Midas touch: merger tees up golden future for the game

[magpie_man]

this is huge. a great day for rl

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Touch -> Tag -> Tackle -> Top

The three T's to the top. Topball.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Hopefully touch internationally aligns itself with rugby league as well.

Agree 100%, the playing numbers alone along with government recognition would be massive for the game.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Brilliant! About bloody time. Real shame about OzTag though. They must have asked for quite a sum. Hopefully they will see the light when they realise it will be better for them to join up given the overall weight of nrl + touch.

Maybe one day the NRL could buy out the ARU.

 

[elbusto]

NRL Touch

NRL tackle.

A game everybody can play.

Great days ahead.

 

[Paullyboy]

I'm pretty sure oztag's numbers are way smaller than touch, so we have got the better of the two on board.

Don't get me wrong, getting oztag as well will be good, but touch had to be the priority. Well done.

 

[NrlCoach]

Well done Smith. The NRL should Use Touch (TRL) on summer and Rugby League (NRL) on winter. If they are smart one day they could have two tv deal in the future. Now That they got touch under their control. They can leave Rugby league as the contact sport it is and use touch to get soccer mums on board

 

[Teddyboy]

I am so happy that this has happened, something I've been calling for for a number of years. I messaged phil Gould on twitter about it at the start of the year and he agreed its a match made in heaven. Touch footy was started by south Sydney during an off season quite a few years ago. It's now quite big globally and has quite a big World Cup. The IRB have their grubby hands on it in quite a few countries and have an international board, which is ridiculous considering it is a non contact version of rugby league. Great stuff from the arlc!

The English Rugby Union have it and have told our club not to enter other Touch comps who are not part of the RFU:x

 

[RWB]

So 1 million participants, eh. That would put NRL numbers above AFL numbers, no?

I just realised that this will be particularly awesome for council lobbying for fields and infrustructure. A combined bit is a much better proposition.

Maybe that could lobby to get Touch in the Olympics (Yes, i admit, it is a bit of an obsession to see NRL get AOC funding)

Could be as high as 1 million or as low as 536,000 individuals. The article is a bit mis-leading there.

 

[Foreign Legion]

great news, score one for the nrl

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Awesome news and once again great work by the new ARL administration.

Hope this leads to the RLIF and touch footy joining at the international level aswell.

 

[hutch]

The English Rugby Union have it and have told our club not to enter other Touch comps who are not part of the RFU:x

Yeah I thought the English rugby union had a big say in the sport over there. It's not right, it is a non contact version of rugby league and was invented by rugby league players in south Sydney. Hopefully this leads to some sort of changes around the world.

 

[kmav23]

Try to sign cronulla ball too.

 

[taipan]

Absolutely mindblowing decision.David Smith or should I say Sir David Smith and team, need to be congratulated.
I guess the log will be NRLT

National Rugby League Touch

No umms and aaghs,just results .

Isn't it a strange coincidence ,in the past we have had pending elections when Gallop was in power,and got the odd cash promise for grounds.
We have Smith running the show,,now we get promises for Brookvale,Parramatta Stadium,Penrith sporting complex,the CQLd bid,and who knows what else is in the pipeline.

 

[babyg]

Awesome day for rugby league.

Thats how it always was growing up - do you want to pkay touch or tackle

 

[thorson1987]

Awesome day for rugby league.

Thats how it always was growing up - do you want to pkay touch or tackle

And a shit load of league players played touch in the off season

 

[TheRam]

Could be as high as 1 million or as low as 536,000 individuals. The article is a bit mis-leading there.

No it's not. Read it again, combined we have over 1m participants.

 

[BDR]

Hang on, so are we now counting touch players as rugby league players?

Stinks of AusKick number f**kery to me.

 

[beave]

Yeah agreed.

This is a great outcome but we cant claim these number as pure league numbers like the 'tards do with auskick. I would hope we have a bit more integrity than that other code.

 

[cleary89]

Meh what ever gets government funding.

Auskick is a 6 x half hour lessons in school. Not participating in a weekly touch tournament.