New Zealand 2 will deal a massive blow to NZ rugby

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

While looking for the numbers I found this (not sure if it's already been posted by @Te Kaha, apologies if already posted) but it should serve to give some pause to the bolshiness of some posters:

'Startling' decline drives Auckland Rugby League into action

Auckland Rugby League are refusing to hide behind Covid-19 as they try to halt a 'startling' decline in male playing numbers.

www.rnz.co.nz

Would adding three or four teams to the Queensland Cup help?

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Where most schools ban the playing of rugby league

and still the game thrives

The late Jonah Lomu is a case in point.

The bloke grew up playing league and only switched to union after being threatened with expulsion from the posh high school he was attending.

 

[westerntiger]

Union collaborated with Nazis to ban league in France

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Union collaborated with Nazis to ban league in France

The UAE in more recent times too. Got Sol Mokdad thrown in gaol.

 

[Wb1234]

The UAE in more recent times too. Got Sol Mokdad thrown in gaol.

Union allowed New Zealand, wales and the south of england to pay players secretly after they lost the north in England

the founders of rugby league in Australia were kiwis and aussies

the rules of rugby league came from watching the all blacks in 1905

Albert Baskerville, a founder of the nswrl, died catching a cold playing for the all golds

he was going back home to New Zealand to set up professional rugby clubs

rugby as a code was supposedly invented to allow a player to run with the ball. After rugby split in two, we were the brand of rugby that retained that ethos

all the history is with us

 

[Wb1234]

Union collaborated with Nazis to ban league in France

Took all their assets

put broken glass on playing fields so they couldn’t play

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Took all their assets

put broken glass on playing fields so they couldn’t play

Union are scum, and they wonder why diehard league fans can't stand their game

 

[Perth Red]

If they don't like rugby league then it won't be offered at that school. It comes out of the club system and into the college sport space, and rugby league is only offered in 13 of 110 high schools in Auckland.

that would seem a pretty good place for the arlc/nzrl to start!

 

[Gobsmacked]

I was surprised that WA has more RL clubs than the christchurch region given how little funding the west gets.

You've got to be kidding right?
WA is 2 million people and you're only just beating 1 city of 400k ? That's not even RL territory.
What sort of funding do you think Christchurch gets?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

You've got to be kidding right?
WA is 2 million people and you're only just beating 1 city of 400k ? That's not even RL territory.
What sort of funding do you think Christchurch gets?

Western Australia had 10k participants before the Reds were culled.

 

[Te Kaha]

The late Jonah Lomu is a case in point.

The bloke grew up playing league and only switched to union after being threatened with expulsion from the posh high school he was attending.

As I have stated before, Schools have the right to enforce students playing for their teams before non school clubs. His parents chose to send him to Wesley College, a school known for its Rugby history. They could have sent him to Kelston or Auckland Grammar De La Salle. But they didn't. They sent him to a school that only offered Rugby.

Union collaborated with Nazis to ban league in France

80 years ago. Nobody alive today participated in it.

Union are scum, and they wonder why diehard league fans can't stand their game

And as expected, the thread shows its true colours. Australians hate for an "enemy" they think they are in a "war" with.
I suppose you hate the Japanese or Italians or Germans for WW2 as well?

It's irrational to hate a game or sport for what some of its participants did, that's stupid. If you hate the game for its content, fine that's a personal preference, but to hate it for some "crime" decades ago is just plane dumb.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Western Australia had 10k participants before the Reds were culled.

Christchurch has never had a team...
Imagine the participants if they did then

 

[Pippen94]

Rugby league is one of the biggest sports in the world. It is top ten in total participation. It's world cup is the second or third biggest global competition behind soccer with cricket. 14 million TV viewers in the UK tuned into the last world cup final. The game sells out stadiums in the UK, France, Italy, Japan, USA, Africa, south america. The sport is part of the Olympics.. Oh wait, that's rugby union

 

[Wb1234]

just for those that don’t know here’s a brief recap

rugby league was introduced into France in the late 1930s

in under five years it had gone from nothing to being bigger than union … yes amazing

because union couldn’t compete with league on the field they ran to the Vichy collaboration government and argued it should be banned

the argument was it was an English sport and representative of the working class and left wing (ie opposite of fasists)

the roots of the game were so strong that decades later a French team came to Sydney led by puig Albert and beat Australia at home before massive crowds

that was all stolen from us

the reality is union learned a lesson in France that it can’t compete fairly with league so it needs to cheat to survive

and it continues to this day it’s never stopped

it’s why league is banned from the Olympics

the sad thing is rugby league has never done anything back to try and even the score

the fact super rugby collapsed has no connection to rugby league, it’s purely their own mismanagement

the least the nrl could do is actively take over all the pacific and that would be a massive blow to union

union is northern hemisphere is dire

with our finances the way they are taking over the pacific is imo very achievable

 

[Wb1234]

Rugby league is one of the biggest sports in the world. It is top ten in total participation. It's world cup is the second or third biggest global competition behind soccer with cricket. 14 million TV viewers in the UK tuned into the last world cup final. The game sells out stadiums in the UK, France, Italy, Japan, USA, Africa, south america. The sport is part of the Olympics.. Oh wait, that's rugby union

Getting rugby league banned would do that wouldn’t it

if rugby union was so strong it wouldn’t need to cheat

the first league World Cup was 40 years before unions lmao

 

[Iamback]

So where did your $70k figure come from?

An 18 year old can sign an NRL Development deal. Another team is more options for that not just the next tier down

 

[Te Kaha]

Getting rugby league banned would do that wouldn’t it

if rugby union was so strong it wouldn’t need to cheat

the first league World Cup was 40 years before unions lmao

Can you actually make a post that isn't a lie? League is not "banned" from the Olympics. It simply doesn't meet the criteria for entry, especially since there is already a "rugby" in there.
You seem to be giving WR a lot of pull to say they are big enough to make the IOC ban League. What kind of idiot would believe that?

 

[Wb1234]

The UAE in more recent times too. Got Sol Mokdad thrown in gaol.

Why was Rugby League illegal in Greece?

Rugby is widely recognised as a dangerous sport but until recently, playing the league version of the sport was outlawed in Greece with participants facing arrest, or worse, if caught. Euronews Culture tackled the country's coach to discuss how they fought the law and won.

www.euronews.com

 

[Matua]

The late Jonah Lomu is a case in point.

The bloke grew up playing league and only switched to union after being threatened with expulsion from the posh high school he was attending.

Wesley is not a posh high school. It has a decile rating of 2 which means it's students are generally poor, an actual posh school, like Lindersfarne College will have a decile rating of 10.

He also went to high school in the late 80s/early 90s so hardly relevant to 2023.

An 18 year old can sign an NRL Development deal. Another team is more options for that not just the next tier down

From our discussion I thought we were talking about average salaries for teens not yet at the top level, not what they 'can' earn if they make top teams. If that is the discussion then it's the same in rugby, the best school leavers can go straight into Super rugby and NPC and earn that level of money.

 

[Pippen94]

Getting rugby league banned would do that wouldn’t it

if rugby union was so strong it wouldn’t need to cheat

the first league World Cup was 40 years before unions lmao

..but rugby league's peak popularity in southern France (& Italy) was in the 50's after Nazis were defeated..