Smiley Culture

Didn't Dortmund fans not really rate Tuchel anyway? 

English national team fans think Scottish national team fans care more about England than they really do. 

But I echo the points above that England are one of the most embarrassing International sides to grace the planet. I'd put some absolutely tiny European nations out there as sides who've performed better than the England sides. 

Gordon Ramsey or at least the Gordon Ramsey in Hell's Kitchen and the like is essentially a character he puts on that is supposed to be seen as fearsome, aggressive and dominant, amongst other things. In reality, he's a bit of a bellend and the character he plays has no understanding of how to manage people. 

What do you expect with Kevin Walters as coach though? He was beyond useless at Catalans Dragons and he's blagged his way to the Queensland job. 

I think now that Golden Generation of players is moving on, that we might see a small period of dominance by the Blues. 

I don't like the sun because it brings out the part-time drinkers who just want to sit in a pub garden all day. Don't see those types when it's cold and wet in February walking home from the pub. 

St James' Park is the best stadium in England. 

People who take shitty games of small sided games of football seriously as if they're in the Champions League Final need a swift boot to the temple.  

Played in a charity 11-a-side game the other year and all money when to the chosen charities of a lad who died. So we were playing and within minutes of the game starting one of the linesmen, a volunteer and friend of the deceased, didn't give an offside against someone and this fella on the other team, who I have played against before and took games far too seriously then too, absolutely lost his shit and started shouting and swearing, I mean f***s and c***s every other word, in full view of about 100 people watching. He was reminded the reason behind the game and wouldn't stop so was eventually dragged off by the opposing side's manager. 

United shouldn't sign James Rodriguez. United should invest that money in sorting out their defence as we know that Jose Mourinho favours a defensive approach away from home against certain sides and, at present, he hasn't got the players to do that. 

5 minutes ago, Danny said:

No but Super League to me just screams "t'up nooorth" and not in a good way. Rugby League maybe growing down south but you'd be kidding yourself if you thought most people didn't see it as a northern sport and I think Super League is associated with that, I don't think it'll ever really grow down south or try to match nationally Unions popularity whilst it's still called Super League. To me the term Premiership is nationwide and there's a reason other codes/countries have used the term Premiership due to the marketing success is brings.

Of course Super League will be associated with Rugby League and the North (probably because thirteen of fourteen sides in Super League are northern) but for years the RFL supported London Broncos, who were hideously mismanagemed once Richard Branson left them. 

To say it's down to a name that the game won't grow is totally wrong. There are 'expansion' sides in Newcastle, London, Hemel, Oxford, Coventry and Cheltenham (with more likely to join in years to come) and vast amounts of amateur stuff across the country.

I don't think you can say it's purely down to a name that other sports have had success. Other sports have had success because they market their game and sell their game better than Rugby League, the name has little to do with it. 

Rugby League's biggest problem is that it's managed very insular. The powers that be are old fashioned, set in their ways and small minded. What a Rugby League needs is a lot of younger people at the top end of the game that can sell the game much better than the current bunch of people in charge. 

1 minute ago, Danny said:

I just reckon if it was marketed as say "Rugby League Premiership" people would be able to differentiate quite easily, I mean Rugby Union doesn't have a hold on the term "Premiership" considering its been used for football and even NRL.

 

There's no other competition called the Super League though, so there is no reason to need to differentiate. Super League's and The RFL's biggest problem is marketing and I don't mean in terms of the names used to describe competitions. 

On 10/05/2017 at 11:32 AM, Danny said:

What do people on here think about a Super League re-brand? May not go down well with some, it may sound a bit silly or simple but I reckon changing it from Super League to Premiership would help change perceptions of the sport in the Midlands and the South.

Eh? Why would it? The Premiership is Rugby Union's elite level here so using the same name is just going to breed confusion. 

The South is one of the fastest growing areas for the game of Rugby League, its problem is so few clubs of a decent level and mismanagement in the past, especially at the London Broncos who've rebranded numerous times and played home games at something like twenty different venues since their inception in 1980. 

So Bishop's Stortford have been shafted again by The FA and will compete in the Southern Premier League next season, despite Harlow Town, who are just a shade over 10 miles from Stortford, playing in the Ryman Premier.

Staines are presumably in the Ryman Premier despite basic facts like these distances:

Staines to Merthyr Town - 167 miles, Bishop's Stortford to Merthyr Town - 214 miles.

Staines to Frome - 94 miles, Bishop's Stortford to Frome - 153 miles.

Staines to Weymouth - 119 miles, Bishop's Stortford to Weymouth - 178 miles.

Staines to Tiverton - 154 miles, Bishop's Stotford to Tiverton - 213 miles.

Staines to Hereford - 126 miles, Bishop's Stortford to Hereford - 176 miles.

Staines mileage for those five games is 660 miles, in comparison to Stortford's 934 miles. 

Madness.

Worcester City have decided to drop down to step five, the Midland League, which in turn means that Harrow Borough, the best placed 21st team in Step Three, get a reprieve from relegation and that means that either Bishop's Stortford or Staines Town are likely to be in the Southern Premier League next season instead of the Isthmian (Ryman) Premier. 

Potentially a lot of South West trips for Stortford but surely logic dictates that Staines are placed in the Southern League. 

Isn't that Bolivian road closed now and only used by British backpackers on push bikes?

I hope it's as emotional and touching as last year's death of Upton Park. 

Sounds like another chance for pundits to be sensationalist fools and right on cue, Jamie Carragher jumps in with an 'embarrassing' jibe. 

In actual fact, this is barely news. Everyone knows that Mourinho adopts a very defensive approach in big games, his time at Chelsea is testament to that and most people could name games in which a side managed by Mourinho, has done exactly that.

Isn't it weird how you can do two peoples work when left alone for two and a half weeks but as soon as the other person comes back, all sorts starts collapsing after a couple of days of the other person reappearing?

This is my work, right now. 

3 minutes ago, Storts said:

Yeah, very true, some very well established sides though, and I definitely think we'll struggle with them. How often did you get up there this year?

Yeah, it's a tough league. Only once or twice this year, not as much as normal. Going to try and get to a few more next season with it being a decent league and hopefully a competitive Stortford side. 

24 minutes ago, Storts said:

That's very true - think it may be a struggle again, everything still so up in the air. Fingers crossed for the Ryman. Harlow games would be fun

Yeah, I definitely want it to be the Ryman Premier, there's some good teams down there in Enfield, Billericay, Wingate & Finchley, Dulwich and Harlow and much less travelling. 

14 minutes ago, Storts said:

Going to be an experience, been ages since we've been at that level

And with the problems that have gone on this season, it's not going to be a quick return. That's presuming it's the Ryman and not the Southern League. 

I'm quite excited about the Harlow games though. 

3 minutes ago, Storts said:

That's correct

Hopefully they get fucked up by Stortford next season then. 

Haven't Dulwich gone all hipster and are the "cool" club in London these days? 

11 minutes ago, Any O'Brien said:

Tenerife is a good laugh, cheapest place I've ever been in Europe apart from Kharkiv. €20 a night and was in some belter states, that was when I was a big fat cunt and could put my peeve away too.

Been before, Parents have timeshare over there, absolute blinder of a place for a drink. I've had some good nights there. Should be quality over Christmas. 

Went to Rome last weekend, very touristy as you'd expect but a simply stunning city. 

Managed to blag a free holiday to Tenerife from the 22nd-29th December from my parents, so will be booking that soon. 

Fancy another city break and a European city break for football next season between now and December though. Not sure where, I fancy somewhere a bit out of the ordinary, maybe Nuremberg or Poland. 

Having more English and UK born players in matchday squads would weaken the reputation of the Premier League and would have little, if any, effect on the International side.