The Gardeners' World Blog

If there's one sport I truly grew up with, it was rugby league. My grandad was a Bramley supporter; and most of the older members of the family had been present at Odsal Stadium in Bradford for the famous Cup Final replay in 1954 that was watched by more than 100,000 people. As a youngster I spent plenty of time myself at Odsal and Headingley and at many of the smaller grounds around Yorkshire.

These days I have to be impartial about all sports, and we try to balance our coverage budgets with the needs of our sports-loving audiences - so rugby league doesn't get preferential treatment, and I now hugely enjoy an afternoon of rugby union too. But sometimes we're accused by rugby league fans of being biased against the sport, so this is an update on some developments which I hope will prove we're serious about the game's future.