Comments on: Sheens warns garbage will produce a rugged final

By: oikee

oikee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:24:21 +0000

Glad to see union are growing the crowds somewhere, in australia they have dropped by half. Like the russians say their are suckers born every day, union is safe.

By: Matt S

Matt S — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:27:31 +0000

I must elaborate on the Spanish citizenshp. The majority are probably citizens of Spain but many identify themselves as Catalan/Basque. 25% of these players actually identify themselves as Spanish rather than the other!

By: Matt S

Matt S — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:57:06 +0000

And union people wonder why we go on.

Remember in June 18,500 turned up in Barcelona to see a league game and the Catalan Dragon effect has now seen a semi professional Catalan club competition take affect and an 8 club Catalan Universities comp. Both have majority of clubs based over the border, and from reports 25 % of players are of Spanish citizenship. From small acorns.

But really is this ‘I’m bigger than you’ thing about elitist egos or just the continuance of 100 years of fear?

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:44:10 +0000

where are the crowds? should be a good one in paris. ha.

the wallabies will only have 80,000 people watching them at twickenham. the ABs will have 72,000 in cardiff (thats in Wales for all you leaguies).

By: Mick from Giralang

Mick from Giralang — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:49:51 +0000

The union cheerleaders appear absolutely obsessed with the Four Nations…welcome aboard!

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:40:27 +0000

Just a quick thought. Credit where its due to the organisers of the four nations, however, i think it is important to keep the competition in perspective and consider the game of rugby league generally in Europe.

The Wallabies have just defated Gloucester in a mid-week warm up game. 16,500 people packed into the stadium to make it a sell out. The Kangaroos played enlgand in the league over the weekend in league heartland and failed to fill the stadium, getting a crowd of 23,000. The week earlier england only got 12,500 against NZ in Doncaster (not league heartland). This clearly shows a lack of interest from the sporting public in england. whilst people may watch the game on tv, at the end of the day people are caring less and less about the game in england.

If the game in england has failed to grow signifcantly in 100 years, why now can the game take over europe? It takes a very long time to win over the public. It has for union. take Italy for example. whilst for a long time having a professional rugby comp, they struggled to win over the public imagination. This is now changing. In a great move from the italian rugby, they have taken the game agaisnt the All Blacks to milan’s San Siro stadium. ALL 80,000 tickets have been bought. so my point is that RL can not expect to conquer, or even get a foothold in a country where rugby is already established and where RL has no history.

Rugby is becoming a truly european game. This is coming on the back of rich millioniare owners. this does not happen in RL. The Parisian based Stade Francais is taking there Heinken Cup game against Ulster to Belgium. Its sure to create a lot of public interest.

League should stick to what it does best-a strong domestic competition in a few northern counties in england, and the eastern states of Australia. The rest of the world is Rugbys’.

By: The Answer

The Answer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:20:29 +0000

How can a team with the likes of Hodges and Gallen complain? Fair dinkum.

This is a smoke screen from Tim Sheen who yet again finds himself in charge of an underperforming team.

It is a disgrace he played Robbie Farah against the Poms and seemed to use the build up of the Kiwis game to sure up his own position at the Tigers by leaking the Benji Marshall story.

If the Kangaroos don’t win this comp the blame must lay squarely on the shoulders of Tim Sheens.

By: katzilla

katzilla — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:43:35 +0000

The Roos shouldn’t get sucked into a physical upfront battle to see who has the biggest Peen.
They will lose that battle. Keep it calm and weather the storm, play to your strengths.
Gone are the days when Australia dominated from 1 through to 13, now its 1 through to 7.
Parity in the forwards is all thats required.

By: katzilla

katzilla — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:34:34 +0000

Huh?

By: Mick from Giralang

Mick from Giralang — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:38:13 +0000

Steve: We shouldn’t be whinging, we should simply be adapting to the prevailing interpretations. It’s international football after all. If the refs are allowing a bit of biff then we should get stuck in and return it with interest. Belting Poms and Kiwis on the football field is in our DNA.

Is it just me or are others noticing our Aussie sports stars are sounding like a pack of whingers lately?

By: PG

PG — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:58:13 +0000

Oh good grief this is the umpteenth article I’ve read about the chooks on your website. I’m sure all three supporters of this old money club will be interested. However in the scheme of things Easts aren’t that popular mate. The soap opera machinations are not gonna put Rugby League on its Knees

iHow about some nice stories on Parra or the Bulldogs or even Brisbane. Rich clubs that no body supports — It must be a RAH RAH thing