Rugby League in the country was still very much an M62 Sport so this idea that the whole country knew the above is laughable. None of them were sport super stars over here.



playing in a GB jersey wouldnt make a blind bit of difference. sorry but you are delusional. This idea that going back to GB is gonna raise rugby league to super heights is pure fantasy. If the sponsors, fans, TV networks etc etc on both sides of the world were crying out for this it would happen. Guess what, they are not. You are screaming out for something which very little people actually care about.

Oh and another thing, the NRL have no interest in bringing back the tours. The players would say no in an instance, its hard enough getting the players agreeing to playing the limited internationals we play now. Here you are thinking we can roll back to 1980 and start scheduling GB tours. Its never gonna happen. Stop listening to gary schofield as he speaks some rubbish!



could you actually be more over dramatic.

But the two things are inexorably linked aren't they ?

If the game was dead at club level, the game at National or International level wouldn't exist at all.
As for players being unknown nowadays, pre-sky, the only platform for watching RL was terrestrial TV, which everyone had access to and therefore anyone who had a vague interest in the game could see those players on TV.

You say that international RL was doing rather well and I have to agree with you, that the exposure that the tour's, culminating in a test series, was without doubt good for the game, nobody can argue that fact but as with life, everything is a balance and tour or no tour, I just cant see that moving back to winter would actually benefit RL.
I certainly dont miss being frozen and wet during the winter months and reverting to winter would pitch us directly against football and I dont think that RL can ever win that battle.
Summer of course, is holiday season and families like to do stuff at the weekends but going back to winter could possibly spell the end for RL.

Just look at the teams Great Britain played on Tour.

Look at the teams Australia and New Zealand played when touring.

Were the standards the same back then?
Would the NRL clubs really want to play Reat Britain for "fun"?

RL in this country had and still has a problem in selling its product and for an innovative sport at times is backwards in other key areas.

Just remember the game sold its soul to an innovative broadcaster but simply hadn't a clue how to sell itself outside of of that or use the opportunity to its best advantage. Boots'n All anyone? How helpful,were/ are the clubs to the media?

I didn't expect it'd be very long before the [i'Historical Revisionist of York'[/i turned up.

His revisionism is usually as follows...

(1) [uNo more proper tours (Lions/Kangaroos/Ashes etc) - It's all Australia's fault![/u

Proper tours used to take place because they could be scheduled to fit. GB Lions toured Australia June/July during Aussie mid-season and our off-season. Kangaroos toured UK during Oct/Nov during our mid-season and their off-season. See how it worked? Yep. It ain't rocket science.

Then Super League turned up in the UK and we switched to a summer season. The window of opportunity for proper tours was removed, hence why the game is now reduced to a few afterthought internationals at the end of the season instead of mid-season when they should be, and when they gain most media attention.

But, it's still all Australia's fault that there are no longer any proper tours here and down under and Ashes series according to the [iHistorical Revisionist of York[/i.

(2) [uWe switched from GB to England but now we want to switch back to GB and can't - It's all Australia's fault![/u

RFL in their wisdom (LOL) scrap the GB brand in 2007 claiming they wish to nurture home nations development instead and grow the international game that way. What a bleedin' calamity that decision has been, eh? Oh, but they had to do that in order to tap into the Brand England Market and access money from Sport England when in fact the latter is not true and was confirmed as false by former RFL CEO Richard Lewis.

But the RFL realised they made a huge cock-up in 2012 and proposed to bring back GB requesting that Australia accept at short notice a GB tour of Australia in erm... 2012... when Australia had already planned their break prior to the RLWC2013. Oh BOO HOO! SOB! Aussies won't accept our request. We'll play Wales and France at home instead then in a Tri Nations. We'll even make sure one of ours wins the Golden Boot off the back of it! Sod the Scots and Irish as they are just pub teams. So much for that Home Nations development and building an identity idea, eh? Oh, and it's Australia's fault that GB is currently dead in the water too. Australia are to blame for everything.

(3) [uBut Leeds played the Kiwis in October 2015 and that's in Winter! So we do play in winter but I've no idea what point I'm trying to make here because I've completely lost the plot... again... and erm... oh, crap... time for an ad hominem retort... so, here goes.... you remind me of Donald Trump.[/u

Wowee.

Are you saying the Aussies won't tour over here because it's in our off-season? Seriously?

Try answering the questions.

What difference does it make to Australia when our season is played? Why does it stop them from touring?

So you accept the Aussies turned down the opportunity of hosting a GB tour?

It would take a bizarre mind to suggest then it's GB that don't want to tour.

Somehow the Kiwis managed to come over and play a game and 3-match series.

What's stopping the Aussies from doing that plus a couple of other games. Are you seriously suggesting British clubs are turning down requests from Australia?

Can you respond to the other points people have made? Or will you just make more stuff up?

I'd go back to GB but only for end of season tournaments or test series against Aus/NZ. But keep the home nations for World Cups, mid-season internationals and potentially 5 nations tournaments or for tests against the likes of Samoa/Tonga/PNG.

Doing that means that we can maximise the number of players playing rep rugby, and hopefully one day build a meaningful international calendar we all crave. The fact the home nations are filled with 'grand-parent' qualifiers isn't ideal, but it's better than nothing and still serves a purpose.

The GB brand was very strong - most none rugby league sports fans knew about the GB rugby league team and showed a passing interest - with the right marketing, we could take advantage of that.

Imagine having a 4 year international calendar with main events of a World Cup, tri/four nations tournaments that involve GB and GB test series' against Aus/NZ, then bolstered by mid season home nations tests, mid season Pacific isles tests, and end of season home nations vs Pacific isles.... That's where we should be heading as a sport. If we could sustain that level of international competition I truly believe the sport could flourish. That's the best way to expand as a sport - other sporting nations such would then see a reason to buy in to rugby league.

Id stick with England, they have started to build a brand, the lack of crowds is more down the RFL's poor marketing, changing back to GB wouldent alter that. They need to start scheduling more games and getting tickets on sale a year in advance, as people would then buy them for Xmas and Birthday presents and also coach tours are more likely to arrange something with more notice.

England need to play more games, we need a 5/6 Nation European tournament mid season, if England only picked Super League players for that it would level the scores up, and you could also make them play all their games away to try and get the smaller nations to compete.

If the GB brand was so iconic and so great still then why did you have to go back to the late 80's/early 90's to name some alledged household names? GB was still going until 2007, don't recall Gareth Raynor becoming a household name for scoring a winning try vs Australia or the likes of Lee Gilmour, Paul Wellens and Sean Long?

Good point.. it's looking back with rose tinted glasses

Who knew about those fixtures outside of the M62?

Therefore who knew of the players?

They weren't participants in a proper Kangaroo or Lions Tour were they?

Super League summer rugby ensured the demise of those proper tours.

And the game you allude to above was broadcast on Sky in front of less than 100k viewers on a Saturday morning, UK time.

Enjoy your Super League.

I'm sure you believe it was all worth it for the greater good.

Meanwhile, in front of a two-thirds empty stadium in Coventry.....

Surely the whole country knew didn't they as the GB name, team and shirt was so iconic apparently.



Bless your duluded mind for thinking how the sport ran in the 80's should still be the way to do it today. The club scene was a mess early 90's so they wouldn't even be the clubs for Australia to play on a "proper tour" or even produce the players for GB. Maybe we should go back to VHS and get rid of mobiles and just have telephones also as they went well in the 80's.

You say other sports don't ignore their history like RL does......also what they don't do is adopt a "we'll lets just do what we did in the past" approach and always trying to move forward. The big difference is the RL fan base has way too many stuck in the past "sport/music/movies were better in my day types who think things should never evolve.

You forgot the muddy pitches, Hovis bread theme tune, Up and Under, Eddie Waring, pot-bellied forwards, winter, Brrrrr, scarves, icicles, snow drifts, bovril, Yooorrrrkshire Cup, cigs and beer sponsorship, black and white telly, this sporting life, Frank Machin...

Enjoy your Coventry spectacle.

Cheers I will watch something actually happening in the present unlike yourself spending your time mourning and yearning for something from a long time ago like some love struck loser still pining for the girl that dumped him many years ago to return.

You let yourself down every time with the ad hominem.

Can't help yourself, can you?

Here's a tip.

When you lose the argument, retire gracefully.

90% of what you write is aimed at insulting posters so don't embarrasss yourself with the hypocrisy.

Also very deluded (again) to think you've won any argument here by just doing a lot of whining.

The irony of dumping the GB concept is that it could in reality weaken 'home' nation development.

If the only international options are England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, which team do you think the majority will want to aim for? If I'm an up and coming player with some vague Welsh/Scottish/Irish ancestry but a realistic possibility of playing for England, I'm more likely to pin my colours to the red & white flag. Multiply that across our very small elite playing pool and it very soon begins to bite.

Whereas if the possibility of playing a Great Britain team exists ALONGSIDE the home nations, I might reconsider my options. I might choose to pin on my Great-Granny's home flag for the World Cup happy in the knowledge I have a shot at a GB place in the Four Nations or (please god

) an Ashes Tour. As a result, the smaller home nations could see more elite players willing to commit themselves.

In the same vein, let's say a great Welsh player breaks through. What a waste. He'll get a go in the World Cup but will we ever see him take on the Aussies alongside our best? Nope. He'll be playing alongside second-tier Welsh and vaguely Welsh lads and perhaps beating Lebanon and Italy.

Great Britain RL was iconic. All the great international moments from our heritage come in the red & blue V. I have precisely NO fond memories of the England RL concept, just terrible shirts. As for those condemning the 90's, I guess you're not old enough to remember the amazing Ashes tours of '90 and '94. The club game might have been in mixed health but the international game was outstanding.

As for tonight's event at Coventry...I think the less said the better. Genuinely I switched over to Ireland vs All Blacks with about 15 minutes to go. A close game but a boring, soulless atmosphere. Love it when an international tournament finally comes around and the RFL stick games in pointless stadiums nowhere near the core support.

He doesn't like ruby league, its nothing to do with old or new or whatever.
He comes on here because he is bored, I just hope that he finds a hobby.
Its not like I read his posts most of the time, buts its like the equivalent of having a pop up add every few posts.

International has on the whole never been that popular - it had a brief growth in popularity in the 90s before SL. The crowds at both Coventry and Huddersfield were greater than those that turned up to watch the 82 Aussie tourist possibly the greatest side ever to play the game.

I don't see all the hankering to see a series of meaningless mid week walk overs - even RU have on the whole ditched that idea

Agreed. I want to see more tests played out between the big teams. Playing once against Australia ( which is likely to be the case now barring a miracle at the weekend), from 2014 to the 2017 is not enough for me.

On crowds - we did get very good crowds from the 86 tour to 94 but that was our most competitive period since the early 70's. Still, even then we didn't quite fill old wembley, it was around 50k for the OT tests and 30k for the Elland road ones so not astronomically bigger than these days. We got 40k for NZ in london last year and i remember Elland road being full house for that Four Nations final in 2011.Also 44K at Wembley against the Aussies that same year although that looks bad in that huge new Wembley.

Add to that we always tend to pretty much fill the 25k club grounds like Huddersfield last week. Could of course be better, but it's not bad imo. I reckon if England made this final we would fill Anfield but that looks a long shot now.

What's that? All I saw was you trying to change your point when your previous point was shown up to be nonsense.

As you were.

The problem is nothing to do with the success of Scotland, Wales or Ireland presently. In the current international climate, they have very little opportunity to to compete at the top level.

Our elite level of rugby league consists only of Four Nations x2, the World Cup and a last minute tour. Which players are going to want to pin their colours to anyone other than the Big 3 if they're the only ones guaranteed to be playing big comps?

Hopefully the new Confed Cup tournament will help attract the NRL and SL players to put their hands up more regularly for other nations and build their competitiveness and brand. More games of importance is what the other home nations (and every other nation) need.

England are doing fine. Crowds are better than GBs of the 2000s that preceded them. All signs are they're going to get better.

The country I live in is called Great Britain anyway. Which is part of the United Kingdom of the two countries Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Not the United Kingdom of four countries England Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland. The nationality on my passport is British, not English.

If it means we can have Lachlan Coote at fullback then I'm all for it.

Funny that because Great Britian isn't actually a country.

If we do revert back to GB then hopefully we can cut the BS like this.