With Rugby League World under new management, you might have noticed a number of changes, among them being the launch of a new feature called ‘Combined XIII’.
Generally speaking, Rugby League folk have a great sense of attachment to their local area (apart from the odd glory hunter here and there).
In contrast to football, where you can easily find fans of Manchester United or Liverpool all over the place who have no other connection to those cities, some perhaps never even having visited them, Rugby League supporters tend not to stray too far from their patch. They are passionate about their hometown side and will defend it to the bitter end.
Of course, everyone enjoys having the bragging rights, the ability to get one-up on their rivals from down the road, and they’ll use any level of ammunition to claim superiority.
One thing all fans love doing is claiming their town or city is the best, so we’re launching a new feature to decide who truly does reign supreme – and the final decision will ultimately be placed in the hands of Rugby League World readers.
Over the months ahead, our series of Combined XIII teams will showcase the wealth of talent from all the Rugby League hotspots by putting together starting line-ups for each area based only on players who were born there.
Once we’ve completed the selections, we’ll pitch them up against each other, Challenge Cup style, and you’ll be asked to decide which team would win each mini-Origin contest until only one remains.
Competition is set to be fierce, and we envisage plenty of lively arguments in the pub (feel free to invite us along, if you’re buying).
Widnes were in the spotlight in this month’s edition, with London set to feature next month.
