as someone who spent three years at university in newcastle i'd say it was vastly different. most of our lads were union converts from the south who couldnt be bothered with "which school did you go to" attitude in the union sides.

Read this story this morning and its something thats nice to hear. Have recently finished studying in london and spent the year i was down there helping out with the u12 and u14 sides at the skolars (as well as attempting to play for the reserves!) and the potential down there is massive. While the article is about brentwood who have a great set up and who we merged with at u12 level i personally saw north london as an area where alot of RL talent could come from. young lads with sod all to do and lots of aggression to burn. League teaches disciline and team work yet allows them to channel anger and energy of which there is lot in north london!!
just look at the skolars and the players who've played this yeaar, players like Jez Obuchowski, Andre Vine, Smokey Junor. and there are plenty more to come through who i played alongside in the reserves. They may not all become world beaters (and skolars results this year showed you need to blend youth with experience) but they are just as good as many in the heartlands (and coming from leeds i can make the comparison). Also in relation to the uni teams, one of the lads at the skolars is in the process of setting up a team at middlesex uni to go in partnership with southgate college's new excellent rugby CORE programme.
This is an area that needs assistance and i'm glad to see it getting the publicity that the RFL's efforts deserve.
That said, this is only the start, continued improvement, investment and organisation is still needed down there to continue this but long may it continue, and here's hoping some day soon cockney's are flooding the pro game. it'd sure make plenty in the heartlands choke on their bovril!!

Was about the same not to long since when i was there (though the union team got mot more funding i beleive and was more popular as the uni is mostly filled with southern and overseas students).

The part were it states RU arrived before RL.

The game that was played up to the time of the split was called RUGBY not RU that only came after the split as did RL.

AFAIK the uni union sides get some funding from the RFU.

There was a code of football overseen by the Rugby Football Union, then some clubs broke away and formed the Northern Rugby Football Union (later to become the Rugby Football League), sou you could say that Rugby League came out of Rugby Union.

I think some people might be surprised by the number of League players in the south who are, as you suggest, actually from the south.

Sure, it's a slow burner, but with League in London really taking off at grass roots level and the likes of Oxford's own Darrell Griffin turning out in Cup Finals and representing England...

It's easy to slag RL in the south, or anywhere outside of the heartlands, because the battle to get the media onboard is going to take decades. But the foundation is there, in that so many kids (and adults) are playing the game, and it's a really strong foundation. My hat goes off to all the folk who dedicate their lives - as many of them have to - to actually spreading RL.

Great article too. Cheers!