I don't normally look at who posts the comment, for some reason I can't see peoples avatars any more on my web browser, but your comments must be the more interesting ones if I respond so don't take offence.

I've heard of a similar number but I am more of an engaged sports fan. I don't think today's RU squad has got the household names like the past. Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Brian Moore, Rob Andrew, Rory Underwood, Mike Catt, Johnny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson, Matt Dawson were household names in the way that the likes of Davies, Schofield and the Wigan players of the 1990s were. Probably Danny Cipriani is more of a household name than a lot of the players in the current squad.

You could probably say the same thing is happening in football and cricket as well to England teams. England possibly has the best striker in Europe at the moment but his wider profile is still in the shadow of Rooney. In cricket the one real household name is Ben Stokes who is not being taken with the Ashes squad.

without referring to any other website and just trying to right down names

I can name George ford and Owen Farrell, Ben Teo Denny Solomona Josh Charnley and Kyle Eastmond

whether any of them are household names I dont know, all i know is I only know them becasue of their Rugby League links.

The only non League related players I can name are Danny cipriani, maybe Gavin Henson if he's still playing and again David Strettle if he's still playing and that's just because he's from Lymm and he came down to Monday night touch rugby once.

I absolutely hand on Heart couldn't name a single captain from any of the six nations teams.

and I wouldn't want it any other way....

I think the simple answer comes down to terrestrial vs Sky.

The 6 nations, Wimbledon, World Snooker Champs et al are all on terrestrial.

F1 has seen a fall in TV viewers since it went over, even though a handful are still free to air. Cricket exploded in 05 as the Ashes were on terrestrial and accessible to all, and have since also seen a decline in viewing figures since the move to Sky. I could name you a fair few players from that era, but would struggle now to name more than three current England players.

I think a regular Saturday or Sunday afternoon game on terrestrial would help boost our profile considerably. No one but an RL fan would tune in on a Thurs / Fri night on Sky Sports 7

Above:

I'm pretty sure that if you summed up all the hours the BBC showed of RL each year on terrestial TV, with the CC and SL Show and 4 Nations (or whatever the RL international are),it would be more than their years worth of RU coverage, yet the latter still has a more esteemed profile from that broadcaster.

I agree, but they do stick the SL show on at some ungodly hour.

The CC is a good example, I've been unlucky enough to get my face on TV a few times in the crowd. When it happens on sky, my cousin will send a message. When it happened once in a CC quarter on a Saturday afternoon my phone blew up from all manner of random non RL friends who'd spotted me.

I don't watch the sport but from sports sections in the news and the back pages, off the top of my head, I can name:

Farrell (England)
Warburton (Wales)
Sexton (Ireland)
Hartley (England)
Ford (England)
Brown (England)
Youngs (England)
Care (England)
Robshaw (England)
O'Driscoll (Ireland, retired)

How many players could someone who has never watched RL name? Based purely in the way I know those names, through television and newspaper. Any more than 1 and I'd be surprised.

chris ashton

Chris Ashton
Sam Burgess
Andy Farrell
Jason Robinson
Denny Solamona

So how has league pulled ahead of union in Australia over the past decade or so...?

Remember in the early 2000s - Aussie union was throwing cash around making big raids for guys like Sailor, Rogers, Tuqiri, Blacklock. There was all that chat about there needing to be a "hybrid game" if league was to survive.

But these days, union in Australia is a declining sport, it's struggling for participation and exposure, meanwhile the NRL keeps landing big TV deals, players are better paid than ever before. The profile of league in Aus seems to be booming.

So what did rugby league do in Australia over that time to cement its dominance? Can't just be about producing great players because they always did that, at the time when RL was under threat from union over there they had guys like Fittler, Johns, Lockyer, Kimmorley and co.

State of Origin

State of Origin has been going for years and it was more competitive back in the era when union was threatening league. Whatever has happened since then isn't SoO, which is now dominated by Queensland.

Was it really under threat? They were offering them players that money to try and raise their own profile and hopefully attract some crossover fans. It was an overreaction from the league fans that saw some good players leave.

It's off the field that union are doing things better than us, there's not a significant differences in attendances over a year but harlequins are charging upto 66 for a ticket!! And we have People complaining over a 10% Increase in prics, let's say we have 14 home games and average 11k attendance that's 154k through the gates if we were to add say £3 a game that's an additional £465k a year profit. The huge financial gulf is also down to clubs not asking for a fair price to come and watch the games.

Meanwhile the Scotland v Samoa Union game was shown live by BBC 1 and BT sports and then BBC2 took over to show a further 4 hours of Rugby Union, making a 6 hour bore-athon of kids standard rugby....

the Rugby League World cup containing one of the best games and atmospheres International Rugby has thrown up got a 15 minute slot in a 45 minute highlights show.....

Of course the BBC are looking after Rugby Leagues interests......

what drivel are people believing thinking there is no such thing as a bias towards Union and a desire to hide League as much as it can

Sky were also showing Eng v Argentina in a meaningless friendly,

The coverage of the RLWC has been disgraceful IMO...both on TV and on the radio. Women's cricket get more coverage than RL.