Again you are talking drivell. The reason Rugby of both codes comes a mile behind soccer as the main sport is that in the 1880's the governing body (the RFU) diliberately kept the game away from the genral public to discorage mass gatherings. this was the time of mass unrest in the new industrial centres. The game spread to the industrial north by public school educated ministers & factory owners sons wanting to play the game & enlisted thier workers, but they kept it amature to prevent the masses playing, Rugby flourished despite the eforts to control it. Also remember that it was the same in Australia untill the NZ all golds broke the mould. Unlike the UK the break away league became the dominant sport. in the UK union was the dominant Rugby code & still is but the real damage was done as soccer had no class hang ups, no worrys about professionalism it took centre stage & flourished & spred to most of the world. To realy understand what happened there is a good book called the code wars if you can find it.

very true on the RFU allowing soccer to take over

but a lot of blame also goes back to the RFL and the english clubs for allowing playing standards to fall so badly

if SL was as good to watch as the NRL and produced its own players, it would be a hell of a lot bigger a sport than today.

of course no match for soccer but that horse has bolted

RL has so much potential in england, france etc if clubs do the right thing and develop the game properly

Potential maybe but no money a lot of competition from soccer & union & since union went pro the small but vital supply of converts to league has dried up thus denying Wales of a League side, something that the crusaders are starting to address. Once the game went full time (only 13 years ago) the level has risen but unless we attract more people through the gate we cannot pay more players so our pool will also be smaller.Progress will always be slow & without carefull management, could implode. We are hanging on by the skin of our teeth in a very hostile world.

union is s**t.

good level RL destroys union.

soccer will always be number 1 but RL can gain so much ground on union.

union will either end up merging with league or becoming a small sport

its just too boring for the modern day

There will always be the traditionalists who love that style of Rugby.
I can see where you're coming from but all that will happen fron your end is that Australia's national side will flop if and when it's basically destroyed in Aus. In Europe Union is simply too strong to falter internationally. At domestic level though I think we can take them, ratings/crowd wise we're not far off but in the junior ranks and playing rosters we're a long way off and the top and bottom of it is that international game.
While league fans bicker among themselves at every opportunity other sports are united.
Australia can carry on improving but we must strive to match them and for me the only way to do this is start getting athletes in schools at 11 or 12 and offer them league as a career, their chances in football are slim due to imports, lets get them playing league.

aus it will die off or be marginal/

NZ it is going nowhere

scotland, ireland ??? nothing much either

those traditionalists are getting older.

theres a really good article written by a NZ sports journalist about how union is so boring now and the NRL better to watch

union is no threat to league

if SL aims for 2nd sport in terms of money replacing cricket and union, that would be a massive improvement to now

seriously anyone that gets pleasure watching union over league has me worried

ahh but over here not enough people even know League exists let alone have the opportunity to prefer it to union.
Like I said, let's get the development officers in schools.

Someone else mentioned the whole 'taking part that counts' thing as to why we fail. I disagree, you won't find a more competitive person than me however if you're taking a sport to a new demographic you cant have bloodthirsty kids taking each other apart at 9 or 10 years old. You's may disagree with me but I reckon we get them involved in regional schools tag tournaments especially in the London/Midland/non league areas. The best and most enthusiastic kids will find themselves in proper teams soon enough. the only worry being many might have a game at school but there isn't the tiers above to carry them, we need more expansion Merit/Conference teams
If the kids the aggresive bloodthirsty type, then, well, he's probably already playing rugby of some kind

Using TV figures as a means of deciding which code is number 1 is terrible. I mean, there are programmes we have on in the household but we arent watching them.

How about Attendences? The AFL pi$$es all over the NRL, as do the super 14 attendences and lets not get into international attendences. I mean, where are these 3.4million aussies for the rugby league international games? They turn up in their droves for the union ones.

If rugby league is so popular, why dont they have a whacking great TV deal like the AFL and how the hell can they call it "National Rugby league" when its only played down the east coast of australia?

AFL will always be number 1 in Australia and it wont be too long before soccer overtakes Rugby league

No way will moronball overtake "The Greatest Game" in Australia unless they change the immigration rules!

Keep in mind the Sydney Rugby Union Grand Final got 7,000 fans through the gates.

That crowd figure even made the Sydney Roosters chuckle!

TV figures proves we're number one,out of the last ten programs RL had 7 that finnished on top.AFL wasn't even in the top 50 .I suppose you live in melbourne?the most boring place on earth ,abit like your post .YAWN.....................

45000 turned up at Wembly followed by 8000 at the next Saracens home game. People will flock to something put on at Wembly but so far it doesnt look like many are taking their interest further than that game at wembly.Union attendances still look like they are on the way up (Well in England anyway)

As for Australia, while i was in Brisbane it looked like all the other codes were playing catch up with rugby league. The amount of league coverage was unbelivable for someone coming from NI. Then i return home and have to live with limited coverage of the British game.