Re: League V Union : Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:57 pm  

Leigh24.7 wrote:

I hate to say this but some of the rugby was awesome from the Quins compared with what we get from the RL boys. It was fast with superb ball handling and backing up etc

But that was one game, if you watch a few more you'll get kick, recieve, return and everyone sitting on top of each other for 80 mins. Boring.

: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:05 pm  

lpage wrote:

I assume you think of CC. I think you have to give it time. The Dragons have been given time and they bring more and more French players on the field. The CC was a bet from the RFL. I think Toulouse was the best option for the game (because the French market is much bigger), but CC may have seemed the best option for Sky in the short term. I surely understand the concerns of some English supporters, I hear the same in France where some think that the "departure" of the best teams will kill the competition. The truth is that it will save the game in both our countries to have a great European competition. Even below the SL, the Championship can now aspire to be a second European tier and should look to include another French team and an Irish team as soon as it is possible. This will bring the money to make it a FT competition.

And hopefully we will soon be able to see more and more Championship matches on TV

I look at what teams SL clubs turn out every week and how many non brits they contain. Expansion is player pool development and International competition, not simply location. Allowing more English/Welsh/French to earn a decent wage playing RL will grow our pool and enhance the holy grail of International RL, vital to funding and hence expansion.
When you have our biggets club, Wigan, packed with overseas mediocrity the point is proven. We fail between 19 and 22 because we lose players through lack of opportunity/wage, a second tier finds a home for those players in a FT role at a level they can compete and grow in.
Championship clubs with ambition will not become feeder clubs and the arena is part time, so cannot provide the platform for development.

: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:58 pm  

Chicken and Egg Mo Chicken and Egg, wouldnt happen elsewhere, or should I say wouldn't have been allowed to happen elsewhere.

: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:16 pm  

maurice wrote:

I look at what teams SL clubs turn out every week and how many non brits they contain. Expansion is player pool development and International competition, not simply location. Allowing more English/Welsh/French to earn a decent wage playing RL will grow our pool and enhance the holy grail of International RL, vital to funding and hence expansion.
When you have our biggets club, Wigan, packed with overseas mediocrity the point is proven. We fail between 19 and 22 because we lose players through lack of opportunity/wage, a second tier finds a home for those players in a FT role at a level they can compete and grow in.
Championship clubs with ambition will not become feeder clubs and the arena is part time, so cannot provide the platform for development.

I agree, and I believe that the evolution is "overall" for the better. League was on the brink of extinction in France few years ago. The Dragons and the TO are now giving some expectations to the young players. In some ways the TO is even more effective at training young lads than the Dragons. They have a very good training Centre and their junior team is top of the junior Elite competition.

: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:08 pm  

They dont half pack um in though ,they always look well attended, i dont mind watching Sale although they are not as exciting now that Jason Robinsons left, also watch England but like as been said can be a tad boring with the need to go and do something else,i can still sit through a bad game of league though

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:12 am  

itsatry! wrote:

They dont half pack um in though ,they always look well attended, i dont mind watching Sale although they are not as exciting now that Jason Robinsons left, also watch England but like as been said can be a tad boring with the need to go and do something else,i can still sit through a bad game of league though

at international level maybe, but you'll find its just mr and mrs ponsonby- smythe-threenames from sandbanks who never watch games at club level...EVER, who goes to hq just to be in with the "in crowd"


after being asked a while ago by a smug ra ra fan about their capture of henry paul, i remarked the guy had immense upper body strength..

HE HADN'T A CLUE WHAT I MEANT, he was just there for the pimms

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 10:35 am  

joanne callotte wrote:

at international level maybe, but you'll find its just mr and mrs ponsonby- smythe-threenames from sandbanks who never watch games at club level...EVER, who goes to hq just to be in with the "in crowd"


after being asked a while ago by a smug ra ra fan about their capture of henry paul, i remarked the guy had immense upper body strength..

HE HADN'T A CLUE WHAT I MEANT, he was just there for the pimms

Solid crowds at club level as well, to be fair, not to mention the 50k they had for an ordinary mid-season league game between Quins and Leicester

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:26 am  

maurice wrote:

With the advent of fitter forwards, less space is available and even teams often produce dire games.
In Australia and NZ the game is suffering due to the quality of the NRL, even though NZ are RU daft.
TV ratings for RL dwarf RU in Aus, the only real country where RL/RU come head to head on TV. Even here SKY ratings for RL club games smash RU club games. Why? because RL is TV friendly its all action not stop-start, or shouldnt be, the basic requirement in RU is to retain posession and hence dont take risks getting exposed, the basics in RL should be to take the risk to beat a man, if it fails you have more tackles to go.
RU's strength is that you can find a level to participate and play till your 55, you cant do that in RL with the fitness demanded.
Thats why RU will only ever expand so far in this country, and why expansion at all costs is the goal of the RFL, because when the sports clash on TV the audience is with RL so imagine what it could be with a broader spread and a quality international set up?

Not true I'm afraid. RU was averaging over 600,000 last season compared to RL's 325,000. Some Heineken Cup matches surpassed football audiences. No SL game comes close. Only the Challenge Cup is well viewed on TV.

My source used to be an insider at SkySports but now works for the BBC.

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:45 am  

manxviking wrote:

Not true I'm afraid. RU was averaging over 600,000 last season compared to RL's 325,000. Some Heineken Cup matches surpassed football audiences. No SL game comes close. Only the Challenge Cup is well viewed on TV.

My source used to be an insider at SkySports but now works for the BBC.

I am sure that this is because the audience is relatively poor in the South. How often I hear "that is a game from the North", meaning we don't really care here. And the press and TV coverage is close to non existent.

That is why the europeanisation is necessary to raise the interest in the South of England. With 2 French teams this would start becoming serious. Three is I think the minimum number for the competition to be unambiguously European. The ideal would be to have a Paris team within 10 years. Imagine the derby with the Quins. I bet that it would beat the attendance number for the Union.

With Perpignan, Toulouse and Paris plus a Welsh and hopefully an Irish team, I am ready to put my money on the table that the SL will not only catch up with a competition like the Premiership, but overtake it in terms of crowd support and media coverage.

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:07 pm  

joanne callotte wrote:

at international level maybe, but you'll find its just mr and mrs ponsonby- smythe-threenames from sandbanks who never watch games at club level...EVER, who goes to hq just to be in with the "in crowd"


after being asked a while ago by a smug ra ra fan about their capture of henry paul, i remarked the guy had immense upper body strength..

HE HADN'T A CLUE WHAT I MEANT, he was just there for the pimms

Totally agree!