Quote ="Serge A. Storms"So good points
I think the comp here was as strong as the ARL upto the early 80's and attendances were lower than now so I am not sure the quality of the comp is necessarily a massive factor. Since the inception of the PL that gap has widen despite SL attendances growing year on year.
Soccer's top players are sporting icons - even in Australia I bet Beckham would be in the top 3 recognisable sportsmen probably number one.
Soccer in the UK is watched by all social levels something neither code of rugby is able to achieve in the UK. It is also has geographical spread and in London soccer is massive.
Your point about if rugby hadn't split would soccer be as strong is an interesting one - one of the reasons for the split was to modify the game to be more interesting for the fans when compared to soccer. And a lot of the older soccer clubs were rugby clubs who switched - Manningham Rugby became Bradford City soccer'"
soccers is a simple sport to understand, and easier for kids to play than league.
RL in england should aim to be at least as popular as rugby union.
despite institutional bias (media etc) theres no good reason why league cant match union.
if managed right RL has decades of growth ahead of it.
im hoping over time what will happen is rugby union and soccer clubs will see a vibrant super league and then bid for licenses (eg leicester RU, Stade Francaise, london soccer sides like QPR etc)
