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Sports writer of 20 years with a particular appetite for Rugby League's exotic and bizarre tales. @RobBurginWriter
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The Maroons in Queensland are demigods. Even from childhood, I wondered what it was that separated the gladiators that pulled on our State jersey from those hordes of us who merely dreamt about it.
When The Roar asked four of the top commentators on the game – Tim Gore, Steve Mascord, Mary Konstantopolous and Matt Cleary – plus…
Think heritage eligibility rules at last year's Rugby League World Cup were a tad confusing? Well hold your hats, because it's likely to get…
It was one of the most dominant individual performances seen at Suncorp Stadium since it had reopened. The long-haired 20-year-old backrower crossed for four…
A fraction over a decade ago – just outside number 9 Getreidegasse in the city of Salzburg, Austria – I saw a man who changed…
As far as the most underutilised, underpromoted, undervalued date on the rugby league calendar goes, it is hard to go past the Cabramatta International…
Like the vexillum of a Roman legion, the logo, colours, name and reputation of a rugby league club are intended to embody the culture…
Even with a passport from both Australia and the UK, and genetics that suggest I should reside somewhere north of France, there's still not…
Like smashing tequila slammers, consuming habanero sauce or approaching the prettiest girl in the bar, there are some acts people will encourage you to…
“So Fiji is actually a real place?” “I knew it was a real place, but I just thought it was a party island –…
In the week of the Rugby League World Cup final, a friend pointed me in the direction of an interesting document. It was the…
Roar Expert Robert Burgin helped administer the first Latin American Championship of rugby league on November 17-18. Here he tells of how this bizarre…
One of the most important people in international rugby league will be almost 20,000 kilometres away when the World Cup quarter-finals begin this week,…
While there were no doubt financial and competitive reasons why the 2017 Rugby League World Cup was again limited to 14 countries, it seems…
How would you feel if, on the eve of the Rugby League World Cup, Ben Hunt was forced to stand on stage and repeatedly…
A lot of people, particularly some vocal ones in Melbourne, would like me to overlook the fact that the first team qualified for the…
Is there room for greater displays of sportsmanship in rugby league? Or is there no place for fair play when your season is on…
A premiership creates history in more ways than are instantly apparent. It's not just a simple entry in the record books, a few iconic…
Last week, in the space of five days, I attended one NRL game at a stadium, watched four other NRL games on TV, drove…
On top of having his NRL career snatched away, Johnny Manning has witnessed the death of two brothers, his sister and his wife –…
Nat, I think you may have misread that. I mentioned 2007 as the year he scored 4 tries in the opening game of the season. But I did reference that he had played for Norths as far back as 2004 and some of teammates included Inglis, Blair etc.
Sam Tagataese already has runs on the board in Brisbane
This is probably my favourite so far.
What's your favourite version of the 'Random Souths Guy'?
Sorry mate, not sure I get the Townsville reference?
What's your favourite version of the 'Random Souths Guy'?
@Cadfael, the bit about Argentina Rugby related to a post by the other commentator which has since been deleted.
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
Just as a little reference point, the South America Rugby Union Championships has been held close to 40 times since 1951. Argentina has won it every single year except for one – when they didn’t enter a team. The disparity between the top teams and others is so great that they don’t even play in the same pool anymore. For instance Colombia played in the top division at the rugby league championships, but is only a ‘B’ contender in rugby union. Might be why so many are leaving the sport.
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
Incredibly astounding lack of information and education displayed there Maddi. While I’m loathe to respond to a complete moron, for the benefit of others reading this thread – the 4 team Latin American Rugby League Championship featured 80 players, 4 of which travelled from Australia and paid their own way. All fund-raising went to the 76 (ie 95%) players who were domestically based in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. It truly was an amazing effort to have such strong domestic representation in a young sport for the region. The 4 players and 9 volunteers who travelled from Australia on their own expense donated 100kg of balls, boots and jerseys while there. How’s your narrative working for you now sadsack? You must be exhausted from all those well-read articles about sport you’ve written or all that groundwork you’ve done in growing sport internationally. Oh… that’s right…
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
There will be a Latin American Elite team (core of the Emerging Nations World Championship squad) and a Latin Heat Development team (Fringe Emerging Nations and players rewarded and encouraged for training ethic).
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
Really glad to hear that. Feel free to post more details so people know how and when to tune in.
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
The two Tongan teams this year are Under 23 teams and are called Tonga Under 23s. The Cook Islands team is called Ozzy Cooks. The other teams are all close to as best as what their nation can field in rugby league. And for the tweed patchers, here’s a little fact you may not like – several players with past experience in international rugby union have competed for developing nations at these tournaments – and not been anywhere near the best players. But your argument is that they have a true international cap, so therefore they must be better credentialed.
Cabramatta International Nines: Rugby league's most undervalued event
Nat, I think your third sentence hits the nail on the head. The sport does an outstanding job of entertaining people who know where to find it. It just does a lamentably poor job of pointing new people towards it or putting it in places where it can be stumbled upon.
Any success from this tournament belongs to the players
Hi Kris,
From what I can gather, we are talking about different service providers. I first became aware of the streaming service I’m talking about on November 14, which was a few days after the pool games finished. There were two different carriers into Latin America, depending on which country you were in.
Even if this had been available from week 2, it’s fair to say people like me and you are abnormally fanatical about the game – and knew where to go looking. How many casual fans or newcomers would have chanced upon the details?
Any success from this tournament belongs to the players
Our Facebook page is the most active and up-to-date place for us online: www.facebook.com/LatinAmericanRugbyLeague/
Taking rugby league to the other side of the world
I’ll make sure not to keep you in suspense my polite friend. Nowhere above have I said I’m a sponsorship expert and indeed, that’s kind of the crux of the story. People like me need help from experts who have worked in the sponsorship industry for years, have the requisite contacts, know the accepted levels of service provision and the range and trends in what can be offered to potential commercial partners. I’ve been in environments where people try to shoehorn other employees into a sponsorship role and it doesn’t work. It’s a job for a specialist. As per the mention above about people working for commission, that’s a far point – base + commission is more akin to what I had in my mind.
All those people who are scoffing off at the suggestions above no doubt have a bevy of other solutions they can offer. Or maybe they think it’s cool the way sponsorship is being handled at present and there is no room for improvement?
Rugby league sells itself short again
So if you had a league where there are 70 clubs, that league couldn’t employ 1 sponsorship executive to leverage the combined reach of those 70 clubs? But yet they will employ half-a-dozen or more coaching and development officers. So the league itself is not self-funding at all. I’m also being mindful that sponsorship specialists could be reasonably asked to work on a commission basis. Excuse my naivety. I’ve only been involved in administering sports organisations for the best part of two decades.
Rugby league sells itself short again
The sponsorship was only secured this week, seven days out from the start of the tournament. That means it was sourced post the fundraising exercise by Freed. And just to be totally clear, I’m definitely not having a go at the USARL in this article. They do what they can and I wish them the best of luck. In fact I’m not even really having a go at the RLIF, just suggesting a different model to administrative growth that makes sense to me from working closely with the game in the past 15-20 years. I know their employees get stretched thin. But across rugby league we need to handle sponsorships bettr, all the way from junior footy to internationals.
Rugby league sells itself short again
Where did I mention a church service? You’ve pretty much rebutted every argument I’ve put to you with “you’ve failed to counter the argument”. Such an enlightening stance.
For what it’s worth, but which you’ll no doubt have a blunt “you’re incorrect, you failed to counter me” response, all the variations of relationship you’ve been trying to draw a long bow to above – polygamy, incest, pedophilia – all contain an element of power imbalance. All of those situations create scenarios where one partner has inordinately more control or influence over the relationship than the other. Society has chosen to outlaw them because it can lead to grooming, people being taken advantage of or people being forced into relationships. It’s effectively the same reason why a psychologist or doctor can be deregistered for forming a relationship with a patient, it’s why professors at university get sacked if they admit to a relationship with their PhD students, it’s why many people who work together cannot fraternise within the rules of their company.
It has nothing to do with Bruce from Cairns meeting Rodney from Wollongong and deciding “hey this person’s really nice, we have shared interests and want to form a life together”. There is no power imbalance in that scenario.
Over to you, sir.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
And yet so many people above grasped it. I’ll type slowly for you next time.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
If you can’t see the counter argument in this, and argue with statements like “My view. It’s correct” then I’m probably wasting my time trying to have a reasoned debate with you. You are saying we need laws to create order in society, but are ignoring that many laws have been created which we’ve later decided weren’t such great ideas. I was allowed to get legally married to my wife, but do not believe in any sort of god at all. People of other faiths have legally binding marriages. It’s not a term that one section of society has control over, just because they have a shared coping mechanism of a certain religion. But yet you still feel you should be able to tell other people whether they can enjoy those same legal entitlements.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Remember when inter-racial marriage was banned? When women couldn’t vote? Yeah I say bring back more “limitation of rights”. Gee, those were the days.
You wrote this all with a straight face yeah?
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Oh dear, he has gone into caps lock now. Everyone stand back.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Thanks for not being interested enough to read and leave a comment. 🙂 Plenty of other match reports of the same game on here and elsewhere to satisfy your desire not to be challenged.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Much the same way some people might not ‘aprreciate’ people who can’t spell and have not written a single article being given ‘Pro’ status on a website devoted to sporting discourse.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Thanks for reading 🙂 Lets pretend your click pushed me closer to that mythical bonus you speak about.
Who will join the Purple Pride in the NRL final?
Yeah I can’t argue with that. I think eligibility is about as good as it can be for the betterment of the sport. I just found this particular anomaly interesting and gathered not many people would know about it.
When sport, war and ethnicity collide