Don't call union rugby

[Noel]

I'm convinced this was probably an item on an IRB meeting agenda a few years ago with all marketing executives given clear directives to drop the name union. Sadly, the IRLF meetings are rare and seem to lack marketing strategies to compete. Nothing has been done to address this important issue of an unannounced and unauthorised change in the name of a sport.

 

[Crusader]

:-({|=

 

[Craig]

Our game is a separate & distinct game from union (thank goodness) & not a division. On an international level our game is smaller but union is not as global as it thinks it is.

Ah no, over 80 countries are on the IRB board.

 

[playdaball]

Should be interesting in Brisbane this week as the Reds play the Blues in RU whilst the broncos take on the Warriors in RL.
Or should I say U and L??

 

[DIEHARD]

RU or RL or L or U or just RUGBY refering to both.

 

[umosay]

well didn't league eventuate from union?

 

[douglasallen91]

in nz i have been calling rugby rugby for 25 years!

 

[russ13]

Our game is a separate & distinct game from union (thank goodness) & not a division. On an international level our game is smaller but union is not as global as it thinks it is.

Ah no, over 80 countries are on the IRB board.

Yes & RL is played in 35 countries & most of these countries play RU also.

I might add that after watching the union WC can you say any more than a dozen of these countries have any decent teams.

Also have a look the Arabian Gulf Union team.

http://www.agrfu.com/index-home.htm

They are a wild looking bunch of Arabs I think not.

 

[Crusader]

russ13 wrote:
Yes & RL is played in 35 countries & most of these countries play RU also.

I might add that after watching the union WC can you say any more than a dozen of these countries have any decent teams.

Also have a look the Arabian Gulf Union team.

Is that the best you can do :roll:
What do you call footy then champ

 

[Sydney Carton]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There's no need to feel threatened by Rugby. They are very different games and there's room for both. I have a newfound respect for Rugby but will always be a League man at heart.

Victorians call it all rugby because they dont give a shit about either and they know it pisses league fans off. :roll:

 

[greeneyed]

This is an interesting debate. Of course "rugby" is named after the town of Rugby in England. It is totally Rugby Union today.

This is not to say that the ARU can appropriate the term "rugby" all for themselves. Given the split that happened a century ago, they should differentiate themselves and should call themselves rugby union.

The problem is the courts might find something different if we actually challenged this. This is because we split from them.

In France, the French rugby union did challenge the league organisation in the courts and they are only allowed to call themselves "Rugby a treize" (rugby of 13), not rugby. In fact the French rugby union tried to make them call it "Jeu a treize" (game of 13), but I think that didn't work (then again I could be wrong). This is despite the fact that the Nazis and Vichy French conspired to eliminate rugby league during WWII.

Typical of the mentality of the rugby union types.

 

[Crusader]

:sleeper:

 

[In-goal]

the term Rugby was banned in France when reffering to Rugby League, this was only lifted in the 80's i believe.

 

[russ13]

Yes RL in France fought for about half a century to call itself rugby league rather than the 'game of 13.'

The French court held (in about 1989) that the term 'rugby' is not copyrighed etc. by RU.

I urge RL supporters to think about this decision. Union in France can tell another organisation what they should call themselves. RL was officially the name of the code since 1921. Previously it was called the Northern Union. Well the courts have said they can not.

Now what is happening in OZ is that union is telling Australians what RL should call itself.

So what I am requesting is that RL suppoeters should call our game rugby league & their game rugby union or league or union for short. They can call themselves what they like. Is that such a hard 'ask.'

Oh, I have an article from the US about the reputations of 'rugby' players in that country. I will post it later but I can understand why RL supporters would not want to be associated with the 'rugby' name as it has a reputation of the unfit, sub-standard athletic & hopeless drunks. A bit like here really

 

[Crusader]

Is it a tall poppy syndrome that makes some of you guys feel so threatened by RU all the time, it's getting really quite boring actually.
I do however agree and have no problem with calling the two codes as R13 suggested above but in my experience you would call the game whatever it is likely to be recognised as in the country you reside.
Footy for instance can mean different things in different countries, I really don't understand why all the bitching about it.
If you have nothing better to worry about may I suggest you get that full-length mirror out :roll:

 

[xxxx!]

Let's get this right .We have people criticising AFL types for calling RL rugby .
At the same time we have people upset that RU has hijacked the term rugby.
So what's it going to be rugby or some thing else ?

The fact is every is right .
R15 is rugby as played by the union .
R13 is rugby as played in a professional league .
RU is the one causing problems because they are no longer amateur and
are calling their associations "leagues"

There is only one way to extricate from this mess and that's a new name .

 

[DIEHARD]

Rugby should be used in reference to both codes, not just exclusively Union. People should call them Rugby League and Union to differeniate. As I said, Union only survives in this country on the back of private school sport, and there is only one rugby there and they deny the existance of league. That is where this "Union is RUGBY" garbage comes from.

Changing our name? No thanks, Im a very proud Rugby League fan. It will never happen, ever.

 

[greeneyed]

Oi russ get over it.

Rugby is rugby and League is league.

I always referred to rugby league as football... and then you referred to the minority sports... union, aussie rules and soccer.....

We always called rugby league as footy in NSW and Qld....

We should continue to do it and forget the other idiots, especially ones who cannot tell the differenece between the codes.

 

[greeneyed]

You should understand that in France, the right to call something by its "right" name is very important. They go to great lengths to do it. If they force us to not call our own game as rugby league, and it is a victory for the Nazis, essentiallly, who banned our sport from associating out game with the name "rugby league"........... go to sleep if you like, but then make sure you don't like what happens if you wake up.

 

[Iafeta]

Vote option A for worst thread ever.

First off, rugby has every right to term itself rugby. Where was it born? RUGBY! The town Rugby.

When they first went around, they called it RUGBY. It was when the split with the All Golds happened that Rugby got the added Union. IE A Union of non professionals. IE Union, we are united against the professionalism.

Rugby League is an off shoot of Rugby or Rugby Union. Thats all there is to it. Whether you like it or not, "Union" has the initial rights to Rugby.