It's a union newspaper, why would any RL fan take any notice of this article?

The article was written by a pirate.

It's a colour piece by Australia's Stephen Jones. Move along.

He's suggesting that because some French club with a rich owner is throwing silly money at an old Australian has been RU is somehow taking over from RL, in an Australian paper for an Australian audience. Reality is NRL has a large number of players on $750k-$1.2million, the game has more money by a country mile than union in Australia and is the biggest domestic "rugby" competition in the world. It's a fluff piece by a union numptie who can see the writing on the wall for an inferior product in his home country. And oh how we laugh....

Interesting
Do you have any evidence for that?

Probably something to do with the attendances, tv ratings, merchandise sales, media rights deals, social media interactions, and any other measure you care to think of.

Do you have any evidence tho?

Spot on!
By the way, passing through sydney airport the other day i noticed ALL THE SHOPS Selling sporting goods or souveniers has Izzy and the wallabies to the fore and ONE had a couple of roos shirts at the back. Surely the NRL could stretch to having their own store at the airport? I mean to say, League is obviously streets ahead of union in aussie but a tourist wouldn't know that and unless the NRL are happy to keep flogging NRL stuff to the same audience for more money,something needs to change to get NEW FANS

RL in Australia has the same problem it has here. Yes it's very popular, but it's also unfashionable and terrible at PR which makes outsiders not realise how popular it is or want to be associated with it.

Whenever I tell people that RL is massively more popular than union in Australia they're always surprised, they assume union is the major code of rugby there because of the wallabies.

It's quite amazing it is costing a national team 1.4 million Aussie dollar per year to entice a player from club rugby in France. Is it me or is that quite wrong? Sure, pay them well but they should want to play for their country. Giteau retired from rep footy three years ago.

Now union or 'rugby' as it is referred to by many is in the olympics this will widen the gap even further in terms of increasing worldwide participation/competition and thus less money at national/club level.
The idiots in charge can't see that even with a lumbering, labouring sport such as union, it is a juggernaught with such backing (from all avenues political and otherwise) that it will inexorably keep our sport from flourishing.

That the Southern hemisphere refer to RL as league or footy and not 'rugby' league has a negative impact on our sport all on its own.
As mentioned above the marketing and PR of our sport is so shambolically amateurish it makes lawn bowls look like a world leading sport by comparison.
On the Hull Fc board there's a thread highlighting even the ineptitude right down to introducing new officials to the sport and the support network and funding (or lack thereof) which has a huge impact further up the chain..there are so many things wrong but because it is an amazing viewer and participation sport it's kept going.
it just won't ever develop in the way we'd like it to do.

Quote: gutterfax "Spot on! By the way, passing through sydney airport the other day i noticed ALL THE SHOPS Selling sporting goods or souveniers has Izzy and the wallabies to the fore and ONE had a couple of roos shirts at the back. Surely the NRL could stretch to having their own store at the airport? I mean to say, League is obviously streets ahead of union in aussie but a tourist wouldn't know that and unless the NRL are happy to keep flogging NRL stuff to the same audience for more money,something needs to change to get NEW FANS'" Lol. Well if the popularity and success of a sport is measured by which section of an airport shop merchandise is displayed in then union would be killing it It may interest you to know that during the World Cup the socceroos gear was at the front, during the bloody slow and lions tour wallabies and during the RLWC and 4 nations the kangaroos and other league gear. Go figure! Seems they might need to push that wallabies gear a bit harder! With an annual growth rate of 11.53 per cent, the NRL licensing fees amassed a staggering $166.5 million. Predictably, the Australian Rugby Union managed a paltry annual merchandise revenue of only $2.4 million. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/nrl-smash ... abric-war/

Quote: gutterfax "Spot on! By the way, passing through sydney airport the other day i noticed ALL THE SHOPS Selling sporting goods or souveniers has Izzy and the wallabies to the fore and ONE had a couple of roos shirts at the back. Surely the NRL could stretch to having their own store at the airport? I mean to say, League is obviously streets ahead of union in aussie but a tourist wouldn't know that and unless the NRL are happy to keep flogging NRL stuff to the same audience for more money,something needs to change to get NEW FANS'" Lol. Well if the popularity and success of a sport is measured by which section of an airport shop merchandise is displayed in then union would be killing it It may interest you to know that during the World Cup the socceroos gear was at the front, during the bloody slow and lions tour wallabies and during the RLWC and 4 nations the kangaroos and other league gear. Go figure! Seems they might need to push that wallabies gear a bit harder! With an annual growth rate of 11.53 per cent, the NRL licensing fees amassed a staggering $166.5 million. Predictably, the Australian Rugby Union managed a paltry annual merchandise revenue of only $2.4 million. rugbyleagueweek.com.au/nrl-smash ... abric-war/

Slightly off topic, but while driving to work today (not a union stronghold at all) there was a massive billboard advertising the union WC. Got into work and the front and back cover of the metro was taken up by WC advertisement. We're still a year out it.

It was just a reminder of the absolute wealth in the other code. The RFL's entire marketing budget was probably the same as what the RFU paid Charles Dance to appear in their marketing video.

Despite the enormous amount of wealth, England could still have a back line where 3 of the 7 players were developed by league. Shame they don't spend a lot of their wealth on junior development.

I'm sure when the union WC is over, some will gloat how much more well attended the union WC was than leagues. But with their budget, is it any wonder!

The original article talked about the massive amount of money in French rugby union -- not in Australian rugby union -- which is damaging rugby league.

It might have added Japan into the big money mix as well.

However the evidence of anyone who has spoken to or read the accounts of some of the dual code players, as I have, is that the biggest lure of rugby union over rugby league is not the money --- the NRL can offer close to rugby union these days --- but the international stage, with the regular international rugby union games being played in front of huge adoring crowds. In rugby league only State of Origin can compare to that. (Russell Crowe said that if Sam Burgess had been allowed to play State of Origin he would probably not have left rugby league).

The RFL wizards made sure that rugby league cannot compete with northern hemisphere rugby union when it reintroduced promotion and relegation at the expense of licensing. That put paid to the long promised introduction of Toulouse, and potentially more French clubs in the future, into Super League. This betrayal of Toulouse made clear that building the game in France is not a priority for the RFL any more. Nigel Wood and his cronies are not only treacherous, they are also very dumb. They are making sure that rugby league will never compete with rugby union in the northern hemisphere for the foreseeable future.

RL has always been run by the clubs with a focus on the domestic comps over the international game. It's frustrating and back in the early 90's I remember going to GB v roos games with big crowds and thinking it might finally have changed,sadly SL undid that and clubs reverted back to being the decision makers of the game in the leadership void that news ltd created.
I had hoped the arlc would take up global leadership of the game and in a union loving dave smith we would have seen more emphasis on international RL but despite his bluster once again the ashes tour is cancelled and the roos will not play int RL next year. Very disappointing and frustrating.