Great Britain Tour Confirmed

[Harry Stottle]

1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Kept turning up, didn't he?

Not only that, I had the video of the series which included all the behind the scenes, footage guess who was the main speaker in the dressing room, building up the atmosphere, getting the players geed up, giving eloquent into battle speeches to his teammates, on the field he was a team member, in the dressing room Carney was the captain. Don't ever anybody say he was embarrased to be there if they have not seen that video,  they are talking through their ariss.

[RP London]

10 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

The level of hysteria on surrounding Ireland its relationship with Britain in a rugby league context on this thread is astounding.

Its not hysteria its about treating people properly.. the arrogance that "it doesnt really matter does it" is quite frankly apalling and is exactly why we have to be careful and is exactly why people dont like the English (and you cant really blame them for that!)

[RP London]

7 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Not only that, I had the video of the series which included all the behind the scenes, footage guess who was the main speaker in the dressing room, building up the atmosphere, getting the players geed up, giving eloquent into battle speeches to his teammates, on the field he was a team member, in the dressing room Carney was the captain. Don't ever anybody say he was embarrased to be there if they have not seen that video,  they are talking through their ariss.

The point is he was playing for GB&I which was his international team... the fact he was made to stand through an anthem that is not his is embarrassing.. 

we're not even calling this GB&I it is being referred to as GB.. at which point it is not his team.

[roughyedspud]

33 minutes ago, tuutaisrambo said:

I'm assuming This new GB has the same eligibility as before so why are we getting so hung up on what it is called?

Great Britain is the brand........Irish people qualify to play for the team........simple.

I'm assuming the jersey with have both badges on it as it did before......one of which represents Ireland on it (left on pic).

Really glad they have brought this back.........I don't care if all the players are english........the point is other home nation players qualify for it if they are good enough.

Put it this way.......if you are a brilliant young Rugby League player who is Irish who would you rather play for? a professional GB playing the best in the world or the current Irish RL setup.

I think GB full of english players is far better better than what we have now.......... Wales, Scotland and Ireland running their own teams full of english players.

You sir are a bleeding idiot...

Who would I rather have a Irish talent play for???  EFFING IRELAND...SO IRISH LADS HAVE SOMEONE TO ASPIRE TO BE!!!

[Dave T]

Good Lord. This is going to be the RL version of the brexit thread, I can see it.

[roughyedspud]

Back inside day I could understand  that if we have the best England players and a smattering of Welsh talent then GB would be better than England...

Even in the 90s....jiffy, bateman, john deveruex made GB better than England...GB made sense....now,at the minute,it doesn't..

[roughyedspud]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Good Lord. This is going to be the RL version of the brexit thread, I can see it.

Remember the voluntary tackle thread ? 

[Dunbar]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Good Lord. This is going to be the RL version of the brexit thread, I can see it.

But will they be using proper scrums, that's the key question?

[Harry Stottle]

7 minutes ago, roughyedspud said:

Back inside day I could understand  that if we have the best England players and a smattering of Welsh talent then GB would be better than England...

Even in the 90s....jiffy, bateman, john deveruex made GB better than England...GB made sense....now,at the minute,it doesn't..

Yes but by your thinking of excluding them to "Home Nations" we will not have the opportunity to make a selective team from these Islands better, or are you a knee jerker in that if a Welsh, Irish or Scottish world beater comes along you will want to change it then to suit your agenda.

[Dunbar]

I prefer the development of the international game be built around the home nations as it supports grass roots development.

But I also get the argument that GB allows the cream of the home nations to put their hands up for their home nations for the world cup and then GB every 4 years or so.

Which brings to the question of why on earth not do it properly and have the GB brand back for a full 3 game ashes series and not this half baked tour (which would have suited England perfectly).

[roughyedspud]

7 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Yes but by your thinking of excluding them to "Home Nations" we will not have the opportunity to make a selective team from these Islands better, or are you a knee jerker in that if a Welsh, Irish or Scottish world beater comes along you will want to change it then to suit your agenda.

I think it's clear I'm not knee jerker...

I want half a dozen Welsh,Scots and Irish to make GB viable...until then its not....23 Englishmen and 1 Welshman isn't not GB...20 Englishmen and 5 Celts..of any nation..does

[Oliver Clothesoff]

3 minutes ago, roughyedspud said:

I think it's clear I'm not knee jerker...

I want half a dozen Welsh,Scots and Irish to make GB viable...until then its not....23 Englishmen and 1 Welshman isn't not GB...20 Englishmen and 5 Celts..of any nation..does

Does an Oldham team truly represent Oldham if no players are born in Oldham?

[Dave T]

The concept of GB is not the problem in itself, people need to avoid being hysterical over this as many are looking a bit silly. RU has clearly shown that this can be done if you want to.

The big problem is the implementation:

> No England RL games this year.

> Tour clashes with Ireland and Scotland games.

> The Ireland issue hasn't been addressed yet properly.

> The lack of new sponsors, broadcasters, investors etc (up to now)

> The tour schedule is nothing like previous GB Lions tours - this isn't a nostalgic road trip.

 

The issues being raised are not show stoppers at all - we were GB without Scotland and Ireland players many times, don't stress about it. I agree with those that suggest it can be aspirational for young players in these developing nations who get eff all at the moment. 

My issue with it, is that like almost everything, we just do it really, really poorly!

[RP London]

just to be clear on my main issue

I am happy for it to be GB&I but just be clear on the branding, call them GB&I and put "& Ireland" under the lions head (you dont need the "British Isles" badge)... and when you officially refer to them then refer to them as GB&I not just GB... its very simple.. at the moment although its trying to be inclusive it is excluding by using a quite diverse brand in one of the countries you are trying to appeal to.. which for me is the definition of RL idiocy.

 

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, RP London said:

just to be clear on my main issue

I am happy for it to be GB&I but just be clear on the branding, call them GB&I and put "& Ireland" under the lions head (you dont need the "British Isles" badge)... and when you officially refer to them then refer to them as GB&I not just GB... its very simple.. at the moment although its trying to be inclusive it is excluding by using a quite diverse brand in one of the countries you are trying to appeal to.. which for me is the definition of RL idiocy.

 

Plus the anthem. 

I suggest.... Rule Britannia. Lovely tune...

[tuutaisrambo]

I'd rather us have a proper GB (or whatever politically correct name we give them ) test series against OZ or NZ every year in place of all the rubbish we have now.

Throw in additional games against Tonga/Samoa PNG and so on along with France over here.

I'm happy to replace the home nations altogether with GB..........and to be honest i think if we did the general public of Ireland, wales and scotland wouldn't even notice. People are attracted to big games i think the other home nations would rather see GB play big games than watch wales/scotland/ireland play in front of 10 people.

Their players who are mostly from RL heartlands and down under could all play for GB if they are good enough.

Funny how some on here are happy to cut adrift the game below SL (because money is tight) but very happy to persist with pushing the international game where there is literally no interest in it.

Listen to the latest RL podcast on the BBC........Ireland players had to crowdfund to raise money to get themselves to the last world cup.

[tuutaisrambo]

why not just have this and no text..........refer to them and GB and Ireland.

[RP London]

4 minutes ago, tuutaisrambo said:

I'd rather us have a proper GB (or whatever politically correct name we give them ) test series against OZ or NZ every year in place of all the rubbish we have now.

Throw in additional games against Tonga/Samoa PNG and so on along with France over here.

I'm happy to replace the home nations altogether with GB..........and to be honest i think if we did the general public of Ireland, wales and scotland wouldn't even notice. People are attracted to big games i think the other home nations would rather see GB play big games than watch wales/scotland/ireland play in front of 10 people.

Their players who are mostly from RL heartlands and down under could all play for GB if they are good enough.

Funny how some on here are happy to cut adrift the game below SL (because money is tight) but very happy to persist with pushing the international game where there is literally no interest in it.

Listen to the latest RL podcast on the BBC........Ireland players had to crowdfund to raise money to get themselves to the last world cup.

its not political correctness, it is simple correctness.. there is a country that is involved that is not part of GB that is not being reffered to.. it would be like having a North American team, calling it the USA but expecting Canadians to be happy to play for them. 

look at the funding opportunities and developments in Wales for why having a Welsh National team rather than just simply GB is a good thing (they are listed earlier on on this thread or on the other one).

[RP London]

3 minutes ago, tuutaisrambo said:

why not just have this and no text..........refer to them and GB and Ireland.

I've said a number of times... all you need to do is refer to them constantly as GB&I (without rolling your eyes) or "the lions"... either take the wording off the above or put "& Ireland" on it... its not hard!

[tuutaisrambo]

1 hour ago, nadera78 said:

If you're Irish you'd want to play for Ireland, not a foreign country. GB is a foreign country.

If you are a Irish professional sportsman would you rather play for GB & Ireland in a test series against Australia in Sydney or for Ireland against Scotland in cumbria in front of about 50 people most of which are related to the players

[RP London]

Just now, tuutaisrambo said:

If you are a Irish professional sportsman would you rather play for GB & Ireland in a test series against Australia in Sydney or for Ireland against Scotland in cumbria in front of about 50 people most of which are related to the players

of course its GB&I

But if you go around calling it and branding it just GB then most will want to play for Ireland.

[tuutaisrambo]

I though we were GB and Ireland?  we were last time............Maybe the RFL are just rubbish at writing press releases and we are all arguing over a typo

[tuutaisrambo]

4 minutes ago, RP London said:

of course its GB&I

But if you go around calling it and branding it just GB then most will want to play for Ireland.

Agreed it's lazy by the RFL....should be GB & Ireland

[RP London]

5 minutes ago, tuutaisrambo said:

I though we were GB and Ireland?  we were last time............Maybe the RFL are just rubbish at writing press releases and we are all arguing over a typo

Its not just a typo... look at the branding all over the releases, the photos of Tom/George Burgess, the only badge is "Great Britain Rugby League".. the only person who says "Great Britain and Ireland" is the Chief of the RLI all the other head honchos just said "Great Britain".. the main sponsors badge (if i were Dacia I would go ape over it) says "Great Britain Tour" on it.. 

As I said its a dogs breakfast of a job... 

all these people should understand the delicacies around the situation in Ireland they are all old enough to remember the 1970s and 80s and some before that.. it may seem like a minor thing to many on this side of the Irish Sea but it really isnt on the other and we should be more sensitive to that and more careful. If we want their buy in we have to accept this.. 

If we dont then fine call it GB but leave the Irish out of it, I dont mind doing that either I really dont just dont do a botch job like they are doing now.. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Hope we can get the England v Australia games in 2020 announced pretty soon. Would be lovely to have a venue, date and kick-off time sorted a year in advance so people could make plans.