Should anzac tests be scrapped?

[strong_latte]

I know this is a bit of an odd thing to say after the success of last nights match (from a marketing perspective), but personally I think that all the internationals should be part of the new TN tourny...
If we scapped mid season internationals and cut the regular season over here by 2 rounds and in England by 4 rounds, then have all the rep players in training for 2 weeks before 1 or two trial matches for each (say PI nations for Aus and NZ, and France for England) team and then they should head into the series... but it should be like the Union TN formula with each nation having 2 home games and 2 away, that way you won't have England bitching that they had to play 4 games straight etc.

If they did that every year then eventually the other teams would figure a way to beat Australia and people and players will care again!

What do you think?
I know alot of people don't want to see the regular season shortened, but I'd love to see the kangaroo's matter like they did in the 70's!

 

[ozbash]

i think the ANZACS are part of our sporting heritage and should be treated with the honor intended.

i know they are not the ideal way to play international footy (a one off in the middle of an nrl season) but i think its worth doing mainly for what they stand for.

win or lose, they are usually a good game and its a chance for nz and oz to play something together in a spirit which goes back a long way and cost a lot of our countrymen their lives.

 

[DIEHARD]

The Anzac Test is a unique and special way to commenerate Anzac Day for Rugby Legaue and it could turn into a massive match in the coming years.

 

[dimitri]

The Anzac Test is a unique and special way to commenerate Anzac Day for Rugby Legaue and it could turn into a massive match in the coming years.

i agree

and it also is a bit of an entree before the trinations

 

[griff]

The Anzac Test is a unique and special way to commenerate Anzac Day for Rugby Legaue

Except it isn't.

The NRL/ARL has been putting out all sorts of press releases the last couple of weeks telling people not to call it the Anzac Test as they don't have permission to be commercialising the name and don't want to be seen to be appropriating the Anzac myth in order to market a football game.

I thought they had it all clear with the RSL and Government to call it the Anzac Test, and had a trophy with a Slouch hat and the NZ lemon squeezer.

But they don't, it isn't the Anzac Test anymore, it's the Bundaberg Rum (Rugby) League Test. Given that it isn't anything to do with Anzac anymore what is the point having it on Anzac weekend?

The Anzac Test/Anzac Day was the only reason for having a test this early in the year, and if we don't have that marketing tie-in anymore, may as well have it later.

 

[Razor]

The Anzac Test/Anzac Day was the only reason for having a test this early in the year, and if we don't have that marketing tie-in anymore, may as well have it later.

The Kiwis want it before Origin and have stated they won't play a mid-season test if it is held after Origin because Australia gets an unfair advantage.

 

[Sun_Down]

It is special - a stadium of 40 thousand giving a minuets silence - that was just great, it shows how much we appreciate the Anzacs and what they did.

But I do think the NRL should be shortened by two rounds (then abolish the bye with a 16th team hehe)...but Goodluck getting the ESL to even think about hacking off four rounds, they would never do that, NRL might not either

 

[gaterooze]

The more internationals the better. Why would you NOT want to see a great game like last night's played?

 

[yakstorm]

The Anzac Test/Anzac Day was the only reason for having a test this early in the year, and if we don't have that marketing tie-in anymore, may as well have it later.

Well no...there is more to it than that. The ARL/NRL do wish to honour the ANZAC's and have included in celebrations appropiate to the day within the event, the thing is they can't mention ANZAC in the title of the match cause of current government laws.

Also throw in the fact there is really no other time prior to Origin that it can be held. Any earlier and well good luck telling players form, and any later and you start pushing into City/Country and State of Origin.

Pretty much mid-April and mid-July are the only times a mid-season test can be held. NZ doesn't want July, so April it is.

 

[strong_latte]

The more internationals the better. Why would you NOT want to see a great game like last night's played?

It's a question of quality... In Union they have a highly successful international season because they have all their internationals in big chunks. All teams in the TN (RU) get a chance to have some warm up matches etc so they can gell and get few games under their belt. In League it can be pretty random... a test here a test there, but never a chance for a solid international season (apart from last year's TN, and that was pretty badly organised in comparison to RU's). If we shortened the comp slightly and had all the internationals in one go, then we would see a higher quality of Footy! Last nights match was ok, but lets face it, if it came between the anzac test or a SOO match, which would you have voted for?

 

[Matt M]

Well nobody has any real problems with the test match, so why get rid of it? It is a great game and creates a lot of excitement.

 

[strong_latte]

Just on a side note, while it was great to see such a great crowd for the test, I do think some supporters were getting a bit over zealous... I don't know about you guys, but after 35 years of international dominance I don't get all that excited when the Kangaroo's win anymore, because it's become a forgone conclusion... I was going for the kiwi's all the way last night! I want to see some competition at the international level and we're still not getting it from NZ and GB!

This another reason why I think there needs to be yearly series and all in the one time... eventually GB or NZ will figure out a way to beat Aus if they are given the right preparation and consistent and continuing matches against us.

 

[strong_latte]

Well nobody has any real problems with the test match, so why get rid of it? It is a great game and creates a lot of excitement.

I'm not saying we get rid of it... Just that we make it a part of the TN.

 

[griff]

The Anzac Test/Anzac Day was the only reason for having a test this early in the year, and if we don't have that marketing tie-in anymore, may as well have it later.

Well no...there is more to it than that. The ARL/NRL do wish to honour the ANZAC's and have included in celebrations appropiate to the day within the event, the thing is they can't mention ANZAC in the title of the match cause of current government laws.

Don't get me wrong, I think having an Anzac Test is a good idea, but if we are going to have it we should call it the Anzac Day Test, not the Insert Sponsors Name Here (Rugby) League Test. There could be no problems with naming it after the day. Obviously this would mean having it actually on Anzac Day, which it should be anyway.

The current Government laws governing use of the word Anzac go back to the 1920s, so it isn't a new law. If they had permission in previous years and had that trophy with the hats made I don't see how things could have changed.

Really it seems that after being caught out for breaching the law by misusing the Anzac name in that silly game vs Cumbria last year they are a bit nervous about using the term.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/arl/

 

[RLS]

Just on a side note, while it was great to see such a great crowd for the test, I do think some supporters were getting a bit over zealous... I don't know about you guys, but after 35 years of international dominance I don't get all that excited when the Kangaroo's win anymore, because it's become a forgone conclusion... I was going for the kiwi's all the way last night! I want to see some competition at the international level and we're still not getting it from NZ and GB!

This another reason why I think there needs to be yearly series and all in the one time... eventually GB or NZ will figure out a way to beat Aus if they are given the right preparation and consistent and continuing matches against us.

I was there for that game, and I was a bit the same, the Aussies scored pretty early, and got to a handy lead, and you knew they were going to win, it was just a matter of how much, the atmosphere at the game sort died after that imo.

A good game though, and if the kiwis could get their best team on the field I'm sure the atmosphere at future internationals would be better.

 

[Iafeta]

The more internationals the better. Why would you NOT want to see a great game like last night's played?

It's a question of quality... In Union they have a highly successful international season because they have all their internationals in big chunks. All teams in the TN (RU) get a chance to have some warm up matches etc so they can gell and get few games under their belt. In League it can be pretty random... a test here a test there, but never a chance for a solid international season (apart from last year's TN, and that was pretty badly organised in comparison to RU's). If we shortened the comp slightly and had all the internationals in one go, then we would see a higher quality of Footy! Last nights match was ok, but lets face it, if it came between the anzac test or a SOO match, which would you have voted for?

Test match.

The whole game's gone bananas that we've built one comp up so much that a state rivalry is more important than the entire international scene. FMD.

 

[strong_latte]

The more internationals the better. Why would you NOT want to see a great game like last night's played?

It's a question of quality... In Union they have a highly successful international season because they have all their internationals in big chunks. All teams in the TN (RU) get a chance to have some warm up matches etc so they can gell and get few games under their belt. In League it can be pretty random... a test here a test there, but never a chance for a solid international season (apart from last year's TN, and that was pretty badly organised in comparison to RU's). If we shortened the comp slightly and had all the internationals in one go, then we would see a higher quality of Footy! Last nights match was ok, but lets face it, if it came between the anzac test or a SOO match, which would you have voted for?

Test match.

The whole game's gone bananas that we've built one comp up so much that a state rivalry is more important than the entire international scene. FMD.

Whats banana's is that the State of Origin is so much better organised than international footy! These one off tests are pointless, as they're neither team gets a solid chance to get at eachothers game.

 

[yakstorm]

The current Government laws governing use of the word Anzac go back to the 1920s, so it isn't a new law. If they had permission in previous years and had that trophy with the hats made I don't see how things could have changed.

Really it seems that after being caught out for breaching the law by misusing the Anzac name in that silly game vs Cumbria last year they are a bit nervous about using the term.

http://www.diggerhistory.info/arl/

I wont comment any more on that matter except to say a number of items on that website are false, and that individual who has created the site has been blaming the ARL and even Super League for their use of the word ANZAC since 97.

The ARL were not caught out for the Cumbria match, and in past years when they have used the term it has been legal, and been given approval by the appropiate governments.

 

[Humphrey]

If it cant be called the ANZAC Test and isnt held on ANZAC Day itself - why bother. It just becomes a distruptive weekend in the early part of the season. I dont hang out for it thats for sure.

 

[Jeffles]

Strong latte, you must work for the NRL. Becasue you want to scrap something that was a resounding success.

Why confine all internationals to the TN tournament. We should be playing more and more Tests whenever we can fit them in.

So keep the Test.