Been a season ticket holder for 24 years and in that have missed very few matches home and away. At the moment I am bored with the game. The poor promotion by the rfl, the lack of biff, the lack of shoulder charge, the slowing down at the play the ball and the constant use of the big screen are just some of the factors for me. I used to really enjoy the game and look forward to going
I appreciate that we want no one to get hurt but a bit of biff on the field gets the crowd going and makes for a better atmosphere.
Am I the only one who feels this way and has anyone felt the same?

Poor promotion by the RFL?

The RFL are getting better at promoting but I agree about over sanitising the game.

We have a game that offers a consistent 7-8 out of 10 from an entertainment and value for money perspective but 5 out of 10 from a marketing and promotional perspective

Soccer is the complete reverse

I, for one, feel exactly the same.

Make that three...I'll be doing something worthwhile with my time next summer after 50 years of dedicated Wire following.

Big Ask & Billinge Wires





Well said both of you. But no matter how much we criticise our game, try watching 90 minutes of football and ask yourself how much of that 90 minutes can be classed as exciting?

I'm the same for the 1st time in 15 years I won't be getting a season ticket next year and will just pick and choose my games, I find most leagues boring where the teams are doing the minimal needed, i'm sick of seeing good fair tackles getting pulled back for penalties because of the banning of shoulder charge...

Look at clips like Talis and O'Conner going toe to toe and then getting binned to cool down, that now would probably end up as 2 reds and both getting 3 games, bring back the biff.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

34 years of Wire for me, and not had a season ticket for about 6 years (varying reasons, jobs, marriage, child, double redundancy for me and Mrs G in the space of a month)
Barely been to an away game since World War 3 at the JJB in 2001ish
If it's on Sky/BBC I'll watch at home with my family, and a bottle of shiraz,
and personally, I've not fallen out of love with the game......your priorities change as you age (I'm pretty sure all these fans who call themselves 100%, forever, true, loyal etc are all under 25.....don't worry, they'll change), I've changed my way of support for my team.
I'll stick up for them just the same as I did, when I had a ST for 18 consecutive years. When I used to get p155wet through away at Cas, Swinton and frozen to death at Watersheddings and Odsal.

As for sanitisation, I do tend to agree.

No biff. Eddie, Stevo, and Carney weeing their pants whenever a fist is raised. "There are kids watching, they don't want to see this" YES THEY DO. Just check out that WWF tosh, the kids love it.

The banning of the shoulder charge....PATHETIC. Anybody who's watched our game knows the difference between a properly executed one, and an outandout cheapshot. For God's sake, Les Davidson would only play about 6 games a season, and he COULD shoulder charge (legitimately).

Constant use of the big screen drives me up the wall, particularly for obstruction when there is none. MAKE A DECISION, REFS.

The holding down in the tackle has been a problem since Moses was in short pants. It's never going to go away until the RFL deal with it PROPERLY, AND USE IT AT ALL TIMES.

The RFL, is well....the RFL. It's not brilliant, but it's all we've got. I'm sure Messrs Branson and Sugar have some marketeers going spare, that they could hand over.

They one thing that slightly worries me, is, all our players (RL in general) seem to be carbon copies of each other. They're all 6'1", 14.75 stone, lean mean fighting machines, without a scrap of body fat on them.
With a few exceptions, they seem to have any flair trained out of them.
Witness Westerman a few years ago. Great player in broken play, but now, he just tackles and drives the ball up. Where are the Harry Pinners of old. Yes, he was an overweight, slowar53, but he knew how and when to pass.
Look at Harrison for us. Good player, of course, but a loose forward? Not while he's got a hole in his bottom.

That's my main bugbare. The entertainment is being driven out of the sport, for the needs of a stats man. Phil Larder has a lot to answer for

I agree with your point about football and had assumed it was the size of the crowd rather than the quality of the game which made it exciting - on the basis that tiddlewinks would also be exciting if it were played in front of 30-40 thousand supporters. However after yesterdays bore-athon at Wembley in front of 78 thousand, I'm no longer convinced.

Re the comment about football , it is a sport where the media over the years have helped to lift it onto its lofty perch, but that really is a sterile sport. If only the RL could have a love in with the media.