Super League

[Bring it home Knights]

Would you guys have profered for your game to stay the way it was, or were you happy superleague took over?

What are the advantages/disadvatages to super league?

 

[chico's nose]

I quite like Super league the way it is, I prefer summer rugby to winter rugby as it is much better attending games in shorts than in your thickest warmest winter coat and still freezing your nads off. I do miss pormotion and relegation every season but agree with teams meeting cetain standards before they are allowed to enter super league.

The super league era has made the game alot faster and I believe more exciting, the players are fitter and are generally more profesional than some of the players of old.

 

[knights 2004]

what did england have before super league?
like what was the comp called and stuff?

 

[spooky]

TBH the format wasn't much different, but there was a 2 up, 2 down relegation system and the top division had more teams in than SLs 12. We didn't have the play-off system to decide who the champions were - that was only introduced 2 years after the start of SL, whoever finished top were the champs. The top 8 would also play of for the 'Premiership' trophy. It was a way of giving the lower down clubs something to play for at the end of the season. 1st would play 8th, 2nd play 7th etc in a knockout comp at the end of the season.

We used to have a lot more knock-out competitions actually. I remember Wigan playing 40-odd games in a season when they were winning everything. We still have the Challenge Cup each year but the other cup comps are long gone.

 

[GB Lion]

Bring back the Regal trophy!!!!!!

I liked the pre super league era but now i love the super league. The matches are closer and now anyhting can happen.

Also Summer Rugby brings in a lot more spectators, especially the under 16s who are of course the future of the game.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

In Australia there was a HUGE uproar when super league tried to get in. What happened in england when super league pushed to take the comp over???

 

[terracesider]

There was no equivalent to the Super League War between the ARL and the NRL. The same people were in charge before and after ESL. came about.

My own view is that Maurice Lindsay sold the concept of a Super League quite brilliantly. He created a hell of a row with proposals for various mergers which deflected debate away from a detailed examination of the consequences of ESL and when the mergers were abandoned the majority of fans sighed with relief and watched the RFL sell its soul to the Devil without too much protest.

 

[bartman]

It also seems to help a little that promotion and relagation have (usually) stayed alive here, meaning clubs can hold a dream of (re)entering the super league/highest division.

In NRL, a club either cuts it in the big time or are doomed forever, to eke out a paltry existence (Newtown, Magpies, Balmain) or none at all (Norths, Perth, Adelaide), with no hope of recovery.