Yup
That would reduce the number of penalties considerably and force the players to play by the rules.

I always though Smith was a bit more balanced that Growden, but then it is pretty hard not to sink the slipper sometimes!!!!

There are enough bad things to say about Sydney Uni that we don’t have to go back to 1900 and 1919!

(Joke, Bruce I promise!!)

1) We only play 13 games. That means 6 home games per season (7 every second year). This is simply not enough for a fan base to be satisfied and live through the ups and downs. If you lose the first 3 games, you’re season is gone.

2) The media hate rugby. The VRU President and The Australian have close relations and so Wayne Smith slags off the ARU whenever possible. Greg Growden in the Herald is an apparent misanthrope and slags off the ARU whenever possible. The Daily Tele has a vested interest in League’s dominance (being News Corp) and slags off the ARU whenever possible. Which is not to say that the ARU doesn’t sometimes deserve it. Meanwhile, no FTA TV networks carries rugby so none have the slightest interest in covering it. Why would they?

The whole point of going to a S15, constantine, and hopefully putting a team in Melbourne, is to extend the season much longer, play until the end of August in 2011. Can’t come quick enough.

He now indicates that he is only prepared to recognise Premierships won after the establishment of the Metropolitan District competition which had its first season in 1900. Despite the information I provided of the years in which Uni finished premiers, he slightly shifts position but now insists that “sydney Uni did not see a premiership until 1919.”

In 1901 Sydney Uni and Glebe were joint First Grade Premiers with the other teams being South Sydney, Eastern Suburbs, North Sydney, Western Suburbs, Newtown and Balmain.

In 1904 Sydney Uni were outright Premiers with the same clubs competing as in 1901.

Surely he is not disputing these facts.

I do not know what to make of Westys’s statement : “1919 was such a memorable comp to win given the carnage of WW1. The district based clubs were on their knees trying to cope with the loss of life and players to rugby league clubs.” I hope he is not implying that Sydney Uni players were less involved in the Great War than those from the district clubs.

Both are playing in England, and all it will take is a few early mornings for you to understand the difference.

Next weekend Sunday morning 1:30am England take on the Kangaroos in Rugby League (Channel 9)

While in Rugby Union, the Wallabies take on the All Blacks next Saturday at 7:30pm (Channel 7, though I suspect in Victoria you will get a late night replay, which means you could probably watch both matches back to back, or watch the match live on Foxtel).

Or if you prefer on the 8th Nov the Wallabies play England at 1:30am (Sunday morning – Should be live on Channel 7)

And just so you know. Plenty of us who like Rugby, enjoy BOTH league and union.

essentially in league you get 6 tackles to get down field and try to score (similr to downs in gridiron), but in union the ball is always to be contested with the chance of losing it.

league has 13 players each, union 15. same sized field.

in union we call the ref “sir”, in league “oi, ref”.

So you’re another Working Class Rugger are you. Boy, we seem to have had a very similar schooling to boot. I went to arguably one of the greatest League schools in Australia. Most of my experience’s in Rugby leads me to believe the this whole ‘upper class’ BS is just a fable. How ‘upper class’ is Campbelltown. The only time I encountered the whole Upper Class mindset is when the border’s at my school started dabbling in GPS Rugby (incidently they now play in the 1st Div of the ISA Comp). Apart from that even when I moved to Clovelly to play under the Randwick banner only a few of the guys in my team and most of the other’s attended posh Private Schools. Most of us were from run of the mill working families.

I differ in my opinion of League though. I quite enjoyed the game when I started High School. But you can only take so many comments about how inferior Rugby is before you lose all interest in the game that was so hyped up at the school.

Exactly right. Well said. By the way how is ‘Rugby Australia’ or whatever it will be called coming along. Is there still life in the concept.

Some interesting and valid points you offer as a solution to rugby’s woes. But I have to disagree with your analysis of the problem.

Firstly,your comment -”after all the dastardly things the upper class game has done to the working class game over the years, it is hard to have sympathy for Union.” – Dastardly things? Like inventing scrums, rucks and picking up and running with an oval ball? For league to “copy”, sort of.
Next – “upper class game”? Well I went to a school that played league officially yet allowed union to be played in the school colours. It was not an upper class school. It is offensive to those who did not have privileged backgrounds and who happen to have played the original form of rugby to be labelled as participants in an “upper” class game.
Calling rugby an upper class game is very myopic. It is not an upper class game in New Zealand. In fact the history of league in New Zealand shows that the success of rugby there came with rugby’s winning of the Maori and working classes. As well as the private schools in New Zealand. (Spiro where’s your post?)

Macavity, don’t get me wrong. I am not having a go at you here. Your solutions have some merit. I am responding to some clumsy “aussie league” assumptions about rugby and who plays it. I was born in Newcastle, grew up in Sydney and played both codes at school. Several of my cousins played league professionally. I am not anti-league.
But I prefer rugby. Why?
because amonst other things it is the game where a working class Aboriginal kid can rise to play and beat England in Twickenham at the game that England invented! (!984 Grand Slam) -with the whole world watching! . I stress this is only one of the many great aspects of rugby. Others include real scrums and fluid phase of play. I refer to the Ella brothers because their example puts lie to the assumption that rugby is an upper class game. You could also argue that cricket is an upper class game. And if it is why do so many working class Aussies watch it?

Rugby union does not have to be based on the upper classes. Was Ray Price upper class? Was Ricky Stewart? Was Wally Lewis? All Wallabies and bloody good ones.
Sorry about the blue language old chap – I went to a league school.