I don't mean this to be shocking or controversial, though obviously it might be in some quarters. I'm wondering if anyone else sees a lack of black players as a problem, not for the image of the game or the expansion of the game, but purely from a performance point of view?

Australia and New Zealand, as you would expect, have lots of Polynesians and Indigenous players. The same can be found in most NRL teams and the Origin teams.

It seems to me that in the athletic states white players, particularly from 1-7 are generally short at least relatively speaking on what I would term ‘raw athleticism’. Does anyone else think this could be one of the reasons we’re falling behind a bit? Supposedly 30% of the NRL are Polynesian and that’s about 40% for the juniors. In Australia and NZ it’s getting a bit more like American Football where white players especially in the backline are shrinking in number. I think it’s probably fair to say based on what we’re seeing now that in say 20 years the NRL should easily be about 50% non-white.

Obviously for some of you who might be inclined towards a ing contest this is going to be controversial, and they’ll be grunts and groans, but i think the evidence is there to show that when the playing numbers are there, there are a lot of races and groups of people who seem to have something special for the game
And i think back to some of the most electric backs in the game, people like Vainikolo, but to be England specific the likes of Robinson, Hanley, Offiah, or in recent years Eastmond seemed to have a spark.

I guess this ties in with expansion because I wonder what the game would look like if it primarily popular in the South West. I reckon if that was the case most of our backline and some of our forwards would be black(of West African descent).

So with that do you think that because of where League is popular we’re in a position that the game is too white? I’m not proposing if we had more black participants that we’d automatically be awesome, there’s more than that to be addressed, the competitiveness of the SL needs addressing, the grass roots as a whole could do with some real work, we could do with a lot more participants on the whole, but I feel if we had a Hanley or Robinson or two we’d be electric. I think even if we improved both those things(grassroots and SL) the fact we’re a predominately white game with white athletes would still be somewhat of a hindrance, because Caucasians generally aren’t as explosive, barring the exceptional athletes.

I’m not entirely sure what i’m trying to achieve with the thread, it’s just something i thought about and figure hey it’s a topic to talk about. I think if the game was London based the SL demographically would look more like American football. How many of you could look at the NFL and say “wow wouldn’t mind him playing League” about someone like Mendenhall or either of the two Johnsons? and yet we have black Britons who can do the same, but we don’t seem to be turning them onto the game.

Now I’m a realist too, I know the EU Commissioner for Human Rights isn’t going to allow the RFL to kidnap all the black people in the South and Midlands and force them to live in Hull, but what can we do to engage non-whites, and is there something being done, aside from attempted London expansion which doesn’t seem to have worked too well so far.

Rambling away, but is the whiteness of the game a problem looking forward, for performance and for perception I guess

If the team was completely white, or completely black, I wouldn't care. They players should be selected if they are best suited for their positions, and nothing else. I really don't see where you're going with this or why it is an issue? Everyone is equal, it's almost like going you're worried about the fact there is more players with ginger hair playing.

I'm not saying lets select someone because they're black, I'm saying I think British Africans/Caribbeans, like Polynesians down under, have a natural athletic advantage that is a benefit for an athletic sport like league

basically I'm saying i don't think athletically that everyone is equal.

That's probably true, but so what? If all backs in superleague were black would you have an issue with it? I genuinely can't see where you're going with this. What if all props had blue eyes? Would you be wanting more brown eyed props to be in the game?

I'm sure academies have black and white players and a player will get signed up to 1st team on ability only. Like cas years back with Dwayne Chambers, brilliant athlete with great pace, but RL is about many other attributes like tackling and strength and the mental ability to play through pain barrier.

To be fair to Dwayne, he put his body on the line well a few times and if he was younger he might have had a chance at being a good RL player.

The problem he had was his stamina, he wasn't built or trained to play RL.

No, if we had more black Britons in the game I think we'd have a genuine better and stronger competition and international team for it, that's what i'm trying to say

because i can only see australia and new zealand becoming better than us with their soaring rates of polynesians. obviously polynesians, indigenous and africans are perfect for a sport like league, otherwise as is the case down under they wouldn't have a disproportionate presence

Stupid Post

I haven't answered the poll question because I don't believe it's valid.

Equally, I won't get into the genetics debate, as it's controversial and divisive.

However, if you're suggesting that youth and amateur RL is not attractive to ethnic minority communities and as such, young players from those backgrounds are not coming through the system, that might be a debate worth having.

In what sense mate?

Is it not true that black Britons are on the whole more athletically suited to League than white Britons, if so(and it is so) what's stupid about thinking it a shame that we aren't reaching and are losing out on so much british talent

if i asked this question about american football in the 1920's and said "isn't it a shame that that african americans aren't playing fball in numbers, i think it would improve the sport" i'm sure some daft bugger would say i was stupid too

I'm sure every team has black and white players in there acamadie teams. Players who get promoted to the first team and get a chance to shine for possible England call ups get into first team because there better than there teammates, wether your black or white!

Fair enough on the poll, but I don't think something being controversial is reason enough to just not speak about it

on your last point I'm not saying League is necessarily unattractive to black people (and I'm saying the black community specifically because I don't believe asian britons have the same athletic prowess or anything extra to add on that front, nor any other race/ethnicity), but i do think it would be good if we had more black players at grass roots and professional level, is what i'm saying, it'd be godo for the quality of the competition and also could help make inroads in places we're struggling to(such as London). I'm not sure how that's controversial or some sort of wrong-thought.

I want to see rugby league being played by the best athletes in the country, that's all.

I'm not inbred, i know the best players are picked, i'm not asking for some sort of rugby union south african black quota

How exactly is RL struggling to make inroads into London? Do you have any idea what you are talking about here? This is an absolutely stupid thread.

what a daft, argument inticing thread.................i dont care personally what colour, race, religion any player is as long as he's picked on his ability - thats the whole idea of sport isnt it ?

Are you kidding me? League is still a non-entity in London. There has been no plausible progress. The growth of league in london, or better described the lack of it, has been embarrassing

If RL has made inroads in London where are all the freak black athletes? Still playing football, still boxing, because nobody in london cares or even knows about rugby league

why does the number of black people playing the game become a yardstick for how popular it is in a certain area ? maybe , just maybe there are BETTER white players there ??

you've missed the point. Nobody is calling for anybody to be picked or played on anything other than ability. what i've said is that black people are inherently more athletic and better suited to a sport like league than white people

that's not opinion, that's fact. so it's a great shame that league in britain is still a predominately white sport, because it means that most of the better athletes in the country are not exposed to the game, that's a travesty

i can't believe how many insular people there are on this forum who are pretending this isn't problematic. The bulk of the best athletes in this country don't know our game exists. How is that not an issue for league in this country?

it's typical of Britain, lets just brush every race-related topic under the carpet and pretend it's not there.

obviously there are better white players, but only because british league is still a white sport. if, like in australia or new zealand, league was a sport played by all, then at least half the team would be African/Caribbean

I feel like i'm in the 1950's arguing with a bunch of people who think europeans are equal to west africans in the 100m track.

Are you all so stupid that you can't see what i'm getting at, or are you just insecure people who can't accept africans are superior athletes for a sport like league?

You're a fool, and how you can say the development of RL in London is embarrasing is foolish, what are you basing this on? Broncos attendences? As thousands are now playing RL in London, you are a fool for thinking otherwise.
This whole topic is stupid, of course most of the players are going to white, RL is mainly played in the north, where the majority race is White, it's only logical for the majority of players would be the race that is in the majority of where the sport is played.

i think your insinuating that RL should have more black players......that there is not enough black players in the game and that black players should be more widely recognised in the sport of RL because they are 'better athletes' than white men .
so if they are so superior as you put it and you dont think there is enough in the game what exactly is it your trying to make a point about ?

In the OP it was mentioned because of performance, but they are plenty of black players who can't make the England squad at the moment because there are better players in there place.

The reason black Americans are often so big and powerful is because they were bred that way by the slave owners. Not sure if the same applies with Blacks in the UK due to the British Empire outlawing slavery much earlier than in the USA. Don't quote me on this part though, I could be wrong.

Quite a frustrating thread but I don’t think the OP has made a particularly controversial point. In my time watching Rugby League, some of the best athletes and players have been black... Hanley, Offiah, Robinson etc

The other valid point is that in Australia and New Zealand, the best athletes are attracted to Rugby (both codes) whereas in England a talented athlete has many other (more lucrative) options, not least football and all the potential riches there

The NFL analogy is a fair one – the last decades have seen African Americans dominate the league and is completely unrecognisable from the 1950’s and earlier

All this does is answer the “would lack players be good at League” question though, it doesn’t address whether our sport in inclusive or not. I firmly believe that it is and we have proud history of leading the way in being so (first black national captain, first black national coach etc)

The unfortunate part about the whole thread is that calling it “is British league too white?” and setting up a poll, a reasonable discussion is immediately wrapped up in a antagonistic style

"Thousands"... in an area that holds 8 million, am I supposed to be impressed?



I bet thousands of people in london play ice hockey, it's such a minor number and evidence of failure, not success

And no its not logical that if the majority of an area are white it follows that the majority of the players will be. That's not logical at all, that's only logical if you think every race has equal athleticism



30% of the NRL is Polynesian, is 30% of Australia polynesian? No.