The BBC red button site says that Catalans beating Warrington "handed the League Leaders Shield to St Helens"> No one "handed it to us"! We are the best team in the league by (at the latest count) twelve points. Awful journalism as usual from our totally unbiased tax payer funded state TV.
I think at times about what any premier team would think if as now we can claim to have I think won the league 9 times out of 24 and we didn't get to be called champions . Rugby League in Britain is just a toy of SKY TV a filler in , I had made plans for this week which includes coming home on Friday and watching Saints now I have to watch knowing the result.
It hasn’t been our sport for over 20 years, the playoff system is the route we went down and we have stuck with it. For me, I don’t mind it. Yes it doesn’t necessarily reward consistency all year (although his years format goes some way to restoring that) but we are not football or rugby union and for me it’s still the way to go.
As for magic weekend, I’ve never been a fan but our sport has limited exposure and this event does that to potential sponsors etc. Even our ‘gimmicky’ Australian friends have copied it.
We're all allowed an opinion and yes, you're right regarding potential sponsors, however, MW is sponsored by Dacia, probably one of the crappiest car manufacturers I can think of. I guess I just have a bit of a downer on the game, even though we've had a great season, I just don't enjoy it the same and there's a lot I don't like.
I assume you were implying that football and union have sufficient money in the game to not need a cash spinning but potentially distorting play-off system. However, union introduced a play-off system in 2002-3 and have continued with it since so presumably it has support throughout the game. Currently, it is identical to that used in rugby league last season so there is no prospect of a team placed 5th or lower in the league being crowned champions.
My quote was in reference to the stature (both in following, grass routes and financially) of our sport in comparison football and rugby union. Couldn’t care less what system either of those sports have as both bore me to tears.
Our sport needs an alternative interest for people at the end of the season, like it or not. It creates higher viewing figures for sky (our major financial backer) and keeps our league somewhat interesting when you consider the quality between sides throughout the league ie. Hull, Catalan, Wigan & Warrington can all have a realistic vested interest in competing come the end of August.
Without a playoff system the league would now be over and no one would be interested until February 2020.
The warped league fixture format & the constant meddling with the play offs make the sport in this country look ridiculous & the Challenge Cup has been devalued. Sky have done a great job in making it look amateurish
"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." Danny Blanchflower.
Might have been written by a footballer about football - but never a truer word............