taipan
Referee
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Polynesian Warrior said:taipan said:rugged said:Australia's population has increased by a third since 1980, so it's only natural that more people watch and play RL now.
League today has become too sanitized and artificial IMO, which is why I like to balance my rugby watching with some RU.
Population increase has nothing to do with up to 500,00 Vics watching the G/F compared to a couple of years earlier.It has also nothing to do with the increase of women fans as a percentage of fans watching rugby league.Being sanitised in fact may have helped attract women.
The population increase was assisted to a great extent by immigration in those years ,as the Oz birth rate fell..Many of those immigrants would be soccer followers.Probably why soccer at kids level leaves all codes for dead in numbers.
It has more to do with the NRL/ARL getting off their backsides ,and increasing the number of development officers in all states and country areas.The population increase was only part of the equation.
Itry to get a different perspective watching a little union,after seeing Rogers score in South Africa from an obvious forward pass ,nothing has changed,the ref either wants to keep the game flowing or he needs specs, and no one dare criticise after the event.
I wasn't using Roach so you could spent a whole weekend to see if he was sub off or not .
I use Roach , Price and gang to show you what sort of athlete they were compare to the current crops .
I still enjoy watching the 80s league more . Than to see guys been sub on and off like a game of touch rugby .
All sports are increasing thanks to the large populations , televisions , money and all your reasons above .
Alot of immigrants are also from NZ , Pacific Islands , South Africa and UK and most of them are not into soccer .
So Mat Rogers scoring a try from a forward pass is a conspiracy from the IRB to let the game flow ?
I've seen worse forward pass in the NRL games than from S12 games and if anyone needs specs .
I suppose the NRL can afford to buy some for their video refs who seem to make Stevie Wonder look better .
I dont need a weekend to know about Roach,I know as much about league in the 80s as you mate.The old league players have stated Beetson,Lewis etc that the players of today are far better conditioned,and there are athletes of today who could play in any era.
I think SBW is a better athlete than Roach.A Johns is as good as Sterling.
but then again you want to get stuck in a time warp-good luck.
Population has some influence and as I mentioned ,which you again didnt read is only part of the situation.
league junior participatiuon increased 22% in 2 years from 2003-2004.The population didnt increase by any more than 4% in that 2 years.
All sports are not increasing due to increasing populations _Scotland for example union numbers down.
The majority of the immigrants are from countries that play soccer England,Italy,China,Malaysia,Serbia,Macedonia,Greece ,Middle East,Eastern Europe.Of course there are immigrants from Sth Africa etc,they are small percentage of the total,no matter how much spin you put on it.
Check the lastest survey announced today by the rugby union players association,plastered in all the papers,apart from drinking or gambling problems,that refereeing at all levels was a sore point.
I have seen forward passes in the NRL,it is a needle in the haystack to what I have seen in S12 and test union.The refereeing at times in the NRL can be poor,the refereeing in S12 is at times abysmal.
I dont think even Stevie Wonder can help some of the S12 refs, from what I have seen as apparently they frequently never heard of a knock on.The IRB I dont watch the play ;-)