During my time with The Roar, I’ve been amazed at just how articulate, intelligent, and insightful Roarers are.
Rest assured, this website is generally no place for trollers, who are quickly found out and admonished. No, this site is for intelligent sports fans with intelligent thoughts, comments and opinions.
That is, until it comes to comparing the football codes. Then, for whatever reason, intelligence goes out the window.
Take, for example, a very good friend of mine who would label himself a “rugby man”. He’s played rugby union all his life, and loves the sport. While he’s not above calling the modern game “pretty boring at times”, he remains intensely passionate about the code.
However, he’s also a massive South Sydney fan, and attends three to four National Rugby League games a year. He never misses a Rabbitohs game on TV, and sulks for two hours should the Bunnies lose. Sounds like a fairly devout rugby league man, right?
Well, try gently criticising rugby union in front of him.
Even if you don’t mention rugby league, he’ll immediately go into rugby-defence mode, and will rant about how predictable league is, how dumb league fans and players are, how localised the sport league is (i.e. not as international as union) and how he absolutely can’t stand the game.
All whilst wearing his Souths scarf proudly around his neck.
What turns such a rational and intelligent man, and obvious admirer of rugby league, into such a vocal critic of the same sport in the blink of an eye?
It’s bewildering, yet The Roar provides an even more robust sample size that clearly highlights that he is not alone in being overly sensitive about his chosen code. We’ve all read the stereotypical comments when fans defend their own code, and bash another.
“League is just five hit-ups and kick, five hit-ups and kick, five hit-ups and kick. It’s boring.”
“Union is a joke. Even the referees and players don’t understand the rules, and everyone just kicks the ball away. It’s boring.”
“AFL is just aerial ping pong. It looks like seagulls fighting over a chip. It’s boring.”
“Soccer is for drama students: it’s all diving and faked injuries. And a 1-0 score line? That’s boring.”
Such comments are opinions, and therefore cannot be deemed right or wrong. But I’d love to know how many AFL fans have been converted to rugby league fans off the back of a comment they read on The Roar. I think we all know what that figure would be.
Why can’t we just let our fellow man enjoy whatever sport they choose? Why do we have to mock our non-favourite sports? And do we honestly have to pick just one?
I’ve spent a lot of time in New York over the years, and I’ve always found it fantastic that New Yorkers do not follow individual sports. They follow their teams.
Ask a New Yorker who they support, and they’ll reply “Knicks, Yankees, Rangers and Giants”. Or, “Nets, Mets, Devils and Jets”. Or some other combination of the eight, depending on whether they like underdog teams, or are actually from New Jersey.
The point is, they don’t answer “Basketball; the rest are boring.”
They support their teams. Period.
And it’s far from just a New York thing. A good friend of mine recently moved to Australia from Chicago. When I asked him what his favourite sporting team was, he replied “Bulls, Blackhawks, Bears, and White Sox.”
Granted, the American examples are all different sports, not different football codes. But I still feel that universal appreciation for sports should be the way for Australian’s, who love to proclaim themselves as the world’s biggest sports fans.
Yet, after reading some comments from Roarers, you could be forgiven for thinking that most readers only have enough love in their heart for one code, and hate all others. Many show their insecurities by openly deriding, teasing and mocking the codes they don’t consider their personal number one or absolute favourite.
And before you know it, a code war has erupted.
Early on in my time writing for The Roar, I fell prey to the trick of inciting a code war. It’s an easy way of generating comments and I freely admit I was seduced by the allure of doing so. But, in all honesty, it leaves you incredibly hollow afterwards.
It’s kind of like drunkenly hooking up with an ex-girlfriend. Sure, you picked up, but does it really count?
The comments that are written during a code war don’t really add much value. And I don’t think such comments are an accurate representation of Australian sports fans.
There is no doubt that The Roar has grown in stature, not to mention respect, in recent times. Articles by John O’Neill, David Gallop, James Sutherland, David Campese, Clyde Rathbone, Murray Mexted, Paul Cully, etc. have added immense credibility to the site and provide evidence of how seriously it is now taken.
It’s now an incredibly respected sports site, filled with the opinion of intelligent writers and fans.
However, each time we descend into a ridiculous code war debate, we devalue the site, our individual codes, and our own intelligence.
But allow me to play devil’s advocate for a minute.
What’s the difference between arguing which code is better, and arguing who should captain Australia’s one day cricket side? Aren’t both debates purely subjective with no definitive right or wrong answer?
So why am I getting on my high horse and inferring that a debate about which football code is better is silly, yet debating about who’s a better full-forward is insightful? What’s the difference?
It’s a difficult question to answer. Opinions are opinions, regardless of the subject matter, and opinions are the currency of this website. For evidence, just look at the tag-line under The Roar logo.
But code wars?
I just believe that we’re collectively better than that.
The Great G Nepia
Guest
All blacks, gloucester ru, wigan rl, widnes rl, celtic fc, everton fc. I think a lot of comments have hit the nail on the head. Code wars start as sports encroach into the territories of others, where they did not exist before. In australia though the difference is news limited and its newspapers are responsible for whipping up a lot of hatred and hysteria in the code wars over the years.
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
To say that England are no longer competitive is silly. The English thrashed the World Champion New Zealand Kiwis in last year's Four Nations, and had Australia rattled during their Test at Wembley. If it wasn't for the dodgy refereeing decisions then England might have won the Wembley Test. The two best second-rowers in the world are English. Sam Tompkins would be a sensation in the NRL.
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
Association football fans created the name "soccer" during the 19th century because they wanted their code to have a unique name of its own, just like "rugby football". It astounds me that soccer fans aren't aware of word's etymology.
Queensland's game is rugby league
Guest
"Equivilent to AFLQ for Rugby league is not NRLQ but RLLQ." No, it's the Queensland Rugby League. I'm pretty sure the QAFL/AFLQ was disbanded around a decade ago. I think it was replaced with the NEAFL.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
Of course there is a debate. As it is, I disagree. IMO the best football code is Australian Football by a long way. "As for Aussie Rules, nobody outside Australia even knows what that is." That's relevant because? I wasn't aware that the quality of a sport was determined by how popular or well known it is.
Photon
Guest
There's not debate here, the best football code is Soccer, followed by Rugby, then League and AFL. If there was any value in League it would have long outstripped Union due to being a Pro-sport long before Union. As for Aussie Rules, nobody outside Australia even knows what that is. Nobody with a family and a proper job, can ever hope to watch all four football codes, there are only so many hours in a weekend. The reason that Americans aren't patriochal about sports is because the ones you mention do not run concurrently.
Emric
Guest
lol so funny bear
The Cattery
Roar Guru
nomis true, it does happen, but in all honestly, it only happens around the margins, and it often works in both directions.
nomis
Guest
Haha! Interesting! I actually know so many people who have taken on a particular religion later in life! lol
Bondy
Guest
Swannie. I'm just a bit confused you say in your statement the A.F.L. is endeavouring to get kids to play this sport in non heartland areas.People such as yourself try to convince the rest of the nation that Aussie Rules is our national game, how can this sport be our national sport when you and the A.F.L. quite clearly state that not that many kids even play the game nationally . That's why the G.W.S. is here isn't it to finally get kids in a major region to actually play the sport . Nothing in your statement or the A.F.L. s makes any sense at all . Off with the fairies again .
Go warriors
Guest
He changed his name to PW.
me, I like football
Guest
AFLQ is OK because it's the Australian Football League in Queensland. the Equivilent to AFLQ for Rugby league is not NRLQ but RLLQ.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
The difference between calling Australian Football AFL and Association Football Soccer is that AFL is simply the name of the premier league, while soccer is slang. It originated in England, has been used by such people as Pele, and is also used by both the English FA (in certain circumstances) as well as the South African stadium that hosted the World Cup. As such, calling Association Football soccer is completely different to calling Australian Football AFL. The equivalent, to calling Association Football soccer, would be to call Australian Football Aussie Rules or Australian Rules Football (ARF). Personally, I call Australian Football Aussie Rules, however I hate ARF. The equivalent to calling Australian football AFL would be to call Association football EPL. "Then Aussie Rules zealots have the cheek to get offended when people mistakenly refer to the whole game as AFL rather than just being the premier league of that sport." I can't speak for others, however I do get offended when certain anti-Australian football/pro-Association football zealots continue to call Australian Football AFL even though they know full well it's the name of the competition, and not the code, and at the same time, they get offended when people don't call soccer Football. I could say the same about these people; they continue to call Australian football AFL, yet they have the cheek when people don't call soccer Football to complain. "All I’m saying is you can’t get annoyed at Northerners who don’t understand the difference if they make a mistake, like the prawn here last year that slammed a Sydney-sider for calling the umpire a referee." That is certainly taking the sport too seriously. "It annoys me to hear of youngsters playing AFL on the news up north, when they are barely old enough to drive a car(because playing in the AFL is an honour that should be earned, not just any idiot that picks up Sherrin) ." I love that! :D :D "Similarly, we football fans can’t expect people to stop referring to the game of football as Soccer instantaneously overnight which is why I don’t personally get my feathers ruffled if someone calls the sport Soccer instead of football. It kind of grates on my ears, but at the end of the day everybody knows exactly what is being talked about." One of the reasons I, and others, use the term soccer is because it's quicker to write or say than Association football. Football is a term I (and many others) reserve for our favored football codes- Australian football in my case- and as I noted above, using the name soccer is completely different to using the name AFL. As for AFL HQ, they are unique in that while they govern the code, they also run a competition (unlike FIFA), and in situations like this, their governing of the competition takes precedence over the running of the code. Which I don't need to remind a SANFL fan about.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
Of course, Australian Rules isn't mentioned, since it's not the name of the sport!
Kasey
Guest
At least FIFA for all of its many, many faults gets the name of the sport it governs correct;)
db swannie
Guest
Talk about denial.. Cattery ,go to the site & have a look.. Here are a few quotes. "Here you can learn the basics rules of AFL" "Learn all about AFL Queensland and it's policies on AFL within the state. You can also touch up on your history of AFL within Queensland. " The whole site is AFL...The words Australian rules do not get used. & contrary to what you say ...The game you sign up for ,follow & play is AFL.
Geoff Lemon
Expert
It's a tricky call as a writer. You want to write articles that will engage people's interest, but you don't want to feel like you're resorting to cheap tricks. At least I don't. The most-read piece I wrote on The Roar was on Ricky Nixon's downfall. It was a serious piece about media ethics and public hypocrisy, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't what brought the hits. Probably more likely the phrase "teen sex scandal" in the headline. It made me very aware of trying not to succumb to a cheap angle to get reads. You want good hits, but you want them fora quality article, in an ideal world. Generally I think we're pretty good at being ethical in that regard here on The Roar, certainly more so than a lot of outlets. But it's something that needs ongoing vigilance.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Yes, as Pivotian states, you sign up for the AFLQ because that's the name of the competition - but it doesn't necessarily follow that the game is then called AFL.
Kasey
Guest
All I’m saying is you can’t get annoyed at Northerners who don’t understand the difference if they make a mistake, like the prawn here last year that slammed a Sydney-sider for calling the umpire a referee. It annoys me to hear of youngsters playing AFL on the news up north, when they are barely old enough to drive a car(because playing in the AFL is an honour that should be earned, not just any idiot that picks up Sherrin) . Similarly, we football fans can’t expect people to stop referring to the game of football as Soccer instantaneously overnight which is why I don’t personally get my feathers ruffled if someone calls the sport Soccer instead of football. It kind of grates on my ears, but at the end of the day everybody knows exactly what is being talked about. Far too often the AFL commission seems to get a free pass from a compliant Southern States press corps and a support base sated by “hey we get record crowds and memberships, shut up and don’t sweat the small stuff”
Geoff Lemon
Expert
^ Agreed