I think I know my history CC theres no need for another lesson on the split but please dont denied that league players were paid even many welsh, kiwis, sa and australian players of both codes have all said they got paid in rugby league in northern england.
if the administration of the rfl or the clubs took all the funds like you said then they should have more than enough to develop the game outside of its heartlands and overseas.
where would the irb have got the money from between 1886 and 1986? im very sure each union had the money just like every rugby league club in northern england, nsw and queensland to use for players under the table, school development,coaching you name it but i suppose we all know which code use their funds wisely.
i know all about david campese playing rugby in italy but what does that got to do with league since it wasnt played at all in that country.
your saying the money went to the rugby league players and you also mention in the second paragraph the administration took the fund and players werent apid so which one is it.
lets not cry another river over vichy. im not gonna use that excuse anymore. in the last two years your league historian and a certain eels fan post it heaps of pictures and photos of rugby league clubs in france from the 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s playing in huge stadiums with huge crowds. so im going to ask you again and this was way after vichey. where did all that money from club rugby league and internationals in france go or were the crowds given free tickets?
the french rugby union clubs must have done something right for rugby league juniors to switch codes or maybe they wanted to play in a bigger competition even a chance to play in the five nations. please dont give us anymore excuses that french rugby clubs signed all rugby league players and that they didnt use the name rugby. its just excuses and excuses from you lot.
im not denying they were getting paid but i know for a fact that in nz players even all blacks werent getting paid but most league kids switch because there was stuff all league anywhere. david lange was one of those labout guy who hated rugby union and you can tell because he was no where to be seen when nz won the first rugby world cup at home in 1987.

cc, you making out that rugby league is a new game in wlaes but it has been played there before australia and new zealand even play it.

point been that wales have made the semifinals of the rlwc before so theres no shock that they beat the french last year. unless they went from semifinalist to been a minnow again by the way you were suprised at the french win.

CC, I was talking about 100 years before the 1987 RWC. Im sure you have heard the hardtimes the ARU had to stay afloat. Most internationals rugby test matches money went into clubs and provinces of each nation to help with running the game at that level. While a man and his dog were watching club rugby union rugby league clubs like the Roosters, Leeds Rhinos, Eels, South Sydney, Wigan, Hull and some photos of French clubs had huge crowds that would have made heaps of cash for the club game. Like I said where did that money go?
The IRB didnt have any cash until the 1987 rugby world cup and it was up to each national union to run the game.
Some French rugby league clubs seem to have as much money as the French rugby uinon clubs since some rugby league fans like to show off photos of some of the games back in the 50’s. I know what your trying to say that French rugby bought rugby league juniors but did you ever think that maybe this kids wanted to play in the five nations? I know in NZ many rugby league junior players switch to rugby union because they wanted to play in the NPC, get on tv and even become All Blacks and they didnt even paid any money in those days.

hutch, dont always believe what you read out of the pacific islands sometimes. the fijian rugby league team manager during the 2008 rugby league world cup said that rugby league is the national sport of fiji and a year after the world cup he said something along the lines its a minnow sport in fiji and need funds.
rugby union is king in fiji follow by soccer, netball, basketball, athletics as majors sports. sevens rugby is where fiji have been sucessful but 15’s is the main game on the island from juniors, schools, clubs, provincials and semi-professional. may i also said that many schools in fiji and samoa have also played many games like afl, softball, hockey, rugby league (samoa) before and its not played at all anymore some have come back and some have gone for good.

Someone mention earlier about the achivements of Wales knocking France of to qualified for the four nations last year or so. But I remember Wales playing in the semifinals of the RLWC a while back as well.

You keep saying rugby league didnt have the finance mobility to spread the game like rugby but rugby never had the money in the first place until the rugby world cup in 1991 which gave the IRB some cash for developments. Rugby league had more money in England and Australia than most of the rugby union playing nations but what they did with all that money was spend it on players and not the game.

Well said Rob9!

I was wondering that myself. Which nation and which schools were you talking about hutch?

Good artical Rob. Its been the best world cup so far for me with the minnows playing well and there have been some great games so far and Im sure theres more to come. Hopefully this world cup will see a couple of local players from Russia, Romania, Tonga, Namibia, USA, Georgia and Canada offer professional contracts in France, UK & Ireland, Italy and Sanza.

I have seen many sports that dont rate well even NFL on FTA in Australia so you dont have to be a major sport to be on FTA.

Matt F, All major FTA channels (except SBS) in Australia wanted the rugby world cup rights. Channel nine step in with an offer the IRB couldnt refuse and in a way might also land channel nine another gold after the world cup the British and Irish Lions tour in 2013.

Matt F. If the NRL games were also shown live on foxsports as well as channel nine we all know which channel the fans will tune in. Its the one with no commecials every five minutes.

I think you might find that the ratings in NZ were down from the last game because Sky had the game on at 10pm and FTA channel Prime close to midinght.106,980 watched the replay on Prime at 3pm the next day.

Im not sure if this game was the second biggest ever tv audience in Australia for rugby but I remember the 2003 rugby world cup final got over 4 million and Bledisloe cup games when Earls and Gregan were captain got over 3 million.

Its funny the two guys (Cooper & Lomu) you base your arguement on Lomu first played rugby union for his primary schools in Tonga and then in NZ before rugby league which starts from the age of seven in NZ. Cooper first game was rugby union in Tokoroa which didnt have any rugby league what so ever when he was living there. Im not denying the two players played rugby and league as youngsters the fact is your claiming that they are rugby league juniors and ignoring that they were also rugby union juniors. It doesnt matter anyway the two players are rugby union stars and one is the biggest star out of any rugby codes on this planet. Its easy to say that some All Blacks first game was league but I havent seen you name any of them yet.

Maybe you can tell us why you started a thread about every roar articals on leagueunlimited forum and making fun of it with your rugby league friends?

You take the NZ Warriors who are playing in an Australian comp and what do league have in NZ? Not much. Did you add up all the crowds at the national football, basketball, netball championship as well since rugby league doesnt have one.
We are talking NZ here and the Kiwis arent anywhere near as famous as the All Blacks here where half of the populatio watched their matches.

Touch rugby isnt rugby league and no matter what you say it doesnt belong to the ARL, NZRL or IRLF.

RL in NZ is not what most of leaguies think it is and thats why Im trying to say. Its not even in the top five sports in NZ and the reason for that is because most provinces in the country dont even play rugby league.
Name me one famous NZ rugby union player who played league for his school? It would never happen as most rugby schools dont play it or the season are on the same time.
Wesley college is a rugby school just loss the national top four title to Kelston Boys yesterday. Im not denying that Jonah Lomu played league as a younsters but you having a hard time swallowing the facts that he made rep teams for Auckland south in rugby union at the same time he claim was playing league. At that level primary schools and intermediate schools in NZ play rugby on wednesdays and on saturdays the kids can choose to play league or rugby for their clubs. Im not sure anyone will claim them as juniors when it is clear they are rugby union internationals and thats how most see it.

then why arent ackowleging the rugby union background of some rugby league stars and those rugby union players you mention? do you want me to show you photos?

You have provide nothing or any links to help you out bro but only your words which means nothing on this board. funny thing is cooper was 17 when he played all his rugby games for anglican grammar 1st xv in the gps comp brisbane and represent queensland schols and australian schools. the following year he made the reds academy and played seniors for south in the brisbane rugby club premiership. you really are a joke. and here is a link to quade cooper and his cousin all black and crusaders player sean maitlant playing rugby union in tokoroa from under 5 to under 13.

Super Cooper takes on Crusading cousin

google jonah lomu and roller mills and you wil see its a representive rugby union team for primary and intermediate school kids which he made and also sbw couple of years later.

http://www.irb.com/history/halloffame/newsid=2033935.html#2008+inductee+philippe+sella

this is a link to phillipe sellas profile when he was inducted into the irb hall of fame that shows he played one season of rugby league from sella himself.

he said he play it as a junior so he could have played one game five games or one season but thats 10 years of rugby league according to you. give the kid an award he was trying to milk more money from the aru or parramatta. quade only played rugby union in rugby town of tokoroa then came to australia at 13 played for kenmore and sunnybank rugby union so you do the maths. show me any links that said he played more years in league than rugby at junior level russ13.

cannot take away the fact that you have nothing to offer links or anything that shows lomu, sella and quade cooper were league juniors which they werent. jonah lomu was in the south auckland rollermills representive team from primary school and intermediate schools and then to wesley college. the same rugby union school that tame tupou, leslie vainikolo, glen fisilahi and many in the wariors under 20 team also played rugby union. i already provide a link on quade coopers playing rugby union in tokoroa and in brisbane. so i’ll be waiting for your link on this russ. hopefully its not that worldfootballranking link that you been using for over ten years now that have rugby league crowds in south africa, venezuela, fiji, russia getting bigger crowds than some superleague clubs.

16 schools and only five of them from outside of auckland. the same tournament had 22 teams and12 from outside of auckland in 2001.

russ13, show me a link about phillipe sella playing rugby league more than one season. stop making things up.

Rugby Career

– Started playing rugby at Clairac in Under 10s in 1971, a Rugby League club.
– Stopped for one season and resumed playing for Clairac Under 12 Rugby Union team in 1973. His first Rugby Union coach was Vincent Millan, a Mathematics teacher.
– Moved to Agen in 1979.
– First match for Agen first team in 1981, went on playing until 1996 (the end of the amateur era).
– Joined Saracens FC in London as a professional player. Played for them from 1996-1998.
– First selection for French Schools against their Scottish counterparts in Glasgow in 1979. Among opponents David Sole and Gavin Hastings.
– France Under 20 in 1981, and France Universities in 1982.
– Played for France A in 1982.
– Debut for France on the wing against Romania on 31 October, 1982. Concussed on his first ever international appearance.
– Played in three Rugby World Cup Tournaments: 1987, 1991, and 1995.
– Played 4 times for Barbarians.
– Played 6 times for French Barbarians.
– Played once for the South Africans Barbarians
– Played for the Northern Hemisphere against Southern Hemisphere and for the Rest against the British Isles during the IRB centenary celebrations in 1986
– Played twice for a World XV against the Springboks in 1989 alongside countryman Denis Charvet.
– His last international match was the RWC bronze medal play-off against England on 22 June, 1995.
– France Under 20 Team Manager at the IRB Junior World Championships in 2008 and 2009.
– Rugby commentator for French TV Canal+.