Currently Germany are beating Brazil 0-7 in a World Cup semi final, which I keep being told is the greatest tournament in the world.

I'm currently scrolling through social media and my round ball friends are all loving it.

So why, after every game such as last years challenge cup final do we all form an orderly queue and rip the sport we love to shreds?

Perhaps it's because I don't read forums dedicated to other sports. But it seems to me it is this Ratner effect holding the image and reputation of the sport back, not the so called pantomime villain we call Red Hall.

The Challenge Cup Final last year was awful. I didn't overreact,we just happened to have a bad final. It happens.

The last football World Cup Final was mind numbingly boring. A lot of people will agree with you on that one. In fact a lot of people said that the whole tournament was pretty boring as a whole.

Rugby League isn't the only sport that receives criticism, there's just less people talking about it so the moaners stand out more when they do complain.

Part of the problem with the CC Final was not just the weather but also the length and lushness of the grass, it does not suit league, need very short grass, look at the SFS and other grounds in the SH, there are bare patches at the moment, and Lang Park also looks like that sometimes. But that's ok, ay the soccer boyz dowt like it but I care nothing for them.

The markings are wrong on European leagueball pitches also. N Wood need to tell the grounds ppl at Wembley and O Trafford to mark the pitches properly, and make O Trafford a 90m long pitch.

The difference being Brazil have won serious international competitions a number of times, so they have credibility despite one freak result. Too many teams in our international comps lack credibility.

Not all of us do.

Most people will call a bad game a bad game.

There are a minority of divs on here who love to run RL down and their loud whining has much more impact on here than it will outside of forums.

I think last nights 7-1 result was in many ways a similar type of event as Martin Offiah running in 10 tries against Leeds. It stuns everyone. Last night had the advantage that much of the world was watching it live.

I completely agree. There's a lot of self loathing amongst RL fans who 'contribute' to internet discussions.

The current trend of blaming the RFL for everything is at an almost hysterical level, with Marwan Koukash a major negative influence in whipping up an anti-RL/RFL frenzy amongst his many sycophantic followers.

Did people blame Red Hall for the standard of last years final?

I think there is a seam of negativity and bitterness that runs through the sport. You just have to look at this thread, where anyone who doesn't disagree with Marwan Koukash is dismissed with the pejorative term "sycophantic followers". All a bit silly and a bit disappointing. We do seem to try to live up to the stereotype of the miserable, shoulder-chip wearing nu'thner.

That said, last year's Challenge Cup Final was a poor spectacle. It's not that it was one sided, but that neither side played particularly well. I don't think there's any harm in expressing that opinion, as long as we comment equally (or more) on the many more entertaining games we get. Unfortunately, I think we tend not to.

Of course, last years final was dull as dish water, in part due to the awful weather. But we seem to throw the baby out of the bath water and start calling for the Cup to be axed, etc etc.

Interestingly I was sat next to a few blokes from Watford for the semi finals at Wembley (what a game). They said that in August, they had been to the final and loved it, yet they later were told that the game was poor.

Also, in June Wire played at Gillingham and we got talking to a couple of blokes in the pub, who ended up tagging along with us. They were from Margate and it was their first league experience. Despite the largely empty stadium and cricket score they had a brilliant day and promised to go home and book tickets for the World Cup that night.

Nine times out of ten newcomers go to a distantly average game and fall in love with the sport. I know as it happened to me when I was 17 and I have converted many friends since. Yet if the fans of the sport constantly knock it how can we expect anyone else to stick their head over the parapet and see what the greatest game has to offer?

I think the moaning stereotype is exaggerated, particularly (if not exclusively) right here on RLFans. It's quite ironic that more attention is drawn to the moaning by people moaning about the moaning than the moaning would itself. It's something of a cliché that for every negative comment about the game there then follows pages of "moaning northern chips on shoulders" comments.

Totally agree with this, I was speaking to someone at work today who went to the Warrington vs London game yesterday. Not exactly the most entertaining but he said they enjoyed it and his mum was looking at the rest of our fixtures to see which game they can go to next. Don't need too much to impress newcomers really!