I liked it. I thought it was funny.
But anyone not interested in rugby won't read it and any Union fan will still think Union is better and that we have a chip.

People that love rugby union and hate league will just laugh at how pathetic the article is, while revelling in the fact that there is so little interest in the RLWC.

People like me who enjoy both codes will just shake their heads at the unnecessary barbs and snide words about rugby union.

There seems to be a certain amount of delusion with some RL fans. It's as if they can't understand why anyone who has seen or heard about RL hasn't immediately fallen in love with it and become fans like themselves. Their inability to accept this leads them to assume that it's all down to bad marketing and promotion. I hate to burst their bubble but a lot of people know about RL but just don't have any interest in it. And it doesn't matter how many times you list the reasons why you think RL is great and why they should be interested in it, they're still going to make up their own minds and unfortunately most people don't seem that interested.

You may be right, perhaps people are not interested in RL.
However, IF the establishment and the Tory press were ever to get behind the sport and portray RL in a positive light, it would certainly help.
You talk about "unnecessary barbs and snide words" and yet you are happy to condone yet another article that smears our sport and laughs at those involved.
If this was a one of article, when they (The Torygraph) usually printed any form of balanced coverage of the sport, I may agree with you.

If we are happy with this stuff, we deserve to be set a pariah's, never quite having been forgiven for breaking away in 1895.

It's obviously ok for them to give wall to wall coverage of meaningless Union friendlies (the Autumn series) and yet ignore and belittle "the other code".

Although I did not see a mention of RLWC final on BBC national news, the local London news immediately after had a feature! Showed clips of London Broncos pre-season training and England's final training session, with comments from London players and coaching staff. It was pointed out (something I hadn't realised) that the Broncos had more players than any other English club in the World Cup - 12 players representing 6 countries. Well done to the Broncos for promoting themselves and the world cup¬

Really isn't. Got a third of the way though and I was bored reading it, reading the rest was a tedious task on the suggestion that it was "funny" Just a dull waste of time and article space that could've been used on a good quality piece.

I don't condone any article that does those things. Nor do I condone articles that put the boot into rugby union or any other sport. I'm a big fan of loads of sports and even those that are not my cup of tea, I would still not seek to put them down.

If I'm honest I'm a bit confused by the article with regards to who is having a go at who. I thought it was someone having a go at rugby union by sarcastically saying that that's what RL needs to imitate if it's going to get people to like it. But other people are seeing it as an attack on rugby league. Either way, one of the sports is being mocked and I don't like that, whichever it is. Lol

Those “meaningless” friendlies will get crowds we can only dream of and you know why? People enjoy watching rugby union

Regards

King James

Certainly at international level they do, yes. But I don't think there's any point in RL trying to match RU. RL needs to work with what it has and not look enviously at RU or try to emulate everything that RU does. It's fine to learn from other sports and copy ideas or whatever, but you shouldn't ever just think that because another sport does something that you have to do the same.

At international level RU is now a juggernaut. It's a snowball effect and it's going to keep getting bigger. It has the money and the support base and more and more countries are going to want to be part of it.

But even RU is miniscule compared to football. In the same way that it's stupid for RU to look enviously at football and think it can achieve the same as what football has, it's likewise stupid for RL to think it can do what RU does. It doesn't mean you don't aspire to grow and become better and bigger, but at the same time it's stupid to overreach yourself.

RL needs to focus on its strengths and be proud of its roots. I hate it when people worry that you can't have a Yorkshire v Lancashire series because it would make the game look too northern and parochial.

On reading this post I am struck by the assumption that to be a supporter of our great game you are anti conservative? as a life long supporter ex pro player as well as a long-time season pass holder I would like to point out that many of the long term backers. administrators & leading lights have most certainly been active Tory's ( Lord Derby for a start). Yes our game is based in poorer working class parts of the country & draws most of its following from there but being a worker dose not mean you are not conservative. Don't go blaming some class war divide or ruling class plot to do our game down. Look at the facts, most of the fans of our game are not from the parts of the population who are targeted by the media or sponsors ( who are out to make money) they target people who are prepared to splash £50k plus on a car or boat. Football only gets the coverage as the sheer number of fans make it profitable. Instead of looking for imaginary plots lets concentrate on what we do have, a game that is worth watching for its own sake. As for the article (I read it in my normal paper) I thought it was a tongue in cheek dig at union.

...as did I. I wasn't expecting the idiot brigade to be out in as much force finding fault with it....It was in a Union paper taking the pi$$ out of Union....some people need to lighten up a tad!

Love?
I enjoyed it and took it at face value...a bit of fun being poked at Union.

As for my true colours.......put your eyeglass down Sherlock. There's nothing to see here

I disagree the issue is one of delusion, rather it's a lack of understanding of the market in which large-scale commercial sports operate. What Rugby League fans don't understand is the difference in make-up of people that watch other sports with a national profile (I am exempting football from that comment - it has an entirely unique position in the UK sporting landscape).

Rugby Union and Cricket are the two obvious comparable sports for RL in the UK. Both sports have a broadly similarly size hardcore fanbase - those that turn up to watch Sale v Newcastle on a Friday night in January, and those that watch Lancashire v Sussex in a County Championship game on a Tuesday. What those sports have been successful at that RL hasn't however, is in engaging the casual sporting fan for the big occasion.

I live in London and most of my mates down here are natives, rather than exiled northerners... and most of them are more than happy to pony up to watch England RU or England cricket - to the tune of £50+ per game - or go to Twickenham 7s or a Surrey T20 fixture - even though they usually know a minimal amount about the rules of the sport, nor can they usually speak to the current status of the traditional / domestic game - who is top of the Aviva Premiership and so on.

What they buy into is the narrative that those sports do a great job of cultivating - England cricket beating the Aussies in the Ashes, or England RU trying to win the Six Nations - and the mythology (=marketing) that surrounds these events. This in turn gives them the opportunity to build events which the casual - cash rich - fan will buy into, and return to as long as the social side of the event delivers. The actual quality of the sporting product on offer doesn't really matter as most of them don't understand it anyway.

It's like buying anything - there are options for those that care about product quality, and options for those that care about what is trendy but fast. Think a pair of high quality handmade leather shoes from Northampton, versus a pair of made in Vietnam Nike trainers. If you care about quality, you'll pay more for the better product. But if you care about being fashionable you'll buy the Nike's, and what British RL fans tend not to understand is that the market for people that care about being fashionable is quite different to, and much larger than the market that wants to buy quality. Until British Rugby League understands this, and develops a product to appeal to the buyer of Nike's, it will never expand its horizons in the UK beyond the hardcore in the North.

Was it really taking the pi$$ out of Union or taking the pi$$ out of RL's opinions on RU? Pointing out RU's flaws but still highlighting how much better it does was more taking the pi$$ out of RL than Union in my opinion. It was more a taking a pi$$ out of RL imo if you read it correctly.

Either way you read it, that it's unclear what its aim was shows how poor it was....and again it just wasn't funny.