Is it a taboo subject.........

[Gangster Octopus]

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Your memory's correct. The Pie-Eating barstards did win that 7s tournament. It's a little disappointing that similar things haven't been done recently.

[Guest]

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Just been made a bit happy by Sky announcing they are showing this year's State Of Origin series. Go Maroons!

That Melbourne Storm, eh? Bad people.

[Brandenburger Toro]

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That's it? "Bad people"? No homophobic slurs?

[Guest]

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Well, if you're feeling left out.....

[Guy Profumo]

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Georgeous George wrote:

Well, if you're feeling left out.....

Still lost none of the charm, eh?

[Guest]

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Guy Potger wrote:

Georgeous George wrote:

Well, if you're feeling left out.....

Still lost none of the charm, eh?

I live to give.

Is there anyone around these parts live in or near Edinburgh? If so, you could do a lot worse than get down to Murrayfield on Saturday or Sunday. 7 games over 2 days, reasonable ticket prices, and there's usually at least one outrageous piece of controversy.

[Bill Bones]

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I went to Murrayfield once. It was full of off-duty cops,Edinburgh lawyers and Borderers in Barbour jackets. I think I'll give it a miss.

[Guest]

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Bill Bones wrote:

I went to Murrayfield once. It was full of off-duty cops,Edinburgh lawyers and Borderers in Barbour jackets. I think I'll give it a miss.

But that was for a Union match, surely?

Whoops, there i go again, pigeon-holing things again. Bring forth the guillotine, etc.

[Bill Bones]

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Georgeous George wrote:

Bill Bones wrote:

I went to Murrayfield once. It was full of off-duty cops,Edinburgh lawyers and Borderers in Barbour jackets. I think I'll give it a miss.

But that was for a Union match, surely?

Whoops, there i go again, pigeon-holing things again. Bring forth the guillotine, etc.

Oh, is this Rugby League then? Sorry, I'm not clued up on it at all. My Gran's from Wigan though and I have vague memories of being taken to Rugby League games there, mid/late 1980s. When the TV rights went to Sky it sort of became out of sight, out of mind.

Yeah, my expierence of Murrayfield wasn't great. Union game vs Fiji I think. Not the sport so much, it was the crowd. It was like opera, they were the worst thing about it.

[Posty Webber]

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Union is terrible to a) watch and b) if you're a back, play. 

I mean seriously - if you find yourself with a bit of daylight in front of you, you've got to evaluate the risk of going for broke, versus getting mown down without sufficient support and turning the ball over. As a spectator sport it is fundamentally flawed in that its rules disencourage individual brilliace (to a degree).

As fantastic as well-executed rugby scrums are, they are also a drain on the "brand", as they likewise turn an 80 minute encounter into a paint-drying exhibition.

But the worst thing about Union in AUS is the fair-weather, collars-up, Windsor Smith-wearing, family money-inheriting, investment banker, private school wanklets who are into it (and I'm talking about Super 14 and upwards, here. Not grass roots or club rugby). These people in truth have little interest in the team-based, ball codes at all. They are far more intersted in F1 or skiing or rowing and shit, yet as Australian males they pick a default and the result is Union. They'll go and watch the 'Tahs and those other 2nd-tiersmem, the Wallabies, stink up the pitch with their antiquated game and elbow-patches, for the scene itself, and not for a love of the game. And these same pretenders are the first to snort derisevely about what is a truly fantastic product - the NRL. 

"They are just dumb meatheads, running straight for 5 tackles and then kicking", they'll say. " The scrums are pointless and the players themselves are fucking stupid - have you heard them speak?", they'll gibber. 

But the truth is that in O-to-the-Z, our league has it all. A handful of clubs trace their origins back to 1908, when we were not long since a penal-colony. Rivalries are bitter, and as our population expanded, so too did the teams. Illawarra, Canberra, Newcastle, Penrith, Brisbane and more. League players are no stupider than their Union counterparts - they are more or less from the same gene pool - the difference is education and the desire for verbal coherence and the articulation of said verbs while on camera. 

What League does have is the best "product" in Australia. NRL is the best sport to watch on telly. Players like Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Jared Hayne are world class athletes who would be right at the top of the global athlete's curve for speed, strenghth, flair and footwork. State of Origin speaks for itself. 

No it doesn't. It deserves it's own rant. 

SOO is one of the top sporting events on the global sporting calendar. You get club team mates punching each other in the head without any real penalty, you have dudes getting knocked out only to come back on and make 50 tackles. It is always brilliant. The skill, passion, spectace and theatre is second to none. 
  
Fuck I love League.        

[Rory Bunk]

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Quality rant, Posty. State of Origin is terrific entertainment.

As otf's resident NRL nut, we needed your take on the Storm 'nasty business' though. Mosey over to the 'Five seasons in one day' thread in Sport or even the A-League thread in football.

[Guest]

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A doff of the cap to Posty Webber. You, sir, are a decent fellow, and all that.

[Guest]

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As Rory Bunk says, a quality rant which is no less entertaining for being completely inaccurate!

Posty Webber wrote:

A handful of clubs trace their origins back to 1908, when we were not long since a penal-colony.

A mere 50 years after most Victorian AFL clubs were formed.

Rivalries are bitter, and as our population expanded, so too did the teams. Illawarra, Canberra, Newcastle, Penrith, Brisbane and more

For those unfamiliar with Australian geography, this is a tiny part of the country. Four of Australia's six states couldn't care less about rugby league and are only marginally more interested in rugby union.

What League does have is the best "product" in Australia. NRL is the best sport to watch on telly.

This is so wrong I don't even know where to start. A great "product" with terrible crowds and less than half the television value of the AFL. A great "product" that isn't even broadcast in most of Australia. Hell, even the A League's better to watch than the NRL! 

[Posty Webber]

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Dude - you are on meth.

I wasn't even thinking about that other, overrated pile of dross, Aussie Rules. Before I share my opinion on that game, I'll address your other statements.

Four of Australia's six states couldn't care less about rugby league and are only marginally more interested in rugby union

Like all Mexicans, your insecurity forged in the shadow of Sydney is amusing. If your statement had any relevance at all, then Rugby Union trumps both codes due to it being played (at a high standard) across most continents. But we all know that Union is a sweaty man's arse crack, so that can't be a reflection on a game's quality.

A great "product" with terrible crowds and less than half the television value of the AFL.

The television deal that was made back in the day was severely undervalued, and numerous circumstances contributed to that dodgy deal. SuperLeague still loomed-large over all concerned, and the market value of the rights was manipulated by the former enemies, Packer and Murdoch so that both parties would come out of their war with a decent result.

So it was a failure in the code's administration that brought that particular situation into existence.

But the NRL Grandfinal and State of Origin series out-rates all AFL games consistently, and most major NRL clashes out-rate televised AFL numbers, regularly.

In fact, the next TV deal for the NRL will be worth in excess of 1 billion dollaroonies.

The reason as to why it's such a great tv sport (and why Aussie Rules aint) is because of both sides appear in the same periphery as each other for the majority of the match. So wysiwyg.

AFL, like soccer, is as much about losing your man off the ball as it is anything else, and its played on a pitch the size of a small Central American republic. So the minutiae are never witnessed by the tv viewer.

A great "product" that isn't even broadcast in most of Australia.

Again, this comes down to AFL's strangle-hold on these regions. Just as AFL has failed to capture the market in the East, neither has RL done so in the rest of Aus.

The fact that it isn't broadcast in Vic comes down to Channel 9 being a shower of greedy bastards who don't give a toss about the game.

--

Re Aussie Rules in general, I get why it's a much-loved game. The players are very athletic and as fit as any athlete anywhere. BUT they are not as tough as Leaguies, and they are not as skillful as soccer players, and as it's a cross between the two games, I say "what's the point".

I mean, these guys get suspended for "wrestling", and you get rewarded for almost scoring.

What a bore.

[Guest]

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Posty Webber wrote:

Like all Mexicans, your insecurity forged in the shadow of Sydney is amusing.

And completely in your imagination. No need for insecurity when our game is vastly more popular. The Sydney Swans even get better crowds than any NSW NRL club.

But the NRL Grandfinal and State of Origin series out-rates all AFL games consistently, and most major NRL clashes out-rate televised AFL numbers, regularly.

The NRL grand final very rarely (if ever) outrates the AFL grand final. In 2006, the AFL grand final even outrated the NRL grand final in NSW!

I don't like union but it has skill and flair that is completely absent in league - a game which is basically 2 sets of neckless neanderthals bumping into each other for 80 minutes. As for the shaven headed, tattooed, knuckle dragging supporters...

[Posty Webber]

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You are just so utterly wrong and obviously unaware of what actually happens in sport that I can't even muster the energy to truly respond.

Your opinion that popularity = good, tells me that you're a massive Mariah Carey fan.

Enjoy your blinkers.

[Guest]

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Posty Webber wrote:

Your opinion that popularity = good

I have never held that view in my life about anything. You were the one who made inaccurate boasts about NRL's tv ratings. In fact, I've been criticised more than once on the music forum for being an "indie snob" (wrongly I might add).

[Posty Webber]

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I admit my claims about ratings were innacurate, but I suspect that in NRL states, yer League rates higher than AFL does. And don't forget, League competes with Union in the eastern states.

Regardless, you have been very poor on this topic. Your explanation as to why AFL is better than League has come down to: a) more people like it, and b) league players have no necks and simply run at each other.

I could just as easily say that AFL players have tight shorts and flail about at each other for hours on end, but that would only prove that I didn't really understand AFL, wouldn't it?

[Guest]

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Posty, I haven't attempted to explain why AFL is better than league (I didn't think this thread was about that) - I was simply trying to point out that league is nowhere as important in Australia as you were trying to make it out to be.

If I've been "poor" on this topic what about your position? Union is rubbish because it's middle class, AFL is rubbish because it's Victorian, Mariah Carey is rubbish because she's popular.

You're in no position to label anybody "poor" or "blinkered."

[Guy Profumo]

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Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

I'm constantly, constantly, pissed off by watching so-called professional Rugby Union, and seeing exactly that basic, basic, rule, abused, for penalty after penalty after penalty. When you're tackled, release the ball. And if you're the tackler, you can't then play the ball until you've released the man and are back onside. These were rules so drummed into us at school I can't believe they haven't similarly been drummed (probably whipped) into the public schoolboys who make up the majority of the Home Nations' sides.

There is some old adage about football being a game for gentlemen played by thugs, and Rugby being vice-versa. If anything, I think Rugby now is so full of cheats that football's got a lot of catching up to do. I mean, fake blood bin injuries? What would we say if Cameroon, say, tried that one at the (Football) World Cup?

That's because the rules were made for you oiks to follow. If you were a gentleman, you'd already know they don't apply to you.

[Posty Webber]

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Kind of. But not really (to MA).

I've actually stated why Union is arse (flawed by it's nature) and why League is the greatest (Origin, excitement, crop of talent, TV experience). You inexplicably mention AFL as though it trumps League in all categories, and therefore 'nuff said, but in fact all you've done is trott out some tired cliches highlighting your inexperience with League on the East Coast.

Firstly, in AFL states, you barely even have the games televised. Add to that not growing up around our particular culture, and not having great moments etched in your psyche, like Turvey being chaired off as NSW's first victorious captain, or Benny Elias's mother smearing his blood over her own face, both of them in tears, or QLD's miraculous last-minute try in Origin, when the ball went through 20 pairs of hands on the last tackle, from deep in their own half to snatch an imposible series win. Mate, stirring events and quality footy happen every year in League. Unfortunately, when you emigrated to Oz, you ended up in the place where you'll never get to experience or even understand just how great NRL is.

And growing up in League heartland (pretty much any suburb where people drive Holdens and lower), tomorrow's stars are sitting next to you in class. All the lads are in to it, and most girls aren't. Naturally, the thuggish aspect is unappealling to many of them.

Sure, it isn't as strategic or tactical as say gridiron or cricket, and it's administration has always been as corrupt as sin, but despite that, it's still going, it's still growing, and it's getting better every year.

League is now a compulsory school subject in PNG (strange, but true), and they'll soon have a team in the NRL. In the Pacific Islands, League is beginning to surpass Union, and soon Wellington will have an NRL side too.

Believe, Homes. Soon we'll have a new, non-corrupt administration and the game will explode.

[Posty Webber]

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I just noticed your bit about me trying to make League out to be of vast importance to Australia.

Nice revisionism.

[Moonlight Shadow]

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You sound a bit like the RL fans over here Posty, colossal chip on the shoulder, conspiracy theories about other codes keeping you down and evangelical attitude to your sport ("It's the best sport in the world" shouted in a drab northern accent by some over-excited M62 corridor dweller is almost a catch-phrase).

Then you have those who spend their time, over here, implying other sports are not only played by homosexuals (which is a bad thing) but foreign homosexuals.

Then when the beered up homophobic, xenophobic louts have a fight, which happens a lot more often the official propanguada admits, it's never their fault, always football fans infiltrating their ranks...

That's for the fans.

Then you have the players. Like footballers, young blokes full of testosterone won't really win prizes for subtle behaviour but with the RL crowd, you have the added pleasure of too many of them being pumped up full of steroids turning a number of them into crazed psychos. Most people in Wigan know it's best to leave any bar where those meatheads congregate, particularly if you're female and pretty...

Read here a compendium of the evils of RL, lots of link to some horrible shenanigan in Australia as well:

Ugh!

[Posty Webber]

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Meh. Keep me out of your leaps-of-logic.

I don't know British RL culture from a bar of soap. It might be full of BNP thugs or it might not. I don't give a shit.

I'm talking about NRL.

My exposure to British RL has shown me biased, parochial commentators (like the excreble "Stevo" and poor defence. I do have a man-crush on Adrian Morley, and Sam Burgess seems a decent chap. But I have not the slightest inkling of the nature of League in your country.

[Wyatt Earp]

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Blimey, Australia seems to have an even worse case of "slag off the other sport" than us. Which is a pity in a way, because at least from this Pom's perspective, Aussie Rules is wonderfully distinctive, and both codes of Rugby are played more excitingly in Australia than either is in England.