Regardless of how he puts it across the answer is no. FFS......if anyone here thinks the IRB are remotely interested in anything other than cherrypicking potential stars they need their bumps looking at. D-L has churned up a whole load of historical facts from 70 years ago........and while he has achieved his quota for the month, I am stunned by some of the posters on here who believe their is a conspiracy department in Harcourt Street Dublin that have only one task...to destroy League. FFS....Why would the IRB waste time and money on such a department when League itself is doing that quite nicely


Slow ticket sales for the opening games of the 4 nations.........I would suspect that if England were playing the All Blacks and Australia were up againts say Ireland in Union there wouldn't be ticket left by now. That's what's preventing League from growing......the attitude of both the governing bodies and the apathy of the fans.

even if it pales into comparison, many jews have been compensated for what they suffered.

RL suffered enormously from what happened, should be no different.

tony collins was studying RFU acrhives and was surprised how obsessed they were with RL.

for over 100 years union did do things to harm RL.

professionals from only one sport were banned from union, professional rugby players, not pro. boxers, soccer players etc.

the irb has threatened minor euro nations that want to play rl in their summer months with a cessation of funding if they continue with our game.

the irb effectively forced out the nu clubs from their game for broken time payments but then turned a blind eye to these in leceister and wales because they didnt want to lose their clubs.

i could go on

I think referring to Richard Lewis and Nigel Wood as "Remnant Nazis" is hardly fair.

Not just professional players - I know of several RU players who were told that they would not be picked for their teams if they ever turned out for the local amateur RL club.

Really


I have no doubt that the RFU had issues with the game of League for many years, as did WRFU and the other national unions. What I disagree with is the supposition that the current IRB have any interest in League....either as global business model or as a threat. I KNOW that players were subsedised in Union prior to professionalism......I was part of a team in the 80's that had ICI employees who had no idea where their offices were


Regardless of the tit-for tat posts on the NRL boards regarding made up TV figures etc.....the RUWC commands a global presence that international RL can only dream of. The IRB would be more concerned with the growth of other sports with a higher global profile, such as soccer, basketball, cricket, tennis etc.

As for the often mentioned media bias and the supposition that Union gets better coverage in the UK because of the public schoolboys employed in media...this is again wide of the mark. Newspapers are on their butts in the UK, TV is struggling and radio has been dead in the water for ages now........they will only cover what they think people will read and League doesn't even register in the press outside the M62.
If the IRB have done anything at all to counter the threat from league....I would say the growth of 7's would be it. That said, I doubt they even gave league a second thought when it came to organising that global circus.

Since professionalism in Union....one code has globally gone forward...the other continues to go the other way globally and this has nothing to do with Vichy France, Nazis or any covert/overt campaign from the IRB.

I repeat...why would the IRB sabotage something that is already scuttling itself?

Unfortunately as DM alluded to, the RFU's own records suggest they did actively try to attack rugby league in many ways during their history.

But GF assures us it wasn't so. So it must be true.

You are one massive apologist for union.

Pressure getting to you down there with the SBW saga showing you what your ilk are really like?

Old timer...re-read my post, get your head out of the good old days and start living in the "now".
FXck the past....moving forward there is no reason why anyone should worry about RL accept the various bodies that are supposed to look after it.
In most industries (unsuccessful ones) people spend too much time looking at what other people do/earn and not enough time looking after their own issues......RL is the same.

I repeat....if I was in charge of the 3rd/4th largest sporting event in the world with regard to TV figures and associated revenue I would have no issue what a row of pit villages along a motorway and a former penal colony are up to....FFS more people watch the 7's on TV globally than watch NRL and SL combined (if you use the stats that are apparently gospel on the NRL board)


Old Darling...you seem like a decent chap........stop with the blind defence of League at the expense of all other sports......because that is more fascist than any immaginary IRB campaign.

Interesting how sports news where you are is on overdrive about the pit village sport and one of its former practitioners.





You clearly protesteth too much.

If only unions WC was the 3rd or 4th largest sporting event... 5.1 billion.









Keep telling yourself that.

As do most things...

Doesn't in any way diminish the right of the French game to some justice.

Two completely unrelated issues.

As for union not paying attention to what is happening in rugby league, what a joke.

Learn something about the history of union.

The only reason union is now professional is because of rugby league. If you doubt it, consider which union in the world first went professional.

the irb hosted a world cup in france

if not for the vichy banning the game there was dead.

i personally cant see union growing anywhere

its going backwards in scotland and ireland.

the future of rugby is RL.

like test match cricket its inevitable union will get left on the sidelines

oh yeah there was loads of that

a union player could be outed as a professional for just associating with RL types

the history of RU is one built on lies, hypocrisy and double standards

when they finally admitted defeat on the issue of professionalism, was there an apology to RL for being right?

did they apologise to player who theyd banned for being professionals?

nah.

[qu
ote="Old Darlin"As for union not paying attention to what is happening in rugby league, what a joke.

Learn something about the history of union.

The only reason union is now professional is because of rugby league. If you doubt it, consider which union in the world first went professional.'"

French rugby league continues to be suppressed in France.

That is a fact and that is what I said.

Just because union has a dire history doesn't mean it isn't still true...

france were a strong RL nation.

they came to australia and beat us in 2 series in a row.

their demise is because of RU.

And GF, not sure where this "30 years" you allude to is coming from...

England/GB's performance is a different matter to the standing of international rugby league.

The latter was flying in the 1990s prior to the SLW - even when GB hadn't broken through for any series wins against Australia (although 1990, 1992 and 1994 were as close as you can get effectively across a series).

It is more 15 years of wilderness for us international rugby league advocates, not 30 years.

Dm and od......you both hark back to the ark. Look ahead......not behind.
It avoids accidents.
You really are the worlds oldest tag team

Well - as I am in my mid-30s there can't be many other contenders...





Sorry to have to pull you up on yet another inaccuracy relating to rugby league.

Still.....................nothing like a bit of inter poster banter to detract from the facts.
As I said. Union has nothing to learn from league on the international stage. Come
Back with a stat since thatcher closed the mines and I will listen.
Hang on! Maybe it was the irb and not thatcher......you nut job

Keep jibbering on about union won't you...

The better OP would have been... Why does this subject produce the same reaction from rugby union types?

1. embarassment; and
2. a sudden need to change the topic.

Rocket science it isn't.

Not a very flattering picture...

Yep you only have to look at the dirty tricks that USAP were doing when Dragons where sharing.

the french hosted the union world cup only a few years ago.