Look Fitzy has done it once again, in one foul swoop he has Feed Bulldog Ritchie and got us talking about League.
Now I know it is the Tuesday of the Qualifying Finals but there is no league news, no headlines, and nothing to get people talking, and this is the sort of thing Denis is known for.
If you listened to the BSB this morning, there were 2 topics, Sunday games and The Import for the Newcastle Jets and his Bad Record off the Park.
At least we are still talking about league.
So interesting things From the BSB, there was a father saying that he does prefer night games on a Saturday night, because he can come home from working on a Saturday, take the kids to the game and spend time with them.
He also said that Sunday's were harder to get to because of the Balmain League Playing Junior League on a Sunday Morning so as Fathers that work on Saturdays and watch there kids play.
Then they have to rush home, get changed and go to the Sunday Arvo footy.
That makes Sunday footy worse for them next year with the 2:00 pm game and the 3:00p game shown at 4:00pm.
The reason that the league is looking to re-instate games on a Sunday is because of the bad crowds, and the NRL says it will investigate the problem next year, Well next year they wont have the problem, as the NRL don't have to play at the same venue each game (Aussie Stadium) as they are now contacted to have 3 finals at that venue but that contract expires this year. Home Semis will happen next year, with the largest Regional Ground hosting the games.
Eg, Newcastle, Canberra and Brisbane would play at their home grounds
Melbourne, would play at Telstra Dome if available, until there Multi Purpose Venue of 25-30,000 seats is finished
Gold Coast and North Queensland would play at Suncorp
Sydney Based clubs would play at Aussie or Telstra Depending on previous crowd attendances, e.g. Manly Vs Cronulla would most probably be at Aussie while, Parramatta Vs St George would most probably be at Telstra.
That way 2 games on a Saturday evening at 6:30 and 8:30, We also then rule out the Argument about how much time teams have to prepare / recover because the difference can be a maximum of 4 hours.
Also on the Sunday Night Grand Final. I think it would be better if it Kicked of at maybe 5:30 or something, have a 4:30 news, a 5:00 Pre-Game Show and have a 15 minute half time break for the Half time Show, During the Pre Game show have the parade of the retiring players on the field. You can also have the Trophy Delivery like last year with the Black Hawk, or something else. That way the game is over by 7:30, The Kiddies can get to bed by 8:30 or 9:00 at the latest and the rest of us can Party on. You can have you full day of activities with games starting only 2 hours later. 60 Minutes can still show at its correct time, and the National News is recorded and ready for regional distribution as well either at the same time or at a time Convenient for other stations.
Doing this we might not get the GF shown in Melbourne, Live but we could also get it shown in Perth Live as well which according to WARL is gaining in strength and numbers because of the Western Force. That's right League is getting bigger because of the Union side in the state.
If you could get Eddie to sign off on having the NRL grand final on in Melbourne and Adelaide we could start to show case our Product to the Entire Country and become a National League again.
But Once again Fitzy has conceded on the BSB that Sunday games will happen regardless, and he has got us talking everyone talking about the issue at hand, and concentrating on Rugby League.
