The World Cup

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Dunbar said:

Take a moment to think about that question again.

What is, objectively using your logic, wrong with naming a 1-17 with numbers well outside the traditional positions for those numbers? Could even do it how RU do?

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Gomersall said:

Squad numbers are idiotic IMO. Why not just a game day 1-17? They won’t be making a fortune from names on shirts IMO.

They aren't putting names on shirts, and I expect some of the smaller nations won't be using brand new shirts for every game and will make do.

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Thats odd, because Tedesco has been given number 1. Doesn't seem that competitive.

For being captain.

[Gomersall]

14 minutes ago, WN83 said:

If I were an Aussie kid back in the 80’s/90’s, I’d have dreamt of running out in the number 7 jersey after watching Sterling or Langer or the 6 jersey because of watching guys like Kenny, Lewis, Daley or Lockyer but that’s gone now. 

If squad numbers were in place for the 1982 Kangaroo tour Steve Mortimer and Wally Lewis would have been 6 and 7.  Neither played in the first Test. Just picture Kenny and Sterling running out in 22 and 23 for example.

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

What is, objectively using your logic, wrong with naming a 1-17 with numbers well outside the traditional positions for those numbers? Could even do it how RU do?

I don't really understand the question.

But what is objectively wrong with naming a 1 - 17 with numbers outside the traditional positions?

Well, as I have explained, I want new fans to get hooked onto Rugby League the same way I did as a kid.  And part being a fan of any sport is actually learning how it is being played and the tactics and roles.  Some are simple (i.e. tennis) and some are complex (cricket).

I don't mind.  For the big 8 teams I pretty much know all the players and where they play anyway - I will be lost on some of the other games of course not knowing which of the Lebanese or Greek players are in which positions but I will cope.

I strongly feel that not using the match day numbers and players running out in random shirt numbers (which will happen in the group games anyway even if the sides name their preferred 1 to 13 in the squad) is fundamentally a bad decision for the way the Cup will not help us sell the sport to a new audience.

[Gomersall]

6 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

They aren't putting names on shirts, and I expect some of the smaller nations won't be using brand new shirts for every game and will make do.

Sorry, I thought this was just another money making exercise.

[WN83]

9 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Which is exactly the reason why we should be angry at the decision to use squad numbers, not what Australia has done.

A kid would see Cleary or Cherry-Evans run out at 7 or Munster, Wighton or even Burton at 6 if the players were actually being given a number for each match.

 

I just don’t buy squad numbers being something for the Aussies to hide behind. A player not being given a 1-13 jersey, gives them something to aspire to next time. A lad given a number outside the first 17 is then able to strive to push themselves forward and try and get in that top 17 in future tournaments. Somebody made the point about Lewis Dodd going from 24 to 7 at Saints and how good that must’ve felt. I’d look at Morgan Smithies with Wigan. He’s gone from 30 odd, to 20 odd, to 14 this season but ultimately the aim has to be the 13 shirt and he might well get it next season. A jersey worn by Hanley, Farrell and O’Loughlin at Wigan. If that isn’t an honour to be given that shirt, then I don’t know what is. 
 

I get squad numbers has bred this a little bit but it just feels like the Aussies have decided to take the mick and pee on tradition. 

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

For being captain.

I'm sure that he had no influence at all in him getting his favoured number!

[Gomersall]

17 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Indeed, and this idiotic numbering system won't be appreciated now either.

Unfortunately there wasn’t anything FIFA could do about it. Just as there’s nothing the IRL can do about the Aussie way to select squad numbers.

[Spidey]

Just now, Gomersall said:

Unfortunately there wasn’t anything FIFA could do about it. Just as there’s nothing the IRL can do about the Aussie way to select squad numbers.

Nobody is suggesting they should. Just calling the Aussies out for being dicks yet again 

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, WN83 said:

I just don’t buy squad numbers being something for the Aussies to hide behind. A player not being given a 1-13 jersey, gives them something to aspire to next time. A lad given a number outside the first 17 is then able to strive to push themselves forward and try and get in that top 17 in future tournaments. Somebody made the point about Lewis Dodd going from 24 to 7 at Saints and how good that must’ve felt. I’d look at Morgan Smithies with Wigan. He’s gone from 30 odd, to 20 odd, to 14 this season but ultimately the aim has to be the 13 shirt and he might well get it next season. A jersey worn by Hanley, Farrell and O’Loughlin at Wigan. If that isn’t an honour to be given that shirt, then I don’t know what is. 
 

I get squad numbers has bred this a little bit but it just feels like the Aussies have decided to take the mick and pee on tradition. 

I don't agree with your take on this.  I understand it but I think the value of having a squad playing for a position in the team is more valuable in a competition than the 'prestige' of being awarded the playing number before the tournament starts.  In fact the latter could be harmful for team harmony and morale if not managed properly or players had big egos'.

As for your last sentence.  What is traditional about squad numbers?  This is a new phenomenon (in the UK, not Australia) an has never been used in a tournament for Rugby league before.  How can they be peeing on a tradition is there is no tradition.

I would argue the teams walking out onto the pitch in random numbers and not 1 to 13 (which will inevitably happen whatever squad numbers the teams name today) is peeing on tradition.

[Damien]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

I'm sure that he had no influence at all in him getting his favoured number!

I can't see why they would let one player choose his favourite number. The press articles say it was because he is captain and as no one else has been allowed to choose their number then I have no reason to think otherwise.

[Gomersall]

4 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I just don’t buy squad numbers being something for the Aussies to hide behind. A player not being given a 1-13 jersey, gives them something to aspire to next time. A lad given a number outside the first 17 is then able to strive to push themselves forward and try and get in that top 17 in future tournaments. Somebody made the point about Lewis Dodd going from 24 to 7 at Saints and how good that must’ve felt. I’d look at Morgan Smithies with Wigan. He’s gone from 30 odd, to 20 odd, to 14 this season but ultimately the aim has to be the 13 shirt and he might well get it next season. A jersey worn by Hanley, Farrell and O’Loughlin at Wigan. If that isn’t an honour to be given that shirt, then I don’t know what is. 
 

I get squad numbers has bred this a little bit but it just feels like the Aussies have decided to take the mick and pee on tradition. 

Tradition? It’s the WC organisers who are peeing on tradition IMO. We’ve never traditionally had squad numbers at a WC before.

[WN83]

7 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

If squad numbers were in place for the 1982 Kangaroo tour Steve Mortimer and Wally Lewis would have been 6 and 7.  Neither played in the first Test. Just picture Kenny and Sterling running out in 22 and 23 for example.

It would have been a sign that they still had work to do to get to the 6 and 7 shirt, it would've given them something to aim for and it would've given them a buzz when they made it. That example just doesn't stack up to Addo-Carr in 9, Wighton at 10, Campbell-Gillard at 6 etc etc. 

[Gomersall]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Nobody is suggesting they should. Just calling the Aussies out for being dicks yet again 

That’s their prerogative.

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Gomersall said:

Unfortunately there wasn’t anything FIFA could do about it. Just as there’s nothing the IRL can do about the Aussie way to select squad numbers.

That is because we have certain understandings in life, generally we don't have to make rules official if people just go with the agreed model and don't take the ######.

[Gomersall]

Just now, WN83 said:

It would have been a sign that they still had work to do to get to the 6 and 7 shirt, it would've given them something to aim for and it would've given them a buzz when they made it. That example just doesn't stack up to Addo-Carr in 9, Wighton at 10, Campbell-Gillard at 6 etc etc. 

They wore the 6 and 7 in the first Test thus trashing your logic straight away.

[Spidey]

Just now, Gomersall said:

That’s their prerogative.

That’s fine - and it’s also fine to point it out

[Gomersall]

Just to clarify, have I ever mentioned I hate squad numbers before?

[DavidM]

I’m sure Nathan Cleary dreamed off running out wearing that famous number 14 shirt worn by all the great halfbacks he grew up watching 

[WN83]

6 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

They wore the 6 and 7 in the first Test thus trashing your logic straight away.

I'm not old enough to remember it and presumed we were saying they hadn't started the first game. I absolutely get bringing in squad numbers has facilitated what the Aussies have decided to do but they just didn't need to go this far with making a mockery of it all. 

I'm stumped if anybody thinks they don't look a bit silly in naming a winger at 9 , centres at 8 and 10 and a prop at 6. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by WN83

[Dunbar]

We could go round in circles.

I will wrap my input up with saying that the mistake here is the tournament deciding on using squad numbers.  I think it will have negative consequences (maybe, I hope, not as much as I fear) and it goes against the tradition of using 1 to 13 as the player numbers in our great sport. 

What on earth is wrong with players playing Rugby League with the number on their shirt reflecting the position they are playing!

The Aussies have railed against this.  In this instance, I am not too negative about what they have done as I can see why they didn't want to commit to the 1 to 13 numbers.  I am not angry with the Aussies (and I have been for almost everything they have done in this world cup to date).

[Gomersall]

2 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I'm not old enough to remember it and presumed we were saying they hadn't started the first game. I absolutely get bringing in squad numbers has facilitated what the Aussies have decided to do but they just didn't need to go this far with making a mockery of it all. 

I'm stumped if anybody thinks they don't look a bit silly in naming a winger at 9 , centres at 8 and 10 and a prop at 6. 

Kenny and Sterling both started the first Test, in fact all three Tests. They even started the tour opener at Hull KR. 

[WN83]

On the plus side, Campbell-Gillard at 6 will bring back happy memories of laughing at Steve Ojomoh, Baths number 7 in the Rugby League game verses Wigan, at Maine Road. I sat there as a 12 year old thinking I'd seen the biggest scrum half in the history of the game. 

[Gomersall]

3 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I'm not old enough to remember it and presumed we were saying they hadn't started the first game. I absolutely get bringing in squad numbers has facilitated what the Aussies have decided to do but they just didn't need to go this far with making a mockery of it all. 

I'm stumped if anybody thinks they don't look a bit silly in naming a winger at 9 , centres at 8 and 10 and a prop at 6. 

The stupidity IMO was giving the Australians the chance to do what they’ve done in the first place.