That is almost entirely correct.

Plus, the fact that the game is primarily the bare bones of both codes, running with the ball, passing and tackling means that League players are ideally suited, as evidenced by the wins at Twickers by Wigan and Bradford. So surely we can expect some high profile RL stars to be picked in the GB squad.

however it will get a lot of exposure, it will help make stars of its players, it will get publicity for the players teams.

It will be extremely short sighted if RL does not look to have some impact.

can you imagine the news stories, Britain through to semi finals after Bath player x scores A try and Leicester player scores a DG.

It would be sad to see Gb win gold medal with a team made up of Wasps, sale, Bristol players. they then go on to feature in advertising, come and see the Rugby Sevens winners before a RU international game etc.

It would be much better if the news is about x from Wigan or St helens become the news story and the poster boys.

With nregard to rugby league players being involved, I doubt any rugby league coaches would be happy if they did as the Olympics take place during the season.

What's going to happen when the rugby union players are knocking bells out of each other weeks or even days before they start the season with their well paying clubs?

I've always thought the Olympics should be the pinnacle of your sport. Tennis, basketball and football are three sports which shouldn't be there.

A number of leading golfers have already said they wouldn't take part if it disrupted their preparation for an important tournament. Isn't the PGA Championship in August?
It's going to be a joke with the leading golfers absent.

No-one gives a rat's ass about these "peripheral" sports in the Olympics. Track and Field are the big draws. The Rugby Seven's will be over in a flash and quickly forgotten.

Go give your head a shake.

The olympics will be the BIGGEST sporting event EVER to take place in England.

There will be wall to wall coverageof all events on UK tv.
The news will all be about the olympics other than a major news event will anything else get mentioned.

The olympic sports will be in packed out stadiums.

There will be two or three days of the Sevens probably taking place in a full TWICKENHAM.

The successful teams will be all over the media.

TV will broadcast every match live because it is fast , exciting and people will want to watch it.

The people who are running it, playing it ie the RFU will milk it for everything they can get.

When it is over the winners possibly Britain will use it for advertising it would be a perfect set up for them to advertise their 15 a side brand.

Johhny Wilkinson is still the most famous rugby player in England was he the best, was he good, is a legend NO. It is because of one bloody drop goal .

I would be happier and RL would benefit if they were saying and the Olympic gold medal was won by Wigan Warriors Sam Tompkins or warringtons Richie Myler.

That is called advertising or thinking ahead not your insular ooh we are the better game small minded attitude.

Durham Giant, rugby (union) only comes into the olympics in 2016. That's Brazil, not the UK.

Except Londons 2012 and this starts '16 doesnt it?

Give his head a shake will you

Change the country and swap the maracana for Twickenham and the principal is still there.

To be fair I can understand him being worried. Even towards the end of their 'amateur' days union was and now definitely is a media whore.
They milk all the free publicity they get.
The thing rugby league has to do is use the fact that 'rugby' is on the main stage to get kids playing the genuine code.

OK. Granted - it'll get a fair amount of media attraction for a couple of days. How seismic is this for Rugby League? Not much, it really isn't. The RWC is more "damaging" by comparison because, [icompared to our crap effort[/i, it's a real World event.

Need to get in all the schools first!
There's still people within 20 miles of the 'heartlands' that don't have the foggiest that Rugby League exists.
At first I thought it daft but i'd be tempted to rebrand as 'League'.

Don't believe the hype. 192 countries play rugby union yet only 4 had a realistic chance of winning the world cup last time round.
in rugby league it's 2 from around 12.
Did you watch any of the last rugby union world cup? I did and it was pish poor. That's not blind bias, but a genuine observation. Argentina were a shining light as they tried to combat the kick kick kick of teams like Australia, England and South Africa.

In France and Catalonia they are known as rugby XIII and rugby XV.

Can you imagine the excitement a cross-code GB Rugby Sevens team would generate?

Don't shoot me for heresy but....

....perhaps this is the ticket to rejoin the codes?

There is a vidoe on youtube (is that term even allowed on here?) of the 1996 Middlesex sevens final.
Watch one of the hard men of 'Rugby', Lawrence Dalaglio, getting thrown around like a rag doll by Gary Connolly.

Couldnt find that but i did find this www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYbLrhhQ5c

Couldnt find that but i did find this www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYbLrhhQ5c

Quote ="mick wilson"Couldnt find that but i did find this www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYbLrhhQ5c '" It's on part one.

Quote ="mick wilson"Couldnt find that but i did find this www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYbLrhhQ5c '" It's on part one.

Beaten to it by about 20 years.

I live in North Leeds, about five miles from Headingley, within a three mile radius of my house there are four or five Union teams playing in various Yorkshire leagues, we're talking about your average local clubs manned entirely by volunteers and I haven't included the pro Leeds Carnegie RU team in this.

12 years ago when my eldest was still at her Junior school one of the local RU clubs hosted a weekly tag rugby sports lesson at her school, they provided all of the equipment and paid an RU qualified coach from the nearest RU club to host the lessons, culminating in a knock out competition at Carnegie college with a dozen other schools - the whole season was funded entirely by the English Rugby Union.

Fast forward and my brother (a life-long Leeds RLFC supporter) is a qualified RU coach at his local club because his two boys wanted to play, the club that they play for has a team in every age group from 8 to 19 and then three senior sides - again this is a Yorkshire League club with no professionals involved - I volunteered to set up a web site for them and now run that and the amount of funding and support that they get from the English RU has to be seen to be believed.

In short the ERU support the code right down to grass roots, there are no splinter groups, there is no other organisation wanting to run their own leagues and play at a different time of year, there is no diversion of funds into ill-advised experiments, there is just a well run tier of support for volunteers to lean on while trying to organise 150 to 200 kids (per club, remember this is times four in my local area) into organised games, training sessions, cup competitions and leagues every week from September to April.

Its staggeringly efficient and by comparison the Rugby League are stuck somewhere in the stone age.

Im sure we can but the only reason will be to poach them to rugby union

Because of a 7's comp? No thanks.

Olympic sports get more central funding than none olympic sports right? Rugby Union Sevens is bad news for Rugby League

They wouldn't have to pick RL players as they will only pick players registered with the RU in their country. We gave up the word "Rugby" without a fight, can't blame them for now using it to feather their nest.

Persoanlly I'd love to see the ARL get someone like the Cook Islands signed up, then have joint registered players and send across a RL team from NRL eligible players and win the thing!

I see your point but I'm not sure that that will actually happen. In a gam where the players are mostly pro, there's not much on offer. I doubt the FA, FAW, SFA and IFA will be handed a penny if we have a combined GB football team this time.

Although that does raise another question- why are so many of these 'amateurs' essentially pros who are given a wage out of lottery money?