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Showing posts from July, 2022

In The Dugout: DBG Plays Rugby Coach (Part One)

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The year is 1991. Wigan have harvested all but one of the major trophies in British Rugby League (Widnes took out the Premiership with a 28-6 win over Bradford at Old Trafford) and remarkably legendary Australian coach John Monie has been shown the Central Park door by Maurice Lindsay. Even more remarkably, the club have appointed untried rookie coach Dan Barker Gray as the new gaffer!  (I'm of course being theoretical, none of this actually happened mainly due to the fact I was born in 1991!)  Through the power of the 'classic' C64 game Rugby Coach it's now my job to steady the ship and get Wigan back to the top of the totem pole.  My first task involves the fact that the game automatically dumps you into the Second Division meaning there are no Good Friday derbies or Roses clashes with Leeds to look forward to, instead my charges will be fighting it out with the likes of Barrow, Doncaster and Ryedale-York. The game is also beset by licencing issues so I don't have...

Bradford's Plight Is No Joke

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For many years, Bradford Bulls were synonymous with Super League. The club, under the guidance of visionaries such as Peter Deakin and Brian Smith, were the leading lights at the beginning of the summer era as they transformed the image of the club, embraced the razzmatazz of Super League and perhaps most importantly began hoovering up the honours, winning the title four times between 1997 and 2005 in addition to the Challenge Cup in 2000 and 2003 as well as sitting atop the Rugby League world as World Club Challenge winners on three occasions.  The glory days such as their 2005 Grand Final win over fierce rivals Leeds seem another world from the current state of affairs for Bradford.  The club's unfortunate plight is well documented within Rugby League circles as years of mismanagement have resulted in the club being relegated from Super League in 2014 and even further into the abyss three years later when they were relegated to League 1. For all the expansions and moves abro...