NRL needs to get on board with NFL's 'National Rugby Football League'

[hutch]

Why should we. Our sport is called rugby league. Their sport is called rugby union. Why should they own exclusive use of the word rugby?

 

[joshreading]

Because they absolutely dominate the term Rugby. It is delusional to think we can "win" in its use. There are many football codes but each has a distinct name as well to help except Rugby League. Also tell me a country in the world where the name of Rugby Union is primarily used instead of Rugby? Maybe PNG? Not even in Australia is that the case

They use Union the correct way as a "union" of Rugby Clubs, we tend to use League incorrectly. We should really have the NRLL

Gaelic Football
American Football
Association Football (from which comes soccer)
Australian Rules Football
Rugby Football - maybe occassionally Rugby Union Football but you wont hear that in a Rugby Club
Rugby League Football -outside of a tiny area in Northern England and PNG you wont hear it called Rugby with any regularity

Fair enough use it at times when useful but imagine the growth in profile of our game if Jarrad Hayne was a 'Impact" Football star rather then "Rugby Star" losing our distinction all together. (obviously impact football is just for illustrative purposes)

 

[franklin2323]

Why should we. Our sport is called rugby league. Their sport is called rugby union. Why should they own exclusive use of the word rugby?

The problem is it's seen as A League competition of Rugby not as a different sport

 

[ULYSSES]

Why should we. Our sport is called rugby league. Their sport is called rugby union. Why should they own exclusive use of the word rugby?

Why should we? - To distance ourselves from the other 'Rugby"
- To give us our own unique identity
- To avoid confusing developing markets
What we have in fact is two games called RUGBY, one is administered by a LEAGUE of affiliates and the other by a UNION of affiliates.

It is making a rod for our back to educate people on the differences. Get a new name and remove this impediment to growth. The threads on this site are full of people moaning that League is held back because new markets have seen the other 'Rugby" and think we are more of the same.

Call ourselves 'League Football' or '13 Ball' or whatever, after all we started out as ' Northern Union' so name change is not unprecedented. My preference is "FULL ON FOOTY" league.

 

[Knownothing]

If there ever was litigation, you can assume that it would not just be about the use of the word "league".


If it was, what about the use of the word "league" in NFL?



It would have to be about the use of the word "rugby", as well, and maybe this would be seen by a court as far more significant in identifying the games.


Why on earth wouid relatively minor codes (in the U.S.) throw money away on this debate?

 

[deluded pom?]

This is all assuming the RFL have ever bothered to register the term Rugby Football League.

 

[XIII]

This fixture was all set to go, tickets on sale and roster of NFL crossovers announced, then the USA RU stepped in and killed it because they don't want competition. The time for RL to swoop in and bring the NRFL to the 13-man game is now.

 

[Rodney]

NRFL didn't bother trying to get sanctioned and then surprise surprise they don't get approval from USA Rugby!

The whole operation smelt of something dodgy,a league based on the rejects of another league in another sport who've probably never played your sport is not the most solid of foundations. I don't think there's much that is salvageable from the NRFL, they didn't bring any brand to the table, they barely sold any tickets what would be the point of picking them up as a RL property except to make sure a union body dosen't pinch the title of 'Rugby Football League' again.

The USARL (for all its flaws and balance issues) has the right idea. Set up teams and let them build their own brands at their own pace.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Why should we. Our sport is called rugby league. Their sport is called rugby union. Why should they own exclusive use of the word rugby?

Dropping "Rugby" hasnt exactly hurt American Football. Hell, they probably benefited from not being consistantly confused with Union...

To say "we have just as much right to the word as they do" is just bashing your head against the wall to get sympathy. It does us no good in terms of recognision and any success we do have is credited to "that Rugby sport".

It would be like the AFL coming to NSW/QLD and saying "we're called Football... No, not that Football, the other one." They recognised that they were 4th in line for that name here so they picked "AFL" to distinguish themselves.

I dont care if we call ourselves "NRL Football", "DallyM Football" or f*cking "PlayTheBall-Ball". We need something unique....

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Quick question....

Is it the NFL organising this comp or was it just some new Union comp trying to make a splash with big claims of association???

I ask because, if the NFL genuinly is interested in it, Id see far more benefit in them just aligning with one of the existing RL leagues.