Latest World Rankings

[Click]

11 hours ago, Jughead said:

USA last played in a World Cup five years ago. How much weight does that carry half a decade on?

Probably more weight than the countries that have never played in a WC before ..

Your statement makes it sound like we have had numerous WC's since then, rather than just the one.

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

Any meaningful international sport has rankings, and its not an either or situation

Correct. We are in no way a meaningful international sport. 

Our international body doesn't really seem to care for the game at all. 

[Pulga]

9 minutes ago, Click said:

Probably more weight than the countries that have never played in a WC before ..

Your statement makes it sound like we have had numerous WC's since then, rather than just the one.

Maybe France should be higher for getting to the first WC final...

[Click]

1 minute ago, Pulga said:

Maybe France should be higher for getting to the first WC final...

Yes, lets compare 5 years ago with the 1950's .. 

Really?

[Spidey]

7 minutes ago, Pulga said:

Correct. We are in no way a meaningful international sport. 

Our international body doesn't really seem to care for the game at all. 

The international body is fine - they advertise their intentions, put calendars out etc  Nations then decide they know better and pull out of tours and tournaments

[Tommygilf]

The nations league approach for Europe seemed to be ideal for this regularity of international fixtures. The Americas Cup seemed to be progressing nicely. The Oceania Cup seemed a no brainer. 

MEA seemed a bit more difficult as Lebanon operate on two levels, but not insurmountable problems in the slightest.

All of this seems to have disappeared for no really good reason.

[Pulga]

26 minutes ago, Spidey said:

The international body is fine - they advertise their intentions, put calendars out etc  Nations then decide they know better and pull out of tours and tournaments

Glad you mentioned the calendar that the IRL has famously not delivered on.

I wouldn't even say the IRL is a governing body at all. 

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, Pulga said:

Glad you mentioned the calendar that the IRL has famously not delivered on.

I wouldn't even say the IRL is a governing body at all. 

Not when domestic governing bodies actively sabotage their efforts

[Pulga]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Not when domestic governing bodies actively sabotage their efforts

It's a poor excuse to be bent over a barrel by a few nations when you're supposed to govern the game internationally.

They're toothless and directionless.

[sam4731]

40 minutes ago, Click said:

Yes, lets compare 5 years ago with the 1950's .. 

Really?

Firstly it's 6 years. Given that it's been that length of time, how many of those players will still be active? That's why the length of time makes a difference, the current USA will almost be a completely different squad to that of 6 years ago.

[Pulga]

3 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Firstly it's 6 years. Given that it's been that length of time, how many of those players will still be active? That's why the length of time makes a difference, the current USA will almost be a completely different squad to that of 6 years ago.

Pretty sure points are only for one WC cycle or possibly 5 years. So even if you won the WC, if you don't play, after 5 years you're at zero.

[Jughead]

1 hour ago, Click said:

Probably more weight than the countries that have never played in a WC before ..

Your statement makes it sound like we have had numerous WC's since then, rather than just the one.

Five years on since their appearance, I’m not so sure it should still carry that much weight anymore. Maybe in the immediate aftermath (1-2 years) but longer term, I’m not so sure. Looking at the last few years, I cannot see much activity for the US national side, so I would probably bundle them in with nations who are also not playing regularly at the minute. 

[Spidey]

59 minutes ago, Pulga said:

It's a poor excuse to be bent over a barrel by a few nations when you're supposed to govern the game internationally.

They're toothless and directionless.

Bit like the RLPA threats to the NRL?

[sam4731]

52 minutes ago, Pulga said:

Pretty sure points are only for one WC cycle or possibly 5 years. So even if you won the WC, if you don't play, after 5 years you're at zero.

The points are then used to create the Official World Rankings by ordering the teams by virtue of the points gained over the four year period.

4 years according to IRL.

[Pulga]

16 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Bit like the RLPA threats to the NRL?

No. Entirely the opposite. 

[Gomersall]

8 hours ago, Pulga said:

It's a poor excuse to be bent over a barrel by a few nations when you're supposed to govern the game internationally.

They're toothless and directionless.

And what makes you think the Aussies will ever take orders from anyone? The IRL will never be an all powerful body like FIFA. To think otherwise is just delusional.

[Pulga]

13 hours ago, Gomersall said:

And what makes you think the Aussies will ever take orders from anyone? The IRL will never be an all powerful body like FIFA. To think otherwise is just delusional.

You can't make every other nation suffer because of them. Move on. Australia can do what they want by themselves.

Every other nation needs to have a calendar with or without Australia.

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Pulga said:

You can't make every other nation suffer because of them. Move on. Australia can do what they want by themselves.

Every other nation needs to have a calendar with or without Australia.

You can't just do that though can you, as much as I would really like to, otherwise we'd have had a world cup in 2021 not 2022.

[Pulga]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

You can't just do that though can you, as much as I would really like to, otherwise we'd have had a world cup in 2021 not 2022.

How long should the world wait for Australia to get themselves together?

95% of the member nations have not and will likely never play the Kangaroos. There has to be a time when they release a calendar at the very least excluding Oceania.

[Gomersall]

5 minutes ago, Pulga said:

You can't make every other nation suffer because of them. Move on. Australia can do what they want by themselves.

Every other nation needs to have a calendar with or without Australia.

In the ideal world I couldn’t agree more but look at the top eight nations in the rankings. Do you really think Australia and the NRL would allow their players to play internationally if we froze them out? Australia distancing themselves is a different matter.

[Tommygilf]

10 minutes ago, Pulga said:

How long should the world wait for Australia to get themselves together?

95% of the member nations have not and will likely never play the Kangaroos. There has to be a time when they release a calendar at the very least excluding Oceania.

Its not just the Kangaroos though is it. The Australians have a vested interest in virtually every tier 1 and 2 international side because of the NRL and its wider players pool.

[Pulga]

13 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Its not just the Kangaroos though is it. The Australians have a vested interest in virtually every tier 1 and 2 international side because of the NRL and its wider players pool.

And that's probably the bigger reason we aren't a serious international sport.

[moorside roughyed]

We aren't an international sport in the truest sense. So world rankings are a little irrelevant. Our next world cup was cancelled. There's no regular international calendar,just the odd game/s here and there. There aren't enough countries playing the game at a reasonable level. I wish it was different, soccer and rugby union have regular international games in regular competitions,we don't. That's the way I see it anyway

[Tommygilf]

22 minutes ago, Pulga said:

And that's probably the bigger reason we aren't a serious international sport.

Correct, just like AFL, NFL, GAA etc.

You can still have the "big boys", but there needs to be a good number of those to balance out the interests and no one dominant force.