English rugby media have their blinkers on
Roar Guru By Westy, 17 Dec 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Guinness Premiership, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Super League, Wasps
A veil of distortion pervades English rugby media’s treatment of rugby league. It creates a false picture as to the state of play and on our attitude and assessment of Australian provincial rugby and our own NRL clubs.
Not including the final series for either code in which English super league do very well, the league averages 9,926 people to each game, rising to 10,338 after finals (2008), whilst Guinness rugby averages 10,880.
The match up of the average crowds per clubs rugby league to rugby union is Leeds 17,043 to Leicester 17,206; Wigan 14,505 to Gloucester 15,555; Hull 13,432 to Harlequins 13,496; St Helens 10,642 to Wasps 12,459; Bradford 10,287 to Bath 10,459; Warrington 9,501 to Irish 9,949; Hull KR 8,554 to Worcester 9,658, and so on.
On this site and in the English rugby media we have been reminded of London Harlequins rugby league having the lowest home crowd in 2008 of only 3,176 against Wakefield. Yet, in the same round in the Guinness Premiership, Bath played Leeds in Leeds and got only 4,800.
I am starting to learn about English rugby media class ridden biased and bluntly purveyors of falsehoods.
Wasps had a loss of $6.4 million in 2007; and, in 2008, a loss of $4.6 million.
Newcastle sold their ground to pay off debt and Bristol owes $2.3 million in unpaid player wages. Bristol home crowds have dropped to a 7,776 crowd average and Newcastle to 5,298.
I am told the English super league is restricted to a few towns along the northern English motorways, yet it paradoxically holds up pretty well against the Guinness rugby premiership.
To make informed decisions about the state and future dierection of rugby both here and overseas, I would in the future prefer realistic appraisals instead of unadulterated bias that is characteristic of the English rugby media.
One should take care in mindlessly repeating their propaganda.
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- Explore:
- Guinness Premiership, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Super League, Wasps
December 17th 2008 @ 10:49am
oikee said | December 17th 2008 @ 10:49am | Report comment
Westy, if you look geografically at the location of Union England and League England you will see that Union is more to the south as you know, (i have just looked) so being biase is not really a issue, its just giving people who read papers what they want. Finally League is starting to throw away their Northern exsistence and beginning to embrace other areas, mind you with still some kicking and screaming in the league ranks.
So if we look at London Harliquins league , even thow they have samall crowds they are yet to really deliver. I do know they are doing great work at the grass roots and their acadamy is producing some good young talent. As for exposure in London, really there is not alot to talk about at the moment so the lack of coverage. This will get better over time and as guys have mentioned, its a summer sport and this has helped.
I think we are looking at biase negatively on Unions behalf, worse than what it really is, what we have to remember is the people who have run the game did it no favours. Blaming others is just petty. Pull your socks up and get on with it i say.
At this time with the downturn i really think all codes need to take a hit, having said this i also think that super league is in a strong position and with further revenue from OZ t/v now broadcasting the game here they should be able to see out the next few years. The growth is real and no teams are falling over at the moment, they have increased memberships and next season looks like a bumper year amid all the turmoil, what more can you ask for. As for the biase, i think we are all past that or getting there. You should be more worried about the NRL, they seem to be bogging down , again Sydney is the problem, nowhere else. Union in oz is still settling in , finding there way in the new code structure, but at least they dont have 2 many teams.
December 17th 2008 @ 10:55am
sheek said | December 17th 2008 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Pothale,
Oh okay, I misread the intent of your question.
Yeah, William Webb Ellis did exist. And he did attend Rugby school. And he did engage in playground ball sports. Although it’s not clear, & most unlikely, the early form of rugby was called as such.
And he may even have picked up the ball “with a fine disregard of the rules as they were then known” & run with it. But was he really the first? And in what circumstances?
I’ve read one version where at the time (1823) you could pick the ball up, as long as you didn’t run towards the opposition. There were so many different versions of future rugby being trialled in the 1820s, that finding the exact truth is almost impossible.
What appears clear is this. Firstly, no-one at the time made a fuss of anything WWE did. So, either he did nothing unusual in the version of the game he was playing, or nothing of the sort as prescribed to him.
Interestingly, some bloke named Bloxham, who attended Rugby school about 10 years after Ellis had left, circulated the story in the mid-1880s (about 50 years later). At the time, there was a power struggle going on between the upper class southern England clubs, & northern England working class clubs, regarding ‘broken time’ payments. Which finally resulted in the breakaway of 1895.
Anyway, Bloxham was attempting to ensure right of passage, or legitimacy of the upper class in the founding of the game of rugby, by attributing a LEGEND to the founding of the game. Enter the name William Webb Ellis.
The story of WWE is widely viewed as possessing shaky credibility in the UK, without the heathens from the antipodes, or those from the dark side (league) joining the argument. I trust this very brief expose helps.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:01am
oikee said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:01am | Report comment
Sheek, this is the 1st time i ever bothered to read about WWE so you have no argument from me. I read league stories and to be totally honest dont have a clue who WWE is , i do now. This is Union history, good, union guys probably read about him, i myself have never heard of the dude.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:08am
pothale said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Sheek
Along with your Diamond Beers Principle that’s one of the most interesting thing I’ve read on this forum. Where do you get this stuff? Rugby encyclopedia? You also write extremely well and entertainingly. Hats off to you.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:09am
oikee said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:09am | Report comment
Another thing as you might have gathered rattles me, steffy always going on about Rugby, now in oz rugby is union, league is rugby league. There seems to be a issue with the word rugby, you might as well clear this up for me also, sorry comes with my laid back attitude, not my ignorance.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:18am
Jerry said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:18am | Report comment
Steffy seems the only one with the issue, and it’s his/her particular quirk. I’m sure there are some league strongholds where people actually refer to league as “rugby” and union as “union” but the far more commonly accepted use (amongst people who actually know that they are two different sports) would be to refer to either “rugby and league” or “union and league”.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:32am
Colin N said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Just follow the M62 across and you’ll find the Rugby League strongholds in the UK. certainly in the North-East, Union is the main game played and just south of Lancashire (aka just far enough away from the M62) is there a fairly big Union following (ie Sale Sharks), or should I say a bigger following than League, as football is the main sport (I suppose like most areas really) around the North-West.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:38am
oikee said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:38am | Report comment
Yes i seen on the map that from Hull across to Manchester is a line of league clubs. Sort of like a keep out zone.
So what someone is saying is that the 2 clubs (sharks, Newcastle) which are above the line are in trouble? Thats weird.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:39am
pothale said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:39am | Report comment
For me, there’s rugby and then there’s the highly boring, over-hyped, yawn-inducing other game. I’ve no difficulty in telling the difference.
Luckily – for me – league is largely a foreign sport, and doesn’t get much coverage.
December 17th 2008 @ 11:43am
oikee said | December 17th 2008 @ 11:43am | Report comment
Dont ever come to oz in winter Pothale, you will be smothered by the boring game that everyone seems to watch here..