rooster gooster wrote >You should thank these Victorians who aren't interested down there, as some of them viewed the game purely on the back of there being a Melbourne team playing.



Yes they arn't interested that's why nearly 800k watched it,and like i said for the 50 millionth time 900k watched the 2005 GF with no Melbourne team.If they weren't interested why are they watching?they call our game bum sniffers and pass the ball back and run.If they hated it that much they would not watch it full stop.

im not fussed about melbourne

im more concerned we reach potential in queensland and nsw, then PNG and NZ. places that are crying out for RL

we dont need to be like AFL and shoving the sport down peoples throats.

if you prefer watching AFL over RL, god help you to begin with and i wouldnt be wasting any time of money on you

Who cares?

How does that differ from implying it?

And for the record, I don't think he did - calm down a bit and read it again!

for someone who claims a lack of interest in australian matters, you sure hang around like a bad smell on every nrl thread.

someobody open the doors, the place is getting stunk out

Eh? I do have an interest in the NRL, I'm just aware that we have a dedicated sub-forum for it, and not every bit of Australasian news needs to be immediately dumped on the main forum.



It's difficult to take anything you say seriously when even the other Aussies on here and elsewhere think you're a laughing stock.

won't that be, or be close to the biggest audience of the year in Australia?

It surely is.So how does it feel to be a RL fan in the UK, the game you invented so popular in OZ.It makes you proud I hope.

I'm not so sure it's pride, as the success of the game in Aus doesn't really have all that much to do with us. We may have helped to set the ball rolling a [ilong[/i time ago, but the trajectory since then is largely due to the Australian support the game garnered.

Speaking personally, I'm happy that the game is getting the coverage it deserves elsewhere, but frustrated by the comparison to the media situation over here.

Oh well, we'll just keep plugging away "over here". We're making steady progress, I think, and we'll get there in the end.

I cannot fathom the fact that RL is not as popular in the UK as is in Aus ,especially when you had 13 years head start from ours.The way I look @ it you guys should be leading the way and setting a example to the rest of the world as you're the founders of this great game.

It's a pretty obvious thing to say, but the UK is not (and was not) Australia. There will obviously be common ground in some ways, but RL is Aus started in one of the major cities, and that city that has maintained its prominence in terms of population and media attention.

We never "had" London, for example. And nor did we ever really "have" places like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool etc. It's my opinion that the open hostility RL faced from people in a position of power in the UK was a barrier that was not there in the same way in Aus.

Due to the Sydney connection, RL always had a direct line into one of the major power bases in Aus - we could never take advantage of something like that. We really needed business acumen and media savvy in the UK game, but the social situation has been such that the people who typically wield such powers simply didn't ever become involved in the game.

I think we're getting better at it, though. It'll take time, but I feel we're on an upward trajectory and picking up steam.

I don't know if you have heard but John Howard the ex prime minister of Australia is a candidate of running the NRL ,maybe they the RFL should follow suit.But then again John Howard is a die hard RL fan and he would bend backwards for RL.

They have a different mindset in England that has held the game back for decades.

Given that some recent PMs are Blair, Thatcher, Major and soon to be Brown, I wouldn't want any of them heading the RFL!



Dingdingdingding!

That's the advantage of influence - people in power not only make the effort to promote your game in an effort to leach good PR, they're also in a position to help out in some cases.

We don't have that, and never did.

It's time you did.It's the 21 century for crying out loud,like leaguefreak said you're behind for decades . Let's move with the times.
On another note on the 4 nations why why why aren't they playing the Aus vs Eng game @ wembley I never know. Yes I agree with Leaguefreak the game over there is going backwards It really is a shame.

thanks for that. enlightening

Compare that the crowds that the top sides in the AFL get - club games in the AFL dwarf attendances even for Origin let alone club games in the NRL - that is why the Sydney guys are bothered about the AFL - the best supported sports side in Sydney is the AFL side



Melbourne has the best attended sport in Australia, it has the biggest crowds for cricket, it has one of the top for tennis tournaments in the world and Australia's biggest horse race - Sydney has more TV viewers of sport - no wonder their jealous

All of this is very much easier said than done!

The game is starting to get a toe hold on the various ways of gaining influence; one is to move outside the traditional boundaries and expose more people to RL who otherwise wouldn't really be aware of it. Another is to get a better presence in the places that traditionally produce people who end up at the levers of power in commerce, industry and politics - specifically universities.



I'm guessing any reticence on the part of the RFL to move the games to the larger grounds is due to the expense, and the potential for a half full ground to kill the atmosphere. We're rebuilding from a very weak base financially (the World Cup in 2000 damn nearly killed us off in that respect), and the RFL have been doing good work to steadily improve the finances.

I have no doubt it will happen, but I'd rather slow and steady at the moment with respect to the internationals as opposed to a potentially costly disaster.

You do realise there biggest avg is less than 16,000 EVER don't you? I'm willing to bet you that Storm break a 20,000 avg before Sth's do!

ps Storm are only a couple of thousand under the league avg so hardly way off the apce.

40,000 avg for a Sydeny club? Get that man some Haloperidol, his delusions are getting worse!

You have just noticed!!!

Again you are talking drivell. The reason Rugby of both codes comes a mile behind soccer as the main sport is that in the 1880's the governing body (the RFU) diliberately kept the game away from the genral public to discorage mass gatherings. this was the time of mass unrest in the new industrial centres. The game spread to the industrial north by public school educated ministers & factory owners sons wanting to play the game & enlisted thier workers, but they kept it amature to prevent the masses playing, Rugby flourished despite the eforts to control it. Also remember that it was the same in Australia untill the NZ all golds broke the mould. Unlike the UK the break away league became the dominant sport. in the UK union was the dominant Rugby code & still is but the real damage was done as soccer had no class hang ups, no worrys about professionalism it took centre stage & flourished & spred to most of the world. To realy understand what happened there is a good book called the code wars if you can find it.

as this thread shows more RL fans watch on TV. having said that in terms of crowds the storm do very poorly given their success

very true on the RFU allowing soccer to take over

but a lot of blame also goes back to the RFL and the english clubs for allowing playing standards to fall so badly

if SL was as good to watch as the NRL and produced its own players, it would be a hell of a lot bigger a sport than today.

of course no match for soccer but that horse has bolted

RL has so much potential in england, france etc if clubs do the right thing and develop the game properly

Potential maybe but no money a lot of competition from soccer & union & since union went pro the small but vital supply of converts to league has dried up thus denying Wales of a League side, something that the crusaders are starting to address. Once the game went full time (only 13 years ago) the level has risen but unless we attract more people through the gate we cannot pay more players so our pool will also be smaller.Progress will always be slow & without carefull management, could implode. We are hanging on by the skin of our teeth in a very hostile world.