British-born Francesca Bunting aiming to play for Brazil

[The Rocket]

16 hours ago, Cameron Highlander said:

I'm adept at twisting my neck like the young girl in the Exorcist movie........LOL.

Yeah right, you were looking at her ###### and just happened to notice. Just like I did.

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

But am I right in saying she's never played Rugby League before? 

Yes, it says in the article. 

[SSoutherner]

On 09/11/2020 at 11:33, Big Picture said:

"Bunting does not speak Portuguese and has been using translation apps to communicate with the Brazil squad."  That will work well during a match!

i played a game of union where the ref told us at the begining "it's ok I have an app for all the latest law changes" I thought the exact same thing you said

 

As an aside, St Alban's is a hotbed of Union womens talent, it is where the Saracens Ladies are based and off the back of that OA's girls teams are very strong at u13,15 & 18, so if any of those go to northern unis with ladies league teams they can polish up those skills then, the girls game (of unon) is more about handling and speed than "bosh it up the middle and kick tennis" colts  boys so an easier transition to league

[thebrewxi]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

Yes, it says in the article. 

I'm still confused. "Someone who's not played League, might play League". I assumed I'd gone mad. Maybe I have 

[Eddie]

9 minutes ago, thebrewxi said:

I'm still confused. "Someone who's not played League, might play League". I assumed I'd gone mad. Maybe I have 

Yes that’s what it’s about, and I got shot down for pointing it out. 

[RP London]

14 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

I'm still confused. "Someone who's not played League, might play League". I assumed I'd gone mad. Maybe I have 

Its a positive article about someone from St Albans who has a very different background than you would expect a Rugby league player to have who may go on to represent a different country than you would expect to find playing Rugby League in the Rugby League World Cup next year. 

It made the main page of the BBC Sport website and is written with only positivity.. 

but yet, as always, the negativity is there.. "she hasnt played RL".. who cares, the article is good and positive

[gingerjon]

14 hours ago, Eddie said:

Yes that’s what it’s about, and I got shot down for pointing it out. 

You deserved to be shot down.

Negativity will kill our game.

[gingerjon]

22 minutes ago, RP London said:

Its a positive article about someone from St Albans who has a very different background than you would expect a Rugby league player to have who may go on to represent a different country than you would expect to find playing Rugby League in the Rugby League World Cup next year. 

It made the main page of the BBC Sport website and is written with only positivity.. 

but yet, as always, the negativity is there.. "she hasnt played RL".. who cares, the article is good and positive

Does she even have a tattoo of "George Hotel, 1895"?

[thebrewxi]

1 hour ago, RP London said:

Its a positive article about someone from St Albans who has a very different background than you would expect a Rugby league player to have who may go on to represent a different country than you would expect to find playing Rugby League in the Rugby League World Cup next year. 

It made the main page of the BBC Sport website and is written with only positivity.. 

but yet, as always, the negativity is there.. "she hasnt played RL".. who cares, the article is good and positive

Not being negative. Just confused. 

There was once an article on the front page of my local paper that read "Mass Fish Death Blamed on Local Industry". I remember thinking how bad this sounded so I read down. It turned out one person had reported it about four fish.. and they might not have actually died. The article reminded me of that.

[Click]

3 minutes ago, thebrewxi said:

Not being negative. Just confused. 

There was once an article on the front page of my local paper that read "Mass Fish Death Blamed on Local Industry". I remember thinking how bad this sounded so I read down. It turned out one person had reported it about four fish.. and they might not have actually died. The article reminded me of that.

In what way? 

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Click said:

In what way? 

Miss Marple would work it out. Maybe Francesca once worked on a fish market.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

Presumably when Brazil are thrashed by England the headline will all be about  "Cry Baby Bunting!".....

Making a sharp exit....

[RP London]

58 minutes ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

Presumably when Brazil are thrashed by England the headline will all be about  "Cry Baby Bunting!".....

Making a sharp exit....

I'm hoping it would be a tight game and they would go with "England in close shave against Brazil"

[thebrewxi]

9 hours ago, Click said:

In what way? 

Because that it isn't actually a story? Is it? Am I going/gone mad?

Someone who could qualify for Brazil in presumably a number of sports, who plays some amateur sports, is thinking about playing another sport she doesn't currently play, and has never played, because she met someone in a gym and had a chat about it.

I mean, fair play to her (a) for her obvious talent in self promotion and (b) for thinking about having a go at League.

....but the fish may not have even died, FFS. They might not have died! And yet there was an article about a mass fish killing in Droitwich! On the front page!

[Click]

4 minutes ago, thebrewxi said:

Because that it isn't actually a story? Is it? Am I going/gone mad?

Someone who could qualify for Brazil in presumably a number of sports, who plays some amateur sports, is thinking about playing another sport she doesn't currently play, and has never played, because she met someone in a gym and had a chat about it.

I mean, fair play to her (a) for her obvious talent in self promotion and (b) for thinking about having a go at League.

....but the fish may not have even died, FFS. They might not have died! And yet there was an article about a mass fish killing in Droitwich! On the front page!

Is it not? She has been picked in the initial selection process for the Brazilian WC Squad for 2021. It isn't like she has only had a conversation with someone and then she is now talking to the BBC about it.

It is a good story that can show how the RLWC can be inclusive and how Brazil is adding more to the WC and bringing in new and fresh faces to the sport that haven't played it before.

If you want to keep comparing it to your mass fish killing, that's is up to you, but you are only looking for negatives in this story, and ignoring the positive aspects.

[thebrewxi]

3 minutes ago, Click said:

Is it not? She has been picked in the initial selection process for the Brazilian WC Squad for 2021. It isn't like she has only had a conversation with someone and then she is now talking to the BBC about it.

It is a good story that can show how the RLWC can be inclusive and how Brazil is adding more to the WC and bringing in new and fresh faces to the sport that haven't played it before.

If you want to keep comparing it to your mass fish killing, that's is up to you, but you are only looking for negatives in this story, and ignoring the positive aspects.

Okay I was just having some fun.

I'll duck out. I was just fishing I guess.

[RP London]

14 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

Because that it isn't actually a story? Is it? Am I going/gone mad?

Someone who could qualify for Brazil in presumably a number of sports, who plays some amateur sports, is thinking about playing another sport she doesn't currently play, and has never played, because she met someone in a gym and had a chat about it.

I mean, fair play to her (a) for her obvious talent in self promotion and (b) for thinking about having a go at League.

....but the fish may not have even died, FFS. They might not have died! And yet there was an article about a mass fish killing in Droitwich! On the front page!

ffs we get a thread on here saying we get no coverage on things like the BBC and they complain because other sports get stories like these "none stories" published and they get ahead of the RL actual stories on sites...  then when we do we get this type of coverage we get people (not just you, just picked this to quote) bemoaning the fact we have a story on there... 

You really couldnt make this sort of scenario up! no wonder we dont get anywhere.. 

[Eddie]

16 minutes ago, RP London said:

ffs we get a thread on here saying we get no coverage on things like the BBC and they complain because other sports get stories like these "none stories" published and they get ahead of the RL actual stories on sites...  then when we do we get this type of coverage we get people (not just you, just picked this to quote) bemoaning the fact we have a story on there... 

You really couldnt make this sort of scenario up! no wonder we dont get anywhere.. 

I don’t think anyone’s complained about the story being published? 

[RP London]

58 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I don’t think anyone’s complained about the story being published? 

I didnt say they were complaining it got published they are "bemoaning the fact it is on there" 

"it isnt actually a story" i would say is bemoaning the fact it is there.. 

its a good news story, its on the main page.. celebrate it ffs there is little to celebrate going on at the moment and there is a lot of negative press going on, this is a good bit of press lets enjoy it rather than pick bloody holes in it.

 

[Leyther_Matt]

An interesting story and it would be great to see more of these in the lead up to the World Cup as it just aids it as a global event rather than the usual accusation of badges of convenience.

It would be good to know how the BBC came about the story as it's obviously hit the front page of their website with far more ease than even some of our biggest games this season.

I did also note the Toronto Wolfpack badge on the Brazilian kit so I hope they aren't suffering a drop in income.

[unapologetic pedant]

If 20 years ago the RFL and RL clubs had embraced and organised Tag RL there would have been a lot more RL-connected people in the South with backgrounds and back stories like Francesca Bunting.

Had they featured in media coverage, no doubt the complaint then would have been that Tag RL isn`t really RL. If we are to broaden our base and change perceptions, we are going to have to be more imaginative.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

An interesting story and it would be great to see more of these in the lead up to the World Cup as it just aids it as a global event rather than the usual accusation of badges of convenience.

It would be good to know how the BBC came about the story as it's obviously hit the front page of their website with far more ease than even some of our biggest games this season.

I did also note the Toronto Wolfpack badge on the Brazilian kit so I hope they aren't suffering a drop in income.

It’s because it’s an article about women’s sport, which the bbc love, hence the extraordinary number of articles about women’s football which very few people are interested in. I’m not saying this is right or wrong btw, it’s just an observation. 

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

It’s because it’s an article about women’s sport, which the bbc love, hence the extraordinary number of articles about women’s football which very few people are interested in. I’m not saying this is right or wrong btw, it’s just an observation. 

Women's football international attendances dwarf those in RL, and pre-pandemic their club crowds were starting to get to the level that wouldn't have looked out of place in the lower reaches of SL. Let's not cry equality-gone-mad on the one hand while screaming for equal coverage of RL in the other.

[Dunbar]

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

It’s because it’s an article about women’s sport, which the bbc love, hence the extraordinary number of articles about women’s football which very few people are interested in. I’m not saying this is right or wrong btw, it’s just an observation. 

I have just done a quick audit of the BBC sports landing page.  Looking through the articles, features and video links, 57 of them were about men's sport and 7 were about women's sport.

Just an observation.

[Eddie]

5 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I have just done a quick audit of the BBC sports landing page.  Looking through the articles, features and video links, 57 of them were about men's sport and 7 were about women's sport.

Just an observation.

When I go on the bbc football page there are always headlines about women’s football, in fact there were two about the northern Irish women’s team at the same time a couple of weeks ago. Call me a cynic but I don’t think massive amounts of people log onto the bbc football website to read about that.