I paid for tickets to Wembley some time ago.

It will be my last England international.

Why MattyB.

It's not because of the treatment Sam got at Leeds in the exile game is it.

Not going myself, dont get any buzz over cheering the players you call every week and sitting with the fans you call every week.

It's played a small part in it. However I think this Home Nations format is killing the game. I actually preferred the time we were GB, and the Kangaroo tours that went with it, so much so that I went to Hilton Park, Knowsley Road, Central Park to support the home teams against the Aussies in 1982. Something that sadly is now lost forever.

RL = GB
RU = England.

When someone can play for scotland one year and england the next I really think we should just have GB. Lee Briars could play then as well!!

It isn’t the return to playing as England rather than Great Britain team that has stopped the Kangaroo tours, more that the Northern and Southern hemisphere seasons now run in parallel so the tours are logistically impossible

I loved the Kangaroo tours – the best of all my Rugby League memories and I would love to see them return (and for GB to go to Australia) but I am as passionate about England now as I was about Great Britain and I also recognise that the majority of the wider sporting public identify with England rather than Great Britain

Yes, I know. That's why I said it is something that is sadly lost forever.
I still remember (as a young lad) watching in awe at the older guys at work (and wanting to be part of it) who were sticking a few quid every week into the 'Rugby Tour Jar', which over a four year period would pay for them to travel to Aus for 3-4 weeks and watch them playing Tests plus NRL teams midweek, it just doesn't seem the same with England and the World Cup / 4N tours.

I didn’t get to follow GB to Australia and I really do wish I could now. Without the midweek matches, it may not be the same as a full Lions tour but I do intend to follow England to a World Cup or 4 Nations though (will still be one of the experiences to remember)

Never being to an international outside Hull. However I've now booked 4 tickets to watch England at Wembley and I can't wait for it.

I'm the same, an RL world cup abroad is on my sporting to do list!

Why are the tours not possible now?

I would love to see an England or GB side playing midweek against NRL sides.

I will do. I will also go to the Ireland games except the game in Limerick which clashes with the Wembley double header.

I loved going to GB games. I don't findEngland games of any interest.

As a Welshman living in Ireland, why would you expect to have any interest in England games?

As an Englishman living in England, why am I interested in the Wales v NZ game and the Wales v Australia game? Or state of origin? Or the NRL?

With the seasons running in parallel, that would mean England taking a squad out to tour Australia during the Super League season. Can any of us see that happening?

If you want to see the single difference between the success of the International games in the two codes, take a look at the Union World Cup – all the Home Nations and France have sent their top players to New Zealand for a two month World Cup just as the club seasons are about to start. It is inconceivable that would happen in Rugby League

You can say all you like about history, stadiums, media coverage and the like – Rugby Union is prepared to invest and make sacrifices for the development of its international game – fans and clubs alike. Until we adopt the same attitude, we will always struggle to keep up and I cannot see it changing

Which is a huge shame as success internationally would benefit the game immensely and that benefit would be seen at all levels of the game in terms of popularity, investment and coverage. I’m afraid as a sport, we are a little too narrow minded to get there

Why would I have any interest in going to Ireland games either? My point was play as GB and more people, like me, will be inclined to attend.
The game is not big enough for four nations trying to play at elite level.There's only about 100 people playing in Ireland, and about 150 know it's a different sport to Union.

Great. Still doesn't mean it's not a farce having a World Cup where only 2 teams are competitive. I'd say the same about any sport with a similar competition.

How you can't understand that I don't know.



Do you think I'm someone else?

I don't understand why you responded that to the quote of my post...

Exactly.

Were you a RL fan pre-super league?

I actually do understand it – and I agree that it would be great if half a dozen teams or more were capable of winning the World Cup

What I would also like to add is the following

In order to grow the game internationally there has to be a competition that will generate interest within the developing nations and one where they have a chance to play against the superstars of the game

Fundamentally for me... while the winners of the World Cup will absolutely come from within very small selection of teams, it doesn’t mean that the group games will not be competitive in their own right. Despite the eventual outcome of the competition being (relatively) easy to predict, it could and should be celebrated as a festival of Rugby league

To sum it up – I agree that the World Cup has (at a stretch) only three realistic winners, but I for one will not therefore just label the whole competition a farce as a result

No question, nor would the fans in Fiji no doubt who watched the semi on big screens in Suva, with streets closed down and TV aerials sold out.

The ability of RL fans to talk down their own sport never ceases to amaze me.

International RL is perhaps THE most important factor if our game is to survive and prosper. Why people can't see that is beyond me.

Maybe interest wasn't the right word, I'd like to think most fans would be interested in any game of RL. The OP seemed to be suggesting that he was expected to support England though, which doesn't make any sense considering he's not from there.
Why would you be more inclined to attend GB matches than Wales matches?

I wouldn't be, nor have been. I would go to both, but I'm not so keen on going to England games. I am Welsh and British, not English

Absolutely

I have no problem with people saying that they are not interested in the internationals game (I have a real problem with people deriding it though). If somebody said “I am interested in my club and that is all” then that’s fair enough I would respect their view and move on. But that same individual then cannot moan about the lack of coverage the sport gets in comparison to its peers as internationals are singularly the best way to raise the profile of the sport – a profile that all clubs at all levels of the game would benefit from

It is not a change in policy or action that will build a flourishing international sport, it is a change in attitude

A good and fair post.