance a hero can be brought low by the dungeons monsters on the quest, and healers work very slow in this setting. The Bulldogs are lawful evil, so is it wrong to hope for it? Probably. Ignore that, moving along.

Now, your stars can't quite turn down the offer of exceptional loot drops and crazy XP gain, so what do you do? What are your strategies for the raiding season?

You could dominate every game your stars are there, and ignore the losses during the raiding. This is the Storming strategy. This works quite well if your leader has a high charisma and spreads wealth around to keep his core of his band together. The lords of the realm may catch wind of this, and decimate the club to teach a lesson. This strategy is a use at your own risk type.

You could also hire on some mercenaries that the quest givers will not touch. Mercenaries from a distant land that would not understand the intricacies of dealing with dragons and beholders and liches and such, after all, they are used to human campaigns. This is the Great Rabbit Strategy. These warriors are adept at dealing with the chaff of adventuring, but when the elite come back and are ready to play, the mercenaries are outmatched. This can get your through the raiding, but to depend on it for longer than that is foolhardy.

Another strategy that works well is to be an organization that is away from the eyes of the town criers. Out of sight and out of mind. This is the Kiwi Strategy. Many times over the years they have had warriors ready to fight with their distant brothers, only to be shunned because of the lack of focus on them. Sadly, this denies them the experience they desperately need.

So, is the Origin campaign the equalizer it promises to be? Or does it only strengthen the very teams it momentarily weakens.

I don't know, I just love the Bulldogs getting overrun by Orcs.

 

[afinalsin666]

Gents, is there any possible way we could push the deadline out to Tuesday night? I've had some personal stuff interfere this weekend and I simply haven't had the time to write anything (and won't til tomorrow evening post FT).

I don't often ask for this, and I know I'm not cap'n, but I know the Bag's are tight on numbers and it looks like we won't have a reserve this match.

I will also ask for this, but only for Drew, to make it fair, so we don't suddenly have better edited stuff or something.

 

[bgdc]

For the Titans - bgdc rolls up her sleeves, hitches up her skirt and saunters on to the field singing "ten little Bluebags hanging on the wall". (OWC 749)

*****

Your Team v. Your Child

After celebrating Women in League it seems appropriate to address the one single defining moment in every rugby league household; when the man of the house determines whether he should attend the game, or be present at the birth of his child.

Before all you Neanderthals start crying “unlevel playing field”, I’ve decided to put you all into categories, as all us girls must. I’m certain that most of you Troglodytes wander around beating your chests and never understand that you’re just items on the shelf to us of the fairer gender. I hesitate to use “fairer sex” because who says that sex is “fair” anyway?

We may allow your beefy, sweat-stinky bodies to flap around like fish out of water on the odd occasions that you have been very good, but to describe this pittance of submission as “fair” is hardly correct. We hold the upper hand. We decide timing, style and level of supposed satisfaction. We have the monopoly, but I digress.

I have divided you into groups: those that are players, including coaches and administrators, and those who are fans. Of course, even the most ill begotten, unfortunate mail-order bride learns very quickly that the word “fan” stems from the more poignant “fanatic”; a term that aptly illustrates the imbalances that rugby league can create in the male persona.

The debate in the case of the fan is straight-forward. A small and painless piece of philosophical surgery that removes the couch from the posterior, the remote control from the left hand and the smart phone from the right will resolve this debate instantly. Any psychologist will tell you that once a comfort zone has been removed and the connections to friends and Fantasy Football have been severed then normal family perspectives will return. Said hunter will meekly carry your bags and drive you to the hospital, full of loving platitudes and useless anecdotes.

Now to the real debate where by necessity I was forced to further categorize the players into their various levels of involvement: professionals, semi-professionals, amateurs and finally school-aged youths. I’ll start at the bottom and work my way upwards.

So you’re a teenager and about to have a kid?
Then debate equals no debate. Go to the birth. Do not pass Go, do not collect any brochures on the relevance of “safe sex” as it’s already way too late and taking responsibility must start somewhere.

You are a player in the local team; do you want to let your mates down?
No, then attend the birth and drop off a slab of beer on the way to the hospital, or
Yes, attend the birth and don’t get any celebratory cigars for your teammates.

You’re forging a career in an NRL feeder club; do you want to attend the birth?
Of course, then go! Your club will have a collective bargaining agreement that allows for paternity leave, or
Yeah, but we don’t have a CBA. I don’t have any rights and I don’t know if my health insurance covers having a kid. First go to the birth, then change your manager and find a new club, or
No, worried it’s too disgusting to see?
Yes, attend the birth ya big wuss. The miracle of childbirth is no more graphic than an episode of The Walking Dead, or
No, worried you’ll lose you place in the pecking order?
Yes, go to the birth, then change your manager and find a new club, or
No, hungover?
Yep, go to the birth, your partying days are over.

You are a fulltime professional rugby league player; are you one of those people who think that playing rugby league is akin to going to war?
No, go to the birth and congratulations to your child. He or she has a father who is both athletic and intelligent, or
Oh, yeah! Do you think you should leave a fellow soldier on the battlefield?
No! That’s exactly what I mean. I can’t leave me mates to battle without me. Attend the birth; the pain and bloodshed involved in pushing a child out of the human body is far closer to war than rugby league is. Don’t leave your partner on the battlefield, or
Yes. You are a terrible person. How did you get someone to sleep with you? Fame, money, fame and money? Don’t attend the birth; someone like you shouldn’t be involved in raising a child.

The battle is over but the war goes on.

*****

 

[Titanic]

Titanic for the Titans (742 OWC)
__________________

Just a moment

Head in his hands, the lock crouches in the sheds and focuses on some inner strength that will take him through those first ten minutes. Hit and spin – no off-load unless there is a call – no off-load. That prick Smithy, he big-noted himself in the paper last week, bugger him, I’m going to smash him first chance I get. Concentrate now, no off-load, no friggin’ off load!

The Coach takes another look around the dressing shed, assessing his team’s mood, waiting for the moment to call his charges together. I can feel it, they can all feel it. Without Bruiser we’re going to struggle for respect up front. Bloody idiot and his mindless swinging arm, now the team is looking to Bluey but he’s on one ankle. Christ, where is that team sheet?

Doubles, along with chook raffles, have been one of the pillars of bush rugby league, and it's the often unrewarded volunteers who do the leg work. C’mon fella’s, support your club. Just a few bucks won’t hurt you. Will we win? We’ll romp it in! Gee, better finish selling these off quickly so I can get back up and help work the scoreboard.

Adjusting his socks, the referee breathes deeply and thinks back to the training session last Thursday. I really didn’t want to ref, this weekend. If Peter hadn’t pulled up with his dicky knee then I would have asked for a break. I can’t believe I have both Mike and Clive on the line again … one is bad enough but the two of them … heaven help me.

The weather looks like taking a turn for the worse and the mother in the ‘stand looks around for her two children playing near the fence. Jimmy seems to have recovered from that knock he got in the U8’s yesterday – tough little nut though. Sandy is really starting to look like her Dad. It’s a pity she doesn’t like dressing-up and such but then again coming from a rugby league family like ours, what should I expect? I hope it doesn’t rain, we really should win today.

On the massage table the captain is getting the final strapping around his troublesome ankle. This has got to be my last year; I can’t take too much more of this. I’ve nearly paid off my house and I think I’ll get the next supervisors job at the Post Office if I don’t stuff up. Man, I used to love playing so much but now I just want to get it over with. Look at Davo over there, full of beans. They reckon I should be jealous of all that talent, bloody relief if you ask me. Pity he can’t shut up, though.

In the queue at the gate looms the sponsor showing-up for his first game of the season even though this is Round 8. Why do I keep pouring money into these guys? The mileage is good when they are winning and community spirit doesn’t do any harm either. That bloody thug Bruiser got sent off again. You'd think they’d come out to meet me. I hate having to stand here like a pork chop. … “Oh, hi John! Wonderful to be met by the Chairman. Will we win?”

Nerves seem tangible for the rookie making his first grade debut. There’s nowhere to hide. I should have listened to my Dad: next year I’ll be stronger, heavier. Coach reckons I’ll be right. Me mates reckon I’ll be right. Stuff it, it’s too late now. Bruiser said I’ll just be another number out there anyway. I’m gonna follow Skip around the paddock and hope I get some clean ball. Crikey, why didn’t I listen to my Dad?

The smells of league aren’t limited to dressing sheds and liniment. Steak and onions bring a life of their own to a game. The fat bloke wearing last year’s jersey, a size too small, sucks in his gut. Bloody hell, what’s wrong with these canteen women? They’re slower than … "a beer and a … no, make it two pies with sauce, thanks."

He sits where he’s sat for the past fifty years. I’m not sure how we’ll go today. If we had that Bruiser character playing I’m sure we’d knock them off. The field’s still the same but without the old faces it’s not really. The new players look so goddamn young. Since Colleen passed, I wouldn’t know what to do without my footy.

 

[RUG13Y]

RUG13Y in for Titans F7s!

London: Desperately seeking an identity

How can we call rugby league a national game in the United Kingdom without there being a professional outfit in London? This is a distinct possibility starring our game in the face next season.

It seems like our sport has never got it right with the capital.

There never was a will to expand the game in the past and now with the order of sports being firmly established in the 21st century, it is a tougher assignment than ever before. But we certainly ceded extremely valuable territory to our sporting rivals. London the seat of political, financial and media muscle.

Without a firm foothold down in London, we can't hope to compete with other sports and will always be shunted to the end of the line when it comes to media representation and political decisions. And other sports are well armed and resourced to defend their territory with lethal intent. The situation is an embarrassment. But it is what we deserve.

We have never had a well branded and grounded flagship for rugby league in London.

In the 1930s there was a number of clubs which rose and fell in London but nothing endured. For 40 years until the introduction of Fulham in 1980, the sport of rugby league had no stake in London. Over the years this outfit has had many guises, from Fulham to the London Crusaders (1991–1994) to the London Broncos (1994–2005) to the Harlequins (2006-2011) and back to the Broncos in 2012.

The move to the Broncos was a mistake, especially when the London Crusaders was a good brand. The Brisbane Broncos bought the club to use as some kind of joint branding exercise and as a weapon during the Super League War in Australia. The Brisbane team even threatened to transfer all their players to London! There was much talk about what may happen but it never materialised and the club soon changed hands. Even Virgin's Richard Branson owned it at one stage and couldn't make a go of it.

From one mistake to another, a deal was struck with the rugby union club known as the Harlequins. The rugby league club assumed their identity and colours and faded into further obscurity between 2006-2011. It must have broken the hearts of fans and sickened many rugby league advocates.

Another lethal problem for the club’s efforts to build support was the constant moving of their home ground, they were nomads. The club crisscrossed the city looking for a home twelve times. It is little wonder why the fans either lost heart or were just left behind by the club.

Fortunately the partnership with Harlequins ended and the club announced that it was going to poll its fan base about a new identity. Hopes were raised.

But the final decision was to revert to the Broncos mocker. Perhaps they were nostalgic for some fans but irrelevant to London. Obviously the fans had warm memories of when the London Broncos made it into the 1999 Challenge Cup Final or when they finished second in the 1997 Super League.

The newly resurrected Broncos also had new colours, baby blue and black with a new steel bronco logo that was far inferior to the original.

Now the club stands on death's door. Super League is about to relegate teams and the Broncos are in the firing line. It remains to be seen if they will continue to be supported and compete in a second division.

But what rugby league needs in London is a rugby league brand, a brand that represents London. The club should be the ambassador of our sport in London. Perhaps a new brand can emerge. Names such as Blitz or Spitfires were suggested during the consultation period. Even a return to the Crusaders brand would be acceptable. These would be meaningful brands and far superior to the Americanised Broncos nickname. It isn't uncommon for Londoners to believe that the Broncos are an American Football outfit!

It is also important for the London club to work with other fan bases of rival clubs and to nurture away support for their matches. A lot of northerners live and work in London. As do thousands of Australian and New Zealand expats, who would be perfect fans for the club.

Hopefully a new club can be born to continue the legacy. Or perhaps the London Skolars, a grassroots club will grow to carry the banner. Whatever happens, rugby league must not retreat.

Words: 750

 

[Monk]

That's fulltime

 

[Titanic]

Well done team ... great efforts all round. Sorry 'Bags, I understand the pressures of deadlines only too well** and commiserate.

Over to you ref.

** a quick look at last year's Grand Final will show that I was on a plane to DC when one of our players dropped out and because of that I couldn't get a sub into the game and for the first time in F7's history a team didn't field its full compliment in a GF. Neither me nor my team asked for a change of rules because that is the rule we all play by.

 

[afinalsin666]

Good job Tits, you deserve it. Shame it was a battle of co-ordination rather than skill, but that's the way it rolls.

I get thems the rules, but i gotta try something. Just like my hero Cameron Smith :sarcasm:

 

[Drew-Sta]

Well done team ... great efforts all round. Sorry 'Bags, I understand the pressures of deadlines only too well** and commiserate.

Over to you ref.

** a quick look at last year's Grand Final will show that I was on a plane to DC when one of our players dropped out and because of that I couldn't get a sub into the game and for the first time in F7's history a team didn't field its full compliment in a GF. Neither me nor my team asked for a change of rules because that is the rule we all play by.

Agree. I felt there was no harm in asking but didn't think it would happen. And rightly so.

 

[Titanic]

No worries mate, looking forward to our next clash

 

[Non Terminator]

Sorry about the delay so far, won't be done until tomorrow. Very sorry.

 

[Titanic]

At your leisure NT.