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Your favourite era of the game?


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If not the present, what are your favourite years of Rugby League?

 

After watching the Cook Islands v U.S.A from the 95 Emerging Nations tournament it reminded me of when I first got into the game.

 

My favourite few years was from the Centenary Season until around 2000. The sport seemed to have a higher profile than it does now, there were superstar players and the excitement of the new Super League made it a great time to be watching the game.

 

Highlights for me were

 

the World Club Challenge- even though the British teams didn't do that well

The Kits

Promotion and relegation from the championship and Featherstone nearly going up only to just lose out to Wakefield

Adrian Morley, Iestyn Harris, Jason Robinson, Sean Long, there were lots of excellent players emerging as well as the older players like Shaun Edwards, Offiah, and Gary Connolly around

The Sky commentators actually suited that time period and didn't seem as annoying

The Up n Under film

We seemed to nearly beat Australia before losing close games, especially the 95 World Cup final

 

I wonder if most people's favourite times will be around the time of them been at school or are there other years that stand out for particular reasons

 

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The future! The best is yet to come. :) 

 

But yes, the Nineties saw the beginning of real international expansion, even though the efforts were flawed in too many cases.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Having been through the worst, best, then worst of the Bradford Bulls I have to say that being involved in Canadian Rugby League has been the most satisfying part.  The 2-0 series win last year to retain the Colonial Cup over the USA was something very special.  Great bunches of blokes on both sides of the border and a cracking couple of matches.

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If not the present, what are your favourite years of Rugby League?

 

After watching the Cook Islands v U.S.A from the 95 Emerging Nations tournament it reminded me of when I first got into the game.

 

My favourite few years was from the Centenary Season until around 2000. The sport seemed to have a higher profile than it does now, there were superstar players and the excitement of the new Super League made it a great time to be watching the game.

 

Highlights for me were

 

the World Club Challenge- even though the British teams didn't do that well

The Kits

Promotion and relegation from the championship and Featherstone nearly going up only to just lose out to Wakefield

Adrian Morley, Iestyn Harris, Jason Robinson, Sean Long, there were lots of excellent players emerging as well as the older players like Shaun Edwards, Offiah, and Gary Connolly around

The Sky commentators actually suited that time period and didn't seem as annoying

The Up n Under film

We seemed to nearly beat Australia before losing close games, especially the 95 World Cup final

 

 

From that era you mention, the cross code challenge and the sevens competitions are also well worth mentioning. A lot has changed since then, but at the time, for the average RL fan it was great to watch Wigan put up such a strong showing for the sport. Also, the RL cross code challenge vs Bath might have presented one of the best betting opportunities ever!

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the 70 s.......winter rugbu , the lancs and yorks cups , the county championships , proper rugby league grounds where you could stand where you liked ,no vast influx of overseas players , unless they were special like mal meninga , seeing the australian teams on tour every few years , and a time when great britain could actually produce top class half backs . 

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Early 90's for me from 90'-95'. I became a fan of RL after witnessing the classic 1990 ashes series and greatest game of RL I'd ever seen still to this day. I talk of course of the 2nd test at old Trafford and Ricky Stuart's break and pass to Mal meninga in the dying seconds to deny GB the ashes. The 92' ashes series was also a great series with a memorable game in Melbourne(in which I pulled a sickie from school to watch on sky). It was a great time and era for international RL with great players like offiah, Hanley, Davies, schoefield etc playing in front of huge crowds at Wembley, old Trafford and elland rd and a great time for expansion as well with GB playing the kiwis at Wembley. Also there was a strong genuine Welsh national side which was all a precursor to the 95' World Cup.

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the 70 s.......winter rugbu , the lancs and yorks cups , the county championships , proper rugby league grounds where you could stand where you liked ,no vast influx of overseas players , unless they were special like mal meninga , seeing the australian teams on tour every few years , and a time when great britain could actually produce top class half backs .

Meninga came over in the early 80s

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Early to mid 90's for me.

I started watching fartown in the mid to late 80's just as we were beginning to come out of a very deep hole full of brown stuff, it was the best times i had watching the sport in those days as we won the 3rd division and then held our own against more illustrious opponents.

 

But despite Wigan dominance, the game as a whole was better, had a much higher profile back then and we had a fairly strong international game, then super league started!

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Has to be the late 80s/early 90s. Lots going on in the game 7s, Ashes. Regal Trophy, Challenge Cup, County Cups.

 

You didn't need to be a fan of one of the top 4 teams.

 

Rugby League on BBC, ITV and Satellite this was pre-super league.

 

Entertaining Rugby League being played by men who worked in the day and had balls skills and foot work modern players can only dream about.

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the 70 s.......winter rugbu , the lancs and yorks cups , the county championships , proper rugby league grounds where you could stand where you liked ,no vast influx of overseas players , unless they were special like mal meninga , seeing the australian teams on tour every few years , and a time when great britain could actually produce top class half backs . 

 

There was a ban on Aussie transfers in the 70s, Mal Meninga was here for the 84/85 season. I think your memory is somewhat faded.

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Early 90's for me from 90'-95'. I became a fan of RL after witnessing the classic 1990 ashes series and greatest game of RL I'd ever seen still to this day. I talk of course of the 2nd test at old Trafford and Ricky Stuart's break and pass to Mal meninga in the dying seconds to deny GB the ashes. The 92' ashes series was also a great series with a memorable game in Melbourne(in which I pulled a sickie from school to watch on sky). It was a great time and era for international RL with great players like offiah, Hanley, Davies, schoefield etc playing in front of huge crowds at Wembley, old Trafford and elland rd and a great time for expansion as well with GB playing the kiwis at Wembley. Also there was a strong genuine Welsh national side which was all a precursor to the 95' World Cup.

To say nothing of Meninga obstructing Carl Gibson so that Stuart could score!

“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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The 1980's without a doubt was the best, Tough skilful players and the game was full of personalities back then (Unlike the robots of todays game). I believe more people where interested in RL during this era than at any other point.  

 

In saying all this I still love RL and always will but I just don't think the game is as good as it  was.

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Late 80's to early 90's for me as fan from the early 70's onwards

To me the game is (in the main) very predictable results-wise. Don't get me wrong, I still love the game, but the chances of upsets are fewer and far between

 

This period had the highest profile for the domestic game IMO. 

The game then relied on ball movement rather than absolute north to south (cheers Nobby) power and wrestling in the tackle

I can understand the modern scrum but never the mess that is the ptb nowadays as this is one of the things that defines RL in its breakaway from RU

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Another glass of Chateau le Chasselet, everyone? ;) 

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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As a mid-teen in the late 1980s to early 1990s it was a very exciting time to watch and play RL in the UK. The Wigan and Widnes sides were packed full of star names and played exciting RL and the Ashes series were very tight. GB seemed to play more home tests too including France twice a year.

 

However, nostalgia is an amazing thing. If we were to go back to that era in a time machine we would notice that Grandstand often only showed the second half of games, kick-offs were missed due to the 2.30 at Kempton, live league games only here and there on Granada or screen sport and average crowds of about 6k. The World Cup was also just a 5-team 4-year round robin competition. The BARLA National Cup had about 8 teams outside Cumbria, Yorks and Lancs. 

 

Saying that, in RL terms it was a great time to be a young fella. I'm happy to remember it fondly for what it was without trying to say this era was better or worse than any other.

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Many of us will look back to our childhood and those wonderful early RL memories. However imagine those early exciting days from 1895 and leading up and including the incredible All Golds 1907-8 tour. The superb Rugby League Journal has announced a special 1930s section in the next edition. If you love the nostalgia of our fantastic sport then Harry Edgar's quarterly is an absolute must.

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Reading the posts on this thread so far, I get the feeling that at 32 years of age I am a young pup compared to many of you on here lol. I got into rugby league during the late 90's and early 2000's - when the bulls were a dominent force. I was in my mid to late teens, and didnt really know much about rugby before then. I grew up in Keighley so I'd heard of the cougars but not much else. My step-parents were anti any sport that wasn't football. It was only after I re-established contact with my biological father who was a massive bulls fan at the time, that I really got to learn what Rugby League was all about. My step brother, who's 2 years younger than me, played for Dudley Hill at the time and he would get a free season ticket for the Bulls. My dad would take us to every home game and some away ones too. But I recall at the time it was about more than just the 80 minutes on the pitch. There was incredible pre-match entertainment - acts you'd actually heard of, and Bull man's Parade was about 10 minutes long with motorbikes, trucks, you name it lol. It was a family afternoon / evening out, not just a game. The atmosphere at Odsal was electric. I had never seen anything like it and sadly I have never seen anything like it since.

 

But as any true fan knows, you have to take the good times and the bad, and I'm grateful for having experienced that era of the Bulls and as long as they remain in existence, I will remain a fan. My son is 6 months old but he will be introduced to his first Bulls game next season and I'll do my damnest to make sure he's part of the next generation of supporters at our club.

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Ive enjoyed every period.

1986 to 1990 - enjoyable as it was when i first went as a kid, some great names playing at my club, like Drummond, Woods, Boyd, Tamati etc. however my team were still pretty poor. Internationally ill always remember that Sydney win with that Mike Gregory try! First visit to Wembley too.

Early 90's. Exciting internationally if you were a GB or Australia fan due to some good ashes series, club game more of the same as we fought for Wigan's scraps.

Mid to late 90's. Exciting World Cup with many great memories started this and then we moved into SL. This was possibly most exciting for me as we had genuine optimism around Paris and London plus the ill-fated WCS. All of these things turned sour in true RL style though my team were rubbish in this era.

Early 2000's. Started terribly with the rlwc but recovered internationally with tri nations. More of the same at club level.

Mid to late 2000s. Bit more exciting as a Wire fan as we were in the HJ and makibg bigger signings, still ultimately disappointed although finally got a Wembley win!

I went to the rlwc in Oz and loved it. Exciting times.

2010 to now. Game has been too fractured for my liking. 1996 caused splits, but to move to licensing and its perceived closed shop has just caused a huge split in the game. The story of RL has been taken off the field more than ever and that makes me sad. On the field i enjoy the game as much as ever, my team are doing well although still no SL title. An amazing World Cup and another to look forward to next year, things are good.

Sorry for the long post, but ive enjoyed them all pretty much tge same. Different life stages can alter enjoyment, in the 90's i was a teen going home and away, now i go to one or two a year. I dont yearn for any yesteryear where we had apparently superheroes playing our game, i just enjoy rl.

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The problem with a thread like this is that it would be just as aptly titled "what are your favourite memories".  The era you prefer will coincide with your favourite memories.  My favourite memories (like many) were the ashes series from '86 to '92 and the great times on the terraces at Central Park... the '84 Lancashire Cup final and my first ever live game when I fell in love with the sport instantly (and saw Mal Meninga in the flesh which terrified me!), the games against the touring Kangaroos (oh, how I miss the full Kangaroo and Kiwi tours) and the game against Manly in World Challenge... probably the best atmosphere I have ever witnessed at a League game.

 

But those are the best bits.

 

We played in run down shambolic grounds and everybody said we need to modernise or die... now we play in some of the best stadia in the country and everybody wishes for grounds with character.

 

The players back then were not as fit, powerful or (god forbid I would say this on this forum) as skilful as today. Of course Hanley, Schofield and Davies were (and other internationals) but don't compare the best international players of an era with all of today's game.  Hell, even Hanley could hardly pass... not that it mattered with him.  As for half backs; one of the best was Andy Gregory.  Somebody remind me which side he couldn't pass to and so he had to turn his back?  Back row forwards today have as much skill as stand offs in the era we all remember fondly.

 

I have loved this game since 1984 and that wonderful evening in Wigan but I do recognise evolution.  Of course there are bits I would change... i.e. I would clamp down on the play the ball procedure before it goes the way of the scrum, but overall I think the modern game is very entertaining.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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