Agree with this. Amateur R.L is a more intimidating enviroment since i stopped playing over 20 years ago. Even at some of the junior games where some of the parents/spectators act like unruley mobs baying for blood.

I have also seen some local club union games,and despite the action on the pitch the spectators seem better behaved and more friendly.

Re-read his post and tell me it's English.....

Yep. I've said before on here but it's why I stopped playing League and started playing Union.

Now I am a bit of a soft lump but we have to realise that most people DONT actually enjoy large amounts of heavy contact and most people certainly don't enjoy the fights and/or intimidation.
I went to Union and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was enough contact without people going over the top or trying to prove how hard they were. The vast majority just wanted to enjoy playing sport.

As a result they had plenty of kids teams and 4 adults open age teams plus a colts. I still occasionally turn out for their 3rds team despite my appalling fitness!

IME of playing league in the South the OTT violence on the pitch and even the goings on off the pitch is vastly different to that in the North.
I was connected with St.Albans Centurions for quite a long time and even at the highest level of the amateur summer rugby leagues there wasn't that intimidating atmosphere. I experienced a bit of biff on the field of play but nothing on the levels seen in the game in the North. There was a lad from Warrington in our side almost always got involved every game, I think he was atypical of that type of amateur Northern monkey that just couldn't help themselves.
Despite thge odd one or two though & there being a lot of ex-pats in the teams I think the mixture of union lads and that most ex-pats were playing or had played union down here made a difference, the speccies often were union followers first.

I did play a few games of masters which should be likened to the 'old boys' in union except it kind of isn't even with the adjusted rules for age. There's still the very much competetive spirit even if the body is unwilling and because of the (still) relatively fast speed of the game compared to union it's not easy even playing 25 minute halves. You also have to travel big distances as there aren't that many teams about whereas in union every team has an old boys side.

I've a gammy hip, two gammy shoulders, have Crohn's disease & the wrong side of mid 40s yet I still reckon I'd do alright playing union and I might still get around to popping down the local club because though masters is/was a struggle I actually love the physical contact, it was always the hits that did it for me (either way) but fitness wise league is just so much more difficult even when playing against old farts like me

Need to reclaim touch rugby (sic) and remind the tens of thousands of players they are in fact playing a version of RL regardless of what union tells them!

This.

I'm afraid it's symptomatic of the way that the Union and the rest of the nation outside the confines of Rugby League followers, use the term Rugby to describe their sport.

I get the impression that a few posters on here don't understand just how much Rugby Union is a social event rather than a sporting event.
I've lost count of how many times watching Union in the pub I've turned to discuss the game, only for the person next to me to admit that they have no idea about the rules and have never been to a match.

I think they do, it's just how we can turn RL more into a social event rather than a die-hard supporters event

Yeah, because RU fans aren't 'real' fans like RL fans are.




I've lost count of how many times someone has told that exact same story on a RL forum.

RL Fans go to watch the game, RU fans go to an event where the game is incidental. Put simply the former go to see but the latter go to be seen.

Internationally maybe but not domestically.

There's about the same number of domestic fans of both codes and the difference is that the Union ones "can't get tickets" to internationals because of band-waggoners, whilst League fans just can't be 17rsed unless it's at a discount and/or local!

I always thought there were the same number of fans but looking at the stats the Aviva Prem last year had an average (reg season) of 13,354 (total 1,802,769) and Super League had an average (reg season) of 9,997 (total 1,247,957) which means RU has more fans domestically (I stand to be corrected on the figures though as Maths was never my strong point). And if being a 'real' fan is not attending because the tickets aren't discounted then RL must have the most 'real' fans in the country.

Surely trolling has plumbed new depths if it is the case that someone uses two of his usernames to respond to himself?

Are you that stupid that you think I am galliant? I have NEVER had more than 1/active ID at any time...
As for crazy...... Subscribing....sorry paying to watch a sport you don't like.....now that's crazy

How many look at RU and how many watch it?

The same applies to other sports as well.

Really, are you honestly basing an argument on Unions published crowd figures

Unions published crowd figures always look quite suspicious.

And they use the double header and "the big game" games attendance and add to each participating team adding an extra 220,000 spectators who never exsisted.

What would SL average be if you added to 45,000 to each clubs attendance from the magic weekend

The 220,000 spectators bit is pure fabrication on your part. Quins and Sarries 'big games' bump up the attendances but if those people come and attend and physically watch the game then they have every right to be included in that clubs attendance figures, as it's one of their regular home games. Isn't the Magic weekend an extra game on top of the regular season (I stand to be corrected on that) so shouldn't be included anyway?

So 60k people turn up and you count it 4 times that's 180,000 spectators that never exsisted.

After reading and listening to the ridiculous blame burgess stuff I hope sam doesn't play against the Aussie and it an absolute whitewash defeat, see who the public school brigade blame then.

I never said anything about 'real' fans. They're your own words that you're laughing at.
But I did comment about the much greater social element amongst Union fans, which you chose to ignore because you're just trolling.

FACT. I've been to several club union games, and observed the people around me spend more time chatting to each other than watching the game.
FACT. I've been to the 'London Double Header' several times, and have never made the first kick off, because according to the people I'm with "It's only the double header"; these same people who tell me what big fans of their club they are, before admitting that the double header is the only game they go to every year.
FACT. A great many of the people crowding the pubs in England RU shirts at the moment will freely admit that they don't understand the laws of the game.

It doesn't really matter if this makes them 'real' or not, what matters is how Rugby League can tap into some of the patriotic temporary support that Union is able to tap into, and generate more interest and media profile for RL.

You are the one trolling by making out RU fans aren't real/proper (whatever word you like) so:

FACT. I went to the RLWC opening games at the MS and observed there were lots of people amongst the swathes of empty seats chatting when the game was on rather than watching the game.
FACT. When I got free tickets to the same matches I asked at least 10-12 Welsh RU fans to come but none took me up on it as according to the people I asked 'it's only RL etc'.
FACT. With attendances going down at 8 of the 12 Super League clubs this year maybe you should be worrying about getting the fans that RL are losing instead of worrying about RU fans and what they are doing.

It's counted as 60,000 twice not four times as 2 of the the teams are playing away. Not quite the 220,000 you claimed. Even if you take the 60,000 off the total the Aviva Prem is still way ahead of Super League so it's a moot point anyway.