Exactly,
People like to throw stones from a distance. Lets not forget that the NRL didn’t start with thousands upon thousands of supporters (hell some grounds still struggle to get a crowd). And let’s not forget the New Zealand RL Comp is still struggling to have an effective establishment.

Instead of sitting back bagging the AMNRL and USARL we should be attempting to support them, coming up with ways they could do better etc, and joining in on online discussions such as this so if the officials stumble across it one day they may actually see some great ideas to improve.

The two bodies AMNRL and USARL need to come together put the differences behind them and come together for the good of Rugby League in the country.

In my opinion I think this may be a little harsh. The USA played well for 50 minutes of the match, some great defense, some great attack, and some great football – however there were like two or three 10 minute periods where they seemed to switch off and during those periods Australia would run in 2-3-4 quick tries.

I am with you though that it is time that the two domestic leagues sorted out their differences. If the AMNRL and USARL could sort it out come together, for the better of the sport in the country and if as my article said just a handful of children take up the game due to the performance of the team at this RLWC then in years to come these guys could truly be proper contenders in years to come.

To be fair look at many of the teams in the RLWC outside of Australia, England and New Zealand and the bulk of them were from the NRL, NSW Cup or QLD Cup. Due to the ongoing battle between the AMNRL and USARL and the fact the RLIF only recognize AMNRL then the players who turn out for USARL were ineligible to play.

As mentioned look at the other teams outside the top three, you see 120 other NRL, NSW Cup or QLD Cup players running around for them.

I think everyone should be happy with the performance, and maybe their performance here may force hte AMNRL and USARL to come together for the best of the game in their country, it could also encourage some school children to take up the game.

While EagleTag is based on OzTag (with the silly tags you rip off) I think with the closeness that the two games have they could be better to turn EagleTag into more like proper Touch Football, as that has more of the fundamentals of the game of Rugby League.

Overall however I do think everyone should be happy with the performance of the USA Tomahawks.

PuntPal,
You have raised some great valid points here that I not once considered in my write up and that is why we have to love websites such as this that allow us all to share our opinions – it is because of this that I have seen some additional bonuses for the game that although are not short term gains could be better for the game in the long term and for that I truly thank you, and the others who have made a number of valid points.

I for one will be boycotting the 9:30pm game on Friday night and unless they surprise us with changes on Sunday I will instead come online to get my football action on Sunday.

I agree that this is our chance to lay the ground work for a bigger and better future, and if the game is to expand it needs to seriously make an announcement late this year/early next year for introduction in 2014 – I mean seriously if they bring in two new teams that is another game each round by 2015 that will allow Channel 9 to either show a Saturday game, or give Fox another live Sunday game to show or something along those lines.

As you said with Channel 7 and Channel 10 it is a case of at this moment we wont know how that would have been different, but I would like to point everyone to the V8 Supercars for a moment they moved from long standing broadcaster Channel Ten to Channel 7 on a massive pay day – which has since allowed them to improve the category here (at home) and overseas however fans have been complaining about the coverage ever since.

Infact my complaining about their coverage on a blog led to my banning from the category where no teams are now allowed to send me media releases and the categories media team refuse to acknowledge me mainly because I complained about scheduling, the fact that things had to be done in time for the AFL to start, and the fact that we were sitting here and watching Bathurst on Delay by the end of it due to the amount of ads they went to.

I pointed out a few years in a row that especially in the closing stages they would go to ads on lap 150 (off 161) the ads would last about 3min 30 seconds (which is enough time for almost two laps of Mount Panorama) and come back and we would see the “leading car” pass the start/finish line to start lap 151.

I pointed out that the biased shown by Channel Seven means that unless you were a TeamVodafone, Ford Performance Racing or Holden Racing Team not to hope to see your favourite drivers or teams in any detail unless they crash into a wall or somehow cheat and get given a drive through penalty.

It is now widely tipped that the V8’s will be returning to Channel Ten now they have the HD channel, however it is said that Channel 9 (help us all if they do) will be making a bid for the rights.

The point I try to make with that little ramble is that everyone thought moving to Channel 7 with the new V8 Xtra shows etc would be great for the sport however it has somewhat hampered it to the point the fans have become disillusioned with the fact at some events we can get results on the internet, or sent to our e-mails while on television they still have 5-10 laps left to race.

As you said we don’t know how good or how bad the coverage would have been for the NRL on any of these other channels.

For the record the Broncos only get decent crowds because their first 12 rounds saw 10 Friday night games and a bye. So far out of 24 rounds 16 have been Friday night games, both their remaining games are Friday night games which makes it a total of 18 Friday night games out of 26.

People can count on going to the football after work, and still having time to relax on the Saturday and Sunday before heading back to work. This is the only good thing out of the 20 scheduled rounds but no doubt look for the Broncos to be heavily favoured again when it comes to Friday night footy.

Couldn’t agree with you more 🙂

This was our opportunity to take a step forward, to show the world that we are moving ahead with more international teams playing the game, and look at the line up of clubs that want to be included in an expanded competition.

The ARLC had an opportunity here to break the mould, to shake the shackles lose and turn us into more than a two state game, we had the opportunity to ensure Victorians and those in Western Australia, Tasmania and other parts of Australia had decent coverage even if the game was on delay but not waiting until midnight to show a blockbuster clash.

Instead, as you said, it is still balanced, yin and yang. The ARLC got the $1Billion they wanted, and Channel 9 and Foxtel got to continue their poor coverage for another five years (mainly Channel 9 although a Fox League channel showing QLD Cup, NSW Cup and these matches would have been awesome).

If Baseball and Hockey made themselves a viable entity and not something no one knew anything about until all of a sudden there is a world cup on and Australia are doing alright I am sure more FTA networks would jump at the option of airing it.

I think the biggest trouble is, and its written into all the contracts, the first and last agreement. Where Channel 9 and Foxtel get to make the first offer, then others can come back with bigger and better offers however under the agreement Ch9 and Foxtel just need to match the offer to secure the rights.

I heard the negotiations were long and that both 7 and 10 made a massive play to secure the rights only for 9 and Foxtel to match it at the last minute.

I guess it is a case of having to wait for 9 to drop the ball again and waiting another 5 years in the hope they don’t match the next offer.

To me everyone is right that is the beauty of this website we all have opinions. My opinion is that while the funds are great for grass roots, and for the players (who lets be honest do entertain us each and every week) the broadcast agreement for us, the fans who pay our hard earned money to go watch the game, it truly sucks.

Five years of same-old-same-old.

Imagine sitting down today and being told that nothing in your life is going to change over the next five years. You are going to wake up at the same time, do the same thing each day and go to bed at the same time for the next five years – it would make you pretty delusional of where your life is actually heading and that is what we have just received under this broadcasting agreement – nothing changing for five years.

They could have made people happier by Channel Nine saying: “You know what instead of three hours of Sunday Footy Show, The Roast, Boots n All on Sunday mornings we will cut that down to one hour, we will show our Sunday game live at 3pm and following it we will have a new one hour show (to take it to the news time) which will show highlights and panel discussion about the games so far held this weekend and what the impact has been on the ladder”.

Imagine that, out of the three games they get to air exclusively two of them are live, we then have a new show to look forward to where those who don’t have foxtel can still watch some of the action with all of the highlights from the game, not just 20sec snippets shown on the news channels and we would have been a happier bunch – sure it’s not perfect but at least its another live game a week we get to see.

I think, and this is just my opinion, but many fans out there would be satisfied and think its part of football if the players dropped the ball while scoring, or a ball was thrown forward in the act of scoring or something along those lines it would be a case of “that’s just football” – sure it would hurt after 90 minutes to lose in that fashion but as a football fan you cop it on the chin and move on.

However being a referee, especially someone with the experience of Sean Hampstead, who got such a crucial call wrong, at such a crucial time as you said Will Sinclair it could truly have a huge effect on your Tigers team and their top eight aspirations if results go against them but this decision was not only game changing but possibly season changing and a simple “whoops our bad” by the referee’s boss doesn’t make the loss fell any better.

I couldn’t agree with you more. Admitting that the referee’s (or in this instance a video referee) got it wrong is one thing and congratulations to Harrigan for stepping out saying it. However the question really is why they got it wrong, especially someone of the calibre of Sean Hampstead.

Would be funny to see the bookies make a new margin on “Will there be a ref stuff up in this game”

Exactly but it happened earlier this year when I was up there (on the Gold Coast) and the students were complaining to the television network etc but my point is this is the type of thing that separates a club from the local community, and this is the type of thing that proves they care about money rather than the community when they book soooo many schools into one day where the players don’t have the time to connect with their fans.

I couldn’t agree with you more. And to be honest that is one of the reasons they have lost the support of the local communities. There are just too many changes happening with their shirts every year that forces parents to buy $199 shirt for their child.

Then the players go to schools and as happened at the beginning of the year due to them cramming six school visits in one day the players no longer have time to interact. In one instance Scott Prince was asked for an autograph and he was being dragged away by the media people so he said to the students “I will sign one and you can go and photocopy it”.

Hopefully David May as the new CEO can step in and get this club back to where it was, and with his efforts hopefully the community come back and support them.