Ashton on moving from league to union

Ted Where is your evidence to dis-prove the figure or do you not want to believe it? The link you put up as evidence did not provide up to date figures (at least I couldn't find them) and secondly the figures it did provide only counted from age 16+ Tell me Ted how do you say the IRB figure is in-correct when your latest information is from 2009, and your provided data does not cover the same range the IRB covered. So you can say lies all you like but you're evidence does not mean anything

I am suggesting the IRB figures are bogus. There is nothing in the Sports England Survey to support their figures. The combined teen & pre-teen figures that the IRB post totals over 2.3 million. Lies Lies lies.

I'm going to assume you did not read the website that you've used to present the data, else you would have realized the IRB figure for England was a combined total figure,that's boys and girls registered to play Rugby Union of some form or another in England between the age of 5 and 100. The figures from your website present combined boys and girls of the age 16+ These figures are Football - Boys and Girls 16+:2,122,700 Union - Boys and Girls 16+: 207,500 League - Boys and Girls 16+:63,000 - The lower Teen and Pre-Teen Figures were not given - These figures were collected from : http://www.sportengland.org/research/sport_facts/sport_facts_08_09.aspx (Select Football, Rugby Union, or Rugby League PDF for review) These figures represent the dates between APS3 (Oct 08 / Oct 09) The IRB Total Figure: 2,549,196 The IRB has calmed that senior players:166,762 (18+) Teenage rugby has been on the increase in England ever since they won the world cup and almost won the last world cup. Nothing you've posted disproves the figure. If anything it further proves that the figure of 166,762 (Males 18+) to be accurate with the material you've posted 213,100 (Males 16+) Thanks

Those RFU figures are bogus,. If they have over 2.3 million teen & pre-teen players then they have more players in that category than the entire number of soccer players (a little over 2 million) in England. http://www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey/active_people_survey_5/quarter_one.aspx Stop spreading lies.

IRB Senior Male Stats =166762 These are reported by the England Rugby Union, which is actually lower then the 177,900 number stated in your report. The 2million figure as quoted by the IRB is a combination of "ALL" players in England and not just senior males. http://www.irb.com/unions/union=11000002/index.html Number Of Clubs:2099 Number Of Registered Players:2549196 Number of Referees:34558 Pre-teen Male Players:819710 Pre-teen Female Player:3703 Teen Male Player:1545233 Teen Female Player:8471 Senior Male Player:166762 Senior Female Player:5317 Total Male Player:2531705 Total Female Player:17491 So the report is not wrong and nor has the IRB or England Rugby Board mislead anyone if anything this report proves the RU figures to be very pretty close on the mark. RU has big issues in England mostly in the North.

2 million RFU players blah blah blah: Now the reality: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/09/rfu-funding-cut-grassroots "The Rugby Football Union will lose more than £1m in public funding from taxpayers and the lottery after failing to increase the number of people playing the game at grassroots level. Rugby union has become the second sport to face an enforced reduction in money promised under Sport England's plan to invest £480m in grassroots sport over four years between 2009 and 2013 in the hope of securing a participation legacy from the Olympics. But unlike Basketball England, which disputed the reduction of its own award by £1.2m in March, the RFU has agreed that its income should be cut by £1.078m in return for a renegotiated target. Sport England's active people survey shows that the number of adults playing rugby union at least once a week has declined from 230,000 at the start of the funding period to 177,900 at the latest update. "The decision to reduce funding to the RFU was not taken lightly but Sport England has been clear that failure to achieve the agreed growth in its sport would lead to a governing body's overall funding levels being reviewed," Sport England's chief executive, Jennie Price, said. "I am glad that the RFU has acknowledged that the challenge for rugby union is to stop the decline in participation and to inspire new and former players to get out on the pitch enjoying this great game in all its forms." John Steele, the recently appointed RFU chief executive, said: "We have to accept that the failure to meet our Sport England targets over the last few years would inevitably affect the level of funding we receive. However, I now believe we have far more realistic targets for the next two years and we are committed to creating a sound platform for growth as we move towards the home World Cup in 2015." Steele has said he plans to focus on growing the game at all levels and is expected to attempt to increase the appeal of sevens, touch and tag rugby as well as the traditional form of the game. The Guardian revealed in March that the government is set to drop the high-profile Olympic legacy target introduced by the former Labour administration of increasing the number of people playing sport three or more times a week by 1 million to 7.815 million by 2012-13. Sport England's latest quarterly active people survey showed the figure stood at 6.881 million, only a marginal increase on the 2007-08 baseline of 6.815 million. Over the four-year funding period football was originally awarded more than £25m, tennis more than £26m, cricket more than £38m, badminton more than £20m, rugby union more than £31m and rugby league more than £29m. Seventeen sports have seen a decrease in the number of people participating once a week since 2007-08, while only four – athletics, mountaineering, netball and table tennis – have recorded an increase. The combined maximum funding award for the RFU and RFU for Women was £30.72m, consisting of £18.82m in revenue funding and £11.9m for capital projects. As a result of reductions to Sport England's funding in the comprehensive spending review, the capital award had already been reduced to £10.54m. Around £8m of the total had been earmarked for women's rugby.

rogers could be brilliant at times... if he was younger that would've been great, he would've been a legend like Campo

tell that to the rugby league fans on the english league forum who are also asking the same questions about the so call london and welsh developments.

Sorry I forgot to mention, they initially signed a three-year deal with Bolton about staging a game each year. They're possibly looking at Boxing Day match as well with Leicester or Northampton as the opposition.

all in all a good result. hopefully it becomes an annual iniative and with a more competitive Sale and no major soccer games on that weekend, hope full stadium can be achieved.

Now for the facts- Connacht is GAA heartland. Yet rugby has made huge inroads in the West of Ireland. for Connacht upcoming game they are having to bring in temporary seating. not bad at all. Some how Itaian expansion is bad? i have been rather impressed with the Italian crowds considering their tough year. As WCR points out, the Scottish ML teams do have some issues, bu rugby in Scotland is booming.

I would hope not,but reading some of the earlier viewpoints on rl, tended to encourage such a possibility.

Well the huge growth in participation numbers throughout the country,suggests the RFL is doing something right.And this applies to non traditional areas egThe first ever schools tournament was played last year in Swindon,Bristol,Exeter,Torbay & Plymouth. According to a RFL stats the number of adults playing the game increased by over 30,000 last year.the number of secondary school participants increased by 25,273. In fact according to RFL report 17/3 rl celebrates its one millionth participant"the 1 million is made up of individuals involved in actual rl activity ,delivered by a pro club such as coaching,Touch rugby sessions for all ages,festivals and hol activities in schools and community clubs.It does not include assemblies,classroom activities or stadium tours. The heartlands agree is a must,but from what I read a lot more effort ,is going into grassroots in the north,than before,and so it should.

I understood exactly what you stated.

I suggest your supposition is incorrect, as to just schools in London & wales.The RFL reports give details, as do the listed clubs in London and Wales. There are growing registered junior teams in both those areas,and there has been year to year growth with new teams at all junior age levels certainly in London.Junior teams involved with every rl conference club in wales. Schools participation is competely separate to the registered clubs. that is not to say schools ,are not important.. My point was not just on schools but also clubs.

"It seems everywhere you go people knock Rugby League. " Just have a look in this site alone and you will see the Rugby also has its knockers. Have you seen a website dedicated SOLELY in hating League yet? No. Well.. I know it would boggle the mind but there is a site out there that was made SOLELY at hating Rugby. Guess the fans who made it, and just guess the Website name.

What? What are the Stadium Requirements? Stadium size. I see the Pirates play at the 2200 seated capacity mennaye field... they have an avg of 2,115/match Worcester plays in the 12K capacity Sixways stadium... and are averaging 6,534/match.

Orrell simply didn't qualify for the Premiership and then their backer pulled out. To suggest that the RFU should have simply pushed them into the Premiership is simply ridiculous.

I was at the Sale-Irish match at the Reebok and it was really enjoyable - the atmosphere was very good as well. The next test is whether fans don't just see this as a one-off. If they can get a game where there isn't a big match involving the Manchester football sides, hopefully they can get a full stadium.

And Andy Farrell seems to be doing a great job down at Saracens as well. His son's not an half bad player either.