I have just been on the Wigan site and there's a thread about union is going to be the only code of rugby eventually.

First of all will this happen

When(if)could it happen

I must admit I am concerned about this especially with the Kyle situation,or am I being paranoid as usual where union is concerned.

I voted yes for dramatic effect. I think in terms of media portrayal, crowd numbers, finances and player crossovers I think Union will and perhaps already is totally eclipsing League. In this country at least Union has been on the march since they formally admitted professionalism. They get bigger TV deals, their international game is vibrant and exciting and something everyone in league is extremely jealous of whether they care to admit it or not.

Of course in other countries the code isn't faring all that well. Australia seems content with League and AFL being the better sports and the NRL is IMO the benchmark rugby competition in the world in terms of the quality of the individuals playing it. It doesn't seem to be Union making the in roads it seems to be soccer over there.

Will Union being bigger stop league existing? Well no, of course not. F1 existing and being far, far, far greater doesn't stop the tiny motorsports existing and I'm sure League can mill along pretty much as it is. Even without a TV deal they could run a semi professional league. The main problems League has are money and the calibre of the people associated with it. The governing body in the UK for RL is the most embarassing collection of people you are ever likely to meet. Not one of them has any marketing ability or commercial acumen. Add that to the lack of money in the game as a whole and it's not a good recipe. We've been professional for decades and have reached 2011 with a gaggle of semi-decent clubs, 1 viable European club and that is it. Half of Super League and the entire NL system is made up of clubs that shouldn't really exist as they have no fan base to speak of.

The major difference is how well run Union is. It has management of a level league cannot even dream of. Their decision makers and publicists and their media controlling expertise is just brilliant. They could sell snow to an eskimo. Union will IMO continue to grow and evolve and will probably be football's main rival within 20 years IMO. They seem to be slowly bringing the US in, almost all US colleges now play Union. It's only a matter of time before that develops.

There has been topics in the past about the codes merging.

IMO if this happens RL will get completely taken over by the union juggernaut.

I know RL in Australia is king but after there RL is looked at (let's be honest here) as a second class sport,especially where union is concerned.

If there was one code RL rules would be used. The only reason Union doesn't play RL currently is to spite itself.

Will it heck.

This question has come up repeatedly in the twenty years I've been watching the game, and I've no doubt it's been bandied about before then. The truth is that no Union fan wants to go and watch a hybrid game, and neither does any league fan I know. The games would only merge if there was demand for such a thing to happen, and as far as I can tell there is none.

I'd rather watch Wigoon playing league than Saints playing union.

NO!!

I can see why people are saying it but are over dramatising things - so long as the support is there our game will be there, just not in such a big scale as RU unfortunatley.

Get RL going in America (as I think it will due to simalarities with Amercian Football) and get some big names in (like Russel Crowe in Oz) and we have a chance.

The big argument IMO is how the players are capped on their wages, but to pay them more the cap needs to be more and whilst some of the higher/more successful clubs can maybe afford a rise, the smaller ones certainly can't so the divide comes back as in the 90s.

A MASSAIVE injection of money is needed to bring us along side our southern counterparts and I can't see where it will come from in my lifetime (I'm only 30 btw!!! lol)

It'll be interesting to see if the renegotiation of the TV deal for next year will bring in any substantial increase in revenue. If it does then I'd have thought we'll see an increase in the cap (not enough to put it on a par with RU, but enough to help).

If they put the cap up at all we might as well say goodnight to about five or six clubs. At the moment with the lower cap in place it is there to protect teams from spending their way into oblivion.

My suggestion is that it would only go up if the TV money distributed to clubs goes up. Clearly we can't afford to make it any higher a proportion of clubs' incomes than it is now.

if they played union in our garden i would keep the curtains shut.

Can I quote this back to you at work on Saturday, Col ?

Outside of Australia (and PNG), RU is the bigger code. Not because it is better game, not because it has better players, and not because of the structure of its club competitions. RU is bigger because of its international game and the way it can attract large crowds to attend Test matches. These showpiece occasions attract tv contracts, sponsorship deals from multi-national companies, other media interest, and revenue streams that RL can only dream about.

If RL doesn't sort out its international game, to appeal to a mass audience, then it won't die, it won't merge with RU, but it will drift back into being a semi-pro/part-time affair at the top level. Whether this is a bad thing or not I'll leave others to decide; after all, we used to enjoy watching part-timers back in the 80's and early 90's.

Btw I'd just wait and see what the next NRL TV deal is like before you write off our sport. If, as expected, it's a bumper deal there's every chance that the NRL could crush international RU in Australia and NZ. The only people interested in watching RU in the northern hemisphere are people brought up on it, toffs and sell outs. Your average Joe Bloke isn't that interested and if all the best players start funnelling to the NRL from down under then their game will be in a bigger crisis than our's. You'll always have your toff inbreds who want to watch the mighty English empire beat one of its colonies or get flogged by one but where's the attraction going to be when the Australians can't put together a proper national side for a World Cup?

There are just over 40,000 registered players in Australia playing RU. In Australian RL, in 2010, there was 50,000 children in Victoria alone participated in RL school programs. Overall there are over 400,000 participants in RL in Australia. Now if the NRL pay deal pays off big (rumours have been that it could take some of the players into earnings in excess of £500k a year) that's likely to impact upon the RU players and also NZ where there are just over 140,000 players. If the NRL can offer those kind of salaries to RU players they will start to drift across for sure.

Is there any specific circumstance that's behind this potentially astronomic rise in TV revenue? Have they been pulling in much improved viewing figures? Is there more competition for the rights? It would be nice if something even remotely similar could happen over here, but I'll not be holding my breath.

Quote ="Dux"Is there any specific circumstance that's behind this potentially astronomic rise in TV revenue? Have they been pulling in much improved viewing figures? Is there more competition for the rights? It would be nice if something even remotely similar could happen over here, but I'll not be holding my breath.'" www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-l ... netimes_sb

Quote ="Dux"Is there any specific circumstance that's behind this potentially astronomic rise in TV revenue? Have they been pulling in much improved viewing figures? Is there more competition for the rights? It would be nice if something even remotely similar could happen over here, but I'll not be holding my breath.'" www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-l ... netimes_sb

Cheers. Interesting stuff. Hopefully Lewis wasn't blowing hot air when he said a few weeks back that this was going to be the most competitive bidding market yet for SL rights.

Two different sports. Why would one need to die, no matter how big the other became?

Football is raking in outrageous amounts of cash, and pulling in millions of viewers. Hockey hasn't died.

Last week there was a rugby union game between two sides from two of the biggest Cities in the country.

packed to the rafters it was the media interest in the game was massive. Those fans locked out would have filled the halliwell jones even with its corners filled in..........



actually the above bit's a Lie......just 5,000 watched Leeds V Newcastle

god only knows what rubbish was on display for 80 minutes aswell.

If that game is going to swallow Rugby League up then i'm a Mad Red Squirrel

Whilst it wouldn't surprise me to see the demise of RU in Australia (and good riddance), I doubt the NRL would be able to "crush international RU" in New Zealand.

Australia has always been the poor relation in the Southern Hemisphere when it comes to RU. New Zealand and South Africa (or at least Afrikanaar SA) live and breathe RU, and I doubt a NRL tv deal would do much damage.

Not a chance!

Does anybody remember the GMR phone ins, about 15 years ago, with "contraversial" Kevin Ashcroft, spouting the same 3 every week "there,s no doubt, there'll be a hybrid game within a decade"......well Kevin....I'm waiting, well actually I'm not, as the idea of watching the 3 point code, fills me with the same joy as having a filling at the dentist.

They don't like us, and we don't like them, on the whole.
I'm sure if Uncle Rupert asked RL and RU to merge to form a new sport, I'm pretty sure both authorites would tell him where to put his Australian Dollars

Given that NZRL are the best in the world currently and NZRU aren't coupled with money talking I don't think it's as safe a bet as you're making out. NZ and SA might want to keep playing each other but don't forget there is no professional league structure in Australian RU only their Super 14s or whatever they are these days. When the rewards become much greater for playing RL then you have to question how sustainable the Super 14s model is.

Nick you know where I stand where union is concerned.



There are a couple of concerns I have when it comes to the two codes.
First of all the international game,for me this is where RL has to develop and pretty quickly.
If we keep going at the rate we are, RL will continue to go on the slide IMO.

Secondly (and it's connected to the first concern) is the young talent in our game.
Surely they can see the difference where the two codes are concerned.
The likes of Eastmond going to the dark side could be the first of many (I hope i'm wrong).

Yes I remember this and he also said (at the time) that the Super 12 was the best rugby of any code he has seen.


Of course I had to phone up and tell him he was more or less talking bo11ocks.

Kevin quickly morphed into your embarrising uncle at a party, who's had FAR too much to drink.
He tried to be deliberately contraversial, just for the sake of it (a la James Whale)

One quality GB RL player converting to the 3 point code, does not a crisis make.
If it's 4 or 5 a season, then it's time to panic. Let's just get on with things. I'm sure you lot will overcome this.

More likely for me is that RL will retreat to its strong heartlands based in the North and so will RU in theirs . The sooner the better for me before half the strongholds die in the wilderness outside of SL.

I RL ceased to exist then rugby would for me. Far more likely to watch football than RU.