Rhodri Jones on the growth of international Rugby League

[Hello]

6 hours ago, Hello said:

If you're referring to my comment then there's nothing xenophobic about me. I live in Spain and am teaching myself Spanish and have friends from Germany, US, Argentina, Italy and other countries that I socialise with. iF you are referring to my comment then I can't understand what is xenophobic about wanting to have countries that have international teams at least having some sort of domestic participation. I don't mind SOME heritage players, of course, it just becomes farcical when there are hardly any players living in the country that they are representing at a world cup. I want us to give support to nations to expand domestically and kudos to the likes of Greece for trying to do so.

Sorry eal, please accept my apologies.  I didn't mean to quote you in this reply, I was trying to reply to another post that seems to have dissappeared.  

[Angelic Cynic]

On 13/09/2023 at 08:12, Man of Kent said:

I want to see the reputation of international rugby league per se to grow so that it’s seen as the pinnacle of the game.

This is turn would lead to higher worldwide TV figures, sponsorships, ticket sales and therefore central distribution to developing nations.

In my view, the better way to achieve this is via a high quality World Cup that showcases our elite players in competitive games, not dilute it by including more and more nations of dubious standard/provenance. 

The other code,playing a World Cup in a country that will not be hosting a Rugby League World Cup, seem quite content to include a nation of dubious standards to the extent of a West Wales Riders/ Leeds Rhinos blow out score.

Attracted 63k attendance.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/france-thrash-namibia-96-0-worry-over-dupont-injury-2023-09-21/#:~:text=That was set by a,occasion to the south coast.

Pinnacle of their game.Already got a good reputation.Blue chip sponorships.

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, Angelic Cynic said:

The other code,playing a World Cup in a country that will not be hosting a Rugby League World Cup, seem quite content to include a nation of dubious standards to the extent of a West Wales Riders/ Leeds Rhinos blow out score.

Attracted 63k attendance.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/france-thrash-namibia-96-0-worry-over-dupont-injury-2023-09-21/#:~:text=That was set by a,occasion to the south coast.

Pinnacle of their game.Already got a good reputation.Blue chip sponorships.

Not the same as the RLWC at all though.

They have 20 teams with only three or four easy beats like Namibia, so if they went back to 16 teams those huge blowouts would likely disappear.  And they're all legitimate national teams primarily comprised of homegrown players. 

RL doesn't have enough good national teams for more than 8 to avoid huge blowouts, and even then it has to include a couple of made-up teams full of players who grew up somewhere else to get even that number.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Big Picture

[crashmon]

Only Soccer is unique in that the international game and the club game are both strong and both can stand independent of each other.

In all other sports either the Clubs Lead and Nations are secondary (NFL, NBA, RL, Aussie Rules etc)

Or Nations lead, and clubs follow (RU, Cricket, Athletics etc)

In RL its the clubs that call the tune, so the International game will alwasy be secondary,

I'm not saying that this is a good or bad thing, but we have to accept that at this time clubs will always get priority over internationals, all you have to look at is how the NRL protect Origin

[Man of Kent]

3 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

The other code,playing a World Cup in a country that will not be hosting a Rugby League World Cup, seem quite content to include a nation of dubious standards to the extent of a West Wales Riders/ Leeds Rhinos blow out score.

Attracted 63k attendance.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/france-thrash-namibia-96-0-worry-over-dupont-injury-2023-09-21/#:~:text=That was set by a,occasion to the south coast.

Pinnacle of their game.Already got a good reputation.Blue chip sponorships.

The average winning point margin in the 3rd and final round of RLWC21 group stage fixtures was 55.

Let me know the same for RUWC23 when we get there.

 

[Phil W]

2 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Not the same as the RLWC at all though.

They have 20 teams with only three or four easy beats like Namibia, so if they went back to 16 teams those huge blowouts would likely disappear.  And they're all legitimate national teams primarily comprised of homegrown players. 

RL doesn't have enough good national teams for more than 8 to avoid huge blowouts, and even then it has to include a couple of made-up teams full of players who grew up somewhere else to get even that number.

I get your point but it's also my biggest frustration. Regardless of what the NRL are doing we should be doing our own thing in the northern hemisphere including helping to grow the game. How can countries get better when there's no international rugby league really. There might be some big mismatches early doors but some form of northern hemisphere Six Nations style tournament with promotion and relegation in the calendar will start to attract more money into the game and interest. 

An annual tournament will start to put rugby league back on the map, bring sponsorship in and help re-build the game. It can benefit everyone by boosting attendances domestically and getting more people playing.

Instead we choose to play made up teams and one off internationals. The Tonga series is a start but that should be a given in any season, the whole game needs serious mid-season internationals and we have to take the lead on this.

[Viking Ste]

21 hours ago, Phil W said:

I get your point but it's also my biggest frustration. Regardless of what the NRL are doing we should be doing our own thing in the northern hemisphere including helping to grow the game. How can countries get better when there's no international rugby league really. There might be some big mismatches early doors but some form of northern hemisphere Six Nations style tournament with promotion and relegation in the calendar will start to attract more money into the game and interest. 

An annual tournament will start to put rugby league back on the map, bring sponsorship in and help re-build the game. It can benefit everyone by boosting attendances domestically and getting more people playing.

Instead we choose to play made up teams and one off internationals. The Tonga series is a start but that should be a given in any season, the whole game needs serious mid-season internationals and we have to take the lead on this.

I don't see what a Scotland team full of English lads v a Ireland Team full of English lads played at Workington in front of 1000 people on a Saturday evening is achieving though?

I was once a believer of spreading the game to other countries throughout the UK but the older I get, the more I believe that it is just throwing money away.  We should have an annual 4 nations between GB / NZ / Aus & one of the PI countries on rotation.  Switch annually between GB and Aus / NZ as hosts.  Blue Chip sponsor, terrestrial TV coverage, double headers:

Coca Cola 4 Nations

WEEK 1

DW Stadium, Wigan

GB V NZ

AUS V Tonga

WEEK 2

KC Stadium, Hull

GB V Tonga

AUS V NZ

Week 3

Olympic Stadium, London

GB v AUS

NZ V Tonga

 

Final

Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Position 1 v Position 2

 

GB play France in France during the summer, not at Leigh or Warrington

The other European teams (including IRE / SCO/ WAL) compete with countries at their level in the same way that cricket has 2nd tier nations.  This would make for more competitive fixtures.