It was the majority that changed those things, if you can convince the majority, change away

Oh sorry, I thought you were Joking

The Guardian lost is way years ago - it now panders to the not too intelligent, trustafarian, public school set. It's a crap paper. I couldn't care less what such an unrepresentative rag feels is important.

spot on
Again, where did you get your BBC Tv audience stats from?

As for Union being bigger than League, yeh except for:
NSW
Victoria
Qland
NT
Yorkshire
Lancashire
Cheshire
Merseyside
PNG etc etc etc

How are the S15 players coping with their pay cuts this year lol? Has S15 audience managed to get bigger that the NRL's U20's kid games yet? lol
Bring on NRL expansion when we will see RL in WA bury RU again and hopefully another NZ team to build on the RL momentum of recent years in kiwi land.

same twitter source that was used during the RLWC....the final was out drawn by Wales v Australia too.....

where has RL buried Union in Australia?

Quote: JB Down Under "and hopefully another NZ team to build on the RL momentum of recent years in kiwi land.'"

Yep..we'll fill the Westpac in March but get ignored again in favour of Brisbane 2...

all of which is a cool story bro, but has little to do with a daily paper with less than 200k readers, most of whom are middle class aspirant bleeding heart liberals who want to be seen as left wing, not counting a single moment of RL in their annual sports review top 10.
we all know how uber dominant RL is in Australia, yet the RLWC got a cursory mention there.....yet the Guardian gets its own thread here

Also, why does he British press regularly give whole page spreads on irrelevant (to Brits) Union fixtures - ie internaionals on the other side of the world no involving a British team? It cannot be demand as Union is a minor sport compared to fooball and I rarely see whole page reports on mega-fixtures such as Brazil v Agentina.

Define the British press that is giving this coverage? I suspect it isn't the red tops, but instead the self declared QUALITY press which is understandable, given the prevalence of union in the schools and iniversities the readers of these papers.
HK bronco.......Union went openly pro 18 years ago......to what do you attribute the continued growth around the world and now the acceptance of 7s as an Olympic event? I'd hazard a guess it has little to do with the playing fields of Eton. In the same period, RL in the uk has stagnated......is this down to the editorial department at the times?
Both codes could be run better but there can be little doubt as to which one is the dog wagging the tail and which one is rugby league. I'd take the IRB over the IRLF any day of the week.....

and the stats on the BBC viewing audiences? still waiting .....

same place as 10 hours ago....pay attention and wait less.

Quote: gutterfax "How does a UK papers failure to recognise a game between England and New Zealand in its top 10 get to a debate about S15 in Australia? I take it you were ignoring South Africa and New Zealand to suit your agenda by the way.... Me thinks being a Ru fan living in NZ you should concern yourself with matters closer to home: Deloitte Sports Review of the 14 semi-professional and amateur rugby unions competing in New Zealand’s premier provincial rugby competition, the ITM Cup. Through a financial review of each union’s annual financial accounts, our findings show that collectively revenues are falling and accumulated reserves are being eroded. This, combined with the well documented difficulties of several unions, highlights the increasing pressures placed on those charged with the operational and financial stewardship of the game. Financial Performance There has been a significant decline in revenues over the previous five financial years, falling by $16 million, or 19%, to $68 million in FY11. Approximately 50% of this decline occurred in the most recent financial year. Key revenue streams are sponsorship and grants, and match related revenues. Other revenues include transfer fees, event/franchise management, insurance proceeds and sundry revenue. The $16 million decline in revenue is primarily related to lower match related incomes, which has fallen from $21 million to $9 million over the five years, representing a drop of 58%. Income from grants and sponsorship is heavily reliant on contributions from the NZRU and grants from gaming operators. The five provincial unions with professional Super Rugby based teams generate in excess of 50% of total revenues although the extent of this has declined from 55% to 51% between FY07 to FY11. As a consequence of declining revenues, total expenditures have reduced across the major categories: team and match related costs, growing the game and administration expenses. The chart to the right highlights that the greatest reduction is with team and match costs, suggesting those in management positions are consciously reducing match and player costs with falling revenues. Collectively, the unions have not generated a consolidated operating profit in any of the last five years. Losses range between $0.6 million to almost $7 million, although the consolidated deficit dropped to its lowest level in FY11. In total, cumulative operating losses over this period amount to $16 million. www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-New ... w_2012.pdf

Quote: gutterfax "How does a UK papers failure to recognise a game between England and New Zealand in its top 10 get to a debate about S15 in Australia? I take it you were ignoring South Africa and New Zealand to suit your agenda by the way.... Me thinks being a Ru fan living in NZ you should concern yourself with matters closer to home: Deloitte Sports Review of the 14 semi-professional and amateur rugby unions competing in New Zealand’s premier provincial rugby competition, the ITM Cup. Through a financial review of each union’s annual financial accounts, our findings show that collectively revenues are falling and accumulated reserves are being eroded. This, combined with the well documented difficulties of several unions, highlights the increasing pressures placed on those charged with the operational and financial stewardship of the game. Financial Performance There has been a significant decline in revenues over the previous five financial years, falling by $16 million, or 19%, to $68 million in FY11. Approximately 50% of this decline occurred in the most recent financial year. Key revenue streams are sponsorship and grants, and match related revenues. Other revenues include transfer fees, event/franchise management, insurance proceeds and sundry revenue. The $16 million decline in revenue is primarily related to lower match related incomes, which has fallen from $21 million to $9 million over the five years, representing a drop of 58%. Income from grants and sponsorship is heavily reliant on contributions from the NZRU and grants from gaming operators. The five provincial unions with professional Super Rugby based teams generate in excess of 50% of total revenues although the extent of this has declined from 55% to 51% between FY07 to FY11. As a consequence of declining revenues, total expenditures have reduced across the major categories: team and match related costs, growing the game and administration expenses. The chart to the right highlights that the greatest reduction is with team and match costs, suggesting those in management positions are consciously reducing match and player costs with falling revenues. Collectively, the unions have not generated a consolidated operating profit in any of the last five years. Losses range between $0.6 million to almost $7 million, although the consolidated deficit dropped to its lowest level in FY11. In total, cumulative operating losses over this period amount to $16 million. www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-New ... w_2012.pdf