Rugby league is going back to the 80s
Roar Pro
By Walshy17, 17 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- NSW Blues, Queensland Maroons, Rugby League, State Of Origin
216 Have your say
The other night, millions of people sat down expecting to watch a football match, but what they got was a trip down memory lane: big hits, brawls and guys standing toe to toe.
Many people in the rugby league world were excited by this and much has been written about State of Origin living on.
What I saw was the slow painful death of a professional sport.
The game was tough, exciting and enjoyable for the millions who watched it. But then in the 78th minute, it was all undone, with two baboons going toe to toe with each other.
The crowd roared, the commentators loved it. Origin was back! Back to the good old days of the 80s. Maybe so, but wasn’t the good old days a time when the sport was semi-professional, wasn’t broadcast on television, and when players could drink and do what they wanted outside of the game?
If a game is a success because of two blokes belting each other, then the game is doomed to fail.
The NRL and their half-wit administrators need to stop living in the ‘good old days’ of the 80s and wake up and see that this is a professional sport, watched by millions of people every year (well for now anyway).
It is no longer acceptable to belt someone and knock them unconscious. That’s not what they are paid to do.
I don’t like bringing up the old “mothers wont let kids play” story, but if the game is only successful because of boxing sessions on the field, then mothers and fathers won’t let their kids play.
It’s as simple as that.
I am a fan of rugby league and a fan of most professional sports. I am worried though about the future of this game.
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Redb said | July 17th 2009 @ 8:53am | Report comment
Patrick Smtih’s column on the RL SOO backs you up Walshy17:
“http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25794165-12270,00.html”
“That Origin was a confrontation driven by fierce hate and one-on-one punch-ups were well and truly within the code of conduct as understood and adhered to by the players. And officials.
But to the rest of Australia this was more than a bit of Origin biffo. It was an act that spoke with great clarity about the future of rugby league outside Queensland, the ACT and NSW. It ain’t happening.
That is not to say rugby league is not a wonderful game, demanding bravery, athleticism, speed, slick hand-to-eye co-ordination and imagination. It is all of that and more. But it will never succeed outside Origin territory because culturally it is unacceptable to states where AFL football is the main code. ”
Do RL fans think the biff at the end, including the toe-to-toe was a good look for the code in new markets?
Leave the soft sissy comments aside they won’t be taken as serious.
Redb
sheek said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:10am | Report comment
I loved the match. And White & Price standing toe to toe in the old fashioned way, is far more manly than a lot of the underhand acts you see going around.
It’s some of the other stuff that was unwarranted. Waterhouse’s clumsy choke on Price as he was going down was very ordinary. Even less worthy was Poore’s tug at the unconscious Price’s jersey, insinuating he was ‘playing possum’. Then there was the deliberate ‘up & under’ by Queeensland purely so they could carry on the fight.
But the match was first class. No, we’re not going back to the 80s. back then you late tackles, coathangers, cheap shots, off the ball incidents by the truckload. it all still happens, of course, but not to the same extent.
Give me two guys going toe to toe out in the open any day. That’s the way to settle differences!
Waterboy said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
And what code of football does Patrick Smith almost exclusively write about?
Redb jumping on the anti-Rugby League bandwagon, suprise, suprise…..
You dont see the Roar and other fan sites flooded with anti-AFL comments everytime an AFL player blindsides another who’s focus is on the ball. There are more cheap shots on unprotected players in AFL than any other football code. At least in rugby league you see the guy coming at you or standing there swinging at you.
If your not a fan of the game, thats fine, but please can you stop hijacking every second article to either chant your AFL mantra or bag every other code. That is what no one takes seriously.
If you dont like rugby league please dont watch. Just spare us all the sanctimonious snipes at all the other codes.
The Link said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
That’s funny Redb I thought they were all watching MasterChef…..
Conversley any game that can’t match the passion and intensity from Wed night will struggle to expand in NSW and QLD.
So culturally unacceptable for a game that produced and glorifies Barry Hall, classic P Smith hypocracy.
Bill McIlroy said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
AFL supporters should pull their heads in.They have just lauded big brave Barry Hall with a lap of honour on his retirement,this is a man who likes to hit players who are looking the other way!.The RL players face up toe to toe and that say’s it all about the two games.
oikee said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Mate, this is why Qld and NSW will always treasure rugby league. The game of rugby league will only become bigger with the passion and emotion the players show for each other. The only problem the crowd and players had was the lifting of Steve Price after he had been knocked out. , you stick up for your mates and dont kick someone when they are on the ground. As far as the other states are concerned, your missing out, not us, we love our game and you cant beat the passion at suncorp. We seem to continue to have guys like you who would love to see league die writing stories of doom and gloom. Go watch something else if you dont like league. The golf and cricket are on now.
Redb said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Sheek,
Well you’ve scated pretty close to the sissy reference with “far more manly than a lot of the underhand acts you see going around”. Isn’t this meant to be a football game not boxing?
I know in the AFL, video camera scrutiny is ever present and this tends to result in push and shove, jumper punches and other less obvious acts of violence because the player is very conscious that a full on punch or fight will end up in a serious numbers of weeks suspended.
In the piece I saw the RL referees and players just let them go toe to toe – allowed, sanctioned – that is not acceptable for a football sporting contest. Boxing absolutely.
My point is, whilst I’m sure the RL purists enjoyed good ol’ fashioned biffo, to the non purists it seems anachronistic in todays sport.
There will be a number of AFL fans who wish to see more violence on the footy field like seen in the RL SOO or in the bad old days, but the majority would prefer a contest like we got with St Kilda and Geelong a couple of weeks ago, which has set the benchmark for what the AFL is trying to achieve.
If rugby league needs biffo to fire up its fans they should get a copy of the St Kilda v Geelong game, an enthralling hard fought contest that had the crowd roaring itself coarse for two hours and not one fight to be seen.
Blokes still get knocked out in AFL football, knocked out when going for the ball in a contest, not a punch up.
Redb
Redb said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Not unepexcted responses from a few so far. I didn’t write the Patrick Smith article I just brought it to your attention. This is what is being written by non rugby league journos. it was actually very complimentary about rugby league as a sport which I included in the quote.
Here’s another one that was inside back page in todays Herald Sun:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25793147-5016140,00.html
This is what is being read about in Melbourne right now. Feel free to bag and criticise me, don’t care mate.
Redb
David N said | July 17th 2009 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Rugby league is a tough tough game , Origin is even more so , look at how many players end up with major injuries from the 3 matches and the ridiculous decision that they back up within a few days . it is as close to a boxing match as any sport should get give the physical battering the players take . But why are two players allowed to throw punches ? Where in the rules does it say punching , as long as its one one one is allowed.. even ice hockey , which tolerates it at least”sin bins” the players once the fight has finished… I love Origin , I love how these guys put their bodies on the line and I thought NSW had been very soft all year up until this game but a punch is illegal and dangerous… would everyone be happy if Steve Price(or any player for that matter) had a broken jaw or worse? Toughness , passions “honest violence” all make Origin the ultimate war of attrition ..bare knuckled punching does not …but the press and the authorities have not only tolerated it but in the aftermath of the game I would argue encouaraged it to happen again I think this is wrong (and as for the expansion of league… hmm in 100 years in Australia it has made in to Melb and Port Moresby .. thankfully it is fine where it is)
oikee said | July 17th 2009 @ 10:07am | Report comment
Redb, just read the story , why has a story about someone being bashed off feild become involved in a game where the crowd lets the players do their talking. Mate i have seen a AFL crowd, old women and old men who love a day out knitting and having a chat to their friends at the game. Mate we are talking about youth and testosterone by the buckets, galons of it at origin yet amid all this, very few incidents of violience off the feild. League teaches plenty of lessons in life, you my friend just dont get it. Mate stick to your game, i have no problem with that, but believe me, it will never replace league in our states.
Their was 52 thousand at origin, 2 days later 52 thousand at a nrl double header, if we had a 100 thousand stadium we would fill that sucker also in half a hour, 11 minutes to sell out origin game 3, this is big bussiness , if you think league is going away,,,, think again. Queensland has just fueled the passion for origin in nsw, by the bucket-load. Queenslander.