Tomkins to play for Barbarians?

[Welski]

[/quote]

It was dire beyond belief but I had to watch it cos of my £20 at 3/1. Not sure if the £60 was worth it though.
[/quote]

Haha it was awful. No doubt you enjoyed that moment in the first half as much as me, had that numpty passed it we could have turned it off!



Disclaimer:
~Please be aware the value of my investment advice can go down as well us up~

[DaveO]

The dismisal of RU talent also disses some of the best ever RL players, just take a look at the names listed above, and let's not forget some of our greats are now moving into Union and coaching their players, that's a massive blow to our sport even if they didn't take another league player.[/b]

Thank god for reason. Jim Sullivan one of the greatest players and coaches OUR game has ever known came from?

I don't see what the relevance is of when Union players used to come and play league except to show us whichever way a player moves, it is for the money.

Union have always had huge crowds for Internationals and in South Wales where the likes of Boston, Quinell and J Davies came from its almost a religion. Yet they still left all that behind to come an play a minority sport. Why do that? Well back then they simply could not earn what they could in league despite the so called Shamateurism.

They left the things behind we see used as excuses for our players going there. They left the much bigger International scene of Union behind to come an play "up-north".

It really is just about money. They are pro players with a short career and Sam will go to union despite the poor game it is if someone is prepared to pay him enough to be bored.

Where does this money come from? Well in England who are the richest Union in the world from one place really. Twickenham Internationals and the revenue associated with them.

They just reported a net profit of £8.7m this is after tax and after they dished out funding to premiership clubs and other clubs and bodies associated with the RFU.

Revenue for the year from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 increased by £24.3m from £112m to £136.3m.

Operating profit for the year was £40.6m, an increase of £14.8m on the profit of £25.8m recorded for 2009-10. The retained profit for the year was £8.7m compared to a retained loss of £1.1m in 2009-10.

Most of these increases came about because they staged three six nations games at Twickers and four Internationals. They managed to sell 21,000 corporate packages for those games.

Without Twickers and the Internationals they would not generate anything like this kind of revenue and they would not be able to dish out such huge funds to Premiership clubs. I do not think there is one of those that would post a profit without the income from the RFU which shows you at club level RU is not self financing.

Although these figures look huge when compared to RL, compared to the money in Premiership soccer they also show you it is a small sport in comparison but nevertheless one rich enough to take who they want from us.

[BriH]

The dismisal of RU talent also disses some of the best ever RL players, just take a look at the names listed above, and let's not forget some of our greats are now moving into Union and coaching their players, that's a massive blow to our sport even if they didn't take another league player.[/b]

Thank god for reason. Jim Sullivan one of the greatest players and coaches OUR game has ever known came from?

I don't see what the relevance is of when Union players used to come and play league except to show us whichever way a player moves, it is for the money.

Union have always had huge crowds for Internationals and in South Wales where the likes of Boston, Quinell and J Davies came from its almost a religion. Yet they still left all that behind to come an play a minority sport. Why do that? Well back then they simply could not earn what they could in league despite the so called Shamateurism.

They left the things behind we see used as excuses for our players going there. They left the much bigger International scene of Union behind to come an play "up-north".

It really is just about money. They are pro players with a short career and Sam will go to union despite the poor game it is if someone is prepared to pay him enough to be bored.

Where does this money come from? Well in England who are the richest Union in the world from one place really. Twickenham Internationals and the revenue associated with them.

They just reported a net profit of £8.7m this is after tax and after they dished out funding to premiership clubs and other clubs and bodies associated with the RFU.

Revenue for the year from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 increased by £24.3m from £112m to £136.3m.

Operating profit for the year was £40.6m, an increase of £14.8m on the profit of £25.8m recorded for 2009-10. The retained profit for the year was £8.7m compared to a retained loss of £1.1m in 2009-10.

Most of these increases came about because they staged three six nations games at Twickers and four Internationals. They managed to sell 21,000 corporate packages for those games.

Without Twickers and the Internationals they would not generate anything like this kind of revenue and they would not be able to dish out such huge funds to Premiership clubs. I do not think there is one of those that would post a profit without the income from the RFU which shows you at club level RU is not self financing.

Although these figures look huge when compared to RL, compared to the money in Premiership soccer they also show you it is a small sport in comparison but nevertheless one rich enough to take who they want from us.

Good analysis DaveO.
RU is all about Internationals w.r.t. RL. That's where they make their dosh. Nothing at all to do with which game is the best both from a spectator point of view or from a players.
It's no surprise that a lot of RU players - England - openly admit they watch RL!!!

[platt-warrior]

Just a selection of the gates at yesterdays games out of interest:

Harlequins v Newcastle...12,521

Gloucester v Leicester....14,437

London Irish v Wasps.......7,987

Northampton v Saracens 13,402

Unfortunatley RL cant match those imo.

[Dobby]

Just a selection of the gates at yesterdays games out of interest:

Harlequins v Newcastle...12,521

Gloucester v Leicester....14,437

London Irish v Wasps.......7,987

Northampton v Saracens 13,402

Unfortunatley RL cant match those imo.

Thats a little selective isnt it? There have been plenty of weeks this season when attendances in RU have been shocking. It is a little like picking a week in RL when Leeds, Saints and Warrington are all at home. If Newcastle and Saracens were at home instead of away either team would be lucky to get 6,000. Attendances on the whole in Rugby Union are well down on last season, which in itself was down on the year before.

[jaws1]

Is the rumour true that the RL is negotiating to have a 50.000 stadium built in Leeds on the old Tetleys brewery site to stage RL matches for Internationals and Cup Finals ,if true our own Twickers

[Nezza Faz]

Is the rumour true that the RL is negotiating to have a 50.000 stadium built in Leeds on the old Tetleys brewery site to stage RL matches for Internationals and Cup Finals ,if true our own Twickers

jaws1 - if only; it sounds too good to be true. By a long way.

Don't know how it would be costed/funded, it's bigger than the Etihad Stadium !!

A lot of positive news for RL around at the moment but can't see this one happening, unfortunately.

[yoda warrior]

Is the rumour true that the RL is negotiating to have a 50.000 stadium built in Leeds on the old Tetleys brewery site to stage RL matches for Internationals and Cup Finals ,if true our own Twickers

That would be exciting. Where did you hear that?

[jaws1]

Is the rumour true that the RL is negotiating to have a 50.000 stadium built in Leeds on the old Tetleys brewery site to stage RL matches for Internationals and Cup Finals ,if true our own Twickers

That would be exciting. Where did you hear that?

On RFL fans .

[yoda warrior]

Is the rumour true that the RL is negotiating to have a 50.000 stadium built in Leeds on the old Tetleys brewery site to stage RL matches for Internationals and Cup Finals ,if true our own Twickers

That would be exciting. Where did you hear that?

On RFL fans .

Thinking about it, we play nowhere near enough international matches and need a bigger stadium than that for the cup final so can't see that being true. It would be great though if the international game got its act together enough to warrant us having a stadium like that.