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Hela Wigmen

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Posts posted by Hela Wigmen

  1. Hopefully there’s not too much hassle with the rearranging of the tournament in terms of dates, venues and the like. 

    As for what happens internationally in the northern hemisphere, there should be games. There should be every year, mind, so that’s not a big statement to make. I do fear though that the apathy towards the game and the crowds we’ve seen since the return of fans combined could mean we see relatively poor crowds if there are games. 

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  2. 1 minute ago, londonrlfan said:

    GB lost 64-12 to Australia in 2002. Did we stop playing the Aussies after that? Nope. We haven't beat them since 2006, yet we still want to play them all the time. Yet France and Wales shouldn't be allowed to play England? Double standards much?

    Yes, it is double standards. Our feet stamping about the Australians is laughable when we play Combined Nations over an actual nation in a World Cup year, for example. 

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  3. 6 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

    The problem we've got now is that if we don't play Australia or NZ then we won't have any big guns to play against. Whereas in union, they have more competitive games than they do thrashings.

    I'm very fearful for the international game now. Without it, the game in the UK is going to become less and less relevant. Unfortunately we can't trust the Aussies any more. I don't know if there's any point in trying to organise anything with them now - the way they're talking about this world cup is as if it's been planned by the IRL on the back of a fag packet on the spur of the moment, rather than it having been years in the planning. Gould's comment about the international game never being able to grow or develop if the IRL run it is an absolute disgrace. This world cup was on course to be the biggest global rugby league event ever staged. And the NRL/ARL have shafted it.

    I’ve not seen anything that suggests that Australia and New Zealand won’t play international games or games against England. I read it as they will play, on their terms. Once the coup d’état gets more traction behind it, it’s then up to England to decide whether they follow suit and pander to the two of them in the hope they get some games against the two or go off on their own, becoming a huge fish in a tiny pond, relatively speaking, in which their biggest test will be Combined Nations. Ultimately, the cards are stacked in the favour of Australia and New Zealand. 

  4. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/kangaroos/international-rugby-league-in-line-for-huge-boost-with-kangaroos-tour-and-pacific-tests-in-2019/news-story/3155632df64806de390f0869f72bd1d1

    I knew the NRL had proposed things in the past and this is as good as I can find in relation to what they were proposing in 2018. Now, it’s not terrible, IMO. There’s a few tweaks we’d all make, I imagine but that wouldn’t have been a disaster of a schedule. 

    Obviously that doesn’t account for pandemics or a change in ARL chairman, who is likely to have his own ideas. I’m certainly not advocating the coup d’état but I can see a proposal coming in the next six months or so, so we’re going to have to listen. 

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  5. 2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

    If the NRL pressure means players have to choose between their employers and a national jersey then 99% of them will, entirely correctly given they have bills to pay, choose the people who pay their salaries.

    All the participation agreements in the world will be meaningless if countries dependent on NRL players can't raise a team.

    There’s been absolutely zero suggestion of that at the minute, so it’s a bit pointless discussing it. 

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  6. 1 minute ago, EastLondonMike said:

    For me the apathy towards International competition from Australia is all about genuine competition. England and NZ may be able to spring a surprise now and again, but deep down we all know that going in to these games an Australian win is highly likely. And until that changes, nothing else will.

    It's the same for England fans in their attitude towards France and the other euro nations that play RL. Even though France could spring a surprise, we all know it's extremely unlikely. I think i mentioned it earlier on this thread, that the Aussies attitude towards us is not much different than the attitude of many towards France.

    When we can go into games without that feeling of knowing who is likely to win, then we'll see the appetite for International games grow. 

    We also need to actually play some games of course.

    Ultimately, this. 

    I was debating going to Newcastle for the opening game of England v Samoa because I felt there was a genuine threat to England on that day and felt I’d see a close game. Sheffield happens to be one of my favourite cities for a day out but I had no interest in going to England v Greece as I don’t really fancy seeing a 70-0 game. 

  7. 1 minute ago, londonrlfan said:

    Yet it's far worse in Japan atm and no one has any issues going to the Olympics. 

    I find comparisons a bit unnecessary. The package on offer by Japan for travelling athletes is likely to be very different to the package offered to Rugby League teams for a start, so it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges. 

    But as I say, I can understand why some players may not, at this time, want to travel over here. I do also think that Covid is an easy excuse for the powers that be down under to prepare a coup d’état, which it appears is their ulterior motive here. 

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  8. 7 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

    I think this is the real issue, because the narrative from the Australian media is that SoO is number 1, which presupposes that the Aussies must also therefore be number 1 by definition. There wasn't any lack of interest in SoO when Queensland won the series for X years on the trot. But the media tells everyone that SoO is the nuts and internationals are not as good, and people swallow it. If they'd built a narrative around England/New Zealand challenging the Aussies and maybe becoming top dogs, then that would have garnered interest IMO, but they're too keen to protect the status of SoO, as it's a cash cow for them. It's why they will reign in the development of Pacific internationals if it starts to challenge SoO as the biggest show in town.

    The Australian media are going to do say that though, aren’t they? It’s just like people involved in the media here saying the Premier League is the “Best League in the World” and all of their usual spiel about that league when there’s four other top European leagues. 

    Our media are pretty negative and our fans typically go on some arrogant ego trip about how it’s the greatest game, how bad football is etc. 

    • Like 1
  9. 3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

    I mean that shows the intellect of the troll. Good teams care, rubbish teams don't. Doesn't make any sense. 

    And he is a club official. 

    I mean, he has a point about the bastions of International RL. A month ago, we played a select team, not a National one and couldn’t name who was playing 48 hours before the game. The irony isn’t lost on me. 

    That said, whataboutism doesn’t really do much in this instance. 

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