The Egg chasers relegation

[Green]

Madejski aside - as a principle do you feel Premiership rugby has a home in Berkshire, or should it be concentrated in South West London?

[The Royal Forester]

Madejski aside - as a principle do you feel Premiership rugby has a home in Berkshire, or should it be concentrated in South West London?

London Irish's home ground may have been in the Richmond/Twickenham for a couple of seasons, but for over 80 years they played in Sunbury-on-Thames, MIDDLESEX, (i.e not London). and their training ground is still in S-O-T. As an ex-Solarian I refuse to accept that the Staines area of Middlesex is in London!

[Green]

MIDDLESEX, (i.e not London).

Sorry to break it to you but they're actually not mutually exclusive.

[paultheroyal]

Madejski aside - as a principle do you feel Premiership rugby has a home in Berkshire, or should it be concentrated in South West London?

Reading Rugby Club - would love them to be promoted and play Premiership Rugby and to develop their own stadium.

Same goes for Basingstoke but sadly they are in free fall.

[RG30]

14. Professional Game Board
(Ian Metcalf - Chairman of the Professional Game Board)
i. The PGB received a detailed presentation from Dr Simon Kemp to the Premiership Injury Surveillance
Project Season report together with an update on concussion. The severity of injury (as measured by
days out of the game) trend is flat. A third of injuries occur in training. Concussion accounted for
17% of all injuries. Education on concussion is going well with 100% compliance by players, coaches
and referees for the online concussions module again this year. The Head Injury Assessment (HIA)
protocol is now also being used in the A League and the Championship.
ii. The PGB has approved the setting up of an Education Strategy Group as a sub-group of the Player
Development Group.
iii. London Irish’s potential ground move is being monitored.
iv. Discussions are continuing regarding the reques

http://gloucestershirerfu.co.uk/FCKfiles/File/20160226_RFU_Council_Notes.pdf

[Old Biscuitman]

I enjoy both rugby and football. Just takes a broader mind set than many on here seem to possess.

For another thing, much better craic from London Irish at the Madejski this season than from the Royals.

[Old Biscuitman]

Madejski aside - as a principle do you feel Premiership rugby has a home in Berkshire, or should it be concentrated in South West London?

Reading Rugby Club - would love them to be promoted and play Premiership Rugby and to develop their own stadium.

Same goes for Basingstoke but sadly they are in free fall.

You have to look at Redingensians for an example of great progress over the years. Now at their highest level ever in Nat 2 South.

[Jackson Corner]

I believe they pay RFC 1 million a season to rent the ground. Can't get much for that in modern football.

[Nameless]

Although pity the poor marketing person who is suddenly told - you need to go and find an extra million to replace what we aren't getting from Irish !
I'm not sure it makes sense for any business to simply turn their noses up at a million quid (which I think is an underestimate in any case)

[SCIAG]

Paul (and others) did start out with that nonsense about rugby destroying the pitch and said they'd be delighted if Irish were relegated and left.

I know I'd be condescending if I liked something and someone wanted me to stop liking it.

LOL at anyone including you saying that Rugby is not destroying the pitch. You are being serious right? In fact don't answer that as cant face this debate again - bit like Antonio!

Just look at the pitch. The areas that are worn away are those which see heavy football use - the goal mouth and the wings (particularly where the assistant runs).

The rest of the pitch frankly looks fine. Maybe it would be even better without rugby, and maybe the goalmouth would be better if it had extra time to recover, but I think Irish have much better grounds to say we are destroying the pitch that vice versa.

[One8Seven1*]

I believe they pay RFC 1 million a season to rent the ground. Can't get much for that in modern football.

Wasn't it at some stage as little as £300,000 a season? Even £1m isn't enough when you consider replacing the pitch at the usual cost (we haven't actually spent what we usually do on it for three years!) is around £500k. It just doesn't seem worth it!

[RG30]

£600,000 http://star-reading.org/index.php/download_file/view/753/1/

[Nameless]

It's been mentioned several times in various places that on top of the match by match income, Irish also pay a large contribution to the pitch maintenance.
IIRC we only got the Desso pitch because they paid half, and they pay half the cost of the biannual relaying.
We didn't did the work it needed a couple of years ago because we had to give the money to the tax man. I believe Irish were none too happy about it....

[One8Seven1*]

It's been mentioned several times in various places that on top of the match by match income, Irish also pay a large contribution to the pitch maintenance.
IIRC we only got the Desso pitch because they paid half, and they pay half the cost of the biannual relaying.
We didn't did the work it needed a couple of years ago because we had to give the money to the tax man. I believe Irish were none too happy about it....

We also didn't invest the usual amount into the pitch last summer, and that's from the grounds staff themselves. Perhaps the Thai's felt it wasn't worth the investment, who knows. But scrimping on a couple 100k hasn't benefited us. If they wanted to save a few bob, stop interfering with signings and leave the likes of Ferndandez in Spain!

[paultheroyal]

Paul (and others) did start out with that nonsense about rugby destroying the pitch and said they'd be delighted if Irish were relegated and left.

I know I'd be condescending if I liked something and someone wanted me to stop liking it.

LOL at anyone including you saying that Rugby is not destroying the pitch. You are being serious right? In fact don't answer that as cant face this debate again - bit like Antonio!

Just look at the pitch. The areas that are worn away are those which see heavy football use - the goal mouth and the wings (particularly where the assistant runs).

The rest of the pitch frankly looks fine. Maybe it would be even better without rugby, and maybe the goalmouth would be better if it had extra time to recover, but I think Irish have much better grounds to say we are destroying the pitch that vice versa.

Yep you have absolutely nailed that. Our excellent and continued wing play have caused those worn abrasions five yards in from the wings and absolutely those pocketed areas in the left and right back positions are from that forward running bursts and deep defending in times of trouble. Norwood and Williams also concentrate their running in key static areas of the pitch. Give you the goalmouths also.

Ps nice edit.

[floyd__streete]

I enjoy both rugby and football. Just takes a broader mind set than many on here seem to possess.

Not really. It is perfectly permissible to be of the opinion that rugby is an infinitely less enjoyable spectacle than football. Imho, even the worst football matches tend to be more of an enjoyable and satisfying watch than the best rugby matches. I tend to be somewhat neutral on rugby; I do happen to think their code of conduct towards football is hugely superior to whatever code of conduct exists in football.

As far as LI goes, it is good for the otherwise forgettable and moribund town of Reading to have top level sport on its doorstep. Occasionally we get top flight soccer as well, when the mood takes us. It is a shame that LI are an inter-changeable franchise rather than a bona-fide 'Reading' team, but then that is english club rugby for you.

[Huckleberry Hound]

Madejski aside - as a principle do you feel Premiership rugby has a home in Berkshire, or should it be concentrated in South West London?

London Irish's home ground may have been in the Richmond/Twickenham for a couple of seasons, but for over 80 years they played in Sunbury-on-Thames, MIDDLESEX, (i.e not London). and their training ground is still in S-O-T. As an ex-Solarian I refuse to accept that the Staines area of Middlesex is in London!

It's not. It's in Surrey.

[Nameless]

It's been mentioned several times in various places that on top of the match by match income, Irish also pay a large contribution to the pitch maintenance.
IIRC we only got the Desso pitch because they paid half, and they pay half the cost of the biannual relaying.
We didn't did the work it needed a couple of years ago because we had to give the money to the tax man. I believe Irish were none too happy about it....

We also didn't invest the usual amount into the pitch last summer, and that's from the grounds staff themselves. Perhaps the Thai's felt it wasn't worth the investment, who knows. But scrimping on a couple 100k hasn't benefited us. If they wanted to save a few bob, stop interfering with signings and leave the likes of Ferndandez in Spain!

On the other hand the pitch is actually not in bad shape at all. Twenty years ago the pitch would have won awards. By this time of year pitches were mud baths with no grass on. Ours is very slightly worn in a couple of places and the roll of the ball is very slightly untrue. I can't think of a single instance where the pitch has cost us a goal, or has led to a significant error.

[Green]

You can drink while watching the match, fans aren't segregated or treated like schoolchildren by the police - it makes for a much nicer vibe. Just a shame the sport is so terrible to watch.

I'm sure there's a middle ground somewhere - cricket perhaps.

[The Royal Forester]

Sunbury-on-Thames may be administered by Surrey County Council, but to most local residents and me, it is still Middlesex, The postal address includes Middlesex, a local football team is called Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC, that is good enough for me and many,many others to keep referring to the County that once existed until most of it was swallowed up by the greedy London Boroughs.