I played Union for several years. I understand the game quite well.

It's sh|t.

We shouldn't pretend there's a balance where there isn't one. It's sh|t.

Get off the fence Him, do you like Union or not?

Whats wrong with people making evidenced observations in this forum about the other code.I work with fans of Yorkshire Carnegie and they Do have a massive chip about RL,and by the way can you let me know when there has been an exciting match in yawnion other than the 1st 20 mins in a Barbarians match in 1973.Oh and "rugby" is sh**** just for the record!

I actually quite like Union at amateur level. My experience has been 99.9% positive, in contrast to my experiences in amateur RL.

But I can't stand it at the top level. Partly it's my intense opposition to the public school system, which are the foundations of Union. Partly it's because I find the games deadly boring (in general) and devoid of high skill levels (in general).

But just because I dislike the game on a social, cultural and sporting level doesn't mean I'm ignorant of it and neither is criticism of Union always borne out of ignorance.

Everybody, Andy Gilder included will have sports that they don't like, it doesn't mean the person is ignorant about it. I got it on here the other year when I said I didn't like the Tour De France/Yorkshire....."oh it's because you don't understand it/you're ignorant". No I just don't like it.

I tend to agree with you. My son has played Union though his school years both for school and a couple of local clubs. He now plays for a local team in Yorkshire 3 and at that level I have always enjoyed watching him play and the general camaraderie of the club house. I have on a few occasion over the years paid to watch the Rhinos Union sister club (under its various names) But won't be wasting my money in the future. The difference between watching Union at HQ and watching Proper Rugby is huge and Union does not come out of the comparison well. For mine top flight RU in this country is ponderous and dull to watch when compared to League and Southern Hemisphere RU.

Yet in the top flight, they win out in their ability to generate cash (and cherry pick our talent)

I was brought up with RL and I've tried to have patience over the years and not compare the two games,but I still can't like it .I am the same over here with NFL and I'm still giving it a chance and appreciating the good bits ,but can't last for over 4 hours, I.E 5 minutes remains 20 minutes later they are still playing.I keep telling people about the culmination of our season .

I always think that the NFL is a good game ruined by the desire to sell more TV advertising, beer and hot dogs.

A 60 minute game that takes 4 hours to finish un-blooming-believable

It gets me when it ends no whooping and celebrating the clock just has not enough time so they just stop and turn and walk off and after well over 3 hours the stadium is half empty long before the end

Has US RL got a presence in Philadelphia, lionarmour87? It's a bit of a double edged sword, looking for success in the US. If they take to the game, RL might drift into 4 hour + games

There is a RL team called Philadelpia Fight I don't know the location where they play though.There was a young girl worked in a bar where I drink and her boy friend played for the Fight and I gave her Sinfields testimonial shirt and another shirt to give him and he had heard of Sinny he was very pleased

Went to my first club RU game on Friday and I am ignorant of some of the rules so perhaps that didn't help but I too found it ponderous. The scrums took ages then a collapse and start all over again. It was too cold for that lark! Apart from the YC No 8 breaking a few tackles I saw very little in the way of entertainment. Getting told off for "distracting the kicker" was the highlight! Some of those lineouts were as bad as a RL scrum. Straight my hairy 'arris!

In best, most patronising voice.... "Oh you don't like it? Well you clearly don't understand it, darling".

Kudos LA87, Doing Missionary work in Philadelpia



Good to hear that there is an awareness of the name and reputation of Sir Kev amongst some of our US cousins. Keep up the good work

But remember 2 halves, 80 mins, all action.

Wish I had gone now

I keep telling them and I say them big fat lads you've got wouldn't be fit enough for our game,but I realize they are two entirely different games .I said to one Kid what position do you play ? He said defensive quarter back! I said what ? You mean you have two? Lol

The lad that replaced Sinfield with 10 minutes left knocked on cold with his first touch, but managed to grab a walk-in try and got Yorkshire's MotM. Had to laugh at that one.

In fairness it sounds an unusually dire game. Carnegie fans seem of similar opinion to most posters on here. www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 5,15433632

In fairness it sounds an unusually dire game. Carnegie fans seem of similar opinion to most posters on here. www.rugbynetwork.net/boards/read ... 5,15433632

League is the best spectator sport in the world IMO. I generally can't watch sport where I have no vested interest or a team I have an attachment to. Watching Yorkshire RU would be as big a buzz for me as watching a random game of amateur RL.
I can't watch football and most other sports bore the t1ts off me. I am into swimming at the moment because my son swims and trains at the same pool as world champions from the British team.

I know where you are coming from, a second division RU game on a crappy winter night wouldn't do it for me either.

League may be the best spectator sport in the world but T20 cricket isn't far behind. The last England vs Pakistan game was an absolute belter.

I can sometimes watch test cricket, I used to watch a lot when I was younger. The problem I have with T20 is the extensive modification of the rules to make scoring runs very, very easy. It's the equivalent of making a football goal twice as wide.
40 or 50 overs an innings is still basically cricket, with a couple more modest fielding restrictions. As soon as bowling out a team becomes highly unlikely you take away a fundamental part of the game.
Not for me.

Now that England have realised it's not 1983 anymore then 50 over cricket has become a more enjoyable watch in terms of the national side. 12 months ago it was cringeworthy watching their attempts in that format of the game.

I think his pedigree makes him the perfect candidate. the way he keeps in shape, his diet, way he leads his life. He'll throw kitchen sink into making sure he gives himself the best opportunity to do well. whether he will remains to be seen.

You could argue that T20 and Test cricket are as far apart as Rugby League and rugby union. One game evolved out of another and had to adapt is rules to make it more attractive to spectators. Some people will argue that the original is the best because it is the original version of the game, whilst others will argue that the new version is the best because it is the display of those raw skills of that game without all the faffing about.

Except it took over 100 years of evolution for league and union rules to drift apart not 10 minutes in the ECB marketing department.