Countries you’d like to see playing RL

[Keith989]

4 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

Was going to start a different thread but we have in a away lost nations from the level they were at. 

Didn't Russia have 25k for a game. They seem to have gone. South Africa, Morocco and Japan seem to be others.

Surely RL could take off easily in South Africa? They produce endless amounts of professional rugby players and with their ever stricter quota system imposed on clubs by their government, at all levels, a lot of players could become disillusioned with union.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Keith989

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Keith989 said:

Surely RL could take off easily in South Africa? They produce endless amounts of professional rugby players and with their ever stricter quota system imposed on clubs by their government, at all levels, a lot of players could become disillusioned with union.

SASCOC, the government's sports authority refuse to recognise RL as different to RU. There are a lot of former RU admins in the SASCOC board...

[Johnoco]

It’s obviously a different world today and that probably changes things but association football spread around the world in very little time at all….20-30 years? That’s roughly as long as SL has been going.

Migrating workers, Religious leaders, etc etc spread the game into the places they moved to. For example, Scottish steel workers spread the game to Sweden, or so I remember reading. 
Today, it’s not going to happen like that but RL could still focus on one or two places like Serbia where there are some roots already there. It won’t rule the world but it could expand its global footprint by one or two countries and that would be no mean achievement.

[Cumbrian Mackem]

1 minute ago, Johnoco said:

It’s obviously a different world today and that probably changes things but association football spread around the world in very little time at all….20-30 years? That’s roughly as long as SL has been going.

Migrating workers, Religious leaders, etc etc spread the game into the places they moved to. For example, Scottish steel workers spread the game to Sweden, or so I remember reading. 
Today, it’s not going to happen like that but RL could still focus on one or two places like Serbia where there are some roots already there. It won’t rule the world but it could expand its global footprint by one or two countries and that would be no mean achievement.

Scottish and English people/migrants were influential in spreading football in Argentina as where Italian and German immigrants both in Argentina and other South American countries.

A RL equivalent would be Australian soldiers taking the game to PNG  whilst stationed there during WW2.

Places like Serbia and other Balkan countries could and do benefit from the 1st&2nd generation of the Balkan nations diaspora living in Australia. You can also add Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Malta etc to that list as well.

[Smudger06]

I think we could get good market penetration in Vatican City if we can get 2 nines teams knocked up Jobs a good un, would be 2nd country after PNG where its the national sport. 

[Damien]

On 13/07/2021 at 01:42, Keith989 said:

Surely RL could take off easily in South Africa? They produce endless amounts of professional rugby players and with their ever stricter quota system imposed on clubs by their government, at all levels, a lot of players could become disillusioned with union.

South Africa has always been very anti RL with all the usual barriers put in the sports way through RU being the establishment sport and having control and influence through government and media. It's telling that in the 3 big RU southern hemisphere nations that RL has essentially no presence in one.

I suspect that RU saw what happened in Australia and NZ and did all they could to prevent the same in South Africa. If it had been given free reign I think it would be a RL nation like Australia or NZ. 

[Keith989]

34 minutes ago, Damien said:

South Africa has always been very anti RL with all the usual barriers put in the sports way through RU being the establishment sport and having control and influence through government and media. It's telling that in the 3 big RU southern hemisphere nations that RL has essentially no presence in one.

I suspect that RU saw what happened in Australia and NZ and did all they could to prevent the same in South Africa. If it had been given free reign I think it would be a RL nation like Australia or NZ. 

It certainly could have been big in  South Africa, before coming on here I always wondered why it wasn't. There has never been a better time to try and grow the game there. The South African government is hell bent on trying to destroy union at the minute with their quota system. 

[Cumbrian Mackem]

3 hours ago, Keith989 said:

It certainly could have been big in  South Africa, before coming on here I always wondered why it wasn't. There has never been a better time to try and grow the game there. The South African government is hell bent on trying to destroy union at the minute with their quota system. 

Does the quota system apply to the local domestic teams?

[Cumbrian Mackem]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

South Africa has always been very anti RL with all the usual barriers put in the sports way through RU being the establishment sport and having control and influence through government and media. It's telling that in the 3 big RU southern hemisphere nations that RL has essentially no presence in one.

I suspect that RU saw what happened in Australia and NZ and did all they could to prevent the same in South Africa. If it had been given free reign I think it would be a RL nation like Australia or NZ. 

Rugby union must have been the game of choice for the apartheid government.

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

South Africa has always been very anti RL with all the usual barriers put in the sports way through RU being the establishment sport and having control and influence through government and media. It's telling that in the 3 big RU southern hemisphere nations that RL has essentially no presence in one.

I suspect that RU saw what happened in Australia and NZ and did all they could to prevent the same in South Africa. If it had been given free reign I think it would be a RL nation like Australia or NZ. 

In recent years, the antagonism from South African RU seems to have dropped off. There was some problem with getting official state recognition of the sport a few years back, and I remember reading that SA RU were actually being helpful about it, which isn't normal at all.

[fighting irish]

3 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Rugby union must have been the game of choice for the apartheid government.

Of course it was.

[Keith989]

5 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Does the quota system apply to the local domestic teams?

Not sure how low down the ladder it goes but they have it in their school system.

[DC77]

On 11/07/2021 at 13:44, Cumbrian Mackem said:

At one time I would have agreed with you but for me there’s bigger fish to fry out there.

Ireland, Scotland and Wales are by some distance the three nations which would see RL grow most in England. Without those three nations (which is the situation with RL to all intents and purposes) then RU would be on a par with RL. 

Annually, the Six Nations is the only time when RU has its moment in the Sun. Take out the other three nations there is next to no interest in RU across England outside the Rugger hotbeds. Those that do watch Rugger in Liverpool will watch England vs Ireland, they don’t watch Saracens vs Leicester.

I agree with you in not focusing on them for a different reason though in that RL has very little chance of making any serious inroads in those three countries as RU has already taken up the rugby spot. In any area where one code is strong the other is weak, unfortunately for RL RU got in first in most places where the oval ball game is played. 

[zylya]

Would love to see a proper European tournament, so would love to see some of the following countries taking the game seriously and get good at it. I know the OP just said playing it, but I'm taking that to mean develop a strong national team:

France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Spain, Germany, Italy (+ England would make 8 teams for a tournament).

An ultimate goal I'd love to see RL get to the stage where it had a 16 team Euros. Obviously not expecting it to get bigger than the football, but a good-sized tournament to watch in the gaps between World Cups. So basically, all the big European nations as a personal desire.