Once Were Lions

[Keith989]

4 hours ago, Hughsehhh said:

I'm Welsh and certainly value the Lions and wouldn't want to lose it, or have it simply given over to England. England maybe the lions in terms of squad now, but in the past a decent amount of Welshmen have worn the jersey and formed the identity and memories for many fans. 

A single, poorly organised tour shouldn't distract from decades of rich history. Bring back the GB lions in future, when it can be properly organised. Also, people seem to have a hang up that we lost the games and that's a reason to scrap the lions - I didn't realise the only purpose of the GB lions existence was to win exclusively 

Bring back the lions alright, but leave us (Ireland) as far away from it as possible. 

[Wiltshire Rhino]

Enjoyed the documentary more than the Tour 

[RP London]

23 hours ago, Wiltshire Rhino said:

Enjoyed the documentary more than the Tour 

thats not a glowing recommendation

totally agree BTW.

[Chrispmartha]

On 22/11/2020 at 09:58, Wiltshire Rhino said:

Enjoyed the documentary more than the Tour 

I enjoyed having a failed root canal removed than the GB tour.

 

The documentary was good though, it just made me a little sad as I can't see the GB lions returning any time soon after that shambles.

[Mr Frisky]

On 21/11/2020 at 15:50, Keith989 said:

Bring back the lions alright, but leave us (Ireland) as far away from it as possible. 

That's fine, but we will include Northern Ireland as they are under the Union Flag.

Dont really know why NI and Southern Ireland cant play as separate teams anyway as they do in Football to stop the south complaining about having to play under the union flag.

[Scubby]

Documentary was okay but was expecting a little more tbh. 

[Mr Frisky]

20 minutes ago, Celt said:

Why not just concentrate on getting the whole of England to support you? The apathy among your own public meant virtually nobody from England travelled over to support you from there (especially when we compare to other sports, like cricket). Virtually nobody from the south of England is even aware of your national team. 

But yes... By all means include the half of Northern Ireland who might follow your flag (because let's be honest here... The other 50% won't appreciate your decision to "include" them).

As for your last sentence... I don't even know where to start with a response to it.

Calm down lad - so you didnt travel to support the British Isles 13 last year??

Thought the documentary was pretty good, not as good as the 2006 one but if they do one for the WC next year it could be great.

 

[Mr Frisky]

1 minute ago, Celt said:

I would love to see the documentary, but it is unavailable outside the UK.

Good job really lad, given how mad you are over a few words you would be livid if you had to watch a team who dared play under the union flag....

In contrast, I always support Ireland RL especially when Barry McDermott played for you lot. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

Decent documentary

[voteronniegibbs]

I enjoyed the documentary and thought the honesty of the comments from players and coaches stood out. 

[Keith989]

19 hours ago, Mr Frisky said:

That's fine, but we will include Northern Ireland as they are under the Union Flag.

Dont really know why NI and Southern Ireland cant play as separate teams anyway as they do in Football to stop the south complaining about having to play under the union flag.

Yeah imagine people complaing about playing under another nations flag and anthem. How dare they. There isn't really any point in having seperate teams, the current one is made up almost entirely of English lads anyway. I'd imagine this is the only reason why Ireland was "included" in this.

[Hughsehhh]

52 minutes ago, Keith989 said:

Yeah imagine people complaing about playing under another nations flag and anthem. How dare they. There isn't really any point in having seperate teams, the current one is made up almost entirely of English lads anyway. I'd imagine this is the only reason why Ireland was "included" in this.

Mate leave the politics out of it. The Norn Ireland lads have to go down to Dublin and listen to an anthem that isn't theirs when they represent the whole of Ireland in various sports, with limited fuss. When they've played games in Belfast, the southerners all of a sudden say they won't play as GSTQ will be played as the anthem. Hypocrisy at its finest

[Keith989]

1 hour ago, Hughsehhh said:

Mate leave the politics out of it. The Norn Ireland lads have to go down to Dublin and listen to an anthem that isn't theirs when they represent the whole of Ireland in various sports, with limited fuss. When they've played games in Belfast, the southerners all of a sudden say they won't play as GSTQ will be played as the anthem. Hypocrisy at its finest

Except of course for the fact that Ireland's call is played as a neutral anthem...

[Mr Frisky]

50 minutes ago, Keith989 said:

Except of course for the fact that Ireland's call is played as a neutral anthem...

Yet the "Irish" football team that played in "Ireland's" greatest ever match V Italy in the 1994 World Cup only had 4 Irish players in it. The rest were British as well as Big Jack of course - when it suits they can say it's an Irish team but when its suggested that Brian Carney dared to play for a GB RL team ( officially called the British Isles 13 when he played) loads of Irish fans are saying how disgusting it was. Same people who hounded Rory out of Olympics golf a few years ago. You cant win what ever you choose.

They should be proud Carney represented the Lions.

If Ireland produced the next Hanley or Burgess those fans would rather they never get a shot at the Lions team just to spite their own faces.

Live and let live - I for one hope the likes of LMS or Kyle Amor play for Ireland again to help their own grown lads progress.

[Hughsehhh]

3 hours ago, Keith989 said:

Except of course for the fact that Ireland's call is played as a neutral anthem...

As well as the soldiers song or whatever the national anthem of ROI is.. when games are played in Dublin. So why not GSTQ when played in Belfast?

Anyway, let's just leave it there. This thread isn't about politics. Hoping to get time to watch the documentary tonight

[Therein73]

Poor offering, I thought ....... Did nothing to enhance the game IMO .....And, we all know grown men can swear -- did the over-abundant use of expletives really serve any purpose ??? The actual coaching input of WB, DW & IW wasn't portrayed at all -- unless all they do is say very little (WB) make a lot of notes (IW) or run around shouting & bawling the same thing for four matches (DW) ..... Poor tour, poor documentary, awful portrayal of TGG 

[gavin7094]

1 hour ago, Therein73 said:

Poor offering, I thought ....... Did nothing to enhance the game IMO .....And, we all know grown men can swear -- did the over-abundant use of expletives really serve any purpose ??? The actual coaching input of WB, DW & IW wasn't portrayed at all -- unless all they do is say very little (WB) make a lot of notes (IW) or run around shouting & bawling the same thing for four matches (DW) ..... Poor tour, poor documentary, awful portrayal of TGG 

Totally agree with all you've said.  Thought this was dismal. 

Rugby league is a professional game and deserves wider recognition of the skills, athleticism and bravery of its players.

This documentary portrayed it as a parochial game stuck in the past.  I would have thought coaching had moved on a bit from blood and thunder and simply swearing in every sentance? Danny Ward went down enormously in my estimation.  It's not big and not clever and is very far from professional. 

However, the most irritating things for me were a) this perpetual narrative of the decline of the industrial North and b) the repetitive personal histories of players from 'troubled' backgrounds who were brought up in depressed areas and who, if they hadn't been saved by rugby league, would inevitably have drifted down the path of disaffection and underachievement.  The game (and the North) needs to leave these tired clichés behind now.

It felt like the obituary of a sport that thinks its best days are behind it. 

[clogdance]

I agree, thought it was correct to show a few tries from previous GB tours, but we didn't need a bleak/depressing 'history of the game' so to speak.

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, gavin7094 said:

It felt like the obituary of a sport that thinks its best days are behind it.

It definitely felt like an obituary for the GB Lions.

The tour comes across as a busman’s holiday rather than a serious playing effort. 

I don’t believe the players really bought into the Lions concept either. All felt a bit forced.

The positive to take from the film is that the international game is stronger now than it has ever been. The player pool is larger and the Lions tours of yore are redundant. Why play NSW Country etc. when you can play Tonga or Samoa or Fiji or PNG? 

[Keith989]

14 hours ago, Mr Frisky said:

Yet the "Irish" football team that played in "Ireland's" greatest ever match V Italy in the 1994 World Cup only had 4 Irish players in it. The rest were British as well as Big Jack of course - when it suits they can say it's an Irish team but when its suggested that Brian Carney dared to play for a GB RL team ( officially called the British Isles 13 when he played) loads of Irish fans are saying how disgusting it was. Same people who hounded Rory out of Olympics golf a few years ago. You cant win what ever you choose.

They should be proud Carney represented the Lions.

If Ireland produced the next Hanley or Burgess those fans would rather they never get a shot at the Lions team just to spite their own faces.

Live and let live - I for one hope the likes of LMS or Kyle Amor play for Ireland again to help their own grown lads progress.

Loads of Irish fans? If only the Ireland national team had loads of Irish fans... The problem isn't with Carney playing with GB, he definetly made the right move there with his career, it's the half hearted, insulting attempt to lump Ireland in with team. 

[Keith989]

11 hours ago, Hughsehhh said:

As well as the soldiers song or whatever the national anthem of ROI is.. when games are played in Dublin. So why not GSTQ when played in Belfast?

Anyway, let's just leave it there. This thread isn't about politics. Hoping to get time to watch the documentary tonight

Why would they play GSTQ though? They don't even use it for the commonwealth games, do they? In fact, officially Northern Ireland has no national anthem that represents just the North.

[Mr Frisky]

45 minutes ago, Keith989 said:

Why would they play GSTQ though? They don't even use it for the commonwealth games, do they? In fact, officially Northern Ireland has no national anthem that represents just the North.

Correct, but the football team play GSTQ and isnt Londonderry Air also played at other events.

 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

6 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

It definitely felt like an obituary for the GB Lions.

The positive to take from the film is that the international game is stronger now than it has ever been. The player pool is larger and the Lions tours of yore are redundant. Why play NSW Country etc. when you can play Tonga or Samoa or Fiji or PNG? 

Hopefully that is the end of the GB Lions, they are a team of a bygone era, like bringing back Yorkshire v Lancashire attempting to take the game back is not progressive, we need to move the game forward, the future of internationals is England in tier 1 and the other hone Nations as tier 2 sides. 

The best part of the documentary was the PNG section, the popularity of the game there is incredible. It’d be great to see England go over and do a tour of PNG, playing a 3 match test series and a couple of regional warm up games. Would the tour make a profit? Probably not PNG is a poor country, but it should be done anyway. 

[17 stone giant]

What I want to know is, did bringing GB back make the sport (e.g. the RFL) any money? If it did, then I can overlook some or many of the frustrations I have regarding bringing GB back at this current time. It will at least have produced some more money that can now be spent developing the sport. Do we know what the situation is in that regard?

[Hughsehhh]

1 hour ago, Keith989 said:

Why would they play GSTQ though? They don't even use it for the commonwealth games, do they? In fact, officially Northern Ireland has no national anthem that represents just the North.

You know as well as I that Northern Ireland use GSTQ though, so suck it up, accept Norn iron will always be part of the UK and take you anti English bigotry elsewhere.