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Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)


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38 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest honour in team sport is to play for your country not a city suburb or state.

Australian and Kiwi officials and players need to be reminded of this

Yes.

Meantime in another world, on BBC2 we have an infantalised version of cricket with made up invented teams. Garish logos garish TV images.  

Loads of people watching, mostly clueless about the teams and what's going on, but they can drink  themselves silly and can enjoy the DJ and now a pop star who I've never heard of who can't sing.  But hey, there is plenty smoke and flashing lights.

Eddie Waring it is not.  It's garbage I assure you.  But surely you can see why we are going backwards  ???   We need to change, change so the aussies cannot do this to us ever again.

Edited by Rupert Prince
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4 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Yes.

Meantime in another world, on BBC2 we have an infantalised version of cricket with made up invented teams. Garish logos garish TV images.  

Loads of people watching, mostly clueless about the teams and what's going on, but they can drink  themselves silly and can enjoy the DJ and now a pop star who I've never heard of who can't sing.  But hey, there is plenty smoke and flashing lights.

Eddie Waring it is not.  It's garbage I assure you.  But surely you can see why we are going backwards  ???   We need to change, change so the aussies cannot do this to us ever again.

Indeed we do. We need to to be more welcoming to teams who want to play in our competitions providing they meet the criteria and that criteria is not being constantly changed 

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11 hours ago, Futtocks said:

To be honest, the way things are being handled in this country as regards COVID, I can understand their reluctance. They are coming from countries where a single-figure outbreak is immediately acted upon, while our infection rates are soaring again.

Other sports have and will continue to play on... Why is it okay for us to give in

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12 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Yes.

Meantime in another world, on BBC2 we have an infantalised version of cricket with made up invented teams. Garish logos garish TV images.  

Loads of people watching, mostly clueless about the teams and what's going on, but they can drink  themselves silly and can enjoy the DJ and now a pop star who I've never heard of who can't sing.  But hey, there is plenty smoke and flashing lights.

Eddie Waring it is not.  It's garbage I assure you.  But surely you can see why we are going backwards  ???   We need to change, change so the aussies cannot do this to us ever again.

I don't support The Hundred but this post is wrong on pretty much every level.

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Just now, gingerjon said:

I don't support The Hundred but this post is wrong on pretty much every level.

As a product the game of RL doesn't need to change anything. I believe the game sells itself. SL and the RFL just need to find a way of selling and promoting it better. 

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22 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

The Kangaroos HAVE LOST 2 of their last 4 international games. They are not the supermen they think they are

Why do you think they have all but turned their back on the international game? As soon as their 'Origin select side' starts getting beat by Tonga and NZ, how can they hold Origin up as the pinnacle of the sport? When people understand how they view and want others to view Origin, their attack on the international game makes perfect sense. 

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This is just the culmination of years of the Aussies inward attitude. 

The annual "will they, won't they" around the WCC, the refusal to host the Ashes, the undermining of the Denver test and now withdrawing from the marquee RL event. 

Maybe this will be a turning point in RL history. Maybe we will stage it and see that we can stage major events without them and fans get behind it, enjoy it and we move into a new phase in international RL. 

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Just now, JM2010 said:

As a product the game of RL doesn't need to change anything. I believe the game sells itself. SL and the RFL just need to find a way of selling and promoting it better. 

Pretty much this.

The ECB invented the Hundred as the result of a bizarre power struggle with their county club members. It's cost a lot of money and is faintly ridiculous. But it's not garbage and it's being watched by people who know what's going on. So 1.6m watched the women's game last night for example.

There's nothing to compare this to in rugby league. We just need to actually play games consistently and in ways that our meaningful. A World Cup - and other international tournaments - are the most effective ways for the game globally to do this. But we have never had a decent run of doing it right.

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I think we all agree that International RL needs a strong NH competition and that should be the aim. The major hurdle at the moment is that England are so far in front of everyone else. France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jamaica and Nigeria could provide a competitive tournament without the need for NRL players. Give them regular games and support player development in these countries. 

I'm not sure what the plan for England could be without SH teams providing the competition 

 

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6 minutes ago, Dave T said:

This is just the culmination of years of the Aussies inward attitude. 

The annual "will they, won't they" around the WCC, the refusal to host the Ashes, the undermining of the Denver test and now withdrawing from the marquee RL event. 

Maybe this will be a turning point in RL history. Maybe we will stage it and see that we can stage major events without them and fans get behind it, enjoy it and we move into a new phase in international RL. 

To add to this - the event I was looking forward to most this winter was the opener vs Samoa at Newcastle. Then some of the women's games to introduce my daughter to the sport. Then giving the wheelchair event a try. 

Then loads of other 'lesser' nations. 

Maybe the Aussies and Kiwis on tv if I wasn't busy. 

 

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Just now, JM2010 said:

I think we all agree that International RL needs a strong NH competition and that should be the aim. The major hurdle at the moment is that England are so far in front of everyone else. France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jamaica and Nigeria could provide a competitive tournament without the need for NRL players. Give them regular games and support player development in these countries. 

I'm not sure what the plan for England could be without SH teams providing the competition 

 

Remember as things stand we still have Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, PNG etc. at the moment. 

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9 hours ago, RP London said:

the clue is that it is 3 months away and the modelling is that we probably wont even need secure bubbles by then (they;ll still no doubt do it to be sure but they wont need it).. 

The postponements are around contact tracing not infections (but you know this because you read the news and are on this board).. 1 person = 6 give or take.. come mid august this wont be an issue either when the contact tracing rule goes... 

its really not difficult to see how this is not going to be a problem.

(one caveat being another variant that is vaccine resistent not turning up.. but frankly that caveat could have been placed before anything 2 years ago [and is in insurance documents about natural disasters and force majoure etc] and will always be on peoples minds for the next generation)

Idont claim to know the details behind all the games called off but Rochdale v Workington off because 11 players and three staff in the Rochdale camp tested positive for covid. So that debunks your claim that its all about tracing and not infections. 

And if it was to be all a matter of tracing, as you wrongly suggest, are you thinking we wont bother with tracing at a world cup?  Lets say half the squad of one team are exposed to an infectious person....never mind its the world cup so send them out there and hope for the best.

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2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Remember as things stand we still have Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, PNG etc. at the moment. 

It depends if it's the NRL clubs or the individual country's governing bodies that are actually behind the decision. I personally don't think any SH nations will be coming 

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For the neutral non-RL sports fan who might switch on the World Cup - will they actually know the difference of the Aussies or NZ aren’t there?

Maybe the so called lesser teams might provide more entertainment. They can certainly match the English side.

Of course, this won’t change the fact that the stadiums will probably be pretty empty, which looks awful on TV. Maybe we could just sell all tickets super cheap for most group matches in the hope of attracting new fans who just want a sporting experience after 18 months locked away. Could work? 

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4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

To add to this - the event I was looking forward to most this winter was the opener vs Samoa at Newcastle. Then some of the women's games to introduce my daughter to the sport. Then giving the wheelchair event a try. 

Then loads of other 'lesser' nations. 

Maybe the Aussies and Kiwis on tv if I wasn't busy. 

 

I am convinced the Aussies wanted to strong arm us into cancelling it. They think they can flex their muscles like the old days and we will fold. What they failed to realise is that they have also crushed the dreams of dozens of wheelchair and women Aus/NZ players for no reason other than self serving rubbish.

I think the kickback from the Aussie and Kiwi women in particular will be huge. What would then be more bizarre would be the NRL/ARLC saying the women and wheelchair team can travel but it is not safe for grown men in their 20s and early 30s to go? 

We need to put on this World Cup - stay strong, invite the USA and Canada in their place and I think the country will get behind it in a big way. Timing is everything.

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While it would be somewhat a hollow victory, part of me really wants the Australian and New Zealand wheelchair teams to say 'screw it, we are going'.

Those guys are absolute warriors and if they showed up to play it would expose the decision as exactly what it is... self serving NRL clubs not wanting their players away or in quarantine for two weeks affecting their pre-season.

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15 minutes ago, Dave T said:

This is just the culmination of years of the Aussies inward attitude. 

The annual "will they, won't they" around the WCC, the refusal to host the Ashes, the undermining of the Denver test and now withdrawing from the marquee RL event. 

Maybe this will be a turning point in RL history. Maybe we will stage it and see that we can stage major events without them and fans get behind it, enjoy it and we move into a new phase in international RL. 

Some of us have been strongly warning about the road the NRL have been going down for years. It's been clear for some time that they are more concerned with controlling and restricting the international game than allowing it to grow.

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4 minutes ago, Damien said:

Simon Johnson with a rallying call to players and coaches to speak up. I must admit he has impressed me today:

 

I have to say it’s a breath of fresh air hearing Simon speak about the World Cup. Comes across well.

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1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

While it would be somewhat a hollow victory, part of me really wants the Australian and New Zealand wheelchair teams to say 'screw it, we are going'.

Those guys are absolute warriors and if they showed up to play it would expose the decision as exactly what it is... self serving NRL clubs not wanting their players away or in quarantine for two weeks affecting their pre-season.

Even better if the indigenous players followed suit as has been mooted. 

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