You can't help yourself can you.
Personally I don't give two flying f...s if you believe me or not,that's your problem.
As if I could imagine this up,just go and jump off a cliff or a bridge will you.

To come back on the subject I think you will find that there has been quite a few people been banned from ever playing RU again because he has dared to try out a game of RL.
I think you will find this is where my loathing of the other code comes from.

GF you do realise that RL at an amateur level is played more or less all over the country.
You should look up the RFL Summer Confefence.

cj....the secondary school I attended in Dublin was formed in 1830 and has been situated where it is now since 1835. 2009/2010 saw the centenary of Rugby Union being played as the schools main sport.

Traditionally, most of the pupils at the school were drawn from rural areas, the sons of wealthy farmers etc....this proved problematic as from 1902 to 1971, the GAA banned anyone from playing their games (Hurling, Gaelic Football, Handball) if they also played an "English" sport. As a result, all pupils of the school were banned from playing sports in their home towns unless their happened to be a Union club near by.

Although the ban was lifted in 1971, it was 22 years later that the first ever school pupil was selected to play GAA Football for his county........and even then, the selection committee of coach, manager and three priests

put that lad through the wringer with a 90 minute interview which felt more like an interigation.......I know...because I was there!

Point is people were being shot for association with English games.........even in 1983 I was given a hard time for playing Union, but guess what...I played Gaelic Football because I enjoyed it. I even gave hurling a bash (mad game...like pub closing time with sticks). I resented the hassle I got, but didn't tar everyone I met with the same brush. To this day, the GAA bans anyone who is a member of the British Armed Forces.......something that I totally disagree with....but I don't tar everyone I know who plays GAA sports with that brush.

YES....Union has been at fault in the past and yes, some idiots will still act in a biggoted way.....but I still say that of all the Union people I know, players, administrators and fans, none have ever said anything or acted in a way that would make me feel the hatred that you do. If I did, I would want the GAA to fold.....I'd want the FA to fold because of the hassle I get for refusing to watch soccer...it is a sport and I am not afraid to tell anyone (bet that doesn't shock you)...I'd want Union buried because more people play it here in NZ or in the UK than League...and don't get me started on Golf! As for horse racing...that's not even a sport. It's just an excuse to give short people jobs.....and they exclude fatties from participating....fascists



Stop worrying about Union....it has a whole set of problems al to itself...just celebrate the fact that you are a fan of the TGG...a far superior code of football.

I think you'll find (if you re-read the post) that I was responding to this:


I am full aware of the amateur set up in the UK.....but alas, fans don't really roll up for those games in any numbers and dally messenger was referring to the professional game.

Ok mate fair enough but let's hope RL gets it's house in order so we can eventually take over the so called game played in heaven.

Not sure about you....but hide the salami with a bevy of playboy bunnies is the game I WANT PLAYED IN HEAVEN!

Can't argue with you on this one GF.
Personally I would rather have Kate Beckinsale and Sarah Harding(Girls Aloud) with the salami.

Anyway GF will the game take off in NZ.
If the AB's fail to win the RU World Cup what effect will this have on union in NZ.
Will RL be able to exploit this.

The game is very popular here. Most people I speak to who are ardent Union fans (My CEO is a Crusaders Man) have no problem watching League as they don't feel threatened by it. There are audiences available to both codes here.....it is up to NZRL to push ahead with their plans.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks is the games association (by proxy) with gang violence. This needs to be crushed, as the bad press it gets (and we know who controls the press when it comes to the codes) does the game no favours. See starbug for some mongrel mob based stories.........



Hard to say. I think that the pain of "not winning" for so many years has lessened each time, but this year they are at Home.....and I believe that the public will turn on the AB's even more, unless there's another Australian Ref to blame for it



...maybe...it depends on how they do it.
If for example, the AB'S choke again and the NZRL were to insist that the Warriors take 7 games on the road in 2013, I would market the games as NZ's premiere Rugby Team....the code where we are world champions! This would be a tad rich for some at NZRL (it was when I mentioned in last months meeting

) but I believe that it would also attract more fans to the game.

Bottom line is that regardles of the result later this year, NZRL have a plan.......it doesn't involve the NRL.....but they would welcome a second team in the comp. Surely...if the broadcasters are after a bigger market share of the ad revenue, murdoch could afford to back another franchise in NZ.......oops...have I said too much


Let's see how negotiations for the new NRL TV deal go shall we.......you never know what conditions may crop up

To be fair, and to generalise, RU thrives best at professional premiership level in places where no other professional sport distracts the paying spectators, it doesn't do too well in Newcastle or Sale either, it does thrive in Bath, Gloucester, Northampton, etc - I'll ignore Leicester for the sake of this argument and the London clubs don't exactly set the world on fire.

There is also the more specific issue at Leeds of how the club was formed from two very well known and previously well respected Leeds amateur teams, neither of which were best pleased at having lost both of their identities (and their premises) in the merger and forming of the Leeds RUFC. you'll find that the Leeds club promote their home games extensively throughout the Yorkshire region to amateur RU clubs (I got a freebie from our local RU club without even asking for one for the double header RU/RL game on New Years Day) but, the important point - those local RU clubs barely support them at all.

Its really strange because offer any amateur RL club the chance to sell tickets at a profit or to have free tickets to any SL match and they will snatch your arm off - they can barely even give the tickets away for the RU team.

… and only one of them is in London - hence London Irish, based in Reading, being knows as affectionately, or contemptuously, as The Not Nots (not London, not Irish)


However, this has gone far off the original topic into a discussion of rugby union. And we know where those take place don't we boys and girls?