Quote: dally messenger "its funny how whenever there are any errors or mistakes in union people talking about the sports popularity its always on the side of talking it up not down ....yeah just a coincidence
maybe we aussies are different to english RL fans, weve never grown up with union being a major sport, its always been insignficant. so rather than looking at it with some awe we just tend to mock it for being the minor sport it is
i grew up with RU being semi pro before crowds of 1000 - 2000 for club games in sydney, little TV coverage and RL siging players at will
the SL war changed that for 10 years but market forces are coming back into play
RL is the major sport in nsw and queesland
off the back of its million in TV viewers its going to have the financial clout to put RU back into a position of further irrelevance
im actually quite proud of what RL in australia has been developed into
you would think english RL fans when coming to australia would actually celebrate the fact that finally there is a place where RL is king and union is irrelevant but for some weird reason i think they have a little jealousy towards how succesful the game is here
RL has gone through its worst 15 year period since its inception in 1908
the game has stood firm during this time and is now in a position of massive growth
im going to enjoy seeing my game get all the rewards its deserves and use this money to make the sport dominate all its rivals
i make no apologies for this at all'"
Totally agree. I am not in Australia but am glad to see RL so strong in Australia. I look at Union forums sometimes and its amazing to see the hate from some of those guys just cos Union is struggling big time there and Leage is thriving.
I wish the RFL would speak to the NRL and just listen to what they say and how they went about recovering from the SL war. There must be things they can learn. Remember after 2003 Australian RU was supposed to be huge and League would be buried but it seems the NRL didnt shy away from this and met the challenge head on and won.
I always wonder just how significant union is over there? I go on a boxing forum which has its own aussie section and they have dedicated threads to the NRL and its a real busy forum. I ask those guys what about Union over there and they all say its insignificant and nobody watches it.
I even went on a union forum and one Irish immigrant was moaning about how in sydney all people talk about is league and he was shocked just how unpopular union was lol. He even tried to call it a disgrace that a watered down version of 'rugby' get all the spotlight.
