International International Rugby League Thread

[dr nick]

Originally posted by bulltige
It seems that some Aussies are stuck in a time wharp, circa 1997 and possibly don't get to see any SL games.

I would expect the NRL sides to be the more dominant if we had such a comp now, but the top British sides wouldn't be the pushovers they were back in the SL2 days, things have moved on.

might be a good idea to have a finals series of 8, but instead of having such poor teams in the NRL that make the finals, make it consist of the top 4 NRL and the top 4 ESL teams. have ESL1 v NRL 4 in england, NRL1 v ESL4 in australia for instance. though it will be a farce in the end. how would they decide which team gets the home GF? and if the GF is not held in australia, then people here will not be interested. also if its always the NRL teams thumping the ESL teams, also it will be a yawn. i think its worth a try, but i couldnt imagine a format that will please people from both england and australia. no-one here even paid attention to the world club challenge final.

 

[bulltige]

One suggestion for the final is to stage it in a neutral country. One venue worth considering is Jacksonville Florida.

Almost everytime I've read about a new WCC, the NZ Warriors plus the three top Australian clubs has been the common format. That's sure to upset a lot of Aussies if the Warriors have a bad season.

 

[Player]

Originally posted by bulltige
One suggestion for the final is to stage it in a neutral country. One venue worth considering is Jacksonville Florida.

Almost everytime I've read about a new WCC, the NZ Warriors plus the three top Australian clubs has been the common format. That's sure to upset a lot of Aussies if the Warriors have a bad season.

1.
I doubt too many Australian fans will make away games, making it a television based competition.

2.
The Warriors have lots of bad seasons, haven't seen too many Australians lose any sleep over it.

3.
Florida? WTF

 

[Dr Zaius]

Re: Internationl finals series

Originally posted by Briedis
I was thinking today about some of the continual complaints that some (mostly trolls I know) people have in here on league.

Low crowds, not an international game for example.

What would you guys say if the NRL and ESL got together for their finals series? At the moment, there is the club challenge game, but perhaps the top four or five teams from each comp could comete in a finals series after the NRL/ESL seasons grand final.

I think something like that would boost rugby leagues profile and hopefully be something to regain some of the old fans and get new fans. Plus, the added value for sponsors and TV money etc would make it worthwhile for clubs etc.

This is a great idea. If the Brits are not up to scratch then they soon will be. If not a combined finals series then perhaps a UEFA type comp with the best 8 teams from each league.

 

[bulltige]

Originally posted by Player


1.
I doubt too many Australian fans will make away games, making it a television based competition.

3.
Florida? WTF

How many away fans do you get when a SA side plays a NZ team in the Stupor12?

Yes Florida, that state just to the south of Georgia.

The Alltel Stadium - home of the Jacksonville Jaguars - has staged pre-season tournaments in the recent past. The city of Jacksonville and the local media were very welcoming for the new sport. Many locals turned up, plus many Brits who were on holiday in North Florida. If they could get a crowd of about 8,000 for a pre-season match think of the possibilities for an annual WCC Final.

 

[Ms.Storm]

Briedis.

Yes, I think it would work....could be worth a try at least.

BullTige,
Yes I have been watching the ESL and its a fantastic comp..certainly very close to the standard of the NRL..and will only get better!

At this stage we are getting about 2 games per week on Fox and sometimes a repeat of those 2 games, if they are not tied up with other sports.....would love to see much more.....might be worth emailing Fox Sports about this

 

[bulltige]

Ms Storm, glad you enjoy watching the ESL.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to see more than two matches per week, that's all we get. Friday and Saturday evenings is live Super League on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.

 

[dr nick]

it would sort of be like a superbowl, a great idea, and funny i havent heard it brought up before. if the english teams are competitive, would be a great comp. again, must only be the finals that are played between the two leagues, the superleague WCC was a joke. i say trial it for a year, and see how it goes.

on the other hand.... nah, i'll post a new thread (about the night GF's... something new... but not sure it will last long)

 

[Destructive]

Originally posted by Brett Li


better teams in the Super League now my friend. You may be surprised......

Yeah, but it'd still stink of Murdoch.

 

[Player]

Originally posted by bulltige

How many away fans do you get when a SA side plays a NZ team in the Stupor12?

Far too many unfortunately. The boks come out of the woodwork to support their teams.

Mind you I hate away fans.

Don't want them at my ground, I don't like their banners, their flags, their facepaint, or foreign beers.

Diversity? Who needs it. The opposition needs to know they are up against a hostile cauldron of local fans, uncontaminated by any travelling support.

I don't like them when their team loses, hate those moments after an score where the silence of the majority is interrupting by a celebrating minority, and certainly don't need them when they win.

As far as I'm concerned they can all stay home and watch it on television.

However our colonisation of their home stadiums, well I'm all for that of course.

 

[bulltige]

Originally posted by Player
However our colonisation of their home stadiums, well I'm all for that of course.

That's alright, just don't think of colonising Hull's Boulevard ground, they don't care too much for away fans.

 

[Briedis]

Originally posted by bulltige
One suggestion for the final is to stage it in a neutral country. One venue worth considering is Jacksonville Florida.

Almost everytime I've read about a new WCC, the NZ Warriors plus the three top Australian clubs has been the common format. That's sure to upset a lot of Aussies if the Warriors have a bad season.

What give the Warriors a complementary pass into the finals each year? No way.

 

[Player]

Yeh Otahuhu or Mangere East should get the complementary pass, the Warriors should have to finish in top three like any other Australian club.

Fancy having a WORLD club challenge and excluding New Zealand rugby league, what are they thinking.

 

[Dipper]

I must confess to being more of a Union fan than a league fan but on the issue of crowds you're not comparing like with like, the Super12 Union crowds are for state sides playing regional sides from NZ & South Africa but the leageu crowds are for club games.Do the crowds for Union club sides like Randwick exceed those of the league sides in Sydney?

In England the crowds for the Super league sides exceed those of the Union club sides significantly with only Leicester able to come anywhere near to them.

 

[Dipper]

Originally posted by nicko18


and modest by all reports too

people like you are not tolerated in australian culture, either the poms are very different, are you are a basketcase there too.

Nicko please don't condemn all us pommies as basketcases on the strength of this pr1ck, he absolutely wouldn't be tolerated where I live, going on some of his earlier stuff on the Union & soccer board he's got a huge chip on his shoulder.

As he himself alluded to in this thread he's a proud as punch Yorkshire man but is ashamed of his Englishness, we don't need (or want) people like that.

He's just trying to fight some class war that only exists in his head.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by DIPPER



Nicko please don't condemn all us pommies as basketcases on the strength of this pr1ck, he absolutely wouldn't be tolerated where I live, going on some of his earlier stuff on the Union & soccer board he's got a huge chip on his shoulder.

As he himself alluded to in this thread he's a proud as punch Yorkshire man but is ashamed of his Englishness, we don't need (or want) people like that.

He's just trying to fight some class war that only exists in his head.

no way i think the english are like him, most are really nice. just questioning why people like him would be tolerated in a society, the implication was that either poms accept this type of crap (which i believe they dont) or he is a basketcase there too.

 

[Ms.Storm]

Hi Dipper

Just to answer your question about Randwick, etc. vs. rugby league crowds....no.

How are you?

 

[Dipper]

Re: Hi Dipper

Originally posted by Ms.Storm
Just to answer your question about Randwick, etc. vs. rugby league crowds....no.

How are you?

Hey Stormy
I'm devilishly good how about you.

Thanks for the answer to my question it was almost a retorical question as I was 99.9% sure that crowds for Union club games were much lower but I worded it like that just in case some smartar*e came on & proved me wrong-always goota cover your back-lol.

 

[bulltige]

ARL needs international RL

Australian Rugby League desperately needs regular international competition to be successful because the game is under attack there from union.

If all the Aussies do is play with each other all the time, union will use its international dimension to show the parochial nature of League. Rugby League can't afford that scenario.

I realise that SOO is bigger and more important than than say, the copycat Lions tour, but that is slowly changing. Last time round, the pretend Lions brought 10,000 of Britain and Ireland's most affluent rah rah fans to Australia, spending thier ill gotten gains on beer, food and hotels. I bet the TV money was on the high side too.

So it is in the ARL's interest too to make sure that League international's are competitive.

 

[Player]

Comparing the last British Lions tour to the recent British and Irish Lions tour you can certainly see the recent growth in Rugby in Australia.

Shows just how new some fans are to Rugby when there were reports that people were suggesting the Lions should tour to Australia more frequently. A 12 year cycle is a long time for some people to wait for a rematch.

It is getting to the point where RL needs international football, not to show case the game for the TV public, and not for counterprogramming against RU's successful product, but to offer a unique challenge for international quality talent in Australia from converting to RU. Something else to look forward to rather than the weekly grind for their Club.

International football was the only thing the ARU once had to prevent its talent from converting, at least the NRL could have that, and a professional competition (and now with a $100,000 salary cap exemption).

Australia does not have the responsibility to support other national RL by propping up the international game for the benefit of other countries, rather they should be doing it for their own self-interest.

Australia should be playing New Zealand annually in a one off test, and playing a three test series against England every two years.

If NZ and GB are not good enough, tough. The only way the gap will close is thru regular competition.

 

[bulltige]

I agree, the ARL should be looking for as many internationsals as is possible within a hectic club season.

Looking ay SOME of the reactions in OZ, you can't help but feel that too many RL fans have been brought up on the club and SoO competition; the ignorance is astounding.

Please could you refer to our side as Great Britain. I know that all of the current squad were born in England, but that makes no difference, this is Great Britain. My uncle wore that jersey with pride, he was Welsh.

 

[bamber19]

there are nine competetive teams in union

you cant really count italy, scotland or wales as teams who can compeate. i would say there are five good teams in union with ireland on the fringe.

 

[floorshaker]

France - some truth?

Sixty-two years after the event, the French government has finally explained why Rugby League was banned under the war-time Vichy regime.

A long-awaited report on sport in France during the German Occupation officially confirms what Treizistes had always known - that the game’s abolition in 1940 was the result of a cynical move by the French Rugby Union.

The commission of enquiry which produced the report was first set up in 1997 by the then Sports Minister, Mme Marie-George Buffet. In its findings, published after five years of research, it categorically points the finger at the 15-a-side code for destroying Rugby League, which had recently been established in France, and which was becoming increasingly popular.

This could have huge repercussions - maybe as far as giving RL the right to seek compensation.

An equally significant progression could be the move of Rugby League into the mainstream of the French sporting system. Sport in France is the most centralised and politically sensitive sporting system outside of the former Soviet Bloc.

At the moment RL is firmly outside of the system and as such suffers massively in terms of finance, facilities, exposure and access to youth development structures.

Even the repeal of the law that forbids RL being taught in schools - or it being a PROHIBITED sport for TRAINEE TEACHERS would have a huge long term effect.

 

[Player]

Before you finish rewriting history you should not forget to mention Rugby League was obviously 'un-abolished' after the war.

The French had some damn good RL teams in the 50s.

Stands to reason therefore that French RL didn't die during the 40s (fighting the twin evils of Hitler and RU no less), but subsequently from the 60s to the present day.

French Rugby Union was certainly active in destroying French Rugby League, the same way I don't remember the Australian Rugby League doing their Australian Rugby Union counterparts any favours.

The French RL were the amateur minnows, and the French RU were literately 'professional' decades before the rest of the RU world.

Hardly surprising that they used their far greater resources to plunder RL is it.

Rugby League abandoned the French long ago, don't blame Rugby Union for benefiting from it.

You want to know the difference between Aussie Rules and Aussie League. Aussie Rules would love to be an international sport, Aussie League had its chance, still blames everyone else, and ****ed its ONLY opportunity away.

 

[floorshaker]

French RL was not un-abolished after WWII.

Immediatley after WWII De Gaulle was in power and presiding over a country which could fracture into chaos as a direct result of Nazi collaboration and accusations during wartime.

It was in the interest of FRU to continue to supress RL in sporting terms - in political terms it also suited the De Gaulle regime to keep quiet the actions of Vichy/RU as this could have fuelled flames of social conflict.

As a result MANY of the Vichy rulings were kept in place - with De Gaulle's support. Seized RL property remained in RU hands, schools were unable to play RL and De Gaulle proclaimed RU to be the game for true patriotic Frenchmen.

Many of the Vichy ruling were indeed added to! In 1945 RL was banned from using the word "rugby" - having to call itself "the game of thirteen" (Le jeu a trieze). This remained the case until the 1980s.

Those great French players of the late 1940's through to the mid 50's were not products of post war Rugby League, Jean Dop and Puig Aubert were not the youngest of men. The unquestioned success of FRL in post war years can be (in the main) attributed to the influence of those involved in playing and running the game in pre war years. The crucial point is that the supply of youth into RL was severely restricted and the ability to move beyond it's "heartlands" was taken from it. As these sanctions bit the health of FRL waned.