I was o/s when the London 'riots' kicked off but the story got minor coverage on CNN.

So your government have decided to backtrack on the cost of tuition fees now have they?

Are the London 'riots' still going on?



It seems pretty quiet here in london to me.....



If that had happened in France it would still be going on until the government agreed to sort the problem out. Paris would be blockaded, main roads would be closed and they would have probably taken over the French parliament.



Never mind.. maybe the rioting pommie students (seemingly backed up by many members of the Socialist Workers Party) will start a Facebook campaign instead now their mums have told them all to come home and stop being silly by throwing things at the Police for a few days. That should do the trick.


LOL

that's the BIG problem with the brits - you actually believe the world map is still coloured pink,that you are still the superior race and everything british is best ! sorry to dissappoint you mate but you are way out of date...
Listen to BM - he is telling it as it is...

You cant fault the French. They don't like something.. they protest..and things change.

RU fans embrace International RU because for decades it was the only part of the game that was actually competitive [ there was the county championships as well [ I once was asked to drive one of my bosses and his mates to a county final at Lancaster , they came back to the car that pi553d they didn't even know who had won ] but club RU has never until the sport went pro 15 years ago had any decent support

As tb has pointed out , no club competition , yet we have had club competition for decades

That is why you cannot compare the two , it is a totally different social aspect of sport ' support '

We have supported international RL when we were competitive , but 30 years of getting hammered has diluted that interest , until that changes you will not see the support rise again

So, Rugby Union supporters embraced the international game as it was the only competitive element and Rugby League had a strong club scene

Now, RU has a strong club and international scene and League is exactly where we were before

Before I get branded a Union fan etc, I am not – the sport has a lot of faults on and off the pitch but what it does have is club administrators and fans who actually see the bigger picture and not just the success of their own teams

I will ask again – what do you think the reaction would be from both administrators and fans alike if RL clubs were asked to give up their top players for nine weekends ‘during’ the season to play international games

The biggest barrier to international development in our sport is the strength of the club scene and the power of the clubs

Again, many people will not see this as a problem but if you want to see the game of RL develop, the international game is vital

We are all interested in the result (some passionate fans and some observers) when Wigan play Saints, the Hull derby, the Featherstone Halifax final or Oldham York but this will not capture the wider sporting audience.... if we want a high profile, we need to promote the national brand and if that means beating France, Wales, Scotland etc then so be it

Russell Crowe wants to grow the game in the US and he suggests St George and Wigan play the WCC there... what would Union do, they would play Australia vs. New Zealand and I know which one would get the higher profile

The barrier.... the strength of the club game

I realise that this will not convince you but I feel very strongly about it so I needed to get it off my chest

Have a look on Wiki , about RU and how long it has had an International profile , for example , which country won the last Olympic gold medal for RU ?

In 1975 I emigrated to NZ , we flew from London to LA , on that plane was a touring English RU club team going to the US for 3 weeks

My point being , the ' damage ' has already been done

So how would the fans and admin react to being asked to release their players for 9 weeks ? , well first of all they'd want to know who the bloody hell we were playing , they could play every single international opposition in that time , the union lot have 115 member countries by the way

You dont have to convince me , I understand your point , but at the end of the day unless you actually have somebody to play , you will not grow international RL , nobody is interested in a one horse race

I'll leave it there as we could go on all night

We are aren't we

I do admire the french, but its a bit cheap coming from an Australian, when have the Aussies ever protested? Apart from the time where a bunch of racists wanting to throw the 'f**king Lebs' out of australia

Anyway back on topic, the main issue is the lack of quality teams, we can bearly make a tri-nations, RU have at least six decent teams at any period of time

English RL needs more high profile matches (e.g. a Yorkshire v Lancashire series) and the England RL team needs to play high profile matches at home, every year. Simple as that.

As a supporter of the England RU team, I know I will have a minimum of 7 or 8 matches to watch every year that will be played at Twickenham or in the same time zone (Wales, Scotland). Unfortunately it's virtually impossible to get tickets for Twickenham so my support is restricted to watching on TV and perhaps buying a replica shirt or other merchandise once in a while. The point is that I feel part of something and I put a bit of money into the game.

How many home games have England RL played this year? One, against France. That is not enough. Of course we also need to tour Australia and NZ as often as they come here, but in my view it is essential that at least one of them comes here every year for a three match series. I also firmly believe that a three match Roses series is essential to give those people who don't have a club team in their area (which I imagine is a fairly high % of the country) another high profile RL event to watch. I don't buy all that crap about it being too parochial.

There has never been so much sports coverage on TV as there is today. Whilst this is a good thing in many respects, it also means that individual sports have to work harder to get their product noticed. Back in the 1980's and 90's when GB matches were shown on BBC Grandstand, it was often a choice of watching that or some American show on ITV. Nowadays people have the option of changing to any number of other channels, so if your product isn't delivering, the audience will be gone. And when I say delivering, I'm talking about things such as playing in big, packed stadiums (which means RL fans supporting the game). I don't care what sport it is, I am far more likely to watch it if it's being played in front of a packed crowd in a famous venue. Or if the teams involved are notable ones. No disrespect to either team but Halifax v Widnes isn't a game I'd add to my sporting diary. Lancashire v Yorkshire, however, is!

Until RL grasps this basic fact, it will carry on as it is. Which, incidentally, is absolutely fine, providing you're happy with how it is and you're not one of those who whinges continuously about what RU is doing. RL is a perfectly good sport played by teams predominantly in Lancashire and Yorkshire, with the occasional international match thrown in. It's survived like that for 100 years and it will do for another 100. There's only a problem if it has ambitions beyond that.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Rugby League NEEDS a national stadium. Not a 80,000 seater, yet, just a simple 20,000 seater, advertise correctly, fill the stadia on a regular basis where international games are played. Once we get that consistent full capacity, extend the stadia - so on and so on.

The problem is still , who would we play in it ? , a stadium needs to be used to be viable , it would need 15/20 full houses a year to pay for itself , we just dont have that many games to put in it

Just put the Cricket on , the stadium is empty apart from the Barmy army on holiday , hardly an aussie in sight , nobody is interested in a no competition match , even in Australia for their national sport

Its because test cricket is about as exciting to watch as paint dry.

Seriously... who on earth would pay to go and watch a game that can last for 5 days... yet there is not guaranteed to be a winner?


The Twenty20 form of the game is a bit more interesting...at least they try and belt the bejesus out of it.

Test cricket is sooooo boring