Chris Anderson fears league may be dead in a decade thanks to union

In Brief - Its the situation now

What year was this?

He didn't state there was a rl presence in Romania Clipper ,unless I missed something.

Fill us in Peter Tong,must have been a fun time for all concerned .

Malachy .The one thing you need to underpin the code FTA exposure in this country.It has been tried and it hasn't met expectations.Regardless of a rich benefactor. Soccer via Lowy ,had the advantage of a huge grassroots base and many immigrants from soccer playing countries. The NRL has not even started to utilise the huge TV monies,currently the base for the imbroglio between the Commission and the clubs. Throw in RLWCs in 2017 in Australia,2021 England and 2025 the U.S.A ,rl is positioning itself for further growth and expansion. The other thing the code is waiting on i,s Sport Accord recognition ,which opens up further international opportunities.

The point is Pete Tong,an English rl victory over Australia would create aa lot of media interest there.The unexpected. And having more wins for England would attract bigger crowds at the likes of Anfield and indeed London.

I note Clipper with his usual generalisation ,about the English rugby league supporters getting older.It appears he has not bothered to see some of the ESL games.Either some of these younger fans are growing older rapidly than ever before,or the fan base keeps turning over generation by generation. More younger fans are being introduced to the code, via non contact rugby league there. The competitiveness of the English side has declined ,but the game itself continues to spread in the UK. In fact there will be a return to Ashes Tours involving Great Britain and not the English side that recently played Australia.That means a few more experienced hard heads who had played for Scotland and Wales included.. More Pommy players are getting experience in the NRL.again in 2017,that will increase the playing pool also. Whilst it is easy to paint a negative about the strength of the English side and the so called "ageing" of fans, again the whole picture is not being painted, for the reasons I have stated.A lot of grassroots work is going on not only in the heartland but the non heartland areas. And I have attended matches at Hull,Wigan,London,Manchester,Brigend via the Kangaroos.

Union in Australia needs restructuring at a club and grassroots level, so for the time being League and especially AFL have it over Union in those departments. Chris is right that with proper vision (something currently lacking in the ARU arguably) and a rich benefactor/investor (think a Union version of Frank Lowy) and Union would be a major threat. One other thing - a junior Rugby Union Academy in Sydney Western Suburbs aimed at the low socioeconomic groups would be a wonderful way to kick start things, and help the disadvantaged as well.

50,000 watched Argentina play Australia in London and it wasnt part of the world cup (82,000 watched when they played in the RWC). What's your point?

Oh, here we go...its vichy time - gotta love you mungos haha

I know right, is there any other sport that's future has been called into question as much as League? Even it's own people question whether it will continue to live and prosper. The media has really done a number on Rugby League with the constant doom and gloom and the masses just seem to eat it up and accept it. I believe it is because this game has never had strong unified leadership or a proper strategic plan. There is always a schism somewhere within the ranks pulling the game down. If super league never happened I wonder if Rugby Union in this country would even exist at all... AFL would possibly be significantly weaker.

I have played both codes but declare openly that my heart is with rugby league. League won't die in Australia within the quoted timeframe because there are diehards like me who will stick solid, my kids are also rusted on. Long term, I can see a shrinking audience, live and broadcast, as the millennial so can't lift their eyes from their devices to watch 40 minute halves. Can't see RU as a threat in oz, they can't jag a live to air coverage and the overseas money for stars robs the top tier competition of anyone with any ability. Union hierarchy has squandered the majority of cash that flowed to the game here at various times since the World Cup was contested here. That's something John Grant is trying to stop the NRL clubs copying. I accept that league is shrinking in England but it has always appealed to the rusted on northern population so nothing much has changed. While league keeps up the standard of State of Origin and the wallabies keep playing the rubbish they have in the last few years, the tables won't turn. Union could always develop a more far sighted strategic plan which doesn't entail just recruiting NRL wingers every season. Unfortunately, Aussie football spectators enjoy seeing tries scored so northern hemisphere rugby does little to excite most of us. Goal kicks from technical rulings don't get your blood pumping too often. Unfortunately for dinosaurs like me, the money AFL is throwing at juniors will eventually have an impact.

Bakkies, just about every sport has some sort of presence in every country due to globalisation these days. AFL probably has some sort of presence, like league in Romania - doesn't mean that it's a big force, just a few people having a bit of fun.

SA - that may well be true, but the gap between Aust. and England keeps growing as the sport declines in England. It's not about poor management or promotion, but just that Football has taken over in the few areas where league used to be strong. There's still a strong group of loyal supporters, but that group is getting older each year.

I have no doubt that if England started beating Australia, people would most definitely be talking up the code. People do care about the sport. Don't let poor management, poor promotion or negative media dictate how you view potential.

Sure but that doesn't negate rugby league's legitimate attempts at creating similar pathways,

Well put ac. There are 192 games of Rugby League in the regular season. I watch every game and remain spellbound at the standard of physical and mental courage, athletic prowess and the glorious precision executed in both attack and defence. Every game is a spiritual experience which delivers entertainment like nothing else on our TV screen. To watch a game live is the ultimate experience in sports watching. 80' in heaven. Rugby League is there for the pleasure of those intelligent enough to recognise it has the most refined qualities of any contact sport on the planet. Administrations are fixable. The Rugby League winger scoring the impossible should be used more to promote the game on a world wide basis. There are 87 days to take off and 6 months + to Easts v Sharks LIVE.

Rugby league for a sport must be the most resilient of all. It gets derided , rubbished, banned, laughed at you name it and still,survives. I don't think there us any other game that had put up with so much and keeps going. It must have something going for it.

Bakkies, hows it rubbish? I played Rugby in Belfast for a number of years and helped coach my sons junior team. This was a team that once had 5 adult teams and now struggle to raise 2. Junior matches were also often played with reduced teams to lack of numbers. I also lived in Dublin so would say I know a fair deal about the situation there beyond whatever rose tinted view I read on forums and message boards. The beauty of actually playing both codes allows you to see through the bull. In many ways the situation in Ireland is extremely similar to Australia. Only certain schools really play Rugby, usually this is the more elitist ones or ones that want to be. In the North this is mainly the grammer schools such as Methody and Campbell College. These are the same sort of schools that don't allow their children to play Football even though all of the children want to. Catholic schools rarely play at all. Rugby to be fair is doing its best to get into the other schools but with little success, the existing sports are too strong. Its all 4 week mini tournament type stuff. Most people that play for Rugby for clubs outside of school do so after attending one of these schools that play it too. If you didn't it is very likely that you play GAA or Soccer. Outside Belfast, Dublin and Limerick the game is small and in many places barely relevant bar watching Ireland on TV now and again. Somewhere like Fermanagh may have one club, all of Tyrone maybe 5 (although that includes Strabane who were a bit of a nomad club). In comparison Tyrone has 3 Gaelic Football leagues and 50 clubs. Soccer would have even more clubs and leagues. In much of Ireland this situation is repeated in every County.

Will there be any French or English players playing in there respective comps, given that they will be full of Kiwis, Saffas and Aussies in 10 years.