Maurice Lindsay: Ex-RFL chief executive and Wigan Warriors chairman dies, aged 81 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/61477131
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Maurice Lindsay: Ex-RFL chief executive and Wigan Warriors chairman dies, aged 81 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/61477131
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RIP. Yes, he got up our noses and yes he was Wigan-mad but couldn!'t the game do with his vision and drive today. Some ideas didn't come off but he had the game in the media constantly and he made no apologies for our game. Flawed but overall a massive asset.
Overly favourable view.
Lindsay was fortunate to be around in the right place at the right time: the game was offered a huge sum by SKY due in no small part to the Super League / ARL war in Australia. Given the game was effectively bankrupt it was an offer it could'nt refuse. Lindsay had little to do with this good fortune; he was merely the opportunist. At that time the game had the backing of much of the Murdoch media as Murdoch sought to tighten his grip on the sport in Australia, it being big bucks over there as it ever was.
Under his watch the game spurned an opportunity to grow due to crazy ideas / short cuts that were far fetched or overly ambitious.
Some of the proposals at that point were hair brained. As much as there may be valid points in arguing for mergers, proposals like Calder Valley and Cheshire were bonkers - no fan associated with Warrington/Widnes would ever accept that idea. It was too much too soon.
Last edited by eddiewaringsflatcap; 17th May 2022 at 14:51.
I don't think he was many Saints fans favourite.
Looking back though some of his ideas were visionary and had they been handled more sensibly the game would have been in a far better place.
I reckon that the game will move more in the direction of his thinking over the next few years with the new company running the show. Even if its a quarter of a century late.
Maybe I am going a tad soft in maturity but I think some of the comments on here are not appropriate. He is someones relative and he has died so I think deserves a bit more respect at the moment and I have deleted some of the chat.
My favourite memory of Uncle Mo was when he was the Great Britain Manager and the university I was at managed to wangle the warm up game to the Great Britain vs France test match in Avignon in 1989. We played the game and then watched the test match from the stands and we were sat next to the players who hadn't made the team and the GB party. Uncle Mo being one of the lads had turned up in a tracksuit - probably a shell suit in the 1980's but not just any tracksuit, it was bright pink with gold braiding on the shoulders. Some of the players who shall remain nameless were nodding in our direction in a way that said look at this! I am glad to say that there was a formal reception later on in the town hall and he had changed into a suit for the presentations.
Some of his ideas were fantastic and light years ahead of the time and others were just plain crazy, but he always spoke with conviction and if you were a Wigan fan, you couldn't complain about what he brought to that club. I agree with Div that, the game will move towards a franchise system in the next few years and that he does have family and that should be respected.
He had a vision for Wigan Rugby league club, and he did full fill that vision but he hoped that the Wigan model would drag the rest of the league up and RL would be a fully pro self sustaining sport. Unfortunately he could only see his vision as a good thing, but ultimately it led to Wigan have to sell their ground in order to stop going bust. He may well be hailed in Wigan for giving them one of the most successful teams the game has ever known but the price was way too high.
At his time at the RFL he kept this vision for the game, but again didn’t think about the practicalities of the mergers. Wasn’t he responsible for framing the future which would have put the game in a much better position than it is now, it would have stopped clubs just splashing the Sky cash on has been Aussies and made them invest in their infrastructure.
Yes somethings he got right and somethings he got wrong, but framing the future was one thing he got right but was wrong not to force that through.
(Watch someone point out framing the future had nothing to do with him…..)
As soon as I saw the thread I had several people in my head who I was awaiting reading something inevitably OTT and disappointing from - thankfully it seems it got tidied up first.
He was a RL administrator who clearly wanted to progress and grow the sport and did so with enthusiasm and without just taking the easy decisions - we could do with a few more of those. Clearly like all RL administrators he was not perfect.
RIP
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A visionary who like most divided opinion.
He did not cause the situation Wigan are in now, he has not held a position in there for nearly 20 years, anyone who thinks what has happened is his fault do not understand business.
Hemingway`s often quoted "gradually then suddenly" is true, if it were Maurice Lindsay`s fault they would have gone within a year after he left, in a small organisation such as an RL club.
If we had continued a little longer in the same way as Howes had us set up we would not be here.
RIP Maurice condolences to his family.
He loved Rugby League and that’s enough for me, regardless of his colours.
RIP
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.
I’ve heard plenty of insults aimed at him over the years, stuff that’s really out of touch in 2022 and really no longer acceptable (not that they were in the nineties and early 2000’s either) and rivalry with Wigan aside, he changed the game as a whole at a time where it needed changing and that subsequently led to the success of us.
RIP.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
Got on here rather late, looks like some comments from the usual pr*cks on here have been removed. Club differences aside, the game is in a better state now because of his forward vision.
Last edited by Calm Dave; 18th May 2022 at 11:06.
I think that is a point that is often overlooked. Moving the game to summer in particular suited teams like Saints, that like to play fast open rugby on hard pitches with the sun on their back down to the ground. I don't think many would be deny that those first few years of Superleague produced some of the most attractive rugby that we had seen for decades, particularly by Saints - who got their just reward. To the extent, in fact, that the RFL have spent much of the last 20 years trying to slow the game down again to give the other teams a chance. Sadly that has produced a game that, by common consent, is (generally) less attractive to watch than it was and, at a time when many think it needs another shot in the arm someone with the vision of ML would be an asset.