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Why don't we ever "raid" Union?

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,310
Let’s be honest that was as much as result of bad administration and lack of a truly strong professional comp as much as it was about rugby union. Rugby League is far too established in Australia and particularly Sydney for rugby union to make a significant dent
Unions signing of this guy is predatory

the nrl should take the gloves off and make all blacks players exempt from the salary cap

then go on a signing spree

that’s exactly what union did

nrl has the money to pay 2 milllion plus if they want too
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,310
Did union align with the Nazis in France to ban league and take all its assets? Simple question with an answer already proven but let's see if you can admit it.
Took broken glass and put it on rugby league fields

then there’s union not allowing league into the Olympics by claiming they are the only rugby code

imagine getting a sport banned because you couldn’t compete with it
 

BODISGOD

Bench
Messages
3,596
Did union align with the Nazis in France to ban league and take all its assets? Simple question with an answer already proven but let's see if you can admit it.
Union officials (they would have been local ones) have done damage in the past to League through awful means. Not just with Vichy France but with player poaching and the occasional effort to block League like in Serbia.

However despite that, League was still there and very competitive a few years later. It isn’t because or Vichy France that Union is bigger than League in France.

It also doesn’t come down to evil vs. not evil. When other sports were starting to question why they were played in Apartheid South Africa, Bill Fallowfield attempted to covert it to a League country (Hendrik Snyders (2011) ‘Preventing Huddersfield’: The rise and decline of rugby league in South Africa, c.1957–1965, The International Journal of the History of Sport, 28:1, 9-31, DOI:).

Rugby also suffered in the likes of Nazi Germany, where Hitler preferred handball. All on the record here (https://www.thelocal.de/20140201/german-rugby-set-to-get-a-helping-english-hand).
 

roughyed8

Juniors
Messages
1,079
For those arguing where Rugby world cup rates in televised sport events.. its number 15 (according to this dodgy site anyway)

Out of date by a long way.

 

gordsy

Juniors
Messages
2,116

Gobsmacked

Bench
Messages
3,107
I hate Union, not because of the past and not really because of Suaalii ( although those help)
I hate Union for the same reason I hate romantic comedies... it's just stupid .
* you have penalties that nobody knows what they were for and nobody even questions it 🤷‍♂️
* 3 points for a goal? So almost worth a try?
* line out 😴
*scrum 😴
* rucks and mauls 🤢
* the time it takes to organise all of the above 🙄
* watching a bunch of overweight/ out of shape dudes all getting watching and catching their breath because the game went for 2 minutes without stopping 🙄
* the type of over privileged private school poofs that are involved in the game .

Take away all that and I'm in 🤘
O... you did? ..
Yeah.. we call it League 🤘🤘🤘

Thank God.
 
Messages
12,480
Unions signing of this guy is predatory

the nrl should take the gloves off and make all blacks players exempt from the salary cap

then go on a signing spree

that’s exactly what union did

nrl has the money to pay 2 milllion plus if they want too
Are you thinking then that the NRL will then distribute those union players amongst the lower ranked clubs for fairness so the fans don’t get upset that some of those players would rather play for Roosters? The players and RLPA would fight it anyway as it’s essentially a draft. Given they’ll need time to adapt to league, if at all, won’t help the lower ranked clubs either. Poaching their players makes them look good I reckon. Rather that money spent on grass roots, it should be anyway.
 

Chimp

Bench
Messages
2,847
Of course not. But his choice has created a problem for the game and he isn't immune from consequences. You can't have him developing in the best rugby comp, either code, in the world and building his profile while at the same time being an 18 month walking billboard for union. It makes us look like a development comp and provides 18 months of advertising on the biggest sport in Australia for the code that has been trying to kill us since the beginning. I even think roosters should get cap dispensation to drop him it's that serious. At the very least word needs to come from high that he is persona non grata when it comes to rep footy.
I agree with this completely.

We can’t go down the route of ‘tear up his contract’ or have clauses in contracts that mean if you sign with Union your contract is null and void, as then, players who are disgruntled, or have been tapped up, will simply sign a short term deal with RU to get out of their existing contract, before re-signing to another NRL team.

I agree on the salary cap dispensation route. If a player signs with Union, they are immediately unavailable for NRL duty, the NRL can even pay their wage, but essentially, they are left to rot. I’d also say they should never be let back in our game.

That might sound an over reaction, but hear me out. $1.6m sounds a lot, and it is, but it’s a lot cheaper than having development pathways set up across the board. The Wallabies only need about 30 players at any time, and probably a maximum of 8 could come from league - it’s probably more cost efficient and easier not to bother with development pathways, and just use the NRL as a breeding ground and pay overs for the individuals once they’re cherry ripe. And if that works for the Wallabies, why wouldn’t it work for the mega rich French clubs, who already buy in the vast majority of their talent anyway.

I doubt it would get that far, but it could feasibly happen. So f**k em - any player who goes to Union ain’t welcome back and anyone who signs with union rots without game time and with no platform to promote Union. I’d even go as far as saying all NRL contracts should have an extra year on top of the club contract that is an ‘NRL’ contract, so that they can’t just keep the fact they’ve signed with union quiet. So if a player signs for 3 years with the Roosters, the contract is actually a 4 year NRL contract (with no financial value attached to the 4th year), with the first 3 years at Roosters, if they don’t sign a new extended contract at the end of the 3rd year, either with Roosters or with another NRL club (that again would have an extra year signed to the NRL), they sit out a year.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,310
France somehow managed to host the inaugural RLWC (with attendances of c. 20k per game) and get to the final yet we are supposed to believe the game was killed a decade earlier. They also managed to get to the 1968 final somehow, after apparently being killed a quarter of a century earlier.

Available in bookshops all over England and Ireland even to union fans. Time to invest in one
Are you thinking then that the NRL will then distribute those union players amongst the lower ranked clubs for fairness so the fans don’t get upset that some of those players would rather play for Roosters? The players and RLPA would fight it anyway as it’s essentially a draft. Given they’ll need time to adapt to league, if at all, won’t help the lower ranked clubs either. Poaching their players makes them look good I reckon. Rather that money spent on grass roots, it should be anyway.
More so rich clubs pay for it themselves

warriors would be the best one for marketing purposes
 

bazza

Immortal
Messages
30,581
Unions signing of this guy is predatory

the nrl should take the gloves off and make all blacks players exempt from the salary cap

then go on a signing spree

that’s exactly what union did

nrl has the money to pay 2 milllion plus if they want too
Doesn't make much sense to pay double what the current best NRL players get for someone that has not played the sport and isn't a huge name.
Can't remember a union player signing like that in recent times that would have made sense except maybe Jonah Lomu - which was a long time ago
 

bazza

Immortal
Messages
30,581
Are you thinking then that the NRL will then distribute those union players amongst the lower ranked clubs for fairness so the fans don’t get upset that some of those players would rather play for Roosters? The players and RLPA would fight it anyway as it’s essentially a draft. Given they’ll need time to adapt to league, if at all, won’t help the lower ranked clubs either. Poaching their players makes them look good I reckon. Rather that money spent on grass roots, it should be anyway.
yes - would be better to have an extra 20 junior rugby league clubs running in NZ than signing a few pro players
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,310
Doesn't make much sense to pay double what the current best NRL players get for someone that has not played the sport and isn't a huge name.
Can't remember a union player signing like that in recent times that would have made sense except maybe Jonah Lomu - which was a long time ago
That’s what the aru did basically lol
 

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,091
Unions signing of this guy is predatory

the nrl should take the gloves off and make all blacks players exempt from the salary cap

then go on a signing spree

that’s exactly what union did

nrl has the money to pay 2 milllion plus if they want too
That's some interesting logic, Australia signs a player and you want to take it out on NZ. :eek:

Although, if you want to take Shannon Frizell I'll chip in some money.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,310
That's some interesting logic, Australia signs a player and you want to take it out on NZ. :eek:

Although, if you want to take Shannon Frizell I'll chip in some money.
The only decent union players are in nz

nobody is paying 2 million pa for a wallaby
 

Chief_Chujo

First Grade
Messages
8,125
League was big in the 50s and 60s in France though, so WW2 really didnt do much damage...
They never gave any of the money or assets back. The game remained banned in schools and they were restricted to the number of players they could have. It wasn't even allowed to be called Rugby League until the 90s ffs. Its a credit to the strength of French Rugby League that they could battle the war of attrition Union was waging on them for so long.
 

PARRA_FAN

Coach
Messages
17,669
Rugby league just sits back, smiles and goes, we've got plenty of depth dont worry, whereas Union goes, geez this League player would be handy for our game. Says a lot about the depth in Union.

Look I'll be honest I didnt mind Union some years ago because they played well and were well known, guys like Larkham, Gregan, Burke, Eales. I seem to remember League were looking at poaching some of those guys.

Now I couldnt name one Wallaby and I certainly wouldnt be the only one.

I dont know why but I watched a Wallabies game last year, it was so bad, their passing skills were horrible, they couldnt kick, so many knocks, the penalties didnt make sense. I mean we complain about the referees in our game.
 

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