taipan said:
Polynesian Warrior said:
taipan said:
Polynesian Warrior said:
screeny said:
We have the name rugby league now and changing would be an admission of weakness in my opinion. It would take a PR coup the sizeof which I'm not sure RL is capable of pulling off to change names AND convince the public it's because we don't want to be tarnished with the sh*t that is RU.
Personally, too many of league's stalwart warriors over the past 100-years would be betrayed if we gave up on the name now, too. It's difficult but I'm for keeping the name and letting the public choose.
RU's slowly changing into RL as it knows its product is crud by comparison. This is the only long term chance RU has.
Rugby Union is still rugby union and will be a million years more. Rugby League is still rugby league and will be a million years more .
Rugby Union has improved 100% than what it was 50 years ago . You guys can tell me what percentage league has improve since 50 years ago ?
The only thing I could think off is Warriors , London , Brisbane and Melbourne + Origins .
Lets see hmmm Russia,Serbia,Lebanon,New Caledonia,soon to be Georgia
,and the West Indies,an increase to 10 teams in the US,a much improved French national team,the growth of rugby league in Wales in particular,Ireland with 12 teams in conferences,a lesser growth in Scotland in junior levels,a 60% increase in the number of players in UK in the past few years.BTW rugby union 100 years ago in Oz was larger than league,it sure as hell aint now.The NRL competition now 15 teams,(rest assured 16 teams will be announced next year) compared to 8 teams decades ago. Do your sums PW there is plenty of percentage increase both locally and internationally in rugby league,like a true union man you might find these facts a little distrubing.
Taipan ! If you are a rugby union fan or a fan of both codes then you will compare rugby union 50 years ago to this day .
All those league playing countries you mention also have union . The spread of rugby union has surprise those on the IRB board .
The word now is which countries haven't got rugby union ?
The truth is rugby union is now played all over the world it is hard to think of which nations haven't got a comp .
Fifty years ago only the main nations were playing test matches . Now there are test matches beign played in every corner of the world .
The RWC , U21 & U19 world cups , Womens world cup , 7s world cup , and the Commonwelth Games .
Rugby Union is now more healthy than it was fifty years ago . And we are not even talking about club rugby here .
PW I am not arguing that union is not more healthy today than it was 50 years ago, i am replying to your silly comments that rugby league intimating has hardly improved in that period.I responded by giving you the latest info which says it has.end of story.I wouldnt throw club rugby in here , the crowds are deplorable compared to twentyyears ago.
i am aware of union being played in over 100 countries,but the simple fact is like the new countries taking up rugby league,the number of teams and players in the vast majority of those countries is so tiny,that the populations in general hardly if at all knows of its existence.
Despite all the years that have gone by,union is the national code only in NZ and losing to soccer in Wales that mantle,soccer is the main code in Sth Arica,although union has the profile.rugby league is the national code of PNG with a population bigger than NZ.So PW maybe neither code should brag too much.I am still waiting for confirmation of the 6billion tv viewers who were supposed to miraculously materialise in the union world cup of 2004,courtesy of Mr John O'Neill MA institute of HYPE.
Club rugby has always been played in front of small numbers of local supporters .
But it is the provincial and state level that rugby look after really well and this let to rugby union being look after by their national body(ARU/NZRFU/SARFU) .
Rugby league is run by clubs and they decide where players go to tours or use money to blackmail them .
Der Kaiser I know about the German rugby union and Im not saying that they were millionaires but i do know that they have a good club structure with Jrs and they host Canada not long ago .
My two cousins play club rugby in Holland and they said it is a well run and well sponsor and its not as big as soccer but its there .
Now don't try to compare German and Holland rugby union who has local a comp with local players and strong Jrs developments .
How can you compare that to America Samoa league, Samoa league, Italy and Greece rugby league where there's no local comp but they play international league made up of players from Auckland and suburb Sydney .
Your rugby union brain is very limited taipan because rugby union is the national sport of NZ ,South Africa , Wales and most of the Pacific nations .
Whoever told you that Wales is now a soccer country must have the same hate you have of rugby union .
Australia's national sport is cricket and you don't see people flock to watch the Pura Milk cup etc .
That same goes for Wales rugby at the moment and people are still not use to the Celtic league .
Ask any Welshman who their heroes are and they will tell you one of many rugby legends not some soccer players born and live in England .
So Taipan the Wallabies played in front of 8000 fans 50 years ago and players have to pay their own transport and expenses .
Fifty years later and they are now well off and played in front large stadiums with large TV audience .
