Smiley Culture

Got a displaced fracture of the metacarpal (a bone in my hand). Did it a couple of weeks ago and had a second x-ray yesterday, where they confirmed there was a break. Originally, they were worried about the scaphoid bone near my thumb but that was clear. Been in a splint for nearly two weeks and have to keep it on for another two-three weeks.

Television.

Sutton away, early kick-off too. Wonderful. I actually don't fancy anything there at all. Meh.

Today at 1pm we get to find out Orient's fixtures for the season. Meh.

Still some I see advertised in London. Or they say they'll cover travel and lunch but nothing else.

Unpaid Internships should be illegal. They're effectively slave labour.

Black people did slave labour in the US till it was abolished. That's basically the same thing as an internship.

There's a website called rugbyleaguevideos that has full match highlights from thousands of games going back years, if that is of interest to you.

Ah, fair enough. I don't know what your level of understanding of the game is but I'd suggest watching the State of Origin games in Australia and the NRL (the elite level of Australian RL) too. We also have the first transatlantic team in sport involved with RL in the shape of Toronto Wolfpack, who play in our bottom division in the UK, League One, which is made up of sides from areas where the game isn't as developed as other areas, such as London, Gloucestershire, Coventry and Hemel Hempstead. Wolfpack are a pro outfit in that league, so it's no surprise they're ten from ten in that league.

A Peruvian RL fan? Weird but cool. Remember that Featherstone are a League below Leeds and also a part-time side, so this will be a pretty large score line.

No internet on the work computers (which limits the amount of work anyone can do to nothing) but we're still sat here.

That little weasel-y looking fella who looks like a smackhead? Marcus Maddison?

Didn't Dortmund fans not really rate Tuchel anyway?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.