I agree the current spotlight on RU doesn't look good for them. But I'm not sure it's a 'scum sport'. As with all things in life, there are good and bad. I don't like watching it, but then I don't like Basketball, Kabbadi or Tennis either.

Embarrassing comment really. Just makes you look sad and bitter.

Embarrassing for who? Me? i don't think so. A sport that is trying to crush ours. Scummy in the sense that they are quite happy to drain ours like they have a right to do so. Damn right i want them to get hurt. If you want to name call me at least have the balls to say it to my face, otherwise, stick your keyboard up your and don't bother replying in the first place. If you disagree with what i say then give me reasons why, don't just give me crap you gobe.

Tough guy eh

Kind of cute really.

As I said, it's just a bit pathetic and bitter. It encompasses the inferiority complex shown by many League fans, and is something that Union laughs at.
Your points that it's a scum sport because of the things that give it bad press at the moment can be turned around on league in an instant. For every time something like the Hartley incident occurs we have many more things that happen in League that people could call our sport a scum sport for. Ben Flower Grand Final incident, Long and Gleeson with the betting, fighting on the pitch at Hull KR and Salford, Bateman night out incident, the list goes on, thats just a quick couple listed off the top of my head.

As I said, it was just a bit of a pathetic attempt to slag off union without much thought that our sport can be just as bad, if not worse.

Or give players blood capsules to fake injury, you missed one for the rah rah boys

Scum sport indeed. I have no idea why they don't follow the rugby league moral compass of rape, sexual assault, drug taking, domestic abuse, betting on your own team and public order offences.

regards

King James

They don't need to add to their already lengthy list

You missed out an international star lobbying to be the main supplier of coke to his international team-mates (and nothing being done about it, thereby implying high-level willingness to sweep really nasty stuff under the carpet).

Oh, hang on ...

SO they are both scum sports. Thanks for clearing that up

Regards

King James

Good to see reasoned, eloquent argument returning to the forum guys well done. Everyone is frustrated about the decline of Rugby League in this country but slagging off Rugby Union in angry Twitter troll style just makes us look parochial and jealous. As someone with Welsh heritage, can I point out that becoming frustrated when our best players join the other code for financial reasons is what happened in reverse for 100 years? The one way traffic had huge implications for the health of Welsh Rugby Union and painful though it may be, it is nevertheless a little ironic that we are not enjoying the boot being on the other foot

How many converts from Welsh rugby union breached a contract to sign for a rugby league team?

None. When all that was going on, Union was (supposed to be) an amateur game, so there were no contracts [ito [/ibreak.
Next.

None players were not getting paid to play officially. Players were allowed to move freely but uhhhhhhmmm things did go on. But not one union player had a professional contract back then.

This dewy-eyed Rugby Union love-in is all very touching, but the reality is that RU's colossal spending-power - which has nothing whatever to do with homely little Welsh villages where they once hacked 'stand-off-halves' out of the coal - could destroy us in short order if Sale win this power struggle and Solomona is allowed to 'retire' from RL without his new RU paymasters having to pay a transfer fee.

I think we RL fans - and those among us who profess to be RL fans - should perhaps be a little more worried than we are.

Not sure why we need to be worried. Maybe I'm missing something?

Worst case scenario Solomona has nothing in his contract stopping him from retiring and joining sale ru. Fair enough cas get shafted in this one.

All new rugby league contracts have a clause stopping this from happening again. Existing RL players contracts have an addendum added also.

It's not suddenly a flood gate oppened. We get burned, learn our lesson and put measures in place to stop it occurring again. Just my thoughts.

Remember that players have to sign contracts in the first place.

You could insist on some kind of clause that they cannot retire whilst under contract until it is medically proven that they cannot play competitive sport again, but how many would agree to that - especially when they've got agents like Andy Clark, whose sole purpose it seems is to steer all his best players ultimately to the big bucks of RU?

In addition, quite a few of our top players are already serving contracts that will NOT have any such clause in them, so they could get snaffled first.

Personally, I'd rather the court just ruled that contracts need to be respected. In the real world, you'd expect nothing else - but British RL never seems to enjoy any of the perks of the real world.

I've always been a rugby league fan first and foremost but I am also a rugby fan secondary. Speak to any rugby fan and they have nothing but praise for rugby league. Speak to your average rugby league fan about rugby and they have absolute distain for the game for absolutely no reason other than Chris Ashton signed for rugby, completely forgetting what happened in the 80s. The best of it is rugby overall, Has surpassed rugby league on the pitch and not just off it. I find it hard to stay awake watching league but there were lots of exciting rugby games last season all over the world. Even the SA club comp surpasses super league skill wise

Regards
King James

It must have improved since I was last in South Africa, where there seemed to be little else on TV.

Sport of any kind is always subjective. What you can't deny is that rugby league has been held back by the salary cap which currently stands at about 10,000 negative Rpi. Wigan did more for RL in the late 80s and early 90s than anyone and then the salary cap came in and rewarded mediocrity. Since the. Rugby has just left rugby league for dead

Regards

King James

We can argue the toss over RU v RL all day and get nowhere, the truth is

1. RL is a small game and always will be in this country, it is played in a very small, northern geographical area and is not played in any of the major conurbations or richer areas unlike RU.

2. RL is, in money terms, way, way behind the times in this country compared to RU and also in terms of perceived prestige (to the general public and TV).

3. RL is (and sadly for a long time) has been governed by people with no vision, no ambition and no long term plan. And is held back constantly by those who see surviving as the limit of their ambition.

Until and unless the impossible of all three of the above changing then Rl will always be nothing more than minority sport - despite all of it's fans trying to think otherwise.

As to the Solomona case - sadly I suspect that Cas will come out of it with little to show. Contracts seem to be worth very little these days anywhere.

They are both "rugby" one is league and the other union. I can't remember either code having copyright to the name "rugby"

I'm studying hard to find where union has surpassed league on the pitch? I still see union as dull now as it was 30yrs ago, the idea in either code is to score tries but this doesn't seemed to have cottoned on in union.

Arguably RL in this country was better to watch 30 years ago.

Sadly I have to agree

The old games on Wigan TV are bringing that home to me. But I suppose it's partly the tactics, and partly the players avaialble too. There just aren't players of the quality of Edwards, Gregory, Hanley, Sculthorpe etc in SL these days, more's the pity.

On union, I haven't bothered looking up stats, but it seems to me (based on watching internationals and TV highlights of club matches during our close season) that there is a bit more try-scoring than their used to be. Precision of handling skills in general attacking play, although improved, still looks some way below even SL's reduced standard now.