Even in England’s north-west, where the face of soon to be dual Warriors fullback Sam Tomkins roars from a council billboard saying “Believe In Wigan”, rugby league is accustomed to playing second fiddle.
The legendary Warriors may be the team that Australians automatically associate with Wigan, but association football’s Wigan Athletic are minnows no more – notwithstanding the fact that they’re currently plying their trade in the second tier Championship after an all-too-brief flirtation with the Premier League.
If you can ignore the frosty conditions – not easy for someone who was swimming at Bondi eight days earlier – it’s not all doom and gloom for Wigan football fans.
Earlier this year, the Latics upset top-flight glamour club Manchester City 1-0 with a stoppage time goal in the 2012/13 FA Cup Final.
And though Tomkins is the star attraction in the town square after the Warriors added yet another Super League trophy to the cabinet this year, it’s a photo of Latics club boss Dave Whelan carrying the FA Cup around Wembley that takes pride of place in the city centre’s DW Sports Store.
Unlike London’s Lillywhites, rugby league at least gets a look-in here, with jerseys and training kit for the Rugby League World Cup’s ‘big three’ on sale.
Still, support for the Wigan Warriors doesn’t run as deep as you’d think, as I discover while ingesting a local delicacy/dietician’s nightmare of battered cod, chunky chips and mushy peas outside DW Stadium.
A middle-aged couple join me at Sharpy’s Fish and Chip Restaurant, an hour or so before before their beloved Latics go down 2-1 to Belgium’s Zulte Waregem in a critical Europa League clash.
They’re more familiar with Tomkins’ union playing younger brother Joel than the rugby league superstar, though they at least watched England’s soul-crushing, awe-inspiring 20-18 RLWC semi-final loss to the Kiwis at Wembley the previous weekend.
They’re politely ambivalent to rugby league, yes, but aware of its existence nonetheless.
Just down the road at the Museum of Liverpool, with its loving tributes to the reds of Liverpool FC and the blues of Everton and the many and varied strips of the Tranmere Rovers, rugby league is placed even further on the sidelines.
An aerial map of the sporting teams of the region spotlights football clubs and rugby clubs, tennis clubs and golf clubs…and then St Helens Rugby League Football Club, sitting out on its lonesome on the eastern fringes.
As rain tumbles down on the uprights and crossbars that dot the landscape between Liverpool and Manchester, you have to wonder why anyone in England bothers with outdoor sports at all given throwing darts is a viable career option here.
In Manchester, at least, the RLWC 2013 decider at Old Trafford is on the radar, if only a blip.
It doesn’t help that the English team fell 21 seconds short of a shot at glory last weekend, or that Manchester United, the stadium’s main tenants, and their crosstown City rivals both dished out smashings in their respective Champions League matches on Wednesday.
But there they are. Nine pages into the sport section of the Manchester Evening Post, Kangaroos skipper Cameron Smith and Kiwis captain Simon Mannering are standing either side of a trophy that spent some of its life in a roadside ditch, anonymous, before being rescued and reconditioned to its previous shiny glory.
If that trophy’s life story isn’t symbolic of rugby league’s turbulent history, nothing ever will be.
This sort of story is just another day at the office for a sport that’s like a punch drunk boxer who keeps climbing back into the ring against far stronger opponents, occasionally jagging an unlikely win to keep the dream alive.
A small, succulent fish in a big global pond that does most of its leaping out of the water at two opposite arse-ends of the world, occasionally being caught and served up to the public with chips and mushy peas.
A minnow of a sport whose ‘meaningless’ ‘farce’ of a tournament’s finale will today fill one of the world’s most iconic stadiums.
A red rag to a bull of journalists and rival code followers alike.
The greatest game of all. That’s league.
Follow Kris on Twitter @KrisSwales
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Interestingly RLWC organisers indicated 59% of attendees for the Wembley semi finals came from the London & south region.
Maximus
Guest
Wow its taken off in Rochdale - are you serious????
duecer
Guest
Yes Glenn, you're right. I was being a bit optimistic. By the 60's there were very few wins and RL was no longer a contender in England. As, you say, Soccer can't be totally blamed for the continuing demise of RL in England - times change, but it may have been a boost if England had got to the final or won this WC.
cowelly
Guest
If Rugby League is to grow in England, there HAS to be help from the ARLC. Not financially, but sending more big games to England. Maybe once every 4 years, have a short international comp, or none at all, and introduce a comp between 4 NRL teams and 4 SL teams to a final. Play it back and forth in England and Australia. The game CAN grow in England.. it just needs more exposure. There's no doubt the poms know that RL is far more supported in Australia than RU, and that gap is only going to widen - we just have to show them WHY we watch League more often. Plus, the poms love nothing more than beating aussies at their own game. And don't blame League's depletion in England on Soccer. Union and Cricket are still massive in England and have not really been affected by Soccer. League in England and France missed it's opportunities by not getting it together. It got working in Australia (after the superleague war) and now look at it prosper.
cowelly
Guest
Meh, that'll change.
Marldon
Guest
Union is mentioned far more than league. It was a concerted effort by the rugby football union (who's members pretty much controlled the media) to freeze out league in the 50s, 60s 70s and 80s which is why the game never grew outside of the M62 corridor.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Also Deucer The English team didn't beat Australia regularly in the sixties the only series they won in that decade was in 1962 - Australia won in 63 66 and 67 England won in 1970 and never won again.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Duecer - The glory days were over by the sixties the glory days were between the wars and the fifties.I remember the late Harry Bath talking about when he played for Warrington in the early fifties they regularly played in front of twenty thousand plus crowds.These days Warrington probably average about 8k a game.Even Wigan and Leeds only average about 12k - back in the fifties Leeds Rugby League averaged bigger than Leeds United.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Alvin - REALLY good point - If someone takes the time to head to the Rugby League project site and take a look at the crowds The Kangaroos drew against the English club teams you can see that crowds in England stared to fall away in the late fifties early sixties - which of course coincided with the arrival of TV. As a niche regional sport the game struggled for TV coverage and that simply took it's toll.A lot of Australians really don't understand how marginal Rugby League is in England you are really talking about a couple of dozen provincial towns and even in those towns football is still pretty big, Sadly Rugby League in England is a bit like motorcycle speedway, greyhound racing or boxing - still around hanging in there but the glory days are long gone.
Alvin Purple
Guest
One of the issues I see for RL in England as I see for RU here in Australia is the lack of Free to air coverage. I remember RL being on the BBC Saturday afternoon sports show when I lived in England in 1984. Not sure how long it went through to but I remember living in London and people at least knew the teams - doubt that would be the case now. One good thing about the RLWC being over is this constant trolling by people against each code. It is like RL people are going to stop supporting the code becase RU people critise it - vice versa.
Eddy Bramley
Roar Pro
I've been really impressed with this years World Cup. Finally it looks like other teams apart from the big three are beginning to compete. The likes of Fiji, Samoa and even the USA looked strong. Can't wait for 2017!
duecer
Guest
Freddie - he does have a point. Football has always been miles ahead, it is true, but over the last 30-40 years RL has been in decline since the 'glory' days of the 50's and 60's when the English team could on a regular basis beat the Australian team. Football's rise has been a major component for this situation.
Freddie
Guest
"Soccer" growing at the expense of RL? You're having a giggle mate. Football has always been light years ahead of RL in the UK.
Freddie
Guest
It may be played but its not supported. Just trying to provide a bit of reality amid all the "growth and potential" posters here. I like RL, but the way its talked about in (parts of) Australia is totally out of sync with the reality. Australia won the World Cup this morning by flogging NZ, and their aggregate point score since the England game has been 244-4. That's how popular the game is in the "rest of the world" right there.
chris
Guest
Football is just a sheep followed game. Give me Union and League any time.
londonleaguie
Guest
"Wall to wall Union"? Have you even been to England before? Apart from the internationals, Union is barely mentioned in the media. The only sport that is given wall to wall coverage is football. Even League One and League Two football is given more coverage than the Premiership rugby union. Two SL games a week is actually pretty good, it's not the same in Australia where they show every game of every round. Even over the weekend, you're only likely to have 4/5 football matches televised.
londonleaguie
Guest
Yes football is absolutely massive over here. The fifth tier has mostly fully pro teams (there isn't another country in the world like that, not even Germany or France), where teams like Luton Town get crowds of 8000. Even Cardiff and Swansea get bigger crowds than the 4 Welsh RU regions, so I don't see the need for a dig at crowds really. Crusaders have only been in Wrexham for 4 years, yet they're growing the sport in the town, with crowds numbers and junior participation. Wrexham FC have been around for hundreds of years and were in the football league for many, many years and football is the no.1 sport there, so they should get bigger crowds. I don't see why football having bigger crowds means Rugby League isn't played in Wales.
POM
Guest
That's exactly how i think. I'm happy someone thinks about both rugby codes the same way i do. Thank you sheek.
Kris Swales
Expert
I'm guessing there was around 15k there the other night - good night out actually, and some pretty good banter between the fan groups as well.
Kris Swales
Expert
Thank you sir - hasn't Manchester just turned on the sunshine as well? Should see some good footy played, quietly confident the good guys will win!