Jump to content

"Rugby"


Recommended Posts

I understand all the points about reclaiming the name 'rugby' but I just think it would be a complete waste of time. At a time when the sport needs to develop its own sense of identity it would be counter productive. The sport gets confused with RU too often as it is. Anyone who lives/has lived in a 'non-heartland' area will no doubt agree.

When I lived in Crewe and I told people I liked watching rugby, they would usually ask about the England RU team and make reference to the 6 Nations. I always had to explain that I meant RL (at which point they usually began to lose interest).

If a story appears in a national newspaper about, say, a RL player doing charity work, the paper will refer to a 'rugby player'. If a story appears about a RL player who has robbed the local bank, he'll be referred to as a rugby league player. For years Teletext have always lumped RL and RU together on the one page. The national media needs no excuse to marginalise RL. Dropping the league bit would make it worse.

Harlequins is a good example. A RU name through and through, but when added to the RL team merely serves to marginalise RL in the capital. The sport should've developed its own identity with its own name decades ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 118
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I went to a collectors fair at Pudsey this afternoon. There were quite a lot of old Rugby League programmes. Some from the fifties. Two that caught my eye were "Halifax Football Club" and "Wigan Football Club" . no mention or Rugby or League at all on the progammes' titles. I wonder how many other RL sides used the title "Football Club?" Hull FC goes without saying. In the sixties when my wife worked in Wakefield, she would be late home if Wakefield were playing mid-week in the the early evening. She would say "the traffic was bad because of the football match"

When did we allow the term "football" to mean just soccer?

Just to confuse matters, until fairly recently Huddersfield were officially the football section of the Huddersfield Cricket and Athletic Club. The programmes used to say "HC&AC" on them up until the 80s I think.

English, Irish, Brit, Yorkshire, European.  Citizen of the People's Republic of Yorkshire, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the European Union.  Critical of all it.  Proud of all it.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand all the points about reclaiming the name 'rugby' but I just think it would be a complete waste of time. At a time when the sport needs to develop its own sense of identity it would be counter productive. The sport gets confused with RU too often as it is. Anyone who lives/has lived in a 'non-heartland' area will no doubt agree.

When I lived in Crewe and I told people I liked watching rugby, they would usually ask about the England RU team and make reference to the 6 Nations. I always had to explain that I meant RL (at which point they usually began to lose interest).

If a story appears in a national newspaper about, say, a RL player doing charity work, the paper will refer to a 'rugby player'. If a story appears about a RL player who has robbed the local bank, he'll be referred to as a rugby league player. For years Teletext have always lumped RL and RU together on the one page. The national media needs no excuse to marginalise RL. Dropping the league bit would make it worse.

Harlequins is a good example. A RU name through and through, but when added to the RL team merely serves to marginalise RL in the capital. The sport should've developed its own identity with its own name decades ago.

Agreed, what about, Origin Football? Leeds Rhinos OFC, St Helens OFC, Wigan Warriors OFC (you get the idea)

After all, football in any form originally came from towns getting a pig skin back to their town, vs the other. The Aussies would be up for it I'm sure, they love Origin!

Origin Super League

Origin Championship

Origin Four Nations

Origin Series (original origin)

Origin World Cup!

Let em have rugby, then no one can be confused which is which, and everyone can see rugby union for what it is, and also see an exciting different sport called Origin.

Edited by no13benny

Super League, Championship, the play-offs, Challenge Cup, and World Cup.

Http://www.freewebs.com/sltipping

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i call them union and us league

in england league fans shouldnt allow union to monopolize the term rugby as it has connotations about them being more the "true" or proper branch of rugby

many RL clubs pre date the formation of the RFU and at the time of the split, the NU had the best clubs therefore meaning we have at least as much right to the history before the rfu was around

plus the name of the game was northern union, not as spiro zavious think northern league

the league term was only added much later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The nicknames don't help

When Leigh had a vote and stuck with the awful "Centurions", I was much more in favour of being called "Leigh Rugby" (with est. 1878 under it), and still am. I will support a return to this for the rest of my life.

As I pointed out a few months ago on the Leythers RLfans messageboard, a tiny village club in Surrey now uses "Leigh Rugby"

The problem is that people don't seem to be respecting history much in RL, especially people running the clubs.

Any club formed before 1895 should use purely RFC

even worse is clubs like huddersfield saying they were formed 1895 when its more like 1864

its bad enough other sports taking our history, whats worse is when we hand it to them on a silver platter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i call them union and us league

in england league fans shouldnt allow union to monopolize the term rugby as it has connotations about them being more the "true" or proper branch of rugby

many RL clubs pre date the formation of the RFU and at the time of the split, the NU had the best clubs therefore meaning we have at least as much right to the history before the rfu was around

plus the name of the game was northern union, not as spiro zavious think northern league

the league term was only added much later.

There was never a game called northern union - there was a governing body called The Northern Rugby Football Union - the sport played was and remains rugby football, or rugby for short. Australian rugby league folk might be keen to hand over their identity to union but that is because rugby league in australia is very weak - it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was never a game called northern union - there was a governing body called The Northern Rugby Football Union - the sport played was and remains rugby football, or rugby for short. Australian rugby league folk might be keen to hand over their identity to union but that is because rugby league in australia is very weak - it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the UK.

the point you missed was the fact that the NU saw themselves as running a game of rugby union

it was the same rules initially, just a differing governing body

whatever traditions exist in english RL dont have to carry over to australia

aussies dont call it rugby,

i think the term rugby is a bit effeminate myself

league is just so masculine

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the point you missed was the fact that the NU saw themselves as running a game of rugby union

it was the same rules initially, just a differing governing body

whatever traditions exist in english RL dont have to carry over to australia

aussies dont call it rugby,

i think the term rugby is a bit effeminate myself

league is just so masculine

They saw themselves as a governing body for rugby.

Aussie RL is weak, they let other sports decide what their sport can and can't be called.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They saw themselves as a governing body for rugby.

Aussie RL is weak, they let other sports decide what their sport can and can't be called.

why should people from major metropolis' like brisbane and sydney have to copy the quaint traditions of several towns in rural northern england?

in australia is a major sport with saturation media coverage

this came about because the sport developed with significant indiginous contribution.

still its important for you guys to maintain your heritage

we dont need to parrot it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why should people from major metropolis' like brisbane and sydney have to copy the quaint traditions of several towns in rural northern england?

in australia is a major sport with saturation media coverage

this came about because the sport developed with significant indiginous contribution.

still its important for you guys to maintain your heritage

we dont need to parrot it.

You don't need to parrot it at all, when other, stronger, sports have decided what they are going to be called you can pick up the leftovers. Footy is taken, by the way so you are left with "league" for now - that stands out doesn't it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

UOTE (no13benny @ Jul 25 2010, 04:19 PM)

Personally I'm proud to be a Rugby LEAGUE supporter, and wouldn't want it confused with Rugby Union in any way.

:D

Don't you mean "Fartown"

Edited by bearman

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't need to parrot it at all, when other, stronger, sports have decided what they are going to be called you can pick up the leftovers. Footy is taken, by the way so you are left with "league" for now - that stands out doesn't it?

footy is what we call RL in nsw and queensland

football refers to the dominant football code in your area

for 60% of australia football means RL

sadly in england when i told someone i was going to the footy they thought it meant soccer!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

footy is what we call RL in nsw and queensland

football refers to the dominant football code in your area

for 60% of australia football means RL

sadly in england when i told someone i was going to the footy they thought it meant soccer!

According to the Sydney Morning Herald football means soccer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

footy is what we call RL in nsw and queensland

football refers to the dominant football code in your area

for 60% of australia football means RL

sadly in england when i told someone i was going to the footy they thought it meant soccer!

I was reffing a RL schools game the other week, and I asked a kid to get the football, and they said "Football??? It's a rugby ball! You american?"

Smart kid.

Super League, Championship, the play-offs, Challenge Cup, and World Cup.

Http://www.freewebs.com/sltipping

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why should people from major metropolis' like brisbane and sydney have to copy the quaint traditions of several towns in rural northern england?

in australia is a major sport with saturation media coverage

this came about because the sport developed with significant indiginous contribution.

still its important for you guys to maintain your heritage

we dont need to parrot it.

I'm pretty sure that the Aussies would have called RL "rugby" in the early days

If they'd stuck to calling it that then perhaps the RU is Oz would have had to refer to its game as Rugby Union

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to us its either footy or league

Sorry, this may have been covered elsewhere but I can't read this thread without banging my head on the desk.

What does the 'R'? In NRL stand for? Or ARL for that matter.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure that the Aussies would have called RL "rugby" in the early days

If they'd stuck to calling it that then perhaps the RU is Oz would have had to refer to its game as Rugby Union

Was all "rugby" until the early 1970s. Before WW2 there was just "professional rugby" and "amateur rugby".

If/when distinction was required in conversation or print, then "league" or "union" was used on its own or it was RL or RU. In the 1970s the NSWRL changed its match program from "Rugby League News" to "Big League", and the Ch7 tv coverage was called "Seven's Big League".

I must say that I side with Paley's views on this one re RL in Australia. I tried to get this issue prominence in 2003 when the R(U)WC was on here, but very few in RL here (media, fans, officials) care about it at all - they simply don't see it is a problem for the code.

Sure there's an element of impact from RU's push to be seen just as "rugby", but to be frank, most of the way the code formerly known as "rugby league" - but now known as "league" - is referred to here is entirely of our own doing.

I've written articles for major magazines and newspapers here over the past decade and NOT ONCE has an editor re-edited my work to change "rugby union" to "rugby", or "rugby league" to "league".

It's all a sad reflection of the RL community here still - after 15 years - still not come to the realisation that there are now 3 other professional football codes in NSW/QLD competing with RL.

A similar example exists with the salary cap - a tool implemented in the early 1990s when RL had no external competitors, and hopelessly inappropriate for the world RL exists in today.

Edited by RL1908.com

_____________

Visit RL1908.com (RL History) - follow @ twitter.com/RL1908

_____________

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure that the Aussies would have called RL "rugby" in the early days

If they'd stuck to calling it that then perhaps the RU is Oz would have had to refer to its game as Rugby Union

union only adopted the whole rugby thing in the 90s i think as a rebranding excercise

growing up it was always union.

then along the way it became rugby

in oz its always league or union, at least pre 1990

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.