What I would love to know is why is it that when Australia beat England at home by 20 points it is commented on as the continued slow death of international Rugby League and yet when they beat New Zealand by 14 points away from home it is one of the finest contests in world sport?

Just the press (and sadly that includes the RL press) doing what they always do.

It's not just the press though is it, it’s the also the vast majority of the posters on forums like this too and we are supposed to be the people who love Rugby League and crave its success

Ocres in NRL would be a huge achievement for the sport. So, why do we always play the ANZAC Tests in Australia? Let's get it to Eden, have Tonga vs Samoa there as a curtain raiser, and make a big deal of it.

i was gonna ask the very same question

good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/

good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/

Don't get me started on that topic. The flak I copped trying to talk up the French international and international rugby league on the Wigan board!

An appetite for the code is there but, in terms of bums on seats, it is never quite hungry enough. The subsequent car crash is is not only terrible for the image of the sport, it is grossly unfair on those who have worked hard to bang the drum and get the thing going in the first place. Having had my own traumatic experiences with Gateshead Thunder in the late 1990s to draw on, I know of that which I speak. Soul-destroying doesn’t begin to cover it. All your selfless efforts have come to nothing; you feel betrayed and unvalued. =#BF0000Which then makes it all the harder to bear when fans of those aforementioned ‘traditional’ clubs start dancing gleefully on your grave, another dependable and very ugly rugby league phenomenon. This is supposed to be a family game, isn’t it? Or is that only when it suits?

How true this is on here.

shocking write up of the game in Sunday Times here in Oz today. Instead of talking up the great atmosphere and exciting game, Benji magic, tough Aussie running it was all about the negatives. Booing of the Aussie anthem, throwing of bottles by "large sections of the crowd" etc. Right next door to it was another 1/2 page on Monaghan quitting. Any neutral sports fan would have picked up todays paper and gone away with a very dim opinion of RL sadly.

Quote ="roughyedspud"good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/'" Excellent read, thanks for posting it I couldn’t agree more with it... there could not be a bigger difference between the way the two sets of supporters of League and Union discuss their respective sports. If we are ever to expect the media to talk up our great sport then we should at least do it ourselves, it is our sport after all I’ve lost count of the number of times I hear people say that international League is not competitive and we should give up on it and concentrate on clubs etc but I’m sure they would be surprised to hear that the New Zealand Union team have played 111 games against teams from the British Isles, winning 98 (88%) – hell, they have even beaten the Lions 29 times out of the 38 games played. As it says in the article, Scotland and Ireland have NEVER beaten the All Blacks The reason why we would be surprised is because Union fans and officials don’t talk down their sport at every opportunity and continue the pretence that it is an ultra competitive and thriving international scene. Say something often enough and with enough conviction and it will happen... I hope the people who people who say international League is a joke understand that and can live with the consequences

Quote ="roughyedspud"good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/'" Excellent read, thanks for posting it I couldn’t agree more with it... there could not be a bigger difference between the way the two sets of supporters of League and Union discuss their respective sports. If we are ever to expect the media to talk up our great sport then we should at least do it ourselves, it is our sport after all I’ve lost count of the number of times I hear people say that international League is not competitive and we should give up on it and concentrate on clubs etc but I’m sure they would be surprised to hear that the New Zealand Union team have played 111 games against teams from the British Isles, winning 98 (88%) – hell, they have even beaten the Lions 29 times out of the 38 games played. As it says in the article, Scotland and Ireland have NEVER beaten the All Blacks The reason why we would be surprised is because Union fans and officials don’t talk down their sport at every opportunity and continue the pretence that it is an ultra competitive and thriving international scene. Say something often enough and with enough conviction and it will happen... I hope the people who people who say international League is a joke understand that and can live with the consequences

the aussie press described our win as a walk in the park

Quote ="roughyedspud"good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/'" I have to agree. One of the things I've always found on this forum is that there seems to be a glass half empty attitude amongst many rugby league fans. Don't get me wrong, I don't like blind loyalty or arrogance, but I like to see people being positive and getting behind the things they believe in. After all, how can you expect to enthuse other people if you're not showing any enthuisasm yourself? It annoys the hell out of me that the Australians have the origin series but we have nothing. And yet whenever someone suggests a Yorkshire v Lancashire equivalent, there is always the same old voices hammering the idea down. Do you ever hear people from Oxford or Cambridge University slating The Boat Race? No. They get behind the event and help make it the spectacle it is - apparently 5 million UK tv viewers tune in to watch it so they must be doing something right.

Quote ="roughyedspud"good read... tonyhannan.wordpress.com/2010/11 ... rent-they/'" I have to agree. One of the things I've always found on this forum is that there seems to be a glass half empty attitude amongst many rugby league fans. Don't get me wrong, I don't like blind loyalty or arrogance, but I like to see people being positive and getting behind the things they believe in. After all, how can you expect to enthuse other people if you're not showing any enthuisasm yourself? It annoys the hell out of me that the Australians have the origin series but we have nothing. And yet whenever someone suggests a Yorkshire v Lancashire equivalent, there is always the same old voices hammering the idea down. Do you ever hear people from Oxford or Cambridge University slating The Boat Race? No. They get behind the event and help make it the spectacle it is - apparently 5 million UK tv viewers tune in to watch it so they must be doing something right.

But they have interstate rivalry.
Since 74, we've all been in cheshire, the saints are merseyside and wigan are greater manchester. When the last counties game was on me grandad took pride in the whole lancashire thing; I personally couldnt give two stuffs and neither could most of the younger generation

I thought Roses game failed cos hardly any buggar turned up.

Is the boat race still on tv?

Lancashire through and through mate!

I don't worry about it at all.

I can however see what is in front of me, unlike many.

Good to see some general agreement on some of the fundamental issues...

Misinformation and exposure.

Blatant Misinformation never helps either

Last Roses game had about 12000 (yes, twelve thousand) there at Headingly for a midweek game.

So plenty of paying punters were interested, problem is clubs werent.

I was there mate. The BARLA County Tri-series were always great games.

I am puzzled by the use of the word misinformation......especially when used to describe information regarding League events......
A simple search (yeah....google) for War of the Roses RL......gives various sites that have loads of information regarding these games...from 1895 to 2003. The last game was apparently played at Bradford, not Leeds and the crowd was 8,258.
Now, I have never taken wiki as anything other than a guideline site, but I find it hard to comprehend that anyone other than a league fan would post all the attendances and scores for over 100 years.

As it is, I believe that Roses Series would be good for the International Game in England and infinitely more usefull than the yearly hammering of France. As for the Clubs not playing "ball' and releasing players.......I would suggest that if the games were considered a form of trial for potential England players, then the players themselves may well make themselves available. Crowds, whilst not massive, averaged just under 10k in the 4 games played in the Super League era......and given the average crowds for SL in 2010 were nearly 4,000 more than 2003, it would be fair to say that a roses series, with 3 matches played at Leigh, Huddersfield and Warrington would all come close to selling out.......
......those that would argue against more games for players.....player burn out should look at the current run of results between Australia and England/GB.......SOO doesn't seem to damage the crims too much when they have to "back up"........and it does offer their best players games of real intensity and passion.

The concept is clearly too difficult for you.

I think we need to get away from this roses concept and maybe move to playing France and non UK super league select team.

Or if you are going to use the roses concept then a 2 game and a final

featuring

Lancs, Yorks, cumbria and super league select.

nah....

england v other nationalities - 2 game series

&

england 'A' v france then wales as curtain raisers to the games above

St George's day would be ideal for something like that, but I fear it's too early in the season.

game 1 - when we'd normally play france

game 2 - when the 4th round of the challenge cup is, super league clubs enter into the challenge cup in the 5th round, the 5th round made up of the 14 SL clubs plus the 2 surviving clubs from the previous round...


simples