The RLWC going fully behind a paywall is a damning indictment for the sport's profile at international level. When the BBC aren't interested, you have big issues.
Premier Sports had been sniffing around Super League too for 2027, I'm told.
https://t.co/vhoEe0xzuv
The man for the big moment. In so many moments.
There's nobody quite like Ben Stokes.
The England captain today announced his retirement from international cricket.
It was obvious to anyone who has read the grading criteria how flawed they were. Last year, the criteria determined that Bradford's stadium was better than Doncaster's.
Here are a few more examples...
Nothing against 99% of Bulls fans, but please, please, please do not subject the rest of SL to this absolute shit tip. The Game doesn't need this. @TheRFL
📣 ABDULL IS A VIKING!
✍️ Widnes Vikings are thrilled to announce the signing of former Man of Steel nominee and England international, Jordan Abdull, for the 2026 season!
#VikingsForevermore
https://t.co/dOEsn2eFQ3
📅 On this day, 22 clubs of the Northern Union broke away to form the sport of Rugby League…
1⃣3⃣ of those founding clubs have been there the full 130 years!
Jon Wilkin: “I'm for the game growing and for expansion. A coherent strategy would be useful in terms of what the plan is.
"I'm just against the concept that we were sold a vision of IMG and grading. For people who watch this who don't understand the car crash that is rugby league, instead of promotion and relegation, the game said 'right, we're going to give everyone a little score and based on that score depends on whether they can get in the league.'
“Now, just one year after the first round of the gradings where it was, 'hey, everyone's doing well and improving this, put leather seats in and you get in the league,' now we're just going to use those rules for 12 teams and the other two teams we're going to pick. And not only that, we're going to pick the panel of people who pick those teams, and for me, it is just weird.
“It's like being involved in a car crash for a sport that repeatedly makes the weirdest choices, and it just blows my mind. You know, we've got 12 teams that will adhere to a set of rules, and then we're going to have two teams picked that don't have to adhere to the same rules.
“There's no guidance about what that will look like, there's no indication of how those rules will be applied or who will be making the decisions, or what the panel will look like.
“You'd be surprised if clubs like Toulouse aren't very twitchy, there's an anti-French rheotric knocking around the ethere at the minute and they're in one of those IMG positions where they problably would get in and this probably suggests there's not a chance of them getting in."
A couple of years ago, we were told a grading system would drive up standards across the sport. In 2026, we are likely to have an away game at Odsal. Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the rugby football league.