What on earth are you babbling on about? What point of mine are you trying to address? That rugby league isn't more skilful or that the game is going backwards at an alarming rate whilst rugby goes from strength to strength?

Regards

King James

Agree,as you say 20 years ago RL was definately on the up.
What happened ?

Not saying you are wrong but I would love to see some stats to back up your claim about participation numbers in Lancashire and Yorkshire given that in Lancashire for example, the rugby league clubs are centred around heartland towns like Wigan, St. Helens etc yet pretty much every town or village in Lancashire has a rugby union team, with a first, second and third team,with a youth set up. I would go out on a limb and say that there are more union players in Lancashire than league, by a huge margin

Regards

King James

I am afraid its you and others like you with your blinked views that are the reason all expansion clubs fail.
If you dont understand the real issues facing growing a sport in new area's then you will always be doomed to fail.

He's not addressing any point , he's just pointing out you're a Let's leave the childish insults to the playground please. Karen.

One thing that has recently come to the fore is Unions current war on high tackles and concussion , if RL doesn't address these same issues we will see less youngsters playing and ultimately a fall in standards

As much as we see the ' Biff ' and ' big hits ' as part of the game these things will turn off parents from letting their kids play the game

RL is THE toughest team sport you can play , however in our H and S concious world we must remove some of the less attractive parts of the game

I think perhaps folk living in the heartlands underestimate the extent of ignorance of league in most of the country. When people find out I'm a league fan, they almost inevitably start banging on about Bath or the 6N. Even people who regard themselves as sports fans often don't understand that they are two different sports. I firmly believe that the lack of league on free to air TV has a lot to do with that. You can see cricket heading the same way. When I was a kid, Ashes Tests were massive events the whole country talked about. Nobody talks about them now (relatively speaking).
As mentioned upthread,, crowds at most RU club matches are unexceptional, to say the least. But RU has marketed itself well to attract the attention (and money) of casual fans, most of whom know little of the laws of the game. And it's undeniable that being the Establishment game has got a lot to do with it. That, and the lack of international fixtures. It doesn't matter too much if England RU get tanked by the All Blacks, cos fans can see them beating plenty of other nations. Especially the Welsh, cos wins against them always go down well with the Little Englanders.

I am aware of the origins of RL, I suppose what I want to know is why Local Authority Schools during the 60s and 70s didn't allow League to be played in the heartland of the game ( northwest in my case ).

By unexceptional do you mean an average attendance in the U.K. That is greater than super league by 35%?

Regards

King James

Yes that's what he meant , unexceptional , given all the advantages they historically have their attendances are unexceptional

My lad played Union as a junior for around 10 years and the distance they had to travel to get a game was an indication of just how sp Union is in the area, although as you say, there are some decent clubs, with teams playing through the age groups.
However, League has the same and there are far more clubs playing league in this area.
Thankfully he is now playing League at Uni and enjoying playing far more than he enjoyed Union.

As someone who played across the back line in Union, he tells me that involvement if far more intense and enjoyment levels are far greater.

Nobody can deny that nationally, Union is the "bigger" game and of course, it's also played across Scotland and Wales and as League will never be as popular Nationally.
However, in the Heartlands, it's still more popular than Union.

We have to remember that, but, for the arrogant and demeaning attitudes in Union at the end of the 19th Century, League would not exist, so for that, we should be grateful.

There are 17 union leagues in the north west compared to, what, 5 in league? My local union club has acually linked up with my local league club and some union players now play for them in the offseason and vice versa and both sets of players enjoy playing the other code. But yes, I can see your sons point as a backrower from the union side, played centre for the league side and couldnt believe how tired he was after 60 minutes!

Regards

King James

It was similar in Hull in the 70's RL was very strong at Junior High level but none existent in High School. The only alternative to football was yawnion which was deservedly unpopular so that always struggled for numbers, so usually neither ended up being played. I don't think the local authority banned RL but on the other hand they didn't direct the sports teachers to provide what the pupils wanted so good old yawnion prejudice was allowed to run rampant. New Zealand is the only country in the world where RU is genuinely popular and earns its widespread coverage. In Aus yawnion is thankfully slipping to a distant 4th in terms of interest in the football codes but even so gets inflated coverage and sponsorship in proportion to its numbers thanks to their old boy private school network.

It is tough times for RL here but I would like the governing body to make a much stronger effort to promote the game in schools. It has to be done centrally as I'm not sure that you can just rely on the clubs as they have understandably slightly different aims and there are opportunities for the more unscrupulous to ride on the effort of others.

The real danger to RL would be if yawnion ever became entertaining - fortunately tedious penalty kicking competitions remain the norm in the UK.