im not a union fan. im sat here listening to wigan-wakefield on the net rather than watch scotland-wales on the tv. i agree that football is clearly no1 in england but it's biggest rival in terms of column inches is union (cricket during the ashes) union is no1 in wales and a distant second in scotland. leicester, bristol and london are quite big and they have top flight union teams. to deny any of this seems a bit foolish to me. im with you in that icant understand how anyone can sit down, watch a game of union and a game of league then honestly say union is better.
This post and others (and Gatland's comments) seem to misunderstand the meaning of the word "professional" - they all focus on the imprtance of money but there's more to being a professional than being paid for doing the job (I'm sure we all know some work mates who take home the paycheck but are not at all professional in their work). There's no doubting that there's more cash in Union and that it gets far more media coverage but it is no more professional than Rugby League. Indeed, if Gatland's thoughts really reflect the situation in Wales I think you could argue that the WRU is clearly not very professional ie. doing a good, effective job. Pointless argument - let's get back OT
There's no reason why Wales couldn't become another New Zealand, Union being the dominant game but RL carving out a great niche for itself and being a strong vibrant sport
NZRL doesn't seem to lose players to NZRU as far as I know, and if anything there seems to be less hostility between the codes in NZ because Union doesn't feel threatened The fact that Gatland was even talking about the Crusaders shows the massive strides that have been taken, and probably the future is closer co-operation rather than player poaching
There will be kids out there in Wales who have no interest in RU and may only want to play RL, just as upto now many kids prefer to play soccer or other sports.
Provided they can earn a good living in League there will be no reason for them to cross over to union.
The biggest sport in South Wales is as ever Soccer, Cardiff average 18k and Swansea 15k. They represent a bigger threat to the success of the Crusaders than RU teams and any player poaching.
RU is dying in Oz, S14can't get on FTA TV as no one wants it, they are reliant on signing RL players to prop up their ailing national team and even succesful clubs like the Force are seeing a big down turn in finances and memberships.
I'd like to see the RFL really hit Wales hard and put in some serious financing to get development officers, school porgrammes and marketing happening. Taking MM away was a big mistake and the poor Welsh national team at the mo don't help.
There's no reason why Wales couldn't become another New Zealand, Union being the dominant game but RL carving out a great niche for itself and being a strong vibrant sport
NZRL doesn't seem to lose players to NZRU as far as I know, and if anything there seems to be less hostility between the codes in NZ because Union doesn't feel threatened The fact that Gatland was even talking about the Crusaders shows the massive strides that have been taken, and probably the future is closer co-operation rather than player poaching
we do lose out on juniors though
kids are pressured to play union at school, even if they are from a RL background.
2 RL juniors who we missed out on - Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga
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The fact that Gatland was even talking about the Crusaders shows the massive strides that have been taken, and probably the future is closer co-operation rather than player poaching 
:CLAP::CLAP::CLAP::CLAP:
