Greece v Serbia Saturday 13th May

[Futtocks]

5 minutes ago, Pigeon Lofter said:

The camera operator not interested in recording the conversion attempts. 

As a Greek cameraman, how would you acquire experience in covering a sport that was literally illegal to play in your country until about a year ago? They're doing their best.

[Futtocks]

Greece 6:12 Serbia at HT. A well-matched and tough contest.

[Pigeon Lofter]

16 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

They're doing their best.

I know, but it was amusing that the conversions were not even an afterthought.

I do appreciate the commentary though, it's a very honest appreciation of play and not full of unnecessary superlatives that we normally get bombarded with.

[Futtocks]

The Serbs pulled away in the second half, but Greece didn't let their heads drop. One of many fixtures between emerging nations that will improve with repetition.

Greece 6:40 Serbia

[Damien]

A great result for Serbia. I actually thought Greece looked the stronger team the first 20 mins or so and was surprised at the final scoreline.

[Damien]

Exciting times for RL in the region and as I've said before hopefully Greece, Serbia, Lebanon and Turkey (and whoever else) can focus on playing each other regularly so they help each other develop and progress. That can only help to expand the game to other countries in the region too.

[Futtocks]

Just now, Damien said:

Exciting times for RL in the region and as I've said before hopefully Greece, Serbia, Lebanon and Turkey (and whoever else) can focus on playing each other regularly so they help each other develop and progress. That can only help to expand the game to other countries in the region too.

There's a good chance that the Balkan/Mediterranean nations can work up some system of local matches. Let's face it, given their history, a Greece/Turkey test should be a bit tasty! Then there's Italy and Spain at their own stages of development.

The more the game gets established in those regions, the more likely it is that other countries nearby (like Morocco) will see it as a standalone sport than can be given state recognition without interference from you-know-who.

[Gomersall]

https://europeanrugbyleague.com/fixtures/1186/greece-6-40-serbia

[Gomersall]

 

[Phil]

23 hours ago, Damien said:

Exciting times for RL in the region and as I've said before hopefully Greece, Serbia, Lebanon and Turkey (and whoever else) can focus on playing each other regularly so they help each other develop and progress. That can only help to expand the game to other countries in the region too.

This, absolutely this

[Hello]

If it was a crowd of 1000 then fair play, that's genuine progress in a nation that's basically new to the sport.  More, more, more of this needed. Don't listen to those voices (we all know who they are) who say that expansion can never work and actively want to hold the sport back to keep their own small club as a big fish in a small pond. Well done to Greece and Serbia for making this happen, respect 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Hello

[JonM]

Serbia also did a detour on the way to Athens to do a coaching session for North Macedonia's first RL club.

[Nate90]

So happy to see a good news story in our game. Seemed like a great occasion for both teams.