Who is ' their ' ?

So it is the SL clubs fault ?

Not like them to put their own clubs before the ' greater good of the game ' is it

true enough,but it doesn't HAVE to be that way - clubs are nurturing through their academies which will bear fruit IF and WHEN these clubs ie Wigan,Leeds,Saints,Widnes etc etc have the balls to give these lads the opportunities in the big time rather than taking on some thirty-year old (or near enough) reject from the NRL and farming these young hopefuls into the lower leagues - these overseas oldies are restricting the advancement of the game in the SL and consequently the C & C1
Sam Tomkins was effectively thrown in at the deep-end by default and look at his progress - we have the talent,let's give it a chance
The County Championship of cricket is failing to develop their youngsters because of the counties continuing to employ the likes of Ramprakesh etc etc - it's holding up the progress of the game

what are the 'social issues' ?

Well it isn't the likes of Leigh , Batley and Rochdale that are supplying the players who cant get anywhere near the Aussies , is it , so I'll give you the benifit of the doubt , just the last 15 years then

To be honest, I think I’m looking at a slightly bigger picture than you here. I’m not even talking about the results, I’m talking about attitudes that are prevalent throughout the whole of Rugby League

Again, to stress, I am not attributing any right or wrong – simply stating what I see as the biggest barrier to international growth

So how does SL clubs having loads of aussies restrict the Championships


The social issues are the lack of proper competitive sport played in schools , were ' winning and losing ' arent allowed anymore

Plus us all being afraid of letting our kids out through the door to play in the street for fear of them being abducted

how can anyone disagree with that ?

The attitude of who , to what ?

OK, I will say it one more time... the attitude of the Rugby League professional clubs and their fans to the international scene

The home nations in Rugby Union will play 9 internationals ‘during’ the season (4 Autumn internationals and 5 Six Nations games) in which the professional clubs lose their best players for these games

Can you imagine the outcry from the clubs and the fans if this were to happen in RL? It doesn’t matter what type of international programme is put together, if the people inside the sport don’t commit to it, how can we expect to capture the wider sporting public?

And I'll say it one more time

We DONT have an international ' scene ' , we never have had an International ' Scene '

We ' England/GB only have 2 teams that can beat us [ and we cant beat them when it matters ] and then there isn't any other team anywhere near beating us

So we dont have a ' competition ' , and as all us non SL fans keep telling those that will listen , it is ' competition ' that gets people interested , if you dont have that [ ie everybody knows who is going to win , like the Challenge Cup against non SL opposition ] then people dont turn up

It is a ' chicken and egg ' situation , which comes first , people [ fans ,clubs , club owners , players even ] getting interested , or us either beating the Aussies/kiwi's or other countries being able to beat us

Until one or the other happens , nobody will give a toss , I certainly dont

Blinkered.

Again it goes back to attitude (which I have to say you are demonstrating perfectly)

I started my posts on this thread by reminding everybody that the Irish and Scottish Union teams have never beaten the New Zealand All Blacks ever. That’s right, never beaten them in the hundred plus years of internationals

The Italian team was invited into the Five Nations and were battered every game and yet there was no call for them to be thrown out... no, they were the ‘gallant’ underdogs that everybody supported

England beat France heavily and there are calls never to play them again. On the contrary, we should play regular three match series against the French to put international Rugby League at the forefront of the sport... persevere with it and the competitive matches will follow and the sport will grow, on both sides of the Channel

Or we could just sit back with a defeatist and negative... oh, what’s the word... yes, attitude!