My ar5e!

I can't see the image

Not sure why? It is 32 international RL bodies/national teams logos

But there's more people in NSW and QLD than the rest of Australia put together.

and there's more people in Shanghai than the whole of Australia. I fail to see the relevance?

I don't see your point?
Are you suggesting it is not a world cup?

no I am showing that RL has a far greater International presence than many believe. I found 33 countries logos. There's at least 19 countries with RL bodies that didn't make this years RLWC.

Fishing JB?

Did you make that? There are plenty of nations missing.

I think that you'll find in the RLWC interviews that alot of interviewees will have Northn English or Australian accents despite not representing either country!

Exhibit A:

More Kiwi born players in Group A than Irish Born players. A quick glance sees 43 Englishmen, 37 Australians, 12 Fijians and 4 Kiwis in the group.

Cool



Thanks for sharing.

56 of the 96 players named in Group A will play for their country of Birth. 58.33%...the mark has been set!

Not sure if you were fishing or not, but here you are JB


Exhibit A:
More Kiwi born players in Group A than Irish Born players. A quick glance sees 43 Englishmen, 37 Australians, 12 Fijians and 4 Kiwis in the group. 56/96 playing for their country of Birth (58.6%)
Exhibit B:
8 Samoan born players in Group B, with 21 French, 22 from PNG, 32 Kiwis, a Tongan and 12 Aussies. 67/96 playing for their country of Birth (69.8%)
Exhibit C:
36 Australian born players, 18 English born players, 8 Kiwis, 6 Tongans, 2 Scots and 2 Italians make up the 72 players in Group C. 10/72 playing for their country of birth (13.9%)
Exhibit D:
31 Australian born players grace Group D together with 11 Kiwis, 11 English born players, 9 Welsh, 7 Americans, 2 Cook Islanders and a South African. 18/72 playing for their country of birth (25%)

336 Registered players at RLWC 2013, 151 of which will play for the country of their birth (45%)
Australia 116, followed by England 72 deliver 188 players (56%), then New Zealand 55, PNG 22 and France 21 bring in another 98 (29%) meaning the remaining 9 teams will deliver 15%.
Fiji 12, Wales 9, Samoa 8, Tonga 7, USA 7, Cooks, Italy and Scotland 2 each with a rogue South African thrown in for fun are providing 50 players between them!

And the England RU team employ a New Zealand dialect coach and an Afrikaans interpreter who also works with the English cricket team. On occasions the golden boys from Twickenham have needed with Samoan and Fijian accents as well.

The Welsh, Italian and Scottish RU teams have had their fair share of Antipodean accents also.

Is your dismissive allegation relevant to them as well or are you just denigrating our game ?

Great stats

It would be wonderful to comare those figures against the total demographic of the game.

and then track the changes as the game grows, in international competitions and world cups.

only by tracking such statistics can one genuinely point to a cultural shift in the game...

ps such statistics in isolation are pointless... but as a benchmark? excellent!

Correct........but I doubt that in the RWC, FIFA WC, Cricket WC or any other WC apart from maybe the Aussie Rules World Cup, does 1 country deliver 34.5% of the competitors




I allege nothing.....I stated figures that at worst are possible 1 or 2 players out of 336. Just because you don't like the figures doesn't make them allegations



BTW.....re-read my post. I opened with the gambit that it was in response to a potential fishing expedition....chillax and enjoy the Rugby FFS

My children were born in one country but have citizenship in three. How do you know this is not the case here, especially with the South Sea islanders.?

I have live in my present country for 45 of my 67 years and have represented them at RU through residency but I have a Yorkshire accent. I now have citizenship in that country but did not when I played for them. I have every right to have played for that country.

What I am saying is that international qualification criteria are what they are and many many countries take advantage of them in multiple different sports. Why do you find it necessary to single out RL ?

Agree 100%
Both codes here in NZ are packed with Pacific Island talent. NZ and Australia are seen as places to head to for Islanders and therefore it's no surprise that the Island teams squads have 29 locally born players out of a possible 96.
In the UK, Wigan's sourcing of talent from Wales is really starting to pay dividends and of all the "expansion" areas, I see Wales as a real hope for the future.

Social demographics play a massive part in where "people come from"...Estimates put the Irish Diaspora at 100,000,000.......not bad for a rock with 6 million or so on it.

My post was tongue in cheek....some posters (not you BTW) need to chillax

Yawn.....

This will be the best World Cup ever,cannot wait just counting the days!

Can always trust gutterfax to derail a thread on international rugby league.

He has a point though. The game has been undersold and terribly managed for many years. RU is far better marketed and if only the RFL could copy some of the initiatives and objectives from RU then RL would climb.

Yep we soooo need to be copying RU! After all its not like they have financial problems, clubs going broke, being booted out of competitions or disharmony at the way the game is being run! www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/rugby ... 6741127303 www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/news ... 15-9m-loss www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/993 ... ial-losses au.sports.yahoo.com/league/news/ ... -problems/

Yep we soooo need to be copying RU! After all its not like they have financial problems, clubs going broke, being booted out of competitions or disharmony at the way the game is being run! www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/rugby ... 6741127303 www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/news ... 15-9m-loss www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/993 ... ial-losses au.sports.yahoo.com/league/news/ ... -problems/

May I suggest an appointment with SpecSavers in Perth JB? You are merely highlighting 'some' issues within a sport that is light years ahead of RL off the field. They know how to sell 2.3 MILLION tickets for the RWC. Being a person from RU, despite loving and converting to the on field sport of RL, I know what I am saying. RU also knows very well how to develop their sport in new territories hence the newly proposed National Rugby League in the US. Shame about the name, but RL authorities will continue with apathy. vanguardrugby.com/national-footb ... by-league/

May I suggest an appointment with SpecSavers in Perth JB? You are merely highlighting 'some' issues within a sport that is light years ahead of RL off the field. They know how to sell 2.3 MILLION tickets for the RWC. Being a person from RU, despite loving and converting to the on field sport of RL, I know what I am saying. RU also knows very well how to develop their sport in new territories hence the newly proposed National Rugby League in the US. Shame about the name, but RL authorities will continue with apathy. vanguardrugby.com/national-footb ... by-league/