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Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)


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2 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

I think the AFL`s successful encroachment into NSW and QLD during the past 3 decades or so has had an insidious and consolidating impact on the NRL and NRL media. The AFL has no international scene. Therefore they have a vested, even existential, interest in Australian insularity. Locked into a binary domestic code war, the NRL and NRL media have been drawn more into viewing the sporting landscape through an AFL prism. Thus their neglect of international RL has grown.

I think that's a really astute observation.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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1 hour ago, Whippet13 said:

Interview with John Dutton:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/58006088

Sounds like they accept ARLC and NZRL will not change their minds but will push on if they can get buy in from the NRL players. I imagine the role of the RLPA is going to be pivotal in how this goes down and we should have a result either way next week.

Sounds to me that the RLWC is trying to change the minds of the ARLC and NZRL via the players. 

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1 hour ago, Whippet13 said:

Interview with John Dutton:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/58006088

Sounds like they accept ARLC and NZRL will not change their minds but will push on if they can get buy in from the NRL players. I imagine the role of the RLPA is going to be pivotal in how this goes down and we should have a result either way next week.

Dutton said it is "fundamental that players have a voice and a choice" in what happens with the event.

"We want to get out and supply the players directly with the information," he said. 

"We want to sit down, we want to talk to them on a face to face basis and understand their concerns and then take a view in the coming days whether it is still achievable.

"This is a seminal moment for international rugby league and the work we have invested and position we have gotten the tournament into."

Talks with players include informing them of the "extraordinary measures" being undertaken to protect their wellbeing, while competing nations are being briefed so they can "fully understand any new or developing issues that will prevent them travelling to England in October".


My comment: in other words, Dutton and the RLWC organising committee are doing what the gutless V'landys wouldn't do, because he knew the answer from the players would be to GO and then he wouldn't be able to pull the ARLC and the gormless NZRL out of the tournament as the NRL clubs wanted.

I'm still utterly disgusted.

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13 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I think that's a really astute observation.

I`m sorry but as an Australian I also think it is wrong, the vast majority of `Daily Telegraph` reading Rugby League supporters, and that is by far and away the League demographic, take very little notice of afl, they have their club and they have SOO.

They used to follow International Rugby League, but apart from the occasional upset, we knew exactly who was going to win. I know people will trot out stats about the Kiwis in the 2000`s and England in Melbourne, but at the end of the day Oz won most of the time, always started winning again and are always red-hot favourites. It`s too predictable.

If Oz got knocked off its` perch for a couple of years and then start to get challenged year in, year out, then people will flock back to international League, like they did pre-1990`s. Until then they will stick to club football and SOO as long as that remains competitive.

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5 hours ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

I agree with the sentiment but did you really just put the euros in your imaginary 3rd tier? It’s easily top 5 sporting tournaments in the world 

It's the principle I was trying to describe. 

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14 hours ago, MatthewWoody said:

It'd be the Aussie and the Kiwis' fault, not RL's. 

 

Exactly why they should be replaced with other countries. They had their chance and disrespected the competition. The players can always switch if they want to play. 

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9 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

‘Misinformation’ is a very interesting word in that statement. What could that be?

Could that ARLC/Phil Gould-style misinformation about players not wanting to play?

Or could it be misinformation about Covid in the UK? Or misinformation about vaccines (eg they make you ill/dead/gay/Jewish/controlled by Bill Gates)? 

"Correcting misinformation"... 

They are in a battle with the Australian authorities on the narrative. Mixture of some of your points. Can't help but feel some players/nations are being fed information about the competition that is intentionally incorrect. No evidence evidence prove that but...

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7 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Until then they will stick to club football and SOO as long as that remains competitive.

That mean they'll do as their media tell them. I bet they still watch the Olympics even though they have zero chance of ever topping the medal tables. 

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22 minutes ago, Scubby said:

@Dave T is your go to person on how to successfully navigate this inconvenience.

Working at home. Its the future, without question. Never even need to hide your screen. 

Well, not for that reason anyway. 

Edited by Dave T
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21 hours ago, The Rocket said:

As Freeman famously said at the gates of his Yowie Bay mansion/fortress when asked by reporters if he knew anything about the death of Christopher Dale Flannery (aka Mr Rent-O-Kill), after an inquiry had found that Flannery was either murdered on his way to Freeman`s house by corrupt police or had been murdered at Freeman`s house, " Oh he`s dead is he, you mean they`ve found a body ?".

Nah mate, Abdo`s o.k. don`t forget Abdo`s a South African he`ll be as ruthless as V`landy`s, remember he`s the one V`landy`s took to meet Murdoch not Todd " there`s room for both of us (afl that is)" Greenberg.

I do recall that meeting with Lachlan Murdoch in the USA, the agenda has been at play all the way since then, which was more about getting control of the Aussie game again.

Getting back on international football I was listening to the RL Digest Podcast on the SL War and they mention how SL wanted an Oceania Cup. Seeing as they have implemented alot of what SL wanted could this be what they want international football to be in the future? They own it and profit from it?

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8 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

The media are often too close to their subjects, so to speak, so with RL journos, they need to be close to their contacts, their providers of content, so to speak …

For example, Channel Nine rely on the NRL for ratings, and the NRL rely on Nine for broadcasting $$$ … so it's a mutual relationship; they're not going to go out of their way to upset each other

This is not an excuse, just sayin'

Plus, I don't think the Aussie media quite "get" how big a story this is … most of the Australian RL media, like many Australians unfortunately, are quite insular … a factor of what happens when you're located at the ar*e-end of the world – as a former Aussie PM once put it LOL

I think they do, they just don't want to ive it air as it is against their interests.

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14 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

"Correcting misinformation"... 

They are in a battle with the Australian authorities on the narrative. Mixture of some of your points. Can't help but feel some players/nations are being fed information about the competition that is intentionally incorrect. No evidence evidence prove that but...

It would be interesting if the RLWC can get a full endorsement from the RLPA that it is safe to travel and they recommend this to all their members. I imagine that is the route they are going down now as the women are also being represented by the RLPA. A sudden drop in UK cases will not do the cause any harm either.

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3 minutes ago, rlno1 said:

I do recall that meeting with Lachlan Murdoch in the USA, the agenda has been at play all the way since then, which was more about getting control of the Aussie game again.

Getting back on international football I was listening to the RL Digest Podcast on the SL War and they mention how SL wanted an Oceania Cup. Seeing as they have implemented alot of what SL wanted could this be what they want international football to be in the future? They own it and profit from it?

Yes, yes and yes.

Nothing is done without the approval of Murdoch, not Rupert anymore, Lachlan is the bloke they run their plans past.

A lot of people don`t like the League being too close to News Corp, I`ve got no problem with it, I see it as a symbiotic relationship.

 

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13 minutes ago, Scubby said:

It would be interesting if the RLWC can get a full endorsement from the RLPA that it is safe to travel and they recommend this to all their members. I imagine that is the route they are going down now as the women are also being represented by the RLPA. A sudden drop in UK cases will not do the cause any harm either.

What are the chances of this type of activity being a source of misinformation (from the Fifita article):

"Indigenous stars including Josh Addo-Carr and Cody Walker met with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo in recent days, where they were warned about the risks associated with heading to England for the tournament."

Full article on that meeting:

https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-league/indigenous-stars-meet-abdo-on-world-cup-c-3531249

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14 minutes ago, JohnM said:

That mean they'll do as their media tell them. I bet they still watch the Olympics even though they have zero chance of ever topping the medal tables. 

And this is where we end up every time we have this discussion, an absolute nonsense comparison.

I`m not getting dragged down some rabbit-hole of bizarre comparisons, International League was competitive up to about the 70`s, people still kept going in the 80`s and 90`s, because it was living off past glories, when it finally sunk in there was no coming back people stopped being interested.

I know I was one of them. I went to the GB tours in the 80`s for the event, I also went to the one in the early 2000`s, one of the most depressing nights of my life, I left at half time and I knew that competitive International League at that point  was dead, I don`t care what any one says I`ll bet my bottom dollar that is how the majority of League fans felt as well.

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Just now, The Rocket said:

And this is where we end up every time we have this discussion, an absolute nonsense comparison.

I`m not getting dragged down some rabbit-hole of bizarre comparisons, International League was competitive up to about the 70`s, people still kept going in the 80`s and 90`s, because it was living off past glories, when it finally sunk in there was no coming back people stopped being interested.

I know I was one of them. I went to the GB tours in the 80`s for the event, I also went to the one in the early 2000`s, one of the most depressing nights of my life, I left at half time and I knew that competitive International League at that point  was dead, I don`t care what any one says I`ll bet my bottom dollar that is how the majority of League fans felt as well.

Why do Aussies keep ignoring all the times their legends have bottled tournaments in the recent past? 

I mean with the legends the Aussies have, failing in Tri/Four Nations finals and a World Cup Final, and peaking with a loss to Tonga a couple of years back would surely get the fans interested? 

Or maybe that isn't a real reason. 

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5 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

What are the chances of this type of activity being a source of misinformation (from the Fifita article):

"Indigenous stars including Josh Addo-Carr and Cody Walker met with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo in recent days, where they were warned about the risks associated with heading to England for the tournament."

Full article on that meeting:

https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-league/indigenous-stars-meet-abdo-on-world-cup-c-3531249

The NRL clubs only have jurisdiction over the Aus/NZ teams. The RLWC needs to stand firm and either go with 14 or invite Serbia and the USA. The Australians and NZ 100% need to feel left out and the likes of Tedesco and Papali'i can jump ship to existing countries.

The Aboriginals and Maoris opens a can of worms we don't want to go down. Catalonia for RLWC 2025 anyone? No, didn't think so and the French Government money holders probably don't either.

Edited by Scubby
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1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Why do Aussies keep ignoring all the times their legends have bottled tournaments in the recent past? 

I mean with the legends the Aussies have, failing in Tri/Four Nations finals and a World Cup Final, and peaking with a loss to Tonga a couple of years back would surely get the fans interested? 

Or maybe that isn't a real reason. 

Look, if you ignore all their defeats and narrow victories, Australia win comfortably all the time and it's got boring.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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If this drags out beyond the next few days without a resolution, I imagine we will see the tounament cancelled.

1 minute ago, The Rocket said:

And this is where we end up every time we have this discussion, an absolute nonsense comparison.

I`m not getting dragged down some rabbit-hole of bizarre comparisons, International League was competitive up to about the 70`s, people still kept going in the 80`s and 90`s, because it was living off past glories, when it finally sunk in there was no coming back people stopped being interested.

I know I was one of them. I went to the GB tours in the 80`s for the event, I also went to the one in the early 2000`s, one of the most depressing nights of my life, I left at half time and I knew that competitive International League at that point  was dead, I don`t care what any one says I`ll bet my bottom dollar that is how the majority of League fans felt as well.

You can't dismiss the impact that being serial winners, often very easily, has on a fan's view of a competition.

I want us the play France more as I think it's the right thing to do but if I'm being completely honest, I have no real burning desire to watch the game in light of all the mind numbingly boring easy victories against them in the recent past.

I don't blame Oz RL fans for being disinterested - yes there is the odd exception but by and large, International RL has been a bit of a walk in the park and has been less interesting than Origin and the NRL.

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