Wellington

rugby league was bigger in nz in 1990 than it is now, there were couple thousand more registered players than there are now about 20,000 0r so. Aussie league began being shown on free to air tv in 1989 after the canberra/blamain grand finak in 1990 they were showing 3 games a week. as well as tha test matches, uk challenge cup final and and local lion red national club final were on tv.

wanui vs upper hutt grand final was huge 10,000 at the basin reserve! fox memorial in auckland and canterbury also had similar grand final crowds. auckland vs wellington and canterbury rep pgames got crowds of several thosand. kiwi's beat oz in melbourne and then ritichie balckmore famous "mening i'll get u meninga" ads were on tv to promote other 2 test in series (which we got smashed in by the way) everyone was talking about dean lonergan get samshed an doing the spastic shakes on the ground an getting up to play on!

i could keep going on gutterfax and i dont wont to be rude to you but i dont think you know what your talking about!
league playing numbers have always gone up and down and league has been able to attract good crowds albiet in cycles if not consistenlty!

i remember visiting my grandad in auckland in 1990 when he heard i liked rugby league he said i see they are saying rugby league could be the no1 sport in nz i remember when they were saying that in the 1950's. my grandad was scottish immigrant to nz never played himself but my father and uncles all played league as kids in 1950's becuse he took tham along to the local club!

league has never been as big as union in nz and at time the participation rate has slipped to worring levels, but when it has had good administration backed with decent top level results it has always captured nz sporting public's attention. league has always had a hardcore diehard following in nz. has always been in the top 1 - 5 ranked spectator sports. and has beenranked number 1 tv sport on many occasions!

to sum it up when people play informal contact rugby in school at lunchtime after school 90% of the time it's a game of rugby league! discrimination by school systems partly because of union supporters and partly becasue league had/has a bad rep as a game for coal miners, bouncers, truck drivers, gang members, etc has stopped its growth combined with long periods of poor administration have seen games fortune fluctuate dramatically!

gutterfax im a bit ed off at your post to be honest where you in new zealand or wellington in 1990?