fighting irish

There's a real irony in all this, isn't there? It's the white hot competition in the NRL, which has raised the standards of the other nations. Scouring the Pacific (and the NH) to find the best up and coming players, to ensure the supremacy (and attractiveness) of NRL club football has continually raised the standards of the Pacific Nations. Excluding them from SoO as non-Australians has brought us to the point where you could argue, that teams of foreign players selected from NRL club football, could beat either Queensland or New South Wales. This is a real dilemma for ARLC/NRL barons. To be completely ethical, they need to spread the game amongst Australians, so the NRL and in particular, SoO standards can be maintained and improved using only Australian born players. This would mean getting more players from Western Australia, Central territories, Victoria, etc. etc. and not taking the easy option of picking up Pacific Islanders. (It's the same problem we've got over here, but on a bigger scale) This means again, investing in grass roots development (as well as creating NRL franchises in these areas) in order to keep Australia ahead, in the International scene. Desperate to preserve their elite status, and mindful of their inactivity in spreading the game further amongst Australian nationals, has brought about this sabotage of the World Cup. Covid was just the excuse they needed.

Do you think, I would bother to write these comments, if I didn't believe them? The fact that they don't look outside ''their shores'' is confirmation that they are insular. If they don't respect other nations players then they are willfully blind and the reason for that is they have very strong (commercial) reasons for maintaining the mystical aura around the SoO series. So they have a huge vested interest in SoO (which is already declining in popularity). You know, although I notice you've never acknowledged it, that Tonga, and New Zealand have defeated Australia recently and England have pushed them to very narrow victory. It's reasonable to claim then, that both those teams, and perhaps England, would beat Queensland and New South Wales. When you add in, that PNG beat a tired GB side, you must admit standards are rising in the Pacific. This is cause for concern amongst the NRL/SoO barons and is the justification for my comment that they (the NRL) would see (the developing, ''beefed up'') International competition as a challenger to SoO supremacy in the hearts and minds of the viewing public. A stronger, International (World Cup) would obviously (eventually) overtake SoO in class and that means megabuck losses in revenue to the ''insular'' NRL. Be honest, aren't you also more than a tad, ''willfully blind''?

They see the growth of the International Game as direct competitor to State of Origin and something which can undermine their claim that SoO is the highest standard of RL in the World. Their wholehearted support for the International game, could see it grow rapidly, and provide the lucre, you claim would change their attitude. Their support is virtually non-existent, as you know and it is the threat to the credibility of their claims about SoO and the resulting downturn in the fortunes of SoO which a hugely successful World Cup would bring about, that prevents them from giving it the backing they should. How naive we were to think that we all wanted the same thing.

The fantastic post you refer to was in response to an earlier one from me. I don't know if you read it but his ''fantastic post'' was a complete misunderstanding of what I'd said. You don't make clear what it was you found so fantastic, why don't you explain in some detail? Meanwhile, copied and pasted in bold below, is my response to the post you found so ''fantastic''. I didn't say the Australians are ambivalent about International Sport. I said the NRL are ambivalent about International Rugby League. The ambivalence is an amalgam of the players desire to play in it and the administrators fear of the competition for the hearts and minds of spectators, (whose only option now is State of Origin). Vlandys made it quite clear, he doesn't care what the players want, he's protecting their flagship competition. My point is, until this mismatch between the IRL desires (for growing International RL family) and the NRL loathing for the prospect of beefed up International competition, they (the NRL) will continue to thwart our hopes and dreams. Efficient growth of the sport globally requires the antipodes to be onside. By the way, as an aside, I take issue with you speaking for ''most people''. You don't know what ''most people'' think at all, and even if you were right, I stand by the legitimacy of promoting International RL to the people that don't think it's rubbish. This World Cup was expecting to exceed all previous ticket sales and viewing figures. So it really doesn't matter what ''most people'' think as long as the minority that do enjoy watching it, is sufficient to pay the bills.

Remember Vlandys is from the streets. He is very politically astute. At heart, deceitful and untrustworthy. This is his way of warding off the effect of the few pro-World Cup (truthful) stories that have leaked out over there. He knows that one sure fire way to rally support around him, is to suggest that an English man talked down to him. This will cause a conniption in 98% of bonafide, ocker Aussies.

I didn't say the Australians are ambivalent about International Sport. I said the NRL are ambivalent about International Rugby League. The ambivalence is an amalgam of the players desire to play in it and the administrators fear of the competition for the hearts and minds of spectators, (whose only option now is State of Origin). Vlandys made it quite clear, he doesn't care what the players want, he's protecting their flagship competition. My point is, until this mismatch between the IRL desires (for growing International RL family) and the NRL loathing for the prospect of beefed up International competition, they (the NRL) will continue to thwart our hopes and dreams. Efficient growth of the sport globally requires the antipodes to be onside. By the way, as an aside, I take issue with you speaking for ''most people''. You don't know what ''most people'' think at all, and even if you were right, I stand by the legitimacy of promoting International RL to the people that don't think it's rubbish. This World Cup was expecting to exceed all previous ticket sales and viewing figures. So it really doesn't matter what ''most people'' think as long as the minority that do enjoy watching it, is sufficient to pay the bills.

Your last comment is the subject of my last post here. I don't know if you've read it, but (if not) have a look?

Hopefully Covid will not be a factor next year, but the elephant in the room which is Australia's desire to thwart International Rugby League's growth (territorially, numerically, and politically) will have to be addressed. It's clear that they see exciting International matches as a thorn in their flesh, firstly because scheduling IRL, will require a change to the NRL fixtures/season and secondly because they see International football as a direct competitor to the State of Origin series, (Oh Calamity!). Whether they fear, being beaten by NZ, Tonga, or England on a regular basis is another elephant in another corner of this room, we're forced to share with them. If we can't remove their ambivalence towards International RL then its never going to progress, as it should.

Rugby League aside, that kind of control of the press obviously extends beyond sports reporting. It's a worry mate (for me) because its a move towards totalitarianism. It's scary, makes me shudder that the barons can make up any old because it suits their agenda, publish it across the Nation and it goes completely unchallenged.

Who to? What kind of readership do they have, do you know? I'm just concerned that this outrage has been perpetrated against our own game, (from within) and Australia and New Zealand are oblivious of it. Even RaRa couldn't accomplish a blow of this magnitude. But it looks as if they are going to get away with it Ging'. Treason.

One comical aspect to this whole affair, is Gould's responses to outraged and suspicious tweets confirm the tweeters worst suspicions/fears. The big mouthed oaf just can't resist banging on, so much so, that he's given their game away. Shame on Australia (NRL/ARLC), shame on New Zealand (NZRL).

With the ''strategy'' they are operating now, they'll be in lockdown for a decade. This postponement is utter capitulation, no doubt, but the NRL/ARLC have got a gun to John Dutton's head. They've made him ''an offer he can't refuse''. He must be sick to his stomach with them. I wonder whether we'll see him in the game, beyond this Summer? I can just imagine them grinning and gloating, ''It's not personal Johnny boy, it's just business, you know how it is''. ''Now sign here, and get out''. So they've won then, but I hope we (collectively) make every effort to ensure this can never happen again. It's one thing to lose the tournament, but the fact that they stabbed us in the back at our most vulnerable and our most needy moment, is utterly unconscionable. The horror and despair I feel at this profound act of betrayal is hard to put into words. I will certainly never forget what they've done and won't be able to find any peace, while this rat is in the house.

Go on? What is the strategy? Why is each state dealing with this pandemic in different ways and how do they propose to get past the present strategy of lockdown and travel restrictions (without vaccination)? How do they hope to achieve herd immunity, and if not and they want to keep everyone (most people) from being exposed to the germ at all, then we are back to my first conjecture. So please explain, what's their plan? It looks from here, as if they haven't got a clue and are scared to the point of paralysis.

I just hope the RLPA understand that in order to best protect the members that would defy the clubs and play in the World Cup they need as many of them as possible. Large numbers of dissidents make it impossible for the clubs to ostracise individual players because they'd have to punish them all and the quality of the teams they can put out will be reduced (and they won't like that). Secondly, large numbers will send a message to the games barons that they are getting it badly wrong and the players won't tolerate being treated with the contempt they've suffered this time ever again. Thirdly, large numbers will enhance the World Cup immeasurably and might just create the most memorable spectacle ever. This message must be part of the approach to these players (individually) and the RLPA en masse. Does anyone know, whether mass meeting is being organised to speak to the players as a group?

Oh this is part of the problem, isn't it? It is so far removed from a Covid ridden hellhole but the poor bug gers believe it is. I don't know why there has been so little uptake, of the vaccine (fear and suspicion I suppose) but it seems that there is some willful resistance to it. Their alternative strategy seems to be to stop the virus from propagating widely by using stringent (& punitive) lockdowns. Good luck with that. Are they really suggesting that every time someone is identified as suffering the disease they are going to lockdown the locality, while keeping people from visiting (or leaving and returning to) the country indefinitely? This is a complete absurdity. They will be cycling in and out of lockdown, (with borders closed) for decades.

It's an agonising wait isn't it?

If the gym is being block-booked for 2 hour sessions then the gym employees would wipe the benches down. That's protocol. Like any waiter in any restaurant when a group vacates a table. Please Allora don't make a mountain out of a molehill? Or are you Gus Gould's love child? I've often thought that a lot of Aussies look like they've all been issued by the same dad?

I think their recent behaviour precludes sensible debate, for the foreseeable future. There's a rat in the house.

To run it successfully, you must first want it to succeed.

So are you agreeing with him that the cause is hopeless? That there's nothing we can do, to move the game forward? That the best game in the World (in the opinion of Rugby League fans) has no potential to grow beyond the North of England? I'm tired of the knockers. I can happily (although I've read his diatribe, repeated so many times, I'm sick of it) read a balance sheet, of the games Assets and Liabilities as a snapshot of where we are today, but what I crave (and what is pitifully scant) are some practical, realistic, usable ideas, to move the game forward, grow the games fanbase, the world over. Do you have any? Because BP has offered nothing, not a sausage, bug ger all. He's a troll mate, a killer in sheep's clothing. I believe he's hell-bent on driving down the fanbase and I'm not having it.

What you've done is simply restate your own personal opinion based on comments made by people you've met along the way. I have no doubt, that your identification with those comments and the confirmation those opinions provided you was heavily biased by your already ingrained prejudices. This is mere self-confirmation-bias. You persist in putting forward these stories as ''evidence'' to support your negative view of the game. You have no facts to back up your opinions. For every person you've met who thinks the games a dud, I can offer someone thrilling to the excitement of playing or watching our game. They keep popping up spontaneously all over the globe. Simply put, the difference between us, is I believe in the inherent appeal of the game to newcomers and you don't. I note, once again, you have still not offered even a single idea as to how the game can move forward, here or the world over. Finally, your last comment indicates your over-riding attitude which is that even if this was to become the best World Cup we've ever had, it is in reality pointless, because it couldn't spark a turnaround in the games fortunes. You (once again) ignore my central point, which is that over time, things don't stay the same. They change. So we can either make efforts to improve our lot in the world, or stand idly by and allow the game to atrophy, shrugging our shoulders and just accepting that ''our belief in the game's potential is mere fancy''. It's clear that you fall into the latter group and I'm firmly in the former. Your only strategy consists of waiting until a previously unidentified cabal of billionaires come forward to take the game by the scruff of the neck and transform it into the NFL overnight. Otherwise it's pointless doing anything. Your incessant diatribe is tantamount to trolling and I believe may adversely affect other's hopes for the game (perhaps that is your fondest wish?) All I ask (my fondest wish) is that you shut up, step aside and let the ''doers'' come through.

You have stated and restated your unchanging negative point of view time and again, ad-infinitum. You have not put forward one single practical suggestion, for the betterment of the game, ever. Your comments are entirely negative. Most, if not all sane members of this forum must, at one time or another have questioned your motivation for being here. I certainly have and I have come to a firm conclusion. So you say, the game needs a lot of investment - to achieve what? You speak of greatly increasing the number of people who see and enjoy Rugby league as though that is of no value. How do you know people ''look down on'' the towns where the game is played? Which people? What about Africans, Central Americans, Eastern Europeans, Russians, the Spanish, or North Americans? You are projecting your own snobbery when you say Sponsors might decide the top tier doesn't have the reach they want. You might argue that that kind of attitude already proliferates amongst some of the biggest businesses in this country, so what? Is seducing those huge companies to back us, the only way we can garner support? What about smaller enterprises, who might see new opportunities to align with a great game, they've only just become aware of, excited by the reaction of the television viewers to a great event. What about potential sponsors, for the fledgling nations? Who might back the game there, abroad, irrespective of whether its played in Bradford, Whitehaven or Guadalupe? You ask how the world cup might double or triple the number of players in the world, well I say Come off it! Let me ask you, how did the people, who recently started to play the game in Africa, Holland, Canada, USA, Jamaica and every blo ody where else, decide to start playing? Was it that they were completely ignorant of the game and had a divine revelation one night, while praying? Then they dreamt up the rules for themselves and decide to call their new invention Rugby League, just by co-incidence? Or do you think, they might have seen it on the tele' and thought, ''I wouldn't mind playing that''? Come off it, you buffoon! The Samoan's might well thrash the French at RaRa, it's not that outlandish a possibility, some might be put off by that, but some might be prompted to rally around the National team. You arrogant troll. I don't know where the tv coverage might be beamed to, but it'll probably end up on You tube and could then spur growth for years to come. Don't attempt to patronise me, you won't get away with it. For the record, I'm absolutely convinced the World cup could spark a turnaround in the games fortunes but not in the ''this is all we have to do, magical, miraculous, naive, laughable way you suggest must be the case''. From your standpoint, if it doesn't provide a cure-all it's not worth bothering with and on that point, I am overjoyed to admit, we are diametrically opposed.

The trouble with all you knockers is that you really think that all our problems can be cured with a wave of the magic wand. You don't seem to understand the (reality based) strategy of building over time. That means making ongoing efforts to ensure we are moving in the right direction towards a worthy goal rather than standing idly by while the game continues to atrophy. This successful World Cup, could have greatly increased the number of people in the world, who have watched rugby league for the first time and become fans. It could have given a huge boost to every countries participation numbers and (we all know) growth is not easy to stimulate simply by word of mouth and volunteer effort. It could have made a lot of potential sponsors sit up and take notice of what a marvelous spectacle the game really is. A magnificent showpiece, televised (and available the world over) could have doubled or tripled the number of people playing the game the world over. The comment that (we believe) it will ''solve'' all the NH problems at a stroke is just naive simplistic nonsense and as far as Phil Gould is concerned a vile dirty trick designed to discredit, devalue and ridicule the World Cup and its organising committee. He is such an obnoxious oaf, I'm amazed the viewiers can stomach him, even in Australia.

Hilarious! I needed that.

I thought at first, that this decision was an emotional outburst by Vlandys (with little forethought) following the news that the World Cup would go ahead, whether they were in it or not. Now, I'm convinced it was premeditated and carefully planned some time ago and timed precisely, to cause the maximum damage to the IRL and the RLWC organisers. This is a coup d'etat like any other and the perpetrators are just as ruthless. I'm still hoping that they can be turned back but when it comes to influencing the players and public opinion, (our only hope) they have demonstrated a quite breathtaking control of the flow of information (the press) during this whole affair. A control which would be the envy of Kim Jong-un. Where are the Australian investigative journalists? Where are the honest newspapers who stand for truth and transparency and fully integrated story telling? Are there none? Is freedom of the press a thing of the past in the Antipodes? It seems they are well positioned to silently kowtow to the Chinese when they (invade) come ashore in Port Darwin.