The Spotlight is on… Bradford: this week the RFL hit Bradford Bulls with a 6-point deduction that leaves them 4 points adrift of London at the bottom of the Super League table. With the threat of relegation at the end of the season, this is absolutely disasterous for Francis Cummins and his squad. A dark…
Let me guess…you’ve stopped talking about the fact that Rugby League clubs at every level across the UK are in financial meltdown. You’ve stopped talking about the lack of funding being put into development. You have stopped talking about how terrible the current Rugby Football league administration is. Why? Because with a combination of smoke…
The 2013 Super League season was a worrying one for fans of the sport in Great Britain. It felt like a tipping point had been reached as more clubs than ever faced financial oblivion while National Rugby League clubs officially began to cherry pick players they wanted from Super League clubs. Pretty much the only…
Sydney Morning Herald writer Adrian Proszenko is reporting that the Salford Reds have made a huge offer for Sonny Bill Williams. The deal is said to be worth over $1 million per season, a figure that would simply be unworkable under the current Super League salary cap. While it seems extremely far fetched, I think…
The Salford Reds are chasing Canterbury Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard according to the Manchester Evening News. The Salford Reds, who will change their name to the Salford Red Devils next season, are on a spending spree as their new owner looks to turn around what is currently one of the worst clubs in Super League….
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Canterbury Bulldogs are keen to extend the contract of English forward James Graham, and that the Warrington Wolves are keen to lure the former England captain back to Super League. I’ve been told that if Graham was to return to Super League, it would be to his…
The Rugby Football League has announced that Super League will be cut from 14 teams in 2014 to 12 teams in 2015. There are more decisions to be made over the coming months about competition structure and how the relationship between Super League and The Championship will work. All of the decisions being made come…
Brad Walter of the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Salford Reds are chasing New Zealand test stars Issac Luke, Ben Matulino and Simon Mannering. The Salford Reds have been linked to a long list of players from both the NRL and Super League recently. Their new owner Marwan Koukash has made no secret of…
Right now there is a lot of talk about restructuring the Super League and Championship competitions. Some of the idea’s on the table seem alright. Others are completely ridiculous and should not even be up for consideration. The problem with all of the options being put up for discussion right now is that they do…
With NRL clubs now turning their attention to Super League players in an effort to boost depth in their squads, many within Super League had the same reaction. Raise the salary cap. Forgetting that a handful of clubs have gone belly up in Super League over the last few years with the salary cap set…
There is a stark reality that Super League fans and clubs need to accept. The days of buying decent players from the NRL are over. The days of picking and choosing who they would like to have in their sides are long gone. The days of big name imports have gone the way of the…
It is an issue that fires up a lot of fans and one I think is pretty clear cut. What happens when a clubs finds itself in a perilous financial situation and is fighting for its life. Should a governing body step in and take control of the situation, or should they stand back and let things…
It is one of the questions I have been asked the most over the last few days. With the financial crisis in Super League seeing three of the competitions 14 clubs fall over in the last 12 months, people realize that something has to give, and it is probably the ability of Super League to…
Bradford Bulls fans have woken up to the news this morning that their club could be dead and buried within a fortnight. The Bulls released a statement today pleading with fans to donate £100 each to save the club. They claimed they need to raise around £1,000,000 to survive and £500,000 just to survive through…
First of all I want to tell British Rugby League fans to stop being so reactionary. What has happened has happened. You can blame this and that, but at the end of the day the real problem is that the foundations that the game in Great Britain is built upon are completely rotten. Until the…
I’ve been saying for some time that Rugby League in Great Britain, and Super League in particular needs fixing. In 1996 Rugby League in Great Britain was given a whole lot of money to help try and form an elite club competition that would provide broadcasters with a nice amount of content they could show…
I’ve written so many article about the changed that need to be made within the game of Rugby League in Great Britain. If you want to read them, go looking through the site archives. What if you started to think outside the box though? What if you stopped thinking about the basics, and went after…
English Rugby League players get no respect. They are under paid and they have very little profile in the media. Because of this, players find it hard to get any sort of decent personal sponsorships, and you know who is to blame for all of this don’t you? Well, take your pick…. The BBC, Soccer,…
In the wake of Kyle Eastmonds announced defection to Rugby Union at the end of the Super League season there have been a number of very interesting reactions. Calls to raise the Super League salary cap, to pay Super League players more money, to form a players unions, central contracts, expansion, contraction…..everyone has an opinion!…
The RFL recently said that it would look to take the Challenge Cup off of free to air television and to a pay tv channel such as ESPN if the BBC did now come up with a decent offer in the next round of negotiations for the rights to broadcast the games longest running competition….
The complete financial meltdown of the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats should be the catalyst for a complete overhaul of the way Rugby League in Great Britain is run. The sad news is, it won’t be. By going into administrations before the season kickoff, and then receivership after the first round of the competition, the Wildcats have…
I’m a Hull FC fan, and today my team ran up a scoreline of 42-18 against the London Harlequins, despite the fact they were without a few injured players. This season Wigan looks strong, as does Warrington. St Helens are not in top gear, but they are still dangerous. My Hull FC are probably punching…
The administration in Rugby League on both sides of the world right now is a complete and utter shambles. Stupidity, self interest and ignorance are all getting a work out and the lack of a real leader, someone that can push things forward and make decisions, is there for all to see. Anything thats good…
A salary caps job is to do two things. First and foremost, its designed to stop clubs spending more than they can afford. When the salary cap has not been in effect in sports, you see clubs falling over chasing dreams they simply can not afford. The second thing a salary cap does is even…
The RFL has handed out a piddly four point penalty to Wigan after the club exceeded last years salary cap by an enormous £222,314. The RFL could have imposed a penalty of between 6-12 points but it seems a £222,314 is only worth four points. That means to qualify for the maximum penalty a club…