Totally agree with everything you say about League; I just think the comparison with Union is like comparing apples & pears.

Senseless to consider Wiki inaccurate? Is this your new thing to argue about as everything else you've said has been batted back with ease? Try working in education at any level, see what academics say about your reliable source in comparison to the obvious points I made.

It's good that you're finally coming to your senses about my points.

Additionally, and for the record I'm very much a RL man, not RU, however I am also a realist about both codes, it breaks my heart to see for what is (my opinion) the much better product (league) second rate to Union.

There's a very interesting debate taking place at Media City (League v Union) Thursday 6pm. If you can get yourself down there, could be excellent.

I decided to re read your original post because I don't understand your comments.

You said "Our WC was limited to Premier Sports with many makeshift international teams (How many Irish played for Ireland? etc) in front of unimpressive crowds.

Quite frankly it's embarrassing."

I agree that Union is bigger but I made the point that our WC was well attended and I commented that you are being particularly negative about our game. You mentioned the Irish and I argued that RL isn't the only sport to have makeshift International Teams, using Irish emigration history to illustrate my point. You took offence at this and called me boring (which to be fair you are probably right). I used Wiki to illustrate that RL does exist in Ireland to counter your point that no one has heard of it. Whatever your feelings about Wiki I think that the article at least proves the existence of RL in Ireland!!!

We agree about the relative state of Union and League, but where we differ is that I don't find our game an embarrassment. Is that a fair summary?

I'm ok with that. We do differ on that opinion. I do find a lot of what we do embarrassing, and indeed a great shame. As I've always stated I think RL is a fantastic product, a fast exciting sport, easy to understand and entertaining to watch. But savvy marketing and promotion can hook a fan on a sport by the hype and presentation, make it far more entertaining and appealing.

I'm only speaking from personal experience on this next point, I've never been a basketball fan, on TV I can't get into it, but when stateside I watched a number of games live and thought it was fantastic, but it wasn't just the game which I enjoyed (in-fact the game could well have been secondary to the other entertainment) it was the night out, it was non-stop entertain with lots of fan interaction before, during and after the game, well worth the money. That's what league is lacking.

I say don't look to Union for inspiration, but to the US sports, as I previously stated it's only a matter of time before the NFL is more popular in England than RL, but it is a better sport? Probably not.

I didn't see one single advert in London at the weekend. I know marketing is expensive and maybe the RL tried other media. I don't know.

At the stadium the side facing the cameras where I was sat was pretty full, but the opposite side had loads of empty space. I guessed at a crowd of about 35,000 and was surprised at the official figure of 44,000. Maybe they were using Ian Leneghan's statisticians from the Millwall game.

The NFL will need to ensure that it doesn't reach saturation point over here. It sold out at Wembley and may well sell out Twickenham next year, but IMO people will tire of it when it loses its shiny new status.

I would make the point about Baseball in the US. I watched a bit of it and was struck by how poor the marketing was in comparison to the NFL.

Baseball is a great game to watch but is incredibly traditional, relying on its' history and cultural identity to sell the game. For me Rugby League is a bit like that, only on a much smaller scale. We have a great game with a core fanbase in the heartland areas. We are a little bit obsessed about growing the game and sometimes get a little depressed when it doesn't happen.

According to the BBC website RU is launching a 6 team pro comp next year in the States with Canadian teams joining in 2017.