why hasn't rugby league taken off???

[Ebony]

how come only a few countries worldwide play our razzle dazzle sport? are they all pussies out there? too rough, or is the game too tough for the citizens of other countries?

what do the promoters say?

 

[roughyedspud]

i blame australia..................




:lol:

 

[dimitri]

i blame australia..................




:lol:

me too

crappy administration is the main reason

 

[Kurt Angle]

Poor administration has been the primary factor, and I would also point out to the difficult entry level for participation, especially in the days of 10 metre defence.

Just say there was a country in the world that didn't have any form of soccer. To introduce the game, it would be easy to bring a round ball and tell them to kick it around. I can do that and not even spill any beer from my beer can.

This applies to games like basketball and and to a lesser extent rugby union. Low level games are easy, involve little tactics and virtually zero skill other than what your natural born talent provides.

It makes it very social and any level of participation according to what commitment you want to make to fitness, tactics and skills.

Rugby league has a VERY high level of minimum entry in regards to fitness, somewhat less for tactics.. though you can participate with low to non-existant skill levels in some positions. Even park footy requires some degree of training commitment, and players have to endure a lot of physical punishment during the playing of the game.

To start off from scratch takes a lot of committed people, more so than most other sports.

 

[hutch]

i agree kurt angle. we are not really a social sport. maybe at junior level, but at adult level rugby league cannot be taken lightly, or you will get hurt.

and yes, i also blame us aussies for being too inward thinking. it could be so much bigger worldwide than it is, the clubs are more powerul than the rlif. it should be the other way around.

 

[mikeob]

I agree 100% Hutch. The clubs particularly Sydney and English clubs control the game. About 1977 when Kurt Sorensen was picked up by Cronulla he was selected for the Kiwis and Cronulla refused to release him for the tests. Talk about the tale wagging the dog. It's not much better today in some aspects. Mark O'Meley, Willie Mason and Sonny Bill are all selected to play in a test match. O'Meley and Mason are congratulated by the Dogs and sent to the Australian team doctor for a medical. Sonny Bill is sent to the Dogs doctor who will do everything in his power to prevent him playing for the Kiwis.

With the exception of David Gallop how many administrators do NOT have club affiliations and use those affiliations to put their club interests ahead of the international game?

Then there is union and those guys do everything and anything possible to stop rugby league getting a toe hold anywhere.

At the begining of the 60's South Africa had a rugby league team made up of high profile ex union players. They toured here and NZ and beat the Kiwis at least once. The story I have been told was that when they returned home some of them found their houses burnt down. Why? Because they were playing rugby league.

I think all you guys are on the money with your comments. There are a host of reasons.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I really think the main reason is the class divide. RL has always been a working class game and therefore we never had people with the money, education, influence etc to take the game to new areas. Union has. Poor admin and inward looking clubs is what has held the game back in more recent years and the physical nature of the game is also a factor but I think our working class background put us a long way behind other sports like union.

 

[yakstorm]

Its been a combination of factors but I think the most obvious are:

- Lack of desire to expand for so long. Right up until the past 15 years, the game was happy being played in UK, France, PNG, Australia and NZ, and even in the case of PNG it was more through convenience (well its hard saying a war was ever convenient to anything, but it wasn’t a strategic effort) that they played RL.

If you look at how many nations have taken up the game in the past 15 years, we are actually growing at a very healthy rate.

- The difficulty in playing the sport, as Kurt has already said, you don’t just pick up a ball and start playing League. Look at its non-contact versions, LeagueTag and Touch, they have both expanded rapidly compared to its contact cousin. This naturally has limited the growth of the sport.

- The Union factor, whilst it possibly hasn’t limited RL’s growth as much as RL has limited its own growth, it has been a factor and did hurt efforts in South Africa, Italy, Germany and France especially during the 50’s and 60’s.

 

[spinnerhowland]

South Sydney and Leeds Rhinos have committed to visit Jacksonville for their training camp in Jan and also pay a game while here. Team heads will travel with the team and Russell Crowe will come for some of the time. An effort like this and the expense they are going through to make this thing happen is HUGE and it shows a real desire to expand the game worldwide.
I would imagine after January the Jacksonville Axemen will have 10,000 fans and the profile of both us and the AMNRL will be increased a lot. Our committment after that is to take this opportuity that has been given to us and make it work form that point forward.
I applaud both Souths and Leeds for making such a commitment to the game

 

[mikeob]

And I applaude you Spinner. Someone had to instigate this and other positive incidents like the tv news story on your GF and I guess that person is you.

 

[International RL]

South Sydney and Leeds Rhinos have committed to visit Jacksonville for their training camp in Jan and also pay a game while here. Team heads will travel with the team and Russell Crowe will come for some of the time. An effort like this and the expense they are going through to make this thing happen is HUGE and it shows a real desire to expand the game worldwide.
I would imagine after January the Jacksonville Axemen will have 10,000 fans and the profile of both us and the AMNRL will be increased a lot. Our committment after that is to take this opportuity that has been given to us and make it work form that point forward.
I applaud both Souths and Leeds for making such a commitment to the game

Is 10,000 a feasible figure Spinner? I hope so, that would be awesome!!

 

[screeny]

Some good points made but I would put the big one factor as RU, with league's own crap administration a distant second.

Let's not forget what a situation we had for 100 years: anyone who tried RL was banned from ever playing RU again. So, it would take some brave soul who enjoyed his weekend rugby to chance his arm at RL in a non-traditional RL area as itn would mean his major pastime taken away from him.

As RL emerged from just 22 clubs in one sliver of an area it's a wonder and a testament to the game and its people that it expanded over a century in the face of such a blockade.

 

[spinnerhowland]

With Russell Crowe in Jacksonville for the week lead up to the game here in January and the support we are getting from the City of Jacksonville for this event, 10,000 should be very achievable.

 

[deluded pom?]

Never having an administration with the balls to take the oppressive RU to court over their actions to stop people playing RL in a free country.

 

[Kurt Angle]

Mate, as vile and as interupting as RU have been, we could always acheive greater success with the correct application.

I remember back in 2004 when yanto was getting the dutch RL up and started, I said back then I felt it was a mistake to ever get involved with RU, using their clubs, their players, etc.

Just go somewhere, else, be it a soccer slub, a hockey club.. anyone else but them.

He disagreed. 18 months later he reflected back saying "If I did it again, I would never take part with RU".

What RL has done many times is go into an area with RU infrastructure and try to build on that. be it disaffected RU players, or perhaps finding those that prefer RL to RU.

But with that comes their pettiness.

RU fans, scribes, players.... theirs is a culture of children who haven't grown up. You have to realise that as a RL supporter you are only ever going to find juvenile behaviour at their hands.

So just make sure you go somewhere where there's no RU.

Spinner, I know has got his hands on some RU players, but his infrastucture is through american football. That should be the lesson.

Have someone with good commercial sense to start a club, and enough traditional spirit to ensure a culture that will remain.

 

[deluded pom?]

Interrupting, that's one word for it. I prefer to call it sporting apartheid which no other sport has ever had to endure. if the administrators in the past had had the balls to sue the RU . I've just read that back and even if they had the judge would probably be pro rah rah and thrown the case out of court.

 

[Eastender]

Poor administration has been the primary factor, and I would also point out to the difficult entry level for participation, especially in the days of 10 metre defence.

Just say there was a country in the world that didn't have any form of soccer. To introduce the game, it would be easy to bring a round ball and tell them to kick it around. I can do that and not even spill any beer from my beer can.

This applies to games like basketball and and to a lesser extent rugby union. Low level games are easy, involve little tactics and virtually zero skill other than what your natural born talent provides.

It makes it very social and any level of participation according to what commitment you want to make to fitness, tactics and skills.

Rugby league has a VERY high level of minimum entry in regards to fitness, somewhat less for tactics.. though you can participate with low to non-existant skill levels in some positions. Even park footy requires some degree of training commitment, and players have to endure a lot of physical punishment during the playing of the game.

To start off from scratch takes a lot of committed people, more so than most other sports.

This is an excellent post IMHO. One of the reasons I am not playing at the moment is that I know I am not fit enough to truly enjoy a game. If you are not fit enough, you become a liability to your team.

Surely there must be some scope for a version of RL that could be pitched at a more social/participatory level and provide an entry level for anybody, who could then go on to play at a reasonable level (park footy and above)? Perhaps using the rules of Masters RL as a starting point (5 metre defence for example)???

http://www.mastersrugbyleague.com/rules.htm

As another poster pointed out ... derivatives of league such as touch are going from strength to strength.

Just an :idea: ...

 

[International RL]

This is an excellent post IMHO. One of the reasons I am not playing at the moment is that I know I am not fit enough to truly enjoy a game. If you are not fit enough, you become a liability to your team.

Surely there must be some scope for a version of RL that could be pitched at a more social/participatory level and provide an entry level for anybody, who could then go on to play at a reasonable level (park footy and above)? Perhaps using the rules of Masters RL as a starting point (5 metre defence for example)???

http://www.mastersrugbyleague.com/rules.htm

As another poster pointed out ... derivatives of league such as touch are going from strength to strength.

Just an :idea: ...

Yeah I agree with Kurt regarding the skill/fitness factor. You can't spoil your way to a victory or respectable loss. If you are outgunned, you will be hammered as the speed of the game will get away from you in the end.


For example the area I live in has a thriving local league competition. After u/18's most guys can't even cut it in reserve grade, so they end up playign rugby union. The first grade rugby union has guys that I know for a fact can't get a go in 2nds in RL.

I think the NRL needs to take greater ownerships of oztag and touch and incorporate it under it's branding

 

[Kurt Angle]

The non-contact games however aren't what real RL is about.

For example I am 6'2 and my RL playing weight was around 88-92kg.

Anything above 92kg and my speed drops considerably. I used to play RU at 96-98kg. The thing was after a while my ankles were shot and I lost some agility, but I was able to put myself into running really good lines.

In RL, a guy can lunge at me, and he will 'tag' me, but he isn't going to bring me down. A 'tag' stops me in touch or OzTag. My size at full speed was an advantage in RL, it ofers no advantage at all in the non-contact derivatives.

Reading the masters league, some pretty good rules.

I had my own take on what could be a more social RL. It would use the RL pitch, but you would use other lines as its defined boundaries.

As you can see the field would be 48 metres wide, 60 metres long, (as marked in blue) and the area between the 10 and 20 would be respective in goals as I have marked in yellow. You would also take conversion wherever to have grounded the ball, using the regular posts.

Now add it a 5 metre defence, and a 60 metre field, this removes 2 of the most aerobically challenging parts of the game, defence and the kick chase.

9 players a side with 3 forwards, 1 centre and the 5/8 playing a old-school inside/outside centre combo.

Being this expansive would reduce gang tackling.

 

[macavity]

The non-contact games however aren't what real RL is about.

For example I am 6'2 and my RL playing weight was around 88-92kg.

Anything above 92kg and my speed drops considerably. I used to play RU at 96-98kg. The thing was after a while my ankles were shot and I lost some agility, but I was able to put myself into running really good lines.

In RL, a guy can lunge at me, and he will 'tag' me, but he isn't going to bring me down. A 'tag' stops me in touch or OzTag. My size at full speed was an advantage in RL, it ofers no advantage at all in the non-contact derivatives.

Reading the masters league, some pretty good rules.

I had my own take on what could be a more social RL. It would use the RL pitch, but you would use other lines as its defined boundaries.

As you can see the field would be 48 metres wide, 60 metres long, (as marked in blue) and the area between the 10 and 20 would be respective in goals as I have marked in yellow. You would also take conversion wherever to have grounded the ball, using the regular posts.

Now add it a 5 metre defence, and a 60 metre field, this removes 2 of the most aerobically challenging parts of the game, defence and the kick chase.

9 players a side with 3 forwards, 1 centre and the 5/8 playing a old-school inside/outside centre combo.

Being this expansive would reduce gang tackling.

POST OF THE YEAR.

surely everyone used to play modified rules as a kid, down the park with their mates?

this could bring that through into a social game as adults.

prob even make it 4 or 5 tackle rule given the size of the field, and do away with scrums...?