Catalans away

[Nezza Faz]

Pedro: "no they didnt like I said they used bien but they lost that last season not this, there is a massive benefit to the french as they see every home game unlike us"

But it's absolutely no benefit to Sky in broadcasting to a French audience, it's not their target, so why should they reimburse/reward Catalans for using the Bein Sports production coverage - that's a relationship between the two French parties.

[pedro]

So you'd like sky to pay to ship it's gear from one ground to another each week for the privilege of televising the sport right? Oh and there being a whole days gap between every game so they could do the breakdown and setup at everyone's home ground?

The sport is played in a real world where compromises have to be made to play at all, even over "common sense".

The ideal world is one with no pandemic, but that's not where we are.

did for football so yeah, they have the deal so its upto them

You don't take into account any practical or financial issues in your common sense situations do you? Its an easy place to solve problems.

In that case why not play all the games at one ground? That would have less financial and practicality issues, so in effect your Wembley snipe would actually be a good idea with your logic ...

[pedro]

Pedro: "no they didnt like I said they used bien but they lost that last season not this, there is a massive benefit to the french as they see every home game unlike us"

But it's absolutely no benefit to Sky in broadcasting to a French audience, it's not their target, so why should they reimburse/reward Catalans for using the Bein Sports production coverage - that's a relationship between the two French parties.

Ah ok you said no benefit to the french audience not sky, they should reward them as sky viewers want to watch it and tune in for it, then who can’t make the game from the UK.

[morley pie eater]

If we had a SL team in Wales or Scotland they'd be subject to different Covid regulations than English teams.

France is not on the M62.

We don’t so how is that relevant? The sport had a system in place for the remainder of the season. There is absolutely no need to change it because of different regulations relating to Covid in France or anywhere else.

This weekends game should be taking place at Saints, Wire or Leeds ground behind closed doors.

If people want to bring Covid into it, the fact 5000 fans will be there given the cases in France is another reason not to do this as is the travel involving the Wigan team and coaches. It would be a lot more sensible for Les Cats to base their team in the U.K. for the duration as Toronto did normally than be flitting back and forth.

Its relevance is as an example, Dave. It seems that you switch into Mr Angry mode without attempting to understand a simple analogy. Different countries have different rules.

The French could complain about having to pay £50,000 per match to travel here. They get one home match with 5000 speccies and you're apoplectic. The whole game is facing an existential threat, and all you can think of is "It's not fair! If we can't have crowds, they shouldn't."

What did it used to say on The Rugby Leaguer? "All for the good of the game." Go figure.

[DaveO]

If we had a SL team in Wales or Scotland they'd be subject to different Covid regulations than English teams.

France is not on the M62.

We don’t so how is that relevant? The sport had a system in place for the remainder of the season. There is absolutely no need to change it because of different regulations relating to Covid in France or anywhere else.

This weekends game should be taking place at Saints, Wire or Leeds ground behind closed doors.

If people want to bring Covid into it, the fact 5000 fans will be there given the cases in France is another reason not to do this as is the travel involving the Wigan team and coaches. It would be a lot more sensible for Les Cats to base their team in the U.K. for the duration as Toronto did normally than be flitting back and forth.

Its relevance is as an example, Dave. It seems that you switch into Mr Angry mode without attempting to understand a simple analogy. Different countries have different rules.

The French could complain about having to pay £50,000 per match to travel here. They get one home match with 5000 speccies and you're apoplectic. The whole game is facing an existential threat, and all you can think of is "It's not fair! If we can't have crowds, they shouldn't."

What did it used to say on The Rugby Leaguer? "All for the good of the game." Go figure.

The fact different countries have different rules is completely irrelevant because the system we had meant that was not an issue for the teams actually involved in the competition. Hypothetical issues that may have arisen had we had a Scottish or Welsh team are just that, hypothetical.

In reality we don’t have such teams, a system was put in place and off we went. That system would still work this weekend. There is no compulsion to change it and certainly not because of different rules in France. As changing it gives Cats an unfair advantage it should not be changed.

There is even less reason to do this based on today’s news. France just recorded its second highest daily total of new infections since the virus entered the country with 8577 new cases. And yet people are arguing it’s a good idea to travel to France and once there stage a game where 5000 fans are let into the ground? It’s bonkers.

[fozzieskem]

We don’t so how is that relevant? The sport had a system in place for the remainder of the season. There is absolutely no need to change it because of different regulations relating to Covid in France or anywhere else.

This weekends game should be taking place at Saints, Wire or Leeds ground behind closed doors.

If people want to bring Covid into it, the fact 5000 fans will be there given the cases in France is another reason not to do this as is the travel involving the Wigan team and coaches. It would be a lot more sensible for Les Cats to base their team in the U.K. for the duration as Toronto did normally than be flitting back and forth.

Its relevance is as an example, Dave. It seems that you switch into Mr Angry mode without attempting to understand a simple analogy. Different countries have different rules.

The French could complain about having to pay £50,000 per match to travel here. They get one home match with 5000 speccies and you're apoplectic. The whole game is facing an existential threat, and all you can think of is "It's not fair! If we can't have crowds, they shouldn't."

What did it used to say on The Rugby Leaguer? "All for the good of the game." Go figure.

The fact different countries have different rules is completely irrelevant because the system we had meant that was not an issue for the teams actually involved in the competition. Hypothetical issues that may have arisen had we had a Scottish or Welsh team are just that, hypothetical.

In reality we don’t have such teams, a system was put in place and off we went. That system would still work this weekend. There is no compulsion to change it and certainly not because of different rules in France. As changing it gives Cats an unfair advantage it should not be changed.

There is even less reason to do this based on today’s news. France just recorded its second highest daily total of new infections since the virus entered the country with 8577 new cases. And yet people are arguing it’s a good idea to travel to France and once there stage a game where 5000 fans are let into the ground? It’s bonkers.

It is bonkers given the news Johnson has delivered over 6 in a bed (I lose track of todays catchphrase)to be travelling to France is madness, there simply isn't a justifiable reason as to why that game is going ahead.

[morley pie eater]

I think its fine to have 5K fans if their local regulations say its fine. Would you accept Cats saying we can't have 5K fans in the DW because they weren't allowed to? We should be pushing the government to include us in trails of fans in stadiums, not trying to stop teams who can already do this.

We are supposed to be one league that has adopted extraordinary special measures to continue to which all teams should be subject.

Saying one team can follow different rules than the rest is ridiculous. It completely undermines the idea of a level playing field.

It’s nothing to do with the Covid situation in France v the U.K.

Dave, I should know that it's futile to try to reason with you. The above and your latest post are unconnected and contradictory.

I'll tell you what: You're right, Dave. Absolutely spot on. As always.

The survival of RL as a professional sport is irrelevant. All that matters is that DaveO is right.

Goodnight.

[Nezza Faz]

I would strongly predict the Wigan trip to Perpignan will be an exact, quarantined replica of the measures that Catalans have to take when they come to the UK.

Their itinery goes something like meeting up at their ground early hours on match day, transferring by coach direct to their local airport where they board a chartered plane for the flight direct to the destination airport. They are Covid tested there and processed separately to all other air passengers before boarding the bus to their hotel, where there are facilities for them to remain safe. Some hours before the game, they board the bus straight to the stadium to prepare, currently as in any other SL match played at a neutral venue. At the end of the game, they get on the bus direct to the airport to pick up their flight home.

This is what Catalans do each time, at a cost of around £80,000, to assist SL in helping complete the competition, and obligations with Sky to keep the vital tv revenue streams coming in.

[Mike]

Dave. Is the whole leagues policy not to get fans back into stadia as soon as possible? They've said that many, many times. So this is totally consistent with the whole games policy. In fact, and this one's for Pedro, we should move all the games to France if sky would fund coverage and have fans at them all, but unfortunately sky are very unlikely to find the money for that.

I guess that when crowds are allowed back in Wigan if there is a second wave in France that shuts down stadia over there which is a totally possible scenario, Dave will be lobbying for empty grounds across the league for consistency's sake!

It seems like a strange stance to decide that removing income from the game when all other sports are trying to recover as much as possible it is the right move for the sport right now, in the name or some imaginary policy that catalans are breaching.

[pedro]

Think we established before mike that sky don’t film in France....Wembley idea is still the best idea you had