londonrlfan
-
Posts
2,730 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Posts posted by londonrlfan
-
-
How many Olympic sports are truly global? Football, Tennis, Athletics, Basketball, Gymnastics, Swimming, Skateboarding? The argument that it must be a global sport gets thrown out the window when Cricket is accepted, the majority of the world have never heard of it.
RL will never get in due to RU's influence, however it should focus on regional games - ie Pacific, European, Pan American etc.
-
1 hour ago, Eddie said:
France, in London.
They're playing in the WCQ, so they're unavailable.
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, Eddie said:
If there are 10,000 Lebanese ex-pats in London you’d be very lucky to get 500 of them to watch some Australians play a sport they don’t know anything about. I admire your optimism but I just don’t think a test series against Lebanon makes any sense whatsoever.
As opposed to what though? The All Stars? Yorkshire v Lancashire (God forbid)? The latter really would send the sport back to the dark ages
-
2
-
-
59 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:
Well yes players from PNG who havent already been scouted and signed by NRL clubs already. We are talking about them entering a market for players, not having free access to any PNG born ( or PNG heritage) players.
But if Aussies don't want to go there, then it opens up more opportunities to give players from PNG and the likes of Fiji etc full time contracts. It's not a situation where their fanbase will depend on how well they're doing. It's the national sport and games will sell out regardless.
-
10 minutes ago, Eddie said:
Lebanon would be a loss maker, far fewer people would watch than have just watched the Tonga series.
We don't know until we try
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:
I think virtually everyone should have to qualify for the WC (barring host nation and holders). It would instantly provide us with many more meaningful international matches. England v France/Wales/Whoever would still be as one-sided as always, but at least the matches would count for something.
People love to compare RL to football when it comes to P&R, so why don't we try and take other lessons from football's world cup? They have cycles of qualifiers > major tournament > qualifiers > major tournament. It fills their non-tournament years with meaningful games. Why don't we do this? We could spin 2 years' worth of European internationals out in to WC qualifiers, with home and away games against the likes of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Greece. whoever. It wouldn't be the highest standard of game, but at least it would have meaning that the public could understand. It would be much easier to publicise games as well - advertising England v Italy as a World-Cup qualifier instantly gives it far more gravitas than a random one-off game.
Yep, the Pacific Cup/Bowl can even double up as qualifiers too. If we're only having 10 teams from now on, there shouldn't be any automatic qualifiers, except for the hosts.
-
1
-
-
3 hours ago, The Partisan said:
Any NRL player who has to relocate to living in Port Moresby may reap the rewards financially but their own and any family they have with them will have to accept the loss of freedom and relative safety.
No more popping out to Bondi for a coffee or few late beers in a club. No more WAG's outings to swanky restaurants. No hanging out with your kids at a junior footy game.
Gated and guarded community with no genuine connection between them and the team's fan base.
Any player intending on taking the cash should sit down for a chat with one of many Aussies who live and work over there.
It is for dollars only. Full stop.
No quality of life and often on their own leaving family back in Oz.
People who are in mining or corporate business or government deal with it as unknowns.
For anyone with a profile - like a highly paid NRL player - they have a target on them.
Then ideally, all the players will be from PNG and the South Pacific, which would do wonders for the international game.
-
Ideal scenario, would be something like this:
Year 1: World Cup
Year 2: Regional qualifiers for the Second Major international tournament, ie Intercontinental Cup
Year 3: Intercontinental Cup - 8 teams from all regions
Year 4: World Cup qualifiers
Gives everyone meaningful games and has two big events every cycle to gear up to. Most major sports have World Champs and Olympics etc, football has the Euros, Cops America etc alongside the WC.
-
1
-
-
2 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:
Does someone have the schedule for the WCQ games next Autumn? Or do we just have 'October/November'? Or even just '2024'?
No they're not scheduled, but the World Series is in 2025, so when else would they be? A 10 team WC with 9 automatic qualifiers isn't a WC, but an invitational tournament.
-
If we didn't replace our second major international tournament, with outdated 3 test series, we wouldn't have had this problem.
-
2
-
-
Loads of comments about Fiji, PNG and France. But Fiji and PNG are in the Pacific Bowl and Fiji are hosting it, while France are in the WCQ and shouldn't be given automatic qualification just to give Eng a game. France need to start winning more games.
The only option is Lebanon, and I don't see how the RFL can think we're above playing them. Potentially one game in the Arabian gulf would be amazing, if doable? Otherwise it could potentially promote RL in this country to a new audience, ie Muslims and Arabic speakers.
Knowing the RFL though, it will be two games v the All Stars at Leigh and Warrington.
-
3
-
-
3 minutes ago, Griff said:
What do you think they should do?
Run Broncos and Skolars?
No lol. We're badly run enough as it is.
The RFL abandoning Wembley for England games was a huge mistake. 67k in 2013 and not been back since. Regardless how of rubbish the New Wembley is, it brings prestige to the international game.
-
1
-
-
1 minute ago, Dave T said:
We need to stop speaking about RL in England in such negative terms. The North of England is an amazing part of the world.
That of course isn't to say we stage a series in the likes of St Helens, but coming to England to play RL is a very good thing.
It is, but unfortunately the RFL have zero ambition and don't want to grow the sport outside of the M62.
-
3
-
-
3 minutes ago, Luxembourger said:
How about a NH 3/4 nations, Eng, France, Lebanon, maybe Wales, with no final - the league leader then flying straight down under to face the pacific league leader? It will likely mean NH winner has games in NH one weekend and SH the next - but that could be mitigated if final was in Perth perhaps? The added context it would give the NH games would be huge
Problem is France and Wales will be playing European WCQ next year
-
2
-
-
10 minutes ago, The Future is League said:
Are either PNG or Fiji available?
No they will be in the Pacific Bowl
-
1
-
-
Lebanon is probably the best bet as they are already qualified. Why not go to a new area and play a match in Dubai or Qatar, or Lebanon if viable?
-
2
-
-
6 minutes ago, RayCee said:
France it is then.
They'll be in WCQ
-
1
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, Dave T said:
And they never need to let their players go any further than NZ, PNG or Melbourne.
I think the US will be their target over the next decade or so, providing how profitable Las Vegas is. If it goes well, they won't be coming to England to play in 3 small venues in the M62, and you can't really blame them.
-
1
-
-
It's the sport's own fault for dumping the Four Nations in favour of three test series, going back to the dinosaur age. A 3x match v France won't sell well or be much competition. Maybe try something different for a change? France in Toulouse, Wales in South Wales, maybe Lebanon in Dubai or Qatar?
-
3
-
-
Certainly has big ambitions, but his comments seem a bit far fetched atm. Let's have Las Vegas games in 2025 first before talk of even more. RL has a habit of abandoning ideas before they even get a chance to grow. He is right though that the international game won't grow the sport globally, but the club game will. Look at football for example, the PL, Champions League, La Liga etc is what draws new audiences to the sport globally, not England v Germany. All this AFL talk is mute imo, there's two sports the NRL need to watch for in Australia over the next decade or so; Basketball and the NFL. 100% the NFL will be looking to stage games at the MCG and Sydney Olympic stadiums soon.
-
You can guarantee the Aussies will go into hiding for a couple of years now, after this thrashing, while bagging the international game and bleating on about how Origin is the pinnacle.
-
5
-
-
1 hour ago, Pulga said:
The tiebreaker is against the Kangaroos and we all know the story there.
I think England are as far behind Australia as they've ever been.
It's more of a mental barrier, than a talent barrier. I feel like if we get that win, it could become a regular occurrence. Just as the Kiwis have done. But getting that win is still proving elusive.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, Pulga said:
They all suffer from having Tier 3 organisations but tier 1.5 heritage players.
Tier 3 countries just get on with things with zero help from the IRL and hope to break even.
Wales, Ireland and Scotland seem to think it's beneath them to play these sorts of games as I'd suspect some players would want to get paid.
They should be playing each other every year with a domestic quota of at least 12 of the game day 17.
France should also be playing Wales 3 times a year.
I agree. What's the point of having a Federation if the RFL need to do everything for them? They've both had over 20 years of advantages being in the WC, BBC etc and nothing has come of it. Greece play in one WC and now AEK Athens have a league side, but they're barred from the next two. There's just no interest in RL in Scotland and Ireland. There might be at a niche level, but time to stop throwing resources at them just because they're a union nation. That makes it harder to make inroads anyway. Happy for them to exist on the level of say Malta etc, but they shouldn't be competing in WCs. At least until they start putting in real development work first.
-
9
-
-
18 hours ago, Damien said:
Yeah, even London and Brenford would get a decent crowd if promoted right.
I don't think Brentford want any rugby while they have PL TV money. When they drop back down the leagues, it will soon change.
RLWC 2026 Confirmed
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
Hard to get excited over this WC. Only 10 teams with 8 automatic qualifiers, the majority from the tiny Pacific Islands. The highlight of any WC are the debutants, but there won't be any this time around, or next time. Also blocking teams due to heritage players, then letting others in, makes no sense. This is what happens when the NRL get involved, they dilute it and ruin it. No doubt they'll be praising themselves afterwards about it being the best WC ever.