Why would you sleep with the enemy?

Oh Mick...... I too remember it fondly from my youth, I remember it being funny as all get-up and an Australian institution. But time has moved on and now, fifteen years later, and on Wednesday nights, it is neither.... (btw, my point was more about a show with 'Saturday' in its title being on TV on Wed nights, but I'll stand by these comments above anyway!!)

i remember the idea of it being played on Australia Day was tossed around. Actually i think that was from a Lote Tuqiri smh article a few years back. Might be pretty risky for injury right before the season starts.

RL has the 4 nations in October anyway, how are they going to fit it in? GF at the beginning of October, 2 weeks break, a warm up game between Australia and Fiji/Lebanon or someone else and then 4 weeks of more International RL.

It's on Youtube, the whole thing.

True enough. They are different enough to have their own appeal when played well. But i could foresee something along the way that cricket has developed 3 distinct forms of the game happening at different levels. Rugby has sevens already at the moment which is like 20-20, RL is like a one day game and RU has more of the feel of test cricket (don't take me too literally please). I do feel RU still has a long way to go refining its rules for the week in week out mass market club type competition. RL has been evolving in this direction for 100 years and is a pretty good product at this level. RU? I think even its own supporters have pretty clear idea of the issues it needs to address.

Forgot everything is on Wikepedia these days. 2 games, 82-6 WIgan, 44-19 Bath. I must have seen the second game but not the first.

That was a pretty fun game actually. There might have been a half of Union and Half of League but in the Union half I remember the Leaguies (Wigan) started off trying to play union, kicking the ball away and not getting it back from the line outs until they realised they shouldn't just give the ball away and started to run it from everywhere. After two length of the field tries with about 30 ppasses each (one from behind their own try line) from Wigan Bath decided that 80m rolling mauls which the leaguies could do nothing about were the go. I can't remember but I'd assume the League half was a massacre. But that game was a long time ago and a lot of things would have changed.

I agree, Brett, it's an utterly stupid idea. There are two separate codes and that's that. Way more importantly - leave Hey Hey alone, young fella! I remember seeing it first on a Saturday morning in the late '70s, as I went to collect a mate at Pagewood to go and watch the Australian Open (I think) - when about 17 people used turn up and you could stand and talk to Seve Ballesteros and his brother while they were putting on the back nine, or laugh with Sid Ball while his mate Billy Dunk was getting the chitz about duffing his tee shot, and marvel from 10 yards distance at this young Norman bloke's power and aggression. Anyway, as I was saying, I said to me mate "What's this rubbish on the TV? Let's go!" - no, had to wait until it ended. I got to love the show after that and, 30 years later, I like that John Blackman (who has got to be older than me) Red and Wilbur are still as funny as a circus with their spontaneity. I'm going to report you to the Department of Culture as a Hey Hey denier, Brett!

Waste of time, what's wrong with two codes of Rugby? There is no need for a 3rd.

October is a good time of year to try something fun with the athletes of both rugby codes. It is also the start of the cricket season in Oz. How about some kind of Rugby Sevens matches in a made for TV format? It is now an Olympic sport, already has established set of rules and the rules allow League players to adapt without some of the obvious issues that the 'consortium' is dealing with to make the promotional game work. Issue with Sevens is the time. Only 7 min halves in IRB tournaments, until the final which is 10 min halves. Starting next year, Wallaby broadcast rights are with Nine. Nine has League and Cricket. Weekend 1 (sometime in October), NSW v QLD (Origin eligibility rules) League players in Sevens match. Followed by NSW v QLD in Union players in Sevens match. With guest stars, commentary, etc., etc. you get a 90 min - 120 min made for TV product. From these matches, you select Australian teams (League and Union). Weekend 2, T20 cricket match at ANZ Stadium. Half time show is Kangaroos v Wallabies in Rugby Sevens match with 10 min halves. Above is simplest format. In lead up to Commonwealth Games and Olympic games this could double as national team selection. Put some meaning into the matches! Ultimately the ARU will control the Australian Olympic Sevens team, and if today’s status quo holds, would not entertain allowing NRL contracted players to be selected. This might give the right brand awareness, revenue generation and overall marketing opportunities to support a pathway to really having our best athletes in the Sevens team come the Olympics! Of course, this could all be expanded if Nine, the NRL and the ARU really wanted to do marketing experimentation with Rugby Sevens. You could expand the concept with more teams. From the League side, you could have each NRL team enter a Sevens team. Those 16 teams would fill an entire weekend with TV product at a great stadium, say Suncorp in Brisbane. You take the top 6 teams from this NRL weekend and move them to weekend 2. Weekend 2 (at SFS in Sydney) is a 12 team Sevens tournament, The top 6 NRL teams, and from the Union side, each Australian Super 15 franchise could enter a team, along with the ARU’s Sevens team they send to the IRB tournaments. End of weekend 2 you get a national champion Sevens team. Then from all this Sevens footy, you pick a League all-stars and a Union all-stars team and they play off on weekend 3, as the half time entertainment in a T20 match, as per above. If you really want to experiment on the marketing front, you could let the AFL submit a squad to the tournaments as well:)

just over 450k on 7..fox will probably be high 150k

I'll tell you one reason why a hybrid game might happen - it would make an absolute shitload of $$$

what were the figures. i must admit i missed the game, saturday night isnt really ideal for a sporting event.

after the ratings for the aus v england union match, I doubt the NRL sees Rugby as a threat these days

I would dismiss labelling the A-League as a threat to League.. League, Union and Football have co-existed for such a long time together. Plus Football is played in summer here, so there isnt much direct competition. Even at grass roots, football has always had a huge participation, but this hasnt been to the detriment of either code. The AFL coming in wouldnt be such a big deal either, except they have better resources (i.e. their 'war chest') which naturally lends itself to a sense of paranoia amongst the 'established' codes. Also, AFL's persuit of NRL stars has done nothing but highlight this fear. One positive to come out of this is that the professionalism of the AFL has really hurried up some much needed changes to the administration of RL in this country. Also, the fact that Union and League have finally identified their synergies and accpeted that they are not arch rivals as always believed is a good step forward. NSW and QLD are esentially Union and League states in the winter codes. Getting the administration to accept this is a huge step forward. Its much better to work with Union and League than waste resources against one another. The neoconseratives may argue that the AFL is a great enemy that has finally united Union and Leage, and if so, here here I say.

Its called a revenue raiser..the game would be a shamble but get people at any ground throughout aus and nz and would have big numbers watching on TV

it's in the moderation queue Sixo, hopefully it'll come up soon...

Thankee kindly sir

Sixo, so as not to hijack Gavin's article here completely, I'll stick some simple steps over on the Shackledraggers artcile from today: http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/06/14/props-gets-second-chance-to-impress/

Yeah it shoulda bin Toosday cos thats me bingo night.! PS: to watch the 'barbarians' live feed could you enlighten me technically on what needs to be done and is there any chance of tapping into the previous game?