My mind always goes back to Paul Younge saying that



In contrast though the interview with Chris Evans which I mentioned above was brilliant and did the sport justice.

Completely took the p*ss

It doesn't matter though, it's not important in any scheme of things



I'll tell you what offends me and it's paradoxical, i'm offended by people who are offended by the tiniest of things, the inconsequential things.



Plus i'll add the idiots of RL who blame anything and everything on the RFL to the list of people whi offend me.



This was down to the beeb not the RFL

The duel reg farce is down to the clubs not the RFL

Franchising came in because of the clubs mismanagement not the RFL

Clubs don't advertise the sport yet we blame the RFL

Clubs voted for the league sponsor yet who got the blame, the RFL.

This thread is about yesterday's cup draw.

None of the other items you have added to your viewpoint are relevant; and I agree with you on them.



It isn't complex to conduct a cup draw in a professional and efficient manner and the RFL have managed to get it right on many, many previous occasions.



They got it very wrong yesterday though.



There were three people involved and none of them carried it off particularly well.



An all too irregular opportunity to market the sport on a national broadcast was well and truly botched.



And, yes, in the overall scheme of the planet it is a very, very minor thing.

But this is a rugby league forum and I fully understand why people found yesterday hugely disappointing and have expressed that on here.

As a radio presenter broadcasting on one of the major radio networks in the world you would expect far more professionalism.



If he had been hosting the draw for the next round of the 'Tiddlywinks Grand Masters Pan European Champion Cup' and had William Burlington-Smythe in the studio to assist with the draw at the very least I would expect him (or the researchers) to:-

Research William Burlington-Smythe, how do you pronounce his name, what are his achievments in Tiddlywinks in general, the Grand Masters Pan European Champion Cup in particular.

How does the draw work, who picks the numbers, are team names read out after each number, each tie or at the end of the draw.

Scan through the names of the teams in the draw so that if there are any difficult names such as some little Welsh village, a Hamlet in the Channel Islands or Workington Town you can get the pronunciation correct.

Treat your guest, the sport and the fans of that sport who are listening in with respect.



I would hope that someone at the RFL has had, or will be having, discussions with the BBC about the way in which the draw was conducted to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Mate, we get complaints on here about local radio productions, and commentary, being poor, or amateur, this was a mainstream professional radio broadcast, and it was done with less professionalism and organization than a villege fete tombola.



A proper shambles.

Agree. Not to mention the fact the BBC is a publicly funded service provider. Picking and choosing which sports to support or mock is not part of its constitution.

---this---

This and also the previous offering from FMrC.



Our friend HY was totally off his thread I'm afraid and if we don't care why should anyone else? If we accept poor broadcasting then it is more than likely that we will get poor broadcasting

Agreed. This wasn't local or Hospital Radio, which is far more professional than what was on offer yesterday. This was supposed to be from a renowned national broadcaster.

People are way too sensitive nowadays

I knew the draw was taking place at 3.30 so I logged in here to see what it was. This thread came up without actually saying what the draw was so I went on the Virtual Terrace and it was posted on there. I then knew who was playing who in the next round of the Cup and was happy enough.



I can't for the life of me fathom why anyone would regard it as a bigger deal than that. It was a draw for the last 16 of a competition, not the live TV coverage of the final itself.

Care to explain again why you are doing a one man "boycott" of out away game at London this year?

Really? You can fathom out there is link between how a sport is portrayed and treated by the national media and it's ability to attract sponsorship and the like?



I guess some people just struggle understanding how the real world works.