6-State/Nation World Series

[Teddyboy]

They almost are! Likewise England, Wales etc are not strictly countries either as they are only part of the United Kingdom.
Separate governments and all that. WA wishes it was a separate nation. We could plough all the money we generate back into our own state for a change!

Alongside WA wish SA and Victoria were separate nation to NSW and Queensland.

 

[roopy]

If some sort of tournament involving NSW, Queensland and international sides ever came about, it would be an absolute embarrassment and disgrace. In fact I'd go so far as to say I'd walk away from the international game completely. I can't understand how RL fans constantly fail to see that our international game needs credibility, and why they continue to disrespect it by making up contrived bullsh*t ideas like this as if it would be some kind of improvement. Honestly this is the sort of thing that makes the whole thing into a joke. Maybe in Australia people think the Kangaroos are too good (which they blatantly aren't as they keep losing). But Australia is not the world. I cannot believe anyone in their right mind would ever think this would be a good idea.

At the top level, the international game has been going backwards for 30 years.
If it wasn't for the rise of new nations, it would be completely moribund.
It isn't a joke because of people wanting to see us try things, it is a joke because it hasn't been competitive since the 1980s.
People in this section love their international league, but most fans would take SOO over international any day, and basically don't give a toss about the games that should be the ultimate contest in our sport.
You can blame me if you like, but you are kidding yourself. The reason SOO is the big money spinner in our sport now is because it is competitive and international league isn't.

 

[adamkungl]

At the top level, the international game has been going backwards for 30 years.
If it wasn't for the rise of new nations, it would be completely moribund.
It isn't a joke because of people wanting to see us try things, it is a joke because it hasn't been competitive since the 1980s.
People in this section love their international league, but most fans would take SOO over international any day, and basically don't give a toss about the games that should be the ultimate contest in our sport.
You can blame me if you like, but you are kidding yourself. The reason SOO is the big money spinner in our sport now is because it is competitive and international league isn't.

Exactly roopy, I agree. New Zealand should be forced to split into North and South. Other countries are simply struggling to keep up and it isn't fair.

:sarcasm:

 

[Teddyboy]

At the top level, the international game has been going backwards for 30 years.
If it wasn't for the rise of new nations, it would be completely moribund.
It isn't a joke because of people wanting to see us try things, it is a joke because it hasn't been competitive since the 1980s.
People in this section love their international league, but most fans would take SOO over international any day, and basically don't give a toss about the games that should be the ultimate contest in our sport.
You can blame me if you like, but you are kidding yourself. The reason SOO is the big money spinner in our sport now is because it is competitive and international league isn't.

I said before a 4 state/nation comp between NSW/Queensland/NZ and the P.I's might work.

 

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Representative rugby is representative rugby. If you represent a certain area, I don't see why it matters too much in a developing sport? At the end of the day, international rugby league is a developing part of the game. If something creates more interest than something else in RL, I think it should be given a try.

We can talk about credibility all we like, but international RL has very little of that anyway so I don't see why we should worry too much about what others think. I just want to see some of the best players in the world go at it, and fans support their representative teams more than anything. The state sides get more fans than any international team in the world. You don't see too many people complaining about the home nations, do you? Yes, they are "constituent countries", but they aren't sovereign. The only reason Eng, Scot, Ire and Wal get to compete as separate nations in things like football, RU and RL is due to their significant involvement in the development and the history of those sports. GB&I isn't a country (it's two). Ireland isn't a country (it's one country and part of another). The West Indies aren't a country. Are those sports not credible as a result of this?

 

[RL1908]

I think the idea has some merit, but as evidenced by comments in this thread, it would be a hard sell.

You would need to be clear that this isn't an alternative form of international/Test RL, but a tournament of provincial regions with perhaps a different/looser/residency/birth/Origin/whatever type player qualification criteria, or almost a super "club" competition.

While NSW & QLD are obvious entrants, in the cases of the England, Wales, NZ, France etc I would look for alternatives in name/jersey (keep traditional colours though) to their Test sides.

For example, NZ would enter the tournament, but not be branded as the NZ Kiwis. As pointed out earlier, the NZ team in the 1997 Tri-Series were not the Kiwis, but they still drew a sizeable crowd to support them in Auckland.

I haven't thought about it too deeply (and maybe that shows!) but a regional tournament isn't a bad concept, and might just work - few thought in 1980 that S of O would attract the interest it did.

 

[biggestbroncosfan]

Would it be worth having a competition one year that didn't include Australia, but instead had NSW and QLD in it?

Imagine our own Six Nations like competition involving England, France, Wales, New Zealand, New South Wales and Queensland up here in the UK. I reckon you'd get some huge crowds.

The opening week, all games at Wembley.
France vs Wales (a great contest in itself), followed by NSW vs QLD (biggest attended rep game in the world) and England vs NZ to finish the day off. Surely you could sell out Wembley with that sort of schedule?!

The rest... well... I'd confidently say that England vs NSW/QLD would draw just as much as a game against Australia. England vs Wales remains to be seen, but if the Welsh national team keeps coming on we could see a good crowd (we have in the past), and although games against France haven't been big, they served themselves well in the last Four Nations they were in (though they are crap in the mid-season test because they are so disadvantaged).

Would be one hell of a five weeks!

that is a shocking idea!