The standard of other countries.

[dubby]

Can anyone give me an accurate idea of how the standards of other countries rate? I would appreciate factual info, not just theories please.
In particular:
France-Seem to be enjoying a resurgance, but is it for real, or will the RU poach all their players? Do they have reasonable exposure and decent junour numbers?
Usa-competed against AUst. last year, but what is the reality of the American game? Is there a plan to recruit players from colleges who miss the NFL? These guys would be awesome athletes and given the right incentives and coaching could be anything.
Russia/Georgia-Seem to be around for years (Russia). But is the game going anywhere and are they improving or staying still (or getting worse)?
GB-(Scotland, Ireland, Wales). What is the reality of RL in these pro-RU nations? Will there be a continual interest, and what is the managment doing over there?

I am really interested to see how development is taking place in these countries because it seems they will all play a part in the 2008 WC. Is the reality that crowds are poor, interest low, junour numbers non-existant, or just the opposite? Is there sufficient help and management from a governing body whether international or domestic? What plans are in place for the future of IRL?

Any help is appreciated guys, tell me all you can about the nations you support or have involvenment in any way.
I think the next challenge for RL is the growth of the international game. Lets make it work
Cheers.

 

[yakstorm]

How do you evaluate standards though? There is no set KPI's which you can apply to a competition, country or group of players which is standardised across the nations to accurately compare what the standards are.

You can't even go on player numbers, I mean, England has over 100,000 registered players, verses New Zealand which has around 30,000 yet you can convincingly argue that NZ is around equal in terms of national team standard, but is possibly producing higher quality up and coming players than the UK and even Australia who have a player base of around 320,000 registered players.

Going on a bit of personal opinion as you are going to get with these types of things, juniors are growing again in France. League is hopefull of getting into schools soon which is the key market, and they seem to be always able to find naturally brilliant players.

Ireland, Wales and Scotland are both improving in leaps and bounds. Ireland have a good junior system now, plus a very strong senior team competition, which is the largest of the three home nations. Wales in anything below the professional level are home nations champions, even defeating England at most levels, and Scotland have a fantastic school system.

Numbers may only be a few thousand in some, but for the age of the competitions are excellent. Remember a lot of these things only truely kicked off after the 2000 RLWC.

Russia have stabilised. They grew so quickly so shortly, and have recently had their large financial backer pull out. They still have relatively similar numbers, and teams, which should stabilise over the next few years. Russia will grow, but they need to do it naturally for a while.

 

[Big Bunny]

In order for the AMNRL to go after US college athletes they would need to be professional and have the means to sign players to contracts. That's probably a long way off. At the moment they are strictly amateur and with a small but quite stable structure in place for senior players. There's has been some youth initiatives, but from what I can tell those aren't followed up and those kids don't flow into the senior ranks. Occasionally the AMNRL will get an ex college football player in to play, just because he wants a challenge, but not at numbers to make any real impact upon what the AMNRL are trying to achieve. Whilst a few college athletes would be able to make the transition, a lot of them would simply be too old to make the transition with time enough for a lengthy career. In the NRL most players are ready by 17-19. NCAA athletes aren't out of school until 21-22 or older and with no understanding of lateral passing, playing both offense and defense or other matters that we take for granted, it would be more of a struggle than some would anticipate. It's a matter of time and seeing things through at all levels and that just means every other country has a headstart.

 

[roopy]

It is just personal opinion, but I think the AMNRL improves 20% every year, and will continue to do so for the forseeable future. That makes it the biggest growth area for our game.
When they start adding whole new comps within the next few years the standards will boom, as will the supporter base, the number of players, the financial base, the interest of juniors etc etc etc.

 

[LeagueXIII]

I read recently that Russia had 8000 people playing the game.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

What happen to the 16,000 playing numbers in Russia that I was told last year ?

 

[milton]

Scale 1- 10
10. Australia
9. NZ
8.5. England
8. France
7. PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Wales
6. Ireland, Lebanon
5. Russia, USA, Georgia
4. Holland
3. Serbia, Germany, Morrocco

 

[Big Bunny]

What happen to the 16,000 playing numbers in Russia that I was told last year ?

Where did you read that?

I've only ever seen the number float between 8000 and 10,000.

 

[bender]

In order for the AMNRL to go after US college athletes they would need to be professional and have the means to sign players to contracts. That's probably a long way off. At the moment they are strictly amateur and with a small but quite stable structure in place for senior players. There's has been some youth initiatives, but from what I can tell those aren't followed up and those kids don't flow into the senior ranks. Occasionally the AMNRL will get an ex college football player in to play, just because he wants a challenge, but not at numbers to make any real impact upon what the AMNRL are trying to achieve. Whilst a few college athletes would be able to make the transition, a lot of them would simply be too old to make the transition with time enough for a lengthy career. In the NRL most players are ready by 17-19. NCAA athletes aren't out of school until 21-22 or older and with no understanding of lateral passing, playing both offense and defense or other matters that we take for granted, it would be more of a struggle than some would anticipate. It's a matter of time and seeing things through at all levels and that just means every other country has a headstart.

Wouldnt it be better to go after the high school football stars that dont want to, choose not to or simply dont go on to college football. There would have to be a ton of talented athletes (like in every other country in the world) who drop out of school at year 10 or 12 level and work instead of going to college?

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

It would be hard to convince a college football player to switch sports..most of the players are on scholarships and etc..

The best thing to do is just add Rugby League into highschools and college and then go from there, after the base is setup..all the guys that fail to make the America Football squad will sign up..after a while more intrest rises and then you have people looking to get into league first over another sport.

Or you could just play league when the Football season is over.

 

[Big Bunny]

Wouldnt it be better to go after the high school football stars that dont want to, choose not to or simply dont go on to college football. There would have to be a ton of talented athletes (like in every other country in the world) who drop out of school at year 10 or 12 level and work instead of going to college?

Yeah it would, but I can't see that happening much anytime soon.

 

[flamin]

Does the majority (over half the population) of France even know rugby league exists?

 

[Calixte]

I suggest if you want to understand rugby league in France, you should purchase a copy of the old (but recently re-printed) tome "The Forbidden Game" by Mike Rylance.

This will open your eyes oh young one...

 

[Der Kaiser]

We only just lost to Holland last year and we more or less matched them.We was missing 9 or 10 Players who could easily be as good if not better than what we had.leo Berngruber for one would have torn Holland apart alot due to his Speed and stepping.He is a German who played Rugby league with BirminghamUni and Birmingham Bulldogs.Still only 27.Haydn Walker (RFL Coach)said to me he was amazed at how good Leo was and thought in his opinion he could easily slot in to any NL3 side in England possibly NL2!We also will run a domestic 9s League next year so Would put us equal with holland.Hopefully we can play and beat holland as i am sure we are good enough!

Scale 1- 10
10. Australia
9. NZ
8.5. England
8. France
7. PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Wales
6. Ireland, Lebanon
5. Russia, USA, Georgia
4. Holland
3. Serbia, Germany, Morrocco

 

[AlbertRosenfeld]

Does the majority (over half the population) of France even know rugby league exists?

Few people in France know that rugby league exists. That is because it is geographically confined, mostly to the southwest, and because it has received little media attention for years. That will start to change with the new cable TV contracts. Sports + has been showing State of Origin, which has inspired the younger generation of French players. But the local club competition has been ignored, Now that Les Catalans will join Super League in 2006, it is expected that France will see one or two games from Super League each weekend. All Friday night games at 9 pm, plus Les Catalans home games on a Saturday night at 7 pm.

The club system needs to be professionalised, as does coaching, refereeing and development work. So much needs to be done before France can reach its full potential. But the game is a superior product to rugby union, especially for TV, and Les Catalans is a springboard that the French Federation and the clubs must exploit.

 

[bartman]

Sounds like same will be number of Superleague games broadcast per week as in England. And Superleague itself is waiting for professionalised referring as well. Hopefully next year is a good springboard for the game in France.

 

[Calixte]

Fewer still know the disgraceful role rugby union played in this situation.

 

[AlbertRosenfeld]

How do you evaluate standards though? There is no set KPI's which you can apply to a competition, country or group of players which is standardised across the nations to accurately compare what the standards are.

You can't even go on player numbers, I mean, England has over 100,000 registered players, verses New Zealand which has around 30,000 QUOTE]

The last figure that I saw announced by the British was about 62,000 --- double the numbers of two or three years earlier I seem to recall --- which has been achieved in the last two to three years by the rapid growth, nationwide,
of the amateur national Conference.

As far as numbers from France go, earlier this year Richard Lewis, in the course of announcing the expansion of Super League to 14 clubs in 2008 or 2009, cited a pool of 6,000 players in France. (He was suggesting that this may provide the basis for a future second French club in Super League).

I agree with Yakstorm's general point about the difficulty of evaluating standards.

Our main criterion evaluating national performance is in international contests.
We will have the answer to that for the top three on November 26. Meanwhile I think we can all agree that France is fourth and improving fast.

 

[Evil Homer]

British numbers this year were almost exactly double IIRC,around 128,000.

 

[AlbertRosenfeld]

British numbers this year were almost exactly double IIRC,around 128,000.

Where did you get that info?

What is IIRC?