Gareth Walker will become the new editor of Rugby League World magazine from May 1st 2013. Walker, who covers the Kingstone Press Championship for Rugby League Express, will take over from John Drake, who has edited the magazine, owned by League Publications Ltd, the publisher of Rugby League Express, since November 2009. He will now focus on the www.totalrl.com website.
The June issue of Rugby League World, to be published on Friday May 3rd, will be the last under Drake’s editorship.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to edit Rugby League World for the last three years,” said Drake.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to the magazine in that time and, of course, everyone who has bought and read it.
“Having worked with Gareth for many years I’m certain Rugby League World will go from strength to strength and will continue to provide interesting and intelligent coverage of all aspects of our sport.
“I’ll be aiming to put many of the things I learned on Rugby League World to good use in my new role overseeing the relaunch of the TotalRL.com website.”
Walker admits that he can’t wait to get started in his new role.
“I’m excited and genuinely honoured to be taking on the role of Rugby League World editor,” said Walker.
“I grew up reading the original Open Rugby every month, and was then fortunate enough to start writing for the magazine when it was acquired by League Publications while I was working there full-time.
“I have continued to contribute as it evolved into Rugby League World and the magazine that we see now, and I believe it has an important role within the sport.
“I think John Drake has done a terrific job during his time as editor, and he has already been a huge help in offering help and guidance as he prepares to hand over the reins and focus on new challenges.
“I first started writing about Rugby League in the amateur game, will continue to cover the Championship for both League Express and while working with Premier Sports, and see two or three Super League games each weekend through my work for national newspapers including the Sunday People.
“As such, I believe I’ve got a very rounded view of all levels of Rugby League in this country, and will bring that overall view to the role of editor, while hopefully bringing the strongest and most interesting stories in the sport to the readers.
“I can’t wait to get started now, and am already looking forward to beginning work on my first issue this week.”
Page XIII editorial, first published 5th April 2013 in Rugby League World, Issue 385 (May 2013)
I’ve long been an advocate of providing clubs at all levels of the game with achievable targets in terms of reaching showpiece finals, which they can use to galvanise and excite their supporters.
The creation of the Northern Rail Bowl, which will be played as a curtain raiser to this year’s Northern Rail Cup final at Halifax is a big step forward in this regard. As we report elsewhere in this issue, it has provided London Skolars with their first opportunity to appear in a final on any kind, and at time of writing it looks like they will face fellow expansionists North Wales Crusaders. That’s enough to gladden the heart of anyone who believes Rugby League is a sport that can be played anywhere, by anyone, and not just in the towns and cities of its origins in 1895. Regardless of which teams actually make the finals of these events, their existence and the reasonable expectation of being able to make it there serves an important purpose. It isn’t a matter of dumbing down or providing prizes for all, it is more a case of making sure that all teams at their own level have something to aim for beyond serving as cannon fodder for the big guns. That path can only lead to disillusionment.
The Challenge Cup is Rugby League’s oldest and most famous knockout tournament. Technically, any club eligible to take part in it still has the chance to end up playing in the final at Wembley. But in these days of full-time professionalism at the top, most of us are realistic and hard-headed enough to accept that it would take a minor miracle for any club outside Super League to reach Wembley now.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons at around this time each year we begin to lament the apparently inexorable decline in crowds and public interest in what ought to be a jewel in Rugby League’s crown. The romance of reaching Wembley now only applies to a handful of clubs at the very top of the sport, some of whom will even regard it as a diversion along their more preferred route to Old Trafford and the Grand Final.
I would like to see the Challenge Cup follow the route taken by the Northern Rail Cup in future, and inaugurate (or resuscitate, for those who can remember the one-off Plate competition of 1997) a competition with a final to be played as a curtain-raiser at Wembley on Challenge Cup day for all clubs outside of Super League, who can still enjoy the thrill of taking part in the tournament proper, but also begin to harbour again a more realistic chance of playing at Wembley themselves, ensuring the romance of reaching England’s National Stadium is no longer the exclusive preserve of those clubs fortunate enough to have a multi-millionaire bankrolling their dreams.
On a much smaller scale, the Northern Rail Cup and Bowl tournaments have shown what is achievable if the will exists. Replicating it on a bigger stage could revitalise the Challenge Cup as a unifying force in a sport which is all too often torn by unnecessary and destructive divisions between the haves and the have-nots.
John Drake, Editor
Page XIII editorial, first published 5th April 2013 in Rugby League World, Issue 385 (May 2013)
Dr Marwan Koukash has certainly made a name for himself in Rugby League since taking over at Salford City Reds. The club’s ambitious new owner is a virtual headline factory, with audacious bids for big name players like Sam Tomkins, the sudden dismissal of Phil Vievers as head coach and talk of a high profile replacement, a public spat with Huddersfield Giants coach Paul Anderson and ructions over the operation of the salary cap.
If anyone imagined Dr Koukash was going to take a backseat at his new club, they’ll be under no illusions now. Whether you happen to agree with him or not on any of these issues, he is clearly determined to drag his club out of the doldrums by all means possible and he has the funds to be able to put his money where his mouth is too.
Those with the responsibility of managing the whole sport, as opposed to one club, however, have to operate within the harsh financial reality that most Rugby League clubs are not cash rich. It is a difficult balancing act to enable ambitious owners the chance to steer their clubs towards the big time using whatever resources they have available, whilst also trying to preserve the rest from financial ruin in an attempt to keep up.
Salford City Reds have experienced life at the harsh end of that dilemma for a long time. It almost cost them their existence. No one should begrudge them a crack at the other end now. But it would be in their best interests – and the interests of the game as a whole – to accept the present salary cap rules and demonstrate that success can and will be built on sound business management principles rather than through the open chequebook of a benevolent owner fuelling the kind of wage inflation our sport simply cannot afford.
John Drake, Editor
Page XIII editorial, first published 1st March 2013 in Rugby League World, Issue 384 (April 2013)
Readers of a certain age may remember the Simon & Garfunkel hit about ‘keeping the customer satisfied.’ That’s not a phrase that could be applied to Rugby League at Championship level so far this season. The game has got itself into a real mess with a dual registration system that is confusing and infuriating supporters in equal measure, whether their team subscribes to a dual registration ‘partnership’ or not.
The intentions behind the scheme may well have been pure; in a sport with such limited resources as ours, it might make sense to share the talent around a bit more. But that’s not what’s really happening on the ground, as Super League players are parachuted into Championship teams willy-nilly as a result of the curtailed opportunities available to them at their own clubs due to the stripping back of Super League’s commitment to their Academy teams.
Despite the mess, we are told that the dual registration system as it presently stands, although under review, cannot be changed before the end of the season. It’s hard to see why not. The shoulder charge was expunged from the rule book overnight and our sport has a long, if inglorious history of moving the goalposts mid-season. In this situation, when so many fans are being alienated, it would make sense to tighten up the dual registration rules as soon as possible to prevent anyone treating the Championship as a dumping ground or gaining an unfair advantage over their rivals.
John Drake, Editor
Page XIII editorial, first published 1st March 2013 in Rugby League World, Issue 384 (April 2013)
It was gratifying to hear the comments of Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy regarding our decision to award the 2012 Golden Boot to Kevin Sinfield. Unlike many of his Australian compatriots who chose to rubbish the award and Sinfield’s qualities as a player too, mainly it seemed on the grounds of his nationality more than any other criteria, Bellamy showed much more class after his side had defeated Leeds Rhinos 18-14 to win this year’s World Club Challenge.
“We know he’s a dangerous player and he probably touches the ball more than anyone else in their side other than the halfback Burrow,” said Bellamy.
“Certainly none of the criticism of the Golden Boot award came from us. We know he’s a wonderful player, and he has been for a very long time.
“At the end of the day when you are picking those sort of awards there is always going to be criticism, because there are so many wonderful players playing our game. But he was a worthy winner, and he was the guy we kept a really close eye on throughout the match. We know he’s a real competitor, a skilful player and he’s really important to their team.”
Of course, some will still argue that Bellamy was only being generous to his hosts in making those comments, but given that his star-studded side which included two previous Golden Boot winners in Cameron Smith and Billy Slater had just managed to eke out a four point victory over the Rhinos, it’s more likely his words were spoken with far more knowledge of the game and far more respect for Sinfield’s talents than most of those who have taken the opposite view in recent weeks.
It was encouraging too, to hear Bellamy speak out so strongly in favour of the World Club Challenge concept, which so often is dismissed as a meaningless pre-season run-out (often by those teams that have not managed to win it).
That said, I can’t work up any enthusiasm for proposals currently on the table for expanding it in the near future. When you get a game as good as we saw between the Rhinos and the Storm, the temptation in Rugby League is always to milk something good until it runs dry.
I’d settle for seeing the World Club Challenge remain as a one-off game between the premiers of the NRL and Super League, hosted alternately here in the UK and down under. Even that would be a significant advance on what we have at present. If we get to see Australian fans supporting it on their own turf as strongly as British fans have so far, perhaps then it might be time to look at something bigger, but not before.
I wrote in this column last year when similar expansion plans were being touted, “No matter how plausible the proposals for change put forward now might be, I can’t help feeling that this time next year, nothing will have changed and the World Club Challenge will still be a one-off game in the UK in February.”
That proved to be the case, and I’ll be genuinely surprised if that changes over the next 12 months too.
John Drake, Editor
Our apologies to everyone who picked up last month’s (March 2013, 383) issue only to discover we put the wrong club record details on the Leeds Rhinos page of the free Super League Handbook. Genuine human error on our part, red faces all round! However, we’ve now put the correct info in a PDF file which you can download here to print off and stick into your Handbook for future reference.
Leeds Rhinos and England Rugby League captain Kevin Sinfield has been named as the winner of the 2012 Golden Boot, awarded annually to the game’s greatest player by Rugby League World Magazine.
Sinfield led the Rhinos to World Club Challenge success against Australian premiers Manly Sea Eagles and a sixth Super League title in nine years, collecting the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man of the match in the Old Trafford Grand Final. He also captained the Rhinos to the Challenge Cup final at Wembley and led England to victory against France and Wales in the Autumn International Series.
He becomes only the fourth Englishman to win the Golden Boot, after Ellery Hanley (1988), Garry Schofield (1990) and Andy Farrell (2004).
Rugby League World editor John Drake said, “The British game can and does still produce individuals of world class ability. Kevin Sinfield is one such player and it is right that his towering achievements in 2012 should be recognised with the Golden Boot.
“2012 was an incredible year for British sport. The Olympic and Paralympic Games in London that wowed the world and produced a huge medal haul for Team GB; a US Open Tennis champion for the first time in 76 years; a first ever Tour de France win; Ryder Cup and PGA Championship golf successes; England’s cricket team winning a series in India for the first time in 27 years and Chelsea winning the Champions League.
“Kevin Sinfield rounds of that year perfectly, becoming the first English winner of the Golden Boot since 2004.”
Martyn Sadler, chairman of League Publications Ltd, publishers of Rugby League World added, “Kevin Sinfield was up against a strong field of candidates, and the decision to award him the Golden Boot was made after much deliberation comparing his qualities with the other shortlisted candidates.
“Kevin can’t move as quickly as Ben Barba, for example, or with the elusiveness of Sam Tomkins, while Cameron Smith’s ability close to the ruck is surely second to none. But Sinfield is a supreme captain, and only Cameron Smith can rival his leadership, while Sinfield’s goalkicking success rate in 2012 was 82.84 per cent, compared to 69.64 per cent for Smith.
“In the Super League Grand Final Sinfield kicked five out of five, from all over the pitch, and that after he had been knocked out earlier by a challenge to the head. What he did in that game goes beyond what could reasonably be expected, even of a Golden Boot winner.
“Twice injured with brutal clashes that epitomise the sport, he simply shrugged off those knocks, got up and got on with his own game, setting an example for his colleagues to follow. After the game he denied that the head-clash had marred the game for him.
“That demonstrates another quality that marks out great players. Almost unbelievable courage and toughness!”
Full details of the 2012 Golden Boot award are in the current issue of Rugby League World Magazine, on sale from Friday 4 January. Also available to read online in multiple formats including for Apple iPad and Android devices.
The 2012 Golden Boot Shortlist
Ben Barba (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm)
Nate Myles (Gold Coast Titans)
Kevin Sinfield (Leeds Rhinos)
Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)
Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors)
Golden Boot Roll of Honour – Past Award Winners
1984 Wally Lewis (Australia)
1985 Brett Kenny (Australia)
1986 Garry Jack (Australia)
1987 Hugh McGahan MBE (New Zealand) Shared
1987 Peter Sterling (Australia) Shared
1988 Ellery Hanley (Great Britain)
1989 Mal Meninga (Australia)
1990 Garry Schofield (Great Britain)
1991-1998 – Not presented
1999 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2000 Brad Fittler (Australia)
2001 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2002 Stacey Jones (New Zealand)
2003 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2004 Andrew Farrell (Great Britain)
2005 Anthony Minichiello (Australia)
2006 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2007 Cameron Smith (Australia)
2008 Billy Slater (Australia)
2009 Greg Inglis (Australia)
2010 Benji Marshall (New Zealand)
2011 Johnathan Thurston (Australia)
2012 Kevin Sinfield (England)
FOUR AUSSIES, TWO BRITS MAKE THE 2012 GOLDEN BOOT SHORTLIST
#rlwgoldenboot
The Rugby League World Golden Boot, which is awarded every year to the best Rugby League player in the world, will be awarded this year to one of six candidates, whose names appear below in alphabetical order.
The name of the winner of the Golden Boot will be announced on 4 January in Rugby League World magazine and by press release on that day.
This year’s contenders are:
Ben Barba, 23, is the only candidate for the Golden Boot who has not played for his country in 2012. But the Canterbury Bulldogs fullback has still had a memorable year. At the 2012 Dally M Awards he was awarded the Dally M Medal as the NRL’s Player of the Year. He was voted the Dally M Fullback of the Year. He won the Peter Frilingos Memorial Award for providing the Headline Moment of the Year in Mackay, Queensland, for the Bulldogs against Melbourne Storm, when he collected the ball behind his own line and created a magnificent try over the length of the field for his team-mate Josh Morris. He won the Provan-Summons Medal as the People’s Choice as Player of the Year. He won the Rugby League Players Association Player of the Year award. He was voted the Player of the Year by the Australian weekly publication Rugby League Week. He scored 22 tries in 27 games for the Bulldogs in 2012.
Cooper Cronk, 29, played for Melbourne Storm, Queensland and Australia in 2012. For the Storm, he won the Clive Churchill Medal as the man of the match in the NRL Grand Final, as the Storm defeated the Bulldogs 14-4. He played for Queensland in all three State of Origin games, scoring the winning field-goal in Queensland’s thrilling 21-20 victory in the third game of 2012 that saw them win the State of Origin series for the seventh successive season, and he played for Australia in their two Tests against New Zealand. At the 2012 Dally M Awards Cronk was named the NRL’s Halfback of the year, and he came third in the overall Dally M rankings.
Nate Myles, 27, was selected to play in all three matches of the 2012 State of Origin series for Queensland, and he was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal as the Player of the Series, which was won by Queensland for the seventh consecutive year. He also played for Australia in the Trans-Tasman Test in Townsville in October. At the 2012 Dally M Awards Myles was named the NRL’s Second-row Forward of the Year. At the same event he was voted the NRL Representative Player of the Year.
Kevin Sinfield, 32, captained Leeds Rhinos to victory in the World Club Challenge against Manly Sea Eagles, and to victory in the Super League Grand Final against Warrington at Old Trafford. He also led Leeds to the Challenge Cup Final. He then went on to captain England to victory against France and Wales in the Autumn International Series. Sinfield won the Harry Sunderland Trophy as the Player of the Match in the Grand Final, gaining 27 of the 33 votes that were cast.
Cameron Smith, 29, is widely regarded as the best captain in Australia. In 2012 he captained Melbourne Storm to win the Grand Final, Queensland to win the State of Origin series, and Australia to win two games against New Zealand in their Trans-Tasman Test series. At the 2012 Dally M Awards Smith was named the NRL’s Hooker of the Year. Cameron Smith is the only player in this year’s shortlist who is a previous winner of the Golden Boot, having won it in 2007.
Sam Tomkins, 23, was the winner of the 2012 Man of Steel award, which is voted upon by his fellow players, as Super League’s Player of the Season. He was voted the Super League Player of the Year by the Rugby League Writers Association. Tomkins is, like Ben Barba, a prolific tryscoring fullback, having scored 36 tries in 30 matches for Wigan in 2012. Tomkins also scored four tries in two games in the Autumn International Series.
Golden Boot – Roll of Honour
1984 Wally Lewis (Australia)
1985 Brett Kenny (Australia)
1986 Garry Jack (Australia)
1987 Hugh McGahan MBE (New Zealand) Shared
1987 Peter Sterling (Australia) Shared
1988 Ellery Hanley (Great Britain)
1989 Mal Meninga (Australia)
1990 Garry Schofield (Great Britain)
1991-1998 No award presented *
1999 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2000 Brad Fittler (Australia)
2001 Andrew Johns (Australia)
2002 Stacey Jones (New Zealand)
2003 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2004 Andrew Farrell (Great Britain)
2005 Anthony Minichiello (Australia)
2006 Darren Lockyer (Australia)
2007 Cameron Smith (Australia)
2008 Billy Slater (Australia)
2009 Greg Inglis (Australia)
2010 Benji Marshall (New Zealand)
2011 Johnathan Thurston (Australia)
Seven players – Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Ryan Hall, Johnathan Thurston, James Graham, Cameron Smith and Paul Gallen – retain their places in the annual Rugby League World XIII which is chosen every year by the game’s worldwide media. Brett Morris and Sam Burgess are selected again after absences of three and two years respectively, and a quartet of World XIII debutants in Josh Morris, Cooper Cronk, Sam Kasiano and Nate Myles make up the selection.
In addition to the World XIII, the new issue of Rugby League World Magazine on sale now carries the full World Ratings, listing the top five ranked players in each position.
Editor John Drake explained: “Every year we invite members of the print and broadcast media across the Rugby League playing world to vote for our World XIII and this year’s ultimate line-up is as formidable as any.
“While NRL based Englishmen James Graham and Sam Burgess made the final cut, along with Ryan Hall who emerged as the runaway leader in the voting for a wing position, four other Super League players only just missed out too. Wigan duo Sam Tomkins at fullback and Sean O’Loughlin at loose forward, plus England captain Kevin Sinfield at stand off and James Roby at hooker all ranked second in their positions in the overall World Ratings, making it one of the strongest showings by English players in years.
“Hopefully that’s a good omen for the World Cup in 2013!”
WORLD XIII
1. Billy Slater (Melbourne Storm)
2. Brett Morris (St George-Illawarra Dragons)
3. Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
4. Josh Morris (Canterbury Bulldogs)
5. Ryan Hall (Leeds Rhinos)
6. Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys)
7. Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm)
8. James Graham (Canterbury Bulldogs)
9. Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)
10. Sam Kasiano (Canterbury Bulldogs)
11. Nate Myles (Gold Coast Titans)
12. Sam Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
13. Paul Gallen (Cronulla Sharks)
The World XIII and World Ratings have been published annually by Rugby League World Magazine and its predecessor Open Rugby since 1978.
The shortlist for the Rugby League World Golden Boot will be announced on Monday 10th December, with the winner revealed on Friday 4th January in Rugby League World Magazine.
Page XIII editorial, first published 2nd Nov 2012 in Rugby League World, Issue 380 (Dec 2012)
It’s a hard slog supporting international Rugby League. For all the excitement and innovation surrounding next year’s World Cup, for which the organisers are to be genuinely congratulated, there are games like the recent Wales-England encounter in Wrexham to sit through. Let’s not kid ourselves that a scoreline of 80-12 will have set anyone’s pulse racing, but let’s also not kid ourselves that our game can prosper without a meaningful international programme to call its own.
We look on with envious eyes at packed stadiums and acres of media coverage afforded other sports when the participants pull on their national jerseys, while in Rugby League we scratch our heads wondering why, less than a month after a crowd of over 70,000 turns up in Manchester to watch Leeds play Warrington, barely 4,000 make the trip to Wrexham to watch Wales take on England.
It isn’t really that hard to fathom, though. We knew the Grand Final would be a real contest, the outcome uncertain, the prize the biggest the domestic game can offer. Yet in Wrexham, it was a matter of just how many points England would rack up, the result never seriously in doubt and the prize on offer – a place in the final of a tournament that may never take place again hosted at a club ground rather than an iconic venue – is not the most mouth-watering of enticements to anyone but the most committed of international die-hards.
That’s why it is largely pointless fretting about the size of the crowds for these Autumn internationals. They have the mark of a contractual obligation about them, the filler inbetween the more familiar Four Nations schedule we are used to and the forthcoming World Cup. They were never going to pull in the punters in huge numbers.
To admit that is not a case of being negative. It is a case of being honest with ourselves.
It can be argued that some of the peripherals could have been changed to make them more enticing, perhaps different venues, better promotion, but how much difference would that truly have made? Enough people knew the games were happening to fill these venues three times over, but they chose to give them a miss. That’s because the quality of a venue and a heap of advertising would not change the results of a competition in which a nation with full-time professional clubs running into double figures easily eclipses two others with one full-time club between them.
This doesn’t mean the tournament is worthless.
We rightly lament the paucity of international contests our game has to offer. It is one of the reasons we as a sport fail to sup with the big boys at the top table when it comes to raking in major sponsorship deals and associated advertising. Rugby League is seen as small beer. The Autumn internationals merely confirm that. They represent an uncomfortably accurate barometer of Rugby League’s present situation.
The answer is not to run away from international Rugby League just because at present it is a shadow of the domestic game. That is the root of so many of our sport’s problems. The answer is to persist as doggedly as possible with the project until we have built something worthy of the name. England need fixtures outside of World Cups and Four Nations. Neither the Exiles games nor the Autumn internationals are hitting the spot in terms of thrilling the public in vast numbers, but they are giving the players and the coaching staff useful experience that will hopefully benefit them when the bigger events roll round. Wales and France, also Ireland and Scotland who took part in the Alitalia European Cup won by England Knights, desperately need this kind of game time in order to improve.
Given the disparity in domestic strength, we cannot expect miracles. There will be blow out scorelines from time to time (there are in many other sports too, we just don’t notice them as much) but our international show has to stay on the road despite those.
Let’s keep our nerve.
John Drake, Editor
