'It trumps league': Why don’t the media give rugby union a fair go?

It’s true domestic rugby is dead that’s why it’s not on TV. No tribalism. But World rugby is alive - Global rugby is huge hence I go to World cups. NRL- TRIBALISM -love domestic rugby league watch the Roosters all the time but don’t give a toss about internationals. So love both sports but the rule changes in league have been fantastic whilst rugby card system has destroyed the spectacle.

I always find these articles a bit tedious. I watch both league and rugby. In my view rugby when its played at its best is far superior to league, but when its at its worst it is utterly awful to watch. If you want an illustration go to the last world cup and watch Scotland vs Japan and then watch the semi final where South Africa played wales, which was the least entertaining match I've seen in at least 20 years. When the ball is cleared quickly from the ruck in rugby, play is fast and dynamic. League cant match this. But rugby has long periods of slow scrum resets, slow marches to the line out, injury breaks and tedious over use of the box kick, all of which slow the game and spoil the viewing experience. League has the ball in play for longer but lacks variety, 6 drives up the field followed by a kick. Boring.

Just watched Storm vs Eels. That's why rugby league is better. You don't get that level of excitement in yawnion. Great crowd, great atmosphere. Must be a bitter pill to swallow for the handful of yawnion fans that troll league sites

So what if less league players went to WW1? To me, that just shows they were less indoctrinated into the Australians are British to their bootstraps crap that was prevalent at the time. If Australia had acted as an independent country, it would have stayed out of WW1 and would have been dramatically better off for having done so. Australia's population at the time was tiny. We could ill afford to send off nearly 10% of the population to fight in a war about European empires or in the Turkish sideshow. We incurred a couple of hundred thousand casualties and saw another couple of hundred thousand haunted for the rest of their lives by the hell on earth in the trenches. Australia incurred one of the highest, if not the highest proportional casualty rate because colonial troops were used as cannon fodder by the Brits. Imagine how many leaders of government, commerce and industry the fledgling nation lost! And for what? The opportunity for people to wrap Aussie flags around their heads at Gallipoli?

By your logic soccer is the most interesting game :laughing:

You didn’t bother to read the article yet again, did you?

Rugby Union trumps Rugby League? Does it now? Rugby league’s revenue surged to $575.1m in 2021, that's 37 per cent or $155.4m higher than 2020. Meanwhile Rugby Australia was forced to turn to private equity after suffering a $27m loss during the same period. Looking at attendance records: Rugby Union (27/03/21 - 19/03/22) - 85,904 (average per game: 6,608) * Note: there is a host of TBAs recorded to hide sub-standard crowd attendance figures. NRL (22/08/21 - 20/03/22) - 503,398 (average per game: 12,584) Definition: Trump; 1. surpass (something) by saying or doing something better. 2. A playing card of the suit chosen to rank above the others Source: www.austadiums.com

the can, doesn't mean they do. & BS wasn't your average FB

Come on Piru, I thought you more intelligent than that mate? Please don't make statements that are wholly incorrect. "We can all look through Rose coloured glasses if you want?" What the Oxbridge mafia does in the British media circles against RL is criminal. You guys can turn the other cheek, but some of the tactics to try kill the sport of Rugby League is disgusting!! Some of the Gin & tonic bridge should really hold their "heads down in shame. " Rugby landscape in the UK is really like a Big Mac. All the meat and the good stuff in the middle. Rugby stops "dead" at Leicester mate. Sale Sharks might as well move back to SA, as no one in Manchester is remotely bothered. Newcastle is a bit of whim of millionaire who will get fed up soon enough. Scotland RU is mickey mouse with really Glasgow & Edinburgh playing professionally with a bit of border Rugby. Wales is mirror image of NZ. Boring us about their three loves in life. Sheep dating , Sheep Tinder & Yawion. St Helens is best Rugby team in UK "bar- none". Their record speaks for itself. Wigan & Leeds are two massive clubs who actually saved their local RU clubs for certain deaths a few times. The Bradford Bulls has created one of best production talent lines in world rugby. Three Burgess Brothers, Whitehead , Bateman all played with success in the Hardest domestic Rugby competition in the world. NRL .No Hiding places there? It's not like GRR or playing at HBF stadium or AAMI Park where normally is an easy away victory. Back to the real story. Unfortunately to all the Kiwis, Welsh and Saffa's you don't live back in your own countries. RL & AFL have stranglehold of the media here,but in most cases for good reason. Nine times out of ten they are better sports to watch. Simple. Please don't go down the persecution route of why Super Rugby is really struggling in OZ? "The proof is in the pudding "It's there for everybody to see"? What World Rugby has done to Rugby League is despicable. But as the saying goes "imitation of the best from of flattery "?" Just look at the Rules and initiatives, which Rugby has copied off the RL? I will name a few to remind you guys of copying? List:- Yellow cards, Blood bins, Sin bins, Jazzing up Team names, Providing entertainment before and after a game, 50:20, Video reviews, Video ref in a bunker. Calling it Global Rapid Rugby after pinching most the RL rules to make proper entertainment advancements.

Hi Pfitzy (or whatever your moniker was before) As I replied to newy fan above, I only made one, short comment - how is that classed as 'seriously' triggered, although I'm happy that my comments make people sit up and take note.

Let's consider the coaches respective contributions... Andrew Farrell (ex-RL) - Ireland 5 Nations Coach (Triple Crown Holders) Shaun Edwards (ex-RL) - France 5 Nations Defence Coach (5 Nations/Grand Slam Champions) Steve Hansen (ex-RU) - Canterbury Bulldogs NRL side, something-or-other Bulldogs 2021 NRL Table - Dead Last, 16th

I am pretty certain that Billy Slater would strongly disagree with this. I never saw that guy switch off for a second when playing.

Iambic pentameter. Pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-kick. Pass-pass-pass-pass-pass-kick!

Rugby Union is a much bigger sport globally - that is a big appeal to me. RL is played beautifully in Oz and by the Kiwis and Pacific Islanders who take it up vs their native Union, however, even over here in England absolutely no one supports the sport. RL is played in a tiny patch up north and the clubs have reasonable local support, but outside of the North of England and a small patch in France, there is no interest in RL globally outside of Oz. Rugby Union is a genuine global sport and while it is currently shooting itself in foot with how it is over-reffed and complicated by rules, it has a bigger global tradition and history. Anyone who attended RWC in Japan will be able to attest to that. There was people from all over the world not just the qualified nations attending and watching.

Room for all sports - I love both the Western Force and the Melbourne Storm. Rugby and Rugby League are two great sports for obvious reasons and differences. I still play union but only ever played a season or two of League, which I found if you didn't have raw speed from Prop to Wing, it was a bloody hard sport to get by. I think RA have a major job to keep the momentum of the FTA offering that was a major cherry in the deal with Nine-Stan. I am hoping that Nine is saving this for the main channel Saturday night games when the crossover game happens as potentially a Reds-Crusaders game or Brumbies-Blues game with expat interest, might get more eyeballs than Drua-Rebels game. I can't see England-Australia and ABs-Australia games not being on the main channel. The interest around both series is immense, with Eddie Jones on the ropes and Oz rugby fairing better in 2021 than 2020 and 2019.

I wonder which sport brought that about to the point of collaboration with the N..az,ies in France during the second world war. Only now is RL finally recovering in France. As for the UK, Union has frozen League out of the mainstream media for decades. In South Africa, they still collude with the SA government to ban the sport. The story goes on... What you scared of Union boy ?

What a ridiculous comparison you’ve made. I talked about a CLUB game from 2 weeks ago. You talk about an INTERNATIONAL from years ago. Clutching at straws. If you’re talking about super duper rugby or whatever it’s called, you would struggle to find many games recently with an attendance of 18,000.

He could be a penguin from Antarctica. It doesn't change the location of those cities.

He could be speaking from a Victorian perspective.

Coriander is just bad, it doesn't matter who likes.