The Waratahs’ Timana Tahu runs in to score as he’s tackled by the Reds’ Mark McLinden during their Super 14 match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Friday, March 6, 2009. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
The Craig Wing and Timana Tahu transfers this week provided a great insight into the way that league and union followers view their own patch of the world. It’s remarkable just how many old stereotypes fill airwaves, column inches and cyberspace.
It didn’t take long for rugby commentators for allude to the idea that they thought Tahu just another thick leaguie who couldn’t grasp the cerebral sport of union (Richard Loe PhD).
It is the same when a union player is branded weak and unable to tackle when he fails in his transition to league, Garrick Morgan, for example.
The same from the league side: Tahu was bored and wasted in rugby.
The union crowd has also been quick to dismiss the idea of ever returning to the league to cherry pick their talent again. But this claim always has a quick caveat: unless they are young or have some sort of union background.
Considering a huge chunk of schools play both, it is hardly unlikely these days anyone would not finish their schooling without having dabbled in the other sport, particularly with so many talented athletes graduating from sports high schools.
But in the end, does it even matter, as we are all told sport is business.
Players will chase the biggest pay packet, even if they are unsure of their own success, while administrators will chase the biggest stars for the “bums on seats factor.”
In modern day sport, the results on the field are only part of the equation.
When players chase the dollars, the age old line is “what would you do if another company offered to double your wages?”
It’s worth remembering when a player leaves, as well.
So he didn’t work, oh well. He was well paid, and providing he made a genuine effort, can have a clean conscience for his pay cheque. If the same thing happened in your line of work, would you hand back the money?
Part of our anger towards the supposed failures probably comes from the enormous expectations we place on these ‘converts’.
Because we love the sport we follow, we want everyone who plays it to enjoy it as well. When they seem unhappy, it is a slight against our own choices.
Union fans would have seen the images of Tahu slam dunking the ball over the cross bar for the Eels and pictured him doing the same for the Waratahs and Wallabies. The forlorn figure on the bench wasn’t the sort of reality anybody wanted.
But the same has occurred again with Craig Wing.
The ink had barely dried on his contract before he was being talked up as a potential World Cup star and marquee signing for the Melbourne franchise.
His career with the Rabbitohs and Roosters was largely glanced over as we were reminded about his schoolboy rugby achievements.
All this for a player largely looking to secure a pay cheque to cover up a failed third party deal and some poor investment decisions.
George Orwell wrote about the never-ending war, it is the same with union and league: every debate ends with a list of future world beaters which will keep the respective code in rude health.
I doubt the two sets of bickering fans could actually survive without the other, and I know that whatever mistakes have been made in the past are sure to occur again.
It’s sport, after all.
But events of this week, and the discussions (a diplomatic term) that followed, make me laugh when I think some people believe that a merged code could actually become a reality.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Gallop strikes me as a pretty good administrator. He can stand in a room with O'Neil, BB and AD (as he occasionally has to do), without being concerned about whether he is good enough to do so - he most definitely is.
Crosscoder
Guest
O,Neill no thanks.He has opened his cakehole on too many occasions and put his foot in it.Ego is one thing ,head down and doing the hard yakka is what is required. Gallop has handled a lot of crapola this year,and come out of it reasonably well. If you are looking for a leader down the line,go no further than Michael Searle of the Tiatns-former Seagulls rugby league player,chartered accountant,one of the people behind the success of the Titans,and a doer.He is currently involved in establishing a platform for a controlling body of rugby league,he with others is behind the new $30m training facility at Robina which will leave most other Oz sports in its wake.He also comes across as decisive,defender of rugby league and a no nonsense man,without the JON ego.Union investing in its own junior development! Now that is a novel idea.
Steffy
Guest
Tahu hasn't broken his contract, he has signed for the Eels for when the get out clause (open to both himself or the ARU to trigger) kicks in. There is no comparison between what Tahu has done and what SBW with the help of the FFR, Toulon and the French government did.
Steve Kaless
Roar Guru
Pip, I used the final line to illustrate the point that while some may view the game and feel it is right for a merger, culturally the two sets of fans wouldn't go for it. Those you propose a merger often do so without any real understanding of both of the sports, and while there are those you enjoy both sports equally I'd argue that they'd be put off by rugby-lite or whatever it would be called. So yeah, the point was about the cultural differences over the codes rather than the sports themselves, many of the comments here have probably illustrated it better than I could have. Cheers
Steve Kaless
Roar Guru
Spiro, I think there are some fairly obvious differences between the SBW and TT cases and I'm sure what you expected David Gallop to say, but I'll leave those points alone. However, unlike you I think the time when a league player was offered a contract for a World Cup is probably as far away now than ever before. First, you have you said yourself that rugby is a complex game, surely a world cup training camp is not the place to learn the rules. But more importantly, I can't see the ARU doing it because it wouldn't be popular move amongst rugby followers. Imagine the outcry before a world cup of picking a centre from the Melbourne Storm (who'd have to be the close to highest paid player in the team) over someone from the Brumbies. The ARU wouldn't probably have blood on their hands as I'm sure Peter Fitzsimmons' head would explode. A move such as that would send the wrong message to every young rugby player in the country.
Tom Alexander.
Guest
Could we swap Gallop for O'Neil. He, Gallop, really does RL more harm than good, especially when he opens his mouth. We know he is a News Limited stooge, but does he have to make it so obvious. I don't expect Tahu will make a big impact when he returns to League. If i remember correctly, the last time he was here, he struggled with injury after injury. Union is better off investing in it's own youth development programs.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
'http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6723992.ece' A bit of union bashing for you, Steffy.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
Fair enough.
tropmalk
Guest
Spiro has a good point re Rugby sevens. It is likely to become an Olympic sport and will thus attract interest from both RU and RL players. As a sport it is very different to the 15 man game and would be a far better fit for immediate success by RL players to be signed up just for the occasion, we could even win the gold with Inglis and Folau!
Crosscoder
Guest
Knives Out. Wrong. He was in fact a junior ru player,and had a couple of games in rl in 2003/04.Sorry to report the bulk of the 105 aspirants who attended the trials,had not played rl before.Maybe they were all former korfballers,who didn't enjoy that sport.My point it does happen,that a few ru players actually prefer rl,and vice versa.Even happens in the Valleys. Implying no such thing (Celtic Crusaders),simply rl junior development is finally making great strides in the Wales,more so with the junior results such as the under 18s side.As far as Celtic Crusaders SL team is concerned that is work in progress. You can thank SL appearing on TV,and the development work being done in Wales,in collusion with the RLC clubs there.
Ian Noble
Guest
I don't see what all the fuss is about, in this professional age there will and should be free movement of players between codes. It just makes good media speak. In reality there are very few League players who make the transistion to union succesfully, the skillsets are very different and League players particularly those who had been professional for a number years need time to adapt. Hape at Bath, Myler at Northampton and Williams at Newcastle are good examples of players taking their time to adapt, playing A team rugby and learning the game and are now making their way in the game. Others who have been promoted before they were ready, Farrell, Vianikolo, Paul etc expensive signings sanctioned and partly financed by the RFU have not proven to be too successful. In the future, I can forsee a situation as the union game in England is now producing more English qualified players than ever, that in time if a professional rugby player wants to continue to play rugby professionally some may look at League more closely if the opportunities in union are resticted. The handling and defensive skills together with the physicality of the modern union game makes the transistion to League more obvious.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
'And it will not be a one way street to ru,as evidenced in what is going on in Wales.Rugby league attracted over 105 youngsters from the length and breadth of wales many of whom had not played rl before for the under 18 Celtic Crusader’s trials.' And? Are you implying that the Crusaders have been a glaring success. The example you give is a rugby league player who got a union contract and didn't enjoy it. Again... and?
Crosscoder
Guest
i find all the tooing and froing amusing.JON stated at one stage on his grand return,that he will be pushing grassroots rugby union,as getting rugby league players has not been the expected success.They got short term publicity,and yet crowds and Tv ratings are down. Then in the next breath ,when discussing the next S15 franchise and i quote JON"expect the side to be made up with S14 who do'nt make the cut in Australia,polynesian players and rugby league players.No further comment but a wry grin from moi. On SBW and the hoo haa and liking it to Tahu is crazy.SBW had only a short time before signed a long term contract with the Dogs(who developed him at an early age) and no get out.SBW maintained he still loved the game and had issues.Tahu had a get out clause and did not apparently enjoy the experience.Gallop has a point .If he said nothing he would be classified as a weakling. I will quote a young Welsh rugby player by the name of Ben Flower."I secured a contract in rugby union for Bedwas and Newport Gwent Dragons and didn't persist with rugby league.I then went on to appear for Wales in union at under 18/19 and 20 level. John Dixon the coach of the Celtic Crusaders super league rl team approached me suggesting I would be a useful rl player.I was playing in a position that I wasn't enjoying and it was taking away from me the best parts of my game.I think for me that rugby league is whereI can use my best qualities and that is why I have come to enjoy it a lot more than rugby union>" Message as long as man is on the earth players such as Tahu/SBW et al will make a move for financials or job statisfaction if you will. And it will not be a one way street to ru,as evidenced in what is going on in Wales.Rugby league attracted over 105 youngsters from the length and breadth of wales many of whom had not played rl before for the under 18 Celtic Crusader's trials.
Jolly Jupes
Guest
I notice it is becoming trendy to say on this site that getting rid of players is good "because it frees up some cash". Yes you dont have to pay Timana or Lote anymore but it is still part of the money that must be paid to the players. Yes these players will be replaced by cheaper versions no doubt but any excess will be distributed across the other 120+ contracted players inflating their paypackets. A couple of players will come on board, and where they deserve to be at that level or whether they can win a game is another thing but there is no real flow back to grass roots. Interesting these players actually derived much of their income from Rugby Union sponsors and bring new sponsors to the rugby union table so it will be interesting if there is a drop in sponsorship at the tahs as a direct or indirect result of the loss of some "name" players leaving
mcxd
Guest
why did i feel like this was going to happen just after he signed to go to union ?
Spencer
Guest
Tasmania is to Australia as League is to Rugby. Pip you would have caused an invasion of the mainland if they had the internet in Tasmania.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
Very quick, OME. Unarmed and one-armed. A deadly combination.
Tom
Guest
It was pretty dewy at Suncorp for Origin 3, hence the poor ball handling. The ball handling in the Bledisloe game (albeit also in wet conditions) was abysmal also; especially the Wallabies under the high ball were absolutely appalling. As for your criticism of the 'complex game for wankers' credo, I fail to see how it is ignorant. A large portion of representative rugby players come from GPS/CAS etc schools, whilst the Waratahs are perceived (rightly or wrongly) as a team of the East and North shore, and hence could perhaps be considered 'wankers'. And I don't think anyone can argue that union isn't a complex game, for better or worse there are many relatively obscure laws, and my impression is that more union games swing upon the referee's interpretation of the rules compared to most other sports.
Tom
Guest
I think part of the reason for JON's relative silence has been the fact it was somewhat fortuitous to get rid of Tahu, he wasn't really performing and it is a lot of cash that will be freed up.
Tom
Guest
I think you are being a bit unfair, certainly he had some tremendous performances for Parramatta without much support; see the 2007 Semi Final against Melbourne for an example.