Media should embrace world rugby league

Further south in France's rugby belt, the Toulouse Crocodiles recently played a promotional game at the halftime break of a professional Rugby League match between Toulouse Olympique and English club Dewsbury, with a crowd of around 800 spectators. http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20100324191354199 HMMM, surely this could not happen !!!.

"Look, AFL is the dominant code in 4 dates with 46% of the population. NRL is the dominant code in 2 states with 54% of the population. " 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

and we probably will.

why does union even have to be mentioned poly? the article is to do with rugby leagues international presence, which is growing quite steadily. based on your argument, rugby union must be a small, dieing international sport as well. it is only popular in nz and a couple of pacific islands, as it is dwarfed by other sports in the uk, france, australia, south africa and every other country that plays it. also, how many usernames do you want to post under?

News of Rugby Leagues' death and the conversion to RU are greatly exaggerated. I always say it and will now I like AFL but it was interesting to see my friends from the USA when they had a choice between League and AFL. They quickly went with League. They said they had seen it before in the US. Aussie rules , Nah! Look, AFL is the dominant code in 4 dates with 46% of the population. NRL is the dominant code in 2 states with 54% of the population. Thats it. The thing AFL has going for it is big $ , lots of mates in the media . I say good on them for that. They have a very very efficient run organization which makes sure it works and gets publicised. Plus they have a media that rarely says anything bad about their games especially in the southern states. Once again . Why rubbish something that pays your salary. Rugby League has and will do very well thank you very much and good on it too. It is an exceptional product. If you like it barrack for it. if you like AFL go for it, but be fair to all code because they all have a place and have a heritage. Rugby League internationally does okay, When i was in Fiji last year i was surprised to see the news FIJI NEWS and it gave the results for the NRL . I was even more surprised to see people in fihi with NRL jerseys. So, there is a big impact on the island communities about NRL , they know it for sure. Yet Rugby Union is the #1 game. Oh we could just go on and on

looks like another cheap swipe doesn't it CC?

Btw face the facts, do you want videos, pictures or any other proof? 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 :)

lol Yeah wiki is a very reliable source. Fair dinkum. Can I ask you who's statue is outside the stadium?

It is as "it says on the tin" your stats refer to metropolitan boroughs, not to the size of the cities. There is also the definition of a city, whether it should relate to the "Greater" prefix. Greater Manchester, for example, includes Rochdale, Oldham, Stockport, Salford etc in its spread and influence. Most people would consider that at least Salford, where Manchester United actually play, should definitely be included as an intregal part of Manchester. Similarly Newcastle/Gateshead on both banks of the Tyne are generally considered to be one metropolitan area. When does a City become a conurbation? Regrettably it is all in the definition. As a matter of interest I suggest you key in the Greater prefix and see what materialises, that probably will be a better reflection of a city and it is possible that Leeds might be paired with Bradford.

"As in the rest of the south west of France, rugby union is popular in Carcassonne. The city is represented by Union Sportive Carcassonnaise, known locally simply as USC. The club have a proud history, having played in the French Championship Final in 1925, and currently compete in Federale 1, the third tier of French rugby. 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!

Leeds is the second biggest metropolitan borough after Birmingham. I didn't count London as a whole. Birmingham - 1,016,800 Leeds - 770,800 Manchester - 464,200 Liverpool - 434,900 Bradford - 501,700 Newcastle, Leicester and Nottingham were all below 300,000. If we count only cities Leeds is 4th behind London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

Dave, they do not get bigger crowds than any of those 3 RL sides. 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.

Prove it, go on Dave. 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).

as a league fan living in London, various places around sussex and essex for 10 years I have a fairly good idea, Im no expert but it not easy to find or get on the tele / main stream media. 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.

I am all ears Jus.Please expand on your comment.Or is just another of your throwaway lines?

They had AFL games played in Wellington in the past as well.

j d c Please explain?

It happened last year or the year before Dave. 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 :)

I have never seen any AFL results from London and i've watch channel nini news all the time.

There's more Aussie/Kiwi playing rugby in Europe than league.