http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20100324191354199

HMMM, surely this could not happen !!!.

This kind of reasoning always amuses me. This has more meaning. – In Australia Aussie rules is the dominant code in 1 country with 100% of the population

also, how many usernames do you want to post under?

I can show you.

You know what RL forum to go to if you want that proof, you can ask me for it, I’ll happily help you out

Yeah wiki is a very reliable source.

Fair dinkum.

Can I ask you who’s statue is outside the stadium?

Rugby league is also played, by the AS Carcassonne club. They are involved in the Elite One Championship. Puig Aubert is the most notable rugby league player to come from the Carcassonne club.”

From Wikipedia. Notice how it talks about RU first. even in RL heartland – RU is stronger!

Newcastle, Leicester and Nottingham were all below 300,000.
If we count only cities Leeds is 4th behind London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

You might think it’s all to fight off the Union side, yes partly, but this has been on the drawing board for a few seasons even before the Union code started to make their move in Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is pure RL heartland and you had better believe it, they are called the cradle of RL there.

Do some more research, i’m sure you have all the info bookmarked.

For a start, Union hasn’t got no where near the amount of players from Australia to send over there in the first place, and NZ is much smaller in regards to a player base compared to RL out here as well.

So Dave, I look forward to you getting around 100 names from Australia and NZ playing in the GP, yes dave, I said GP.

Remember I said the ESL in regards to RL?

So you prove that 1 union comp has more players from Australia and NZ playing R Union in Europe.

When you do that, then you can come back and bundle the T14 and GP together and whatever other comp over there.

Look forward to your reply (if I even get one).

Look im pretty sure that AFL will get smashed in the Goldie and Western Sydney, that pretty much is the heart land of league. While the league is fending off challenges in the heart lands I wonder if they should focus more Australia wide?

As far as PNG they will be playing in the 4 nations but it looked for a little while there that the Cook Islands were going to qualify ( David Fairleigh did a great job) but it was im sure a huge sigh of relief on the part of the organisers when they failed.

Please explain?

Around the time they had that 60mins puff piece about AFL taking over Sydney and NSW.

You remember that Dave, you participated in a thread about it at a certain Rugby League forum

The real problem for RL is impact of international sporting tournaments on TV audiences. At the moment all RL can offer is a pretty wonky RLWC with the enlarged tournament made up of some sides cobbled together for the tournament itself, the four nations and very little else that is worth televising. RU offers the RWC, U20′s RWC, Womens RWC, IRB 7s World Series and from 2016 the Olympics 7s, no wonder in the UK Sky and ESPN are keen to increase their coverage of RU. It is a problem for RL and what annoys me more than anything that as an older professional sport it should light years ahead of RU. It is the case of opportunities missed and trying to catch up after the horse has bolted.

Of course it will not lose it TV revenues from Sky (News International) but the gap in TV revenues generated between RL and RU over the next few years will increase as there is no doubt in spite of protestations from the RL lobby that it’s international offering is poor. It will impact on it’s profile wotldwide as the RU game becomes richer and is able to demand higher TV income through attracting higher TV audiences. Both codes are minority sports well behind the monolith that is football (Association), but the danger for RL in a worldwide context that it may be seen as part of the rugby family not as a sport in it’s own right. It will be increasingly marginalised.

As St Helens have a good following I would anticipate a gate of say 6/7K.

Regarding Gareth Thomas in spite of his age and the fact that he has been struggling to tie down a regular place with the Blues, he is a well known personality and for the Crusaders and Welsh RL and indeed for RL in the UK it has been good news with alot of media coverage. It perhaps indicates the lack of personalities of national significance in ESL, regrettably even the imports from OZ and NZ have failed to make an impact nationally.

Anycase when the Socceroos are playing the game for WC qualification/participation ,it gets a huge amount of coverage.
I am a latent soccer follower,and watch world cups,as do a fair number of Aussies,but sorry the A league doesn’t get me going.The A League is a good concept don’t get me wrong.

With the announcement a short time ago that the ARL has agreed in principle to the IC,the game will be in a position to reach its full potential locally and to a lesser extent overseas.Why? A much bigger Tv contract ensuring star players stay in the agme,more money on development,expansion,and more money available for promoting RL tests. The NRL will not be diverting large sums of money for rl internationally.It is up to the RLIF and the monies made from tests and WCs.

It is the intention of the AFL/Rugby league/rugby union/soccer to be the dominant code in Australia.None want to be at a standstill ,but grow and be No1 .All codes should strive to do that.

The A League has an average crowd about 2/3rd’s of the NRL, but if you read the DT, watch Channel 9 or listen to some of the Sydney based radio ‘sports’ shows, the A league would be lucky to receive a tenth of the RL coverage. Not a whinge, just the reality.

Thank god for Pay Tv and the internet, means i no longer have to buy the paper, or watch channel’s 7, 9 and 10 in the hope of a few snippets of football coverage.

For RL and aussie rules for that matter, to expand interstate or internationally, they will need to divert lots of cash from the domestic scene and that presents a risk that other codes will encroach domestically. I believe that it is the intention of the AFL to become the dominant national code, so that it can then focus on international development.

Wellington, desparate times for desparate measures for AFL. The reason i say this is that a rugby union world cup played in NZ this year will dispell any push over there, not to mention the 4 nations rugby league over there at the end of the year.

Finally.
Rugby League is now on a level playing feild with all other codes,. No really, i am relieved, now Gallop does not have to do any t/v dealing. This will now be in the hands of a IC, plus we are well on our way to pay our lads what they are deserved.

I thought to many players were signing up for a long period, which all their contracts expire around 2013, smart cookies.