Players Union tells IMG to drop Super League double headers for good.

[josie andrews]

The head of the Rugby League Players Association has held talks with IMG and urged them to consider player welfare and get rid of double-headers.

Every team will play twice over the coming Bank Holiday weekend, in some cases with just three-day turnarounds.

Garreth Carvell says such a schedule, which also happens every year over Easter, must become a thing of the past and has put players’ views on the matter across to IMG, who are currently in the process of considering the way forward for the sport as part of a twelve-year partnership with the RFL.

Carvell told League Express: “We’ve had a good meeting; they were really positive. They’re enthusiastic and can see they can make a change. I think it’s exactly what we need.

“I put the points of view from the players and it was really focusing on those games, those weekend double-headers and the number of games that are being played. International players are playing nearly 40 games.”

Carvell says that the sport will be better off if double-headers are consigned to history, and that player welfare isn’t being taken seriously for as long as they remain.

“Having the double-headers, for such a physical collision sport, just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“What we’ve got to do is look at the game as a whole. Would fewer games, especially having at least a five-day gap between games, benefit the game in terms of the standard? I think it would.

“You’re less likely to get injuries, the game will be quicker as you’re not as fatigued, and it’ll be a better-quality game. The sooner we can get rid of those double headers, the better.

“We talk about welfare and how we’re the sport that best looks after players. We’ve got the concussion protocols, we limit players to so much contact in training sessions through the week, then we decide to put three games on in eight days.

“It goes against the whole idea of player welfare because there’s a lot more contact in a game than in training. It’s money over welfare.

“You’re eking every tiny bit of juice out of the players to make an extra few grand.”

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... or-good%2F

[josie andrews]

I agree completely with Gareth Carvell. I would miss the Easter period but why should we have this upcoming Bank Holiday as a double header as well?

I know it’s because, at least I think it is, of the World Cup, but we play far too many games in a normal season anyway to be able to compete on the International stage. We played Wakefield & HKR, both home & away, twice within a month which is bloody ridiculous.

Us & Huddersfield have already played more games than the rest of SL & then we have the playoffs!

We shouldn’t be playing teams 3, 4 or sometimes 5 times in a season. I feel it’s time for at least a 14 team Super League. Or, at a push, 15 teams, for the sake of injuries & burn out. We start our season almost, if not more, than a month earlier than the NRL, they have a "by" week for each club, at the minute anyway, which we could adopt, which gives each team a break from playing. It may not always coincide with injuries but at least each club benefits from a game free week.

Our game, as a great spectacle, is being diluted with all the extra games, IMO anyway.

[josie andrews]

Super League coaches air their concerns on double-header and chaotic schedule

Super League coaches have united in opposition to the upcoming double-header of fixtures, voicing their concern for players and for the quality of the competition.

St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf said: “We haven’t got away from these really congested periods. We had one at Easter, we’re having one again now.

“There’s a number of things we can look at in terms of how we look after players.

“I’ve said before about the number of games and the way the schedule is put together, (we need to) be a bit smarter overall rather than just adding on and on what everyone wants every year. There needs to be give and take.”

While the Easter period comes early in the year, the extra Bank Holiday round comes just a week before the end of the regular season.

Most clubs are already fielding teams far below strength and there are concerns that the quality of the Super League play-offs will be severely weakened.

“I think we’d be naive to not think that,” said Castleford Tigers coach Lee Radford.

“Normally it’s the game after the Easter period that is a real slugfest with the lack of availability of players. Having this the week before the play-offs is going to be really interesting.”

Wakefield Trinity coach Willie Poching also fears for the standard across the competition, and for England further ahead.

“A lot of clubs are struggling to put 21-man squads out,” he said.

“A lot of teams are nowhere near their best 13 or 17 that they would ideally like to put out. That’s what we’ve got to be aiming for to sell our product.

“The big concern for me is England too, heading into the World Cup, and teams going into the play-offs.

“The play-offs are a big part of any competition’s season, when you get to sell it to a national audience.

“Players should be peaking, you should be selling out crowds, showing the TV audiences the quality our game has.”

The coaches all understand clubs’ financial desire for these fixtures but hope they can convince IMG to consider the game’s schedule going forward.

“We got together as a coaching group and these issues were spoken about,” revealed Radford.

“(Warrington Wolves coach) Daryl Powell was leading in it and he’s going to go back to (IMG) with the feedback that we gave.”

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... chedule%2F

[Caboosegg]

Don't get rid of a double header at easter change it slightly.

Have a 9's comp

[fozzieskem]

It's not so long ago the sport had dropped the double headers citing player welfare now they're back with.a vengence and no-one says a thing

[Wigan Watcher]

Wigan of old played 8 games in 18 days.
How did they do that when the game was far more fearsome.

These fixtures do favour the clubs with larger squads.

[josie andrews]

Wigan of old played 8 games in 18 days.
How did they do that when the game was far more fearsome.

These fixtures do favour the clubs with larger squads.

There wasn’t a ‘sue’ for concussion injuries etc then, but some players from that era are blaming the sport for brain & mental health issues now, this is one of the reasons that ‘player welfare’ is paramount.

Yes the game was more fearsome, but players today aren’t built like brick ****houses anymore, even the props are more lithe than their counterparts back in the day. Crikey, there are wingers & centres as big as forwards these days especially in the NRL

[medlocke]

Wigan of old played 8 games in 18 days.
How did they do that when the game was far more fearsome.

These fixtures do favour the clubs with larger squads.

Exactly, and modern day players are supposed to super fit compared to the players of the past

[josie andrews]

Rugby league players union determined to remove fixture double-headers by 2024

Super League is about to embark on another hellacious run of fixtures.

The Rugby League Players Association aim to remove double-header weekends from the calendar by 2024 at the latest, and say they will fight any 'push back' from clubs to ensure player welfare is properly protected. Super League clubs are about to play a run of games that sees many face three matches in nine days, and four in barely over two weeks.

It is the second time in the season, after the busy Easter period, when players have had to go through such a run. That is due to the looming World Cup, and Super League's agreement to finish the season early to accommodate the tournament. But once again, little consideration appears to have been given to the needs of the players.

With over 80 players out injured currently, the pressures on those who are fit is greater than ever. Garreth Carvell, the former Great Britain prop who heads up the union, has insisted their priority is to ensure fixture congestion like this is firmly a thing of the past.

Read more:Castleford need perfect end to the season to reach play-offs, says Lee Radford

"We're looking after our players the best we possibly can in so many ways," he told Rugby League Live. "Things like limiting contact in training throughout the week, we've got return-to-play protocols that are strong, so it baffles me that all of a sudden we might have three games in eight days.

"It goes totally against everything we're trying to do as a game when it comes to protecting our players. We're in talks but the minimum we want is that these Bank Holiday games are scrapped, and there's five-day rest periods between all games. We need to take a step back and say sometimes, less is perhaps more."

When Carvell was asked how feasible it was that a double-header could be a thing of the past by next season, he said: "I'd like to think so as I don't think the fixtures are quite finalised for 2023 yet. But with push back from clubs, it could be the following year."

Carvell continued: "You'll see coaches on the side of the pitch looking through their fingers in this period, hoping someone doesn't pick something up. The games are so close together that if you pick up a few injuries, it could be devastating.

There are teams struggling to put squads out, abandoning training and scraping through from game to game. It's definitely an issue, though players will try to get on with it because they love the game. My role is to improve things and those discussions are being held now."

Carvell also revealed that the RLPA have expressed their frustrations to IMG ahead of their comprehensive review of rugby league, and are hopeful that could yet force the sport's hand.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... g-24843321

[Mike]

hellacious : very great, bad, or overwhelming.

Not a word you come across often.