There's plenty of soccer players who could be there or thereabouts. They cant exactly carry the muscle (and some claim fat) that Inglis is carrying. Put them in a league enviroment and they'd make tremendous centres and wingers

So, if all out best atheletes are playing other sports, why cant we win at them either?

I asked earlier why is it the most played game in the country, soccer, has a national team that despite the untold hype has:

Only ever been to one world cup final, winning it in controversy (to some)
Only been to one other semi-final in a major international competition.
Has failed on numerous occaisons to even qualify for interntational tournaments.

30 years of not beating the aussies, is a hell of a better record than the England FA team have got.

Because we're small fry in a huge pond known as the world.
The aussies are even smaller fry

In what sense? I bet there's plenty of olympic athletes in a variety of sports who'd match him for speed, strength, stamina etc.
As I said earlier in the thread, UK Rowing went out to gyms and national championships of other sports (swimming, athletics etc) and identified people with the potential to be great rowers. They've spent the last few years teaching them the technical stuff and giving them diet and training plans to follow and slowly whittled down to the potential 2012 olympic squad, where they're expecting to take quite a few medals. That's an amateur sport - but I suspect they'd match any RL player for commitment.

At least in RL, we get a few of the natural athletes who come from an RL family background. Watching my youngest son play union, I'd say a majority of the kids playing in East Anglia/Herts/Essex do so because they're too posh, or too fat to play football. Things have changed since Sky brought billions to football. If Ian Botham was growing up today, he'd have surely chosen championship football over county cricket.

[url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/howards-end--a-note-in-bushs-memoirs-20101110-17noz.htmlLike this would point to.......[/url


Seriously....it's all well and good moaning about Australias dominance of RL, but on a global stage....it doesn't register. Try to explain this to the aussies and you are called a Troll or Anti Rugby League type......they haVe a very over-inflated opinion of their own importance.......maybe deserved when it comes to swimming as a sport........but let's face it, swimming is only an alternative to drowning and it's not really a sport is it?

I actually lol'd at that

Always great to correct yourself half way through a post. I know what he said. He doesn't know what he said, that is why he corrects it in the post following yours.

No doubt many great athletes play soccer, probably the bulk.

But many have also played rugby league in the UK; which has had many of the greatest athletes in the country since 1895. Rugby league, with soccer, union and cricket, has had a crack at the best athletes for a long time.

The only thing missing is the cash injection in recent years other sports have received (ie. the Olympic sports).

Consider the likes of Shankland, Mundine, Smith and Lindwall as examples of great RL players whose skills DID TRANSFER.

Get googling...

Who can't tackle.

I love bagging English soccer fans about 1966.

You've even won some rugby league since then...

Anyone doubting Australia, for its size, is one of the great sports countries on the planet needs their head examined...

Ah...there is one now.

Cricket...pretty much an upper class game...public schools and all that.....(kind of like Rugby Union)...world cup holders
Hockey......girls game played by men who couldn't handle a real sport world cup holders
Womens Cricket.........yeah...cos that's a real sport. world cup holders
The sevens world Cup........rah rahs..champions......oh dear! World cup holders

So, there's the list of current Australian World championship holding teams.........2 for Cricket, a more elitist global sport than most, Hockey.......and the once every 4 year RU 7's WC

Add to this swimmers, surfers, skate boarders and a couple of other odd sports and that's your lot. Throw in an eastern european immigrant boxer and a turkish immigrant weightlifter......and your 1 place ahead of South Korea in the olympics and yeah....a real sporting powerhouse.

Australia were much stronger 10 years ago than they are now as a sporting nation.......they led the way with sports institutions, but everyone else has caught up.....

Back on thread.......International RL gets less coverage in the Worlds Press than pretty much any other so called international sport. Red Bull X-Games is bigger and that's just dope smoking nutters on kids toys.......

Australia's sporting record over any sort of sample, let's say 25 years, is as good as any nation in the world given its population...if not better.

The last international multi-sport event was the Commonwealth Games...

I believe we doubled the number of gold medals England earned for example.

The doctor says your appointment is ready...

lol

having come from England to Oz the culture and mentality regarding sport is just chalk and cheese. Helped alot by the weather but also by the faciltities, family/sports club culture and general desire to do well compared to the English mentality it is easy to see why Australia is superior in sport to virtually every other country of comparable size and many that are much bigger.

I would have to google.
Anyone thats remotely top of their sport and from a recent British Rugby League team? no? didnt think so
think you need some reading glasses son

Commonwealth games



The 2008 Olympics seems like a fairer representation. Australia won 14 golds, all but 1 for water sports - Steve Hooker in the Pole Vault. You punch above your weight in international rankings, but largely in sports like cricket, rugby, sailing & swimming/diving where there's limited competition. There's at least a dozen professional sports that are popular in Europe that Australia comes nowhere in.

you think swimming isn't a popular world sport? You can't be great at every sport in the world, you play to your strengths. We have 90% of the population living on the coast, no surprise swimming is popular!

It seems along time since GB/England were worlds best at a number of sports. Used to love the athletics back in Thompson, Coe and Sanderson days. Now watching English athletics at the C'wealth games it seemed a distant memory. I would have thought with the London Olympics, sport would have been getting massive funding boosts?

You cannot argue that for a country with 20million Australia more than holds its own at most sports and excels at a reasonable number of them.

Probably because - along with a lot of other countries - England sent nothing like their first choice athletics team to Delhi. The primary focus this year for UK athletes was the European Championships, not the Commonwealths.

Big surprise...

You claim rugby league players aren't great athletes. I gave you a brief list with players who have been great athletes in two sports including rugby league.

And you say you had no idea...wow, knock me down with a feather.

25-30 years ago?

Off the top of my head, Jessica Ennis, Philips Odowu & Christine Ohurougu are all current world champions or olympic gold medallists in track & field. There's probably others.

Yes it was the most recent international multi-sport event.

Are you aware of another more recently?

Didn't think so...

I said nothing of the quality of the event you may note.

No they can't.

But they are desperate to get a point off me if they can...









Unfortunately not this time.

I'd put Australia's world record in sport over the last 25 years against any country with comparative population...

So, unless the British Empire raped and pillaged your country, you can't play.......yeah, that's International

1949 was when Ireland became a Republic, but by then we had already stopped ATTENDING Commonwealth meetings for 12 years.......it was because they would play hurling at the games





......how is an appointment ready? You really do talk b0ll0x.....



exactly......Commonwealth Games.......