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    #51
    The Rugby League World Cup...

    I'm not sure it's fair to judge RL by the standard of any other sport though is it. I mean it is a much smaller sport globally than Rugby Union or even cricket. I don't disagree that the attendances could have been better but I think you are over estimating the appeal to the general public of watching 2 teams that probably aren't even as good as their local club side and that they have no attachment too, it isn't exactly compelling.

    The insular nature of Victoria, SA and WA is hardly the fault of Rugby League though and you'll let us know the attendances at the next Aussie Rules world cup won't you.....

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      #52
      The Rugby League World Cup...

      In an attempt it can think up stupid gimmicky stunts just as well as the WC organisers;

      Super League clubs to choose their next opponents in play-offs

      Highest-placed first-round winners given choice

      GMT The Guardian, Sunday November 30 2008 Article history

      In a move that will be seen as either bold and pioneering or gimmicky and desperate, the Super League has introduced an element of choice to next season's expanded grand final play-off series that arguably takes British sport closer than ever to the realms of reality television. The highest-placed winners from the first round of the play-offs will now choose their own opponents in the third round, with their decision likely to be announced live on Sky Sports News.

      "It will create great drama and bring an added dimension to what is already the most exciting period in the season," said the Rugby Football League's chief executive Nigel Wood, who first came up with the idea that was approved last week by the 14 Super League clubs. "By introducing the element that allows the highest-placed qualifier to select their semi-final opponents in week three, rugby league has once again shown it is a highly innovative and progressive sport. This new feature will also create more opportunities for broadcasters and the media to generate exciting coverage."

      The leading Super League coaches are unlikely to share that enthusiasm, as the power to select their opposition, while giving them the chance to take into account other teams' form and fitness, will also provide that opposition with unprecedented motivation. However, this is an undeniably imaginative attempt to devise atop-eight play-off series that provides suitable advantages to the teams who have been the most consistent during the season — a problem that has been causing controversy in Australia for several years, with both the National Rugby League and Australian Rules football struggling and so far failing to come up with a satisfactory system. The RFL had to do something different as the play-offs will be expanded from six teams to eight next season when the Super League grows from 12 to 14 clubs.

      Finishing in the top four will guarantee a second chance, with first playing fourth and second playing third in the first round, while fifth plays eighth and sixth plays seventh in elimination matches. Then in the second round the two losers from the top four will have home advantage against the winners from the elimination matches in two more sudden-death fixtures, and it is after those games are played that the highest-placed winner from round one will choose which of the two qualifiers they will face in the semi finals. The two semi-final winners will then contest the grand final at Old Trafford in on October.

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        #53
        The Rugby League World Cup...

        Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

        Rugby Union's not innocent in this respect, mind you, as it scrambles madly backwards from its smug assumption that the tri-nations plus England would be the top four seeds for the next World Cup, by saying those would be the "top 4 in the World Rankings", now it's becoming apparent that the "top 4" will not include England but Argentina. Expect an announcement before that draw's made that, rather than two randomly-drawn pools of 4, the whole draw will be 1 with 8, 2 with 7, etc, so England and Argentina will end up in the same pool regardless of who's 4th or 5th, ruling out the possibility of Argentina, Fiji, Tonga and the USA making up one first-round group.
        Well , there was no announcment but you weren't far wrong on the outcome.

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          #54
          The Rugby League World Cup...

          AMMS wrote:
          The insular nature of Victoria, SA and WA is hardly the fault of Rugby League though and you'll let us know the attendances at the next Aussie Rules world cup won't you.....
          So insular that the biggest crowd of the tournament, apart from the final, was in Victoria.

          So insular that the rugby league authorities are considering permanently moving one of NSW's home state of origin games to Victoria because they don't want to see thousands of empty seats.

          An Aussie Rules world cup would attract far bigger crowds than the rugby league one did. The attendances at the recent International Rules series easily beat those at the RLWC.

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            #55
            The Rugby League World Cup...

            I thought they always played one of the state of origin games in Melbourne? Don't they or is it just every now and again?

            Fond as I am of Australia you can't seriously claim that Victoria, SA and WA aren't insular when it comes to sport. The big crowds at the MCG only accentuate this. I suppose you can understand all those Victorians coming out in their thousands when they so rarely get a chance to watch a real sport live.....

            Melbourne in particular does have something of a reputation for attending sporting occasions mind, why is that, one-upmanship with Sydney?

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              #56
              The Rugby League World Cup...

              AMMS wrote:
              Fond as I am of Australia you can't seriously claim that Victoria, SA and WA aren't insular when it comes to sport.
              But NSW and Qld are not insular because their favourite sport is also played in a small bit of England? That doesn't really make it global (although why that matters, I've really no idea. Are Gaelic Football and American Football also not "real sports"?).

              Melbourne has the best supported A League team, the biggest cricket crowds, the biggest horse racing carnival, the Australian Open tennis, the biggest basketball crowds, the F1 Grand Prix and the Moto GP just down the road so we're not short of sports to watch.

              I don't know enough about rugby league in Sydney to know why crowds are so much smaller than the AFL in Melbourne – perhaps all the mergers have taken away a lot of the character from the clubs. Perhaps they just don't like sport as much. People in Melbourne are defined by their AFL team even more so than which school they went to (and there is a very big emphasis on that) and the clubs are closely identified with geographical areas of the city and have been for up to 150 years.

              I always thought Scotland was a football obsessed country but it's much more in your face here. Even my wife and daughter, who both hate sport, have had to pick a team. My wife was never asked who she supported in Scotland. When you meet somebody new here it doesn't take long for it to come up in conversation.

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                #57
                The Rugby League World Cup...

                Melbourne Arab wrote:
                AMMS wrote:
                Fond as I am of Australia you can't seriously claim that Victoria, SA and WA aren't insular when it comes to sport.
                But NSW and Qld are not insular because their favourite sport is also played in a small bit of England? That doesn't really make it global (although why that matters, I've really no idea. Are Gaelic Football and American Football also not "real sports"?).

                Heh. Definitely, Gaelic football and American football are not real sports. Bizarre backwater nonsense! My wife's family are all Gaelic football nuts and one of my few pleasures in life is asking them why they have a goalie, every time they play. Sad isn't it.

                Melbourne has the best supported A League team, the biggest cricket crowds, the biggest horse racing carnival, the Australian Open tennis, the biggest basketball crowds, the F1 Grand Prix and the Moto GP just down the road so we're not short of sports to watch.
                I don't know enough about rugby league in Sydney to know why crowds are so much smaller than the AFL in Melbourne – perhaps all the mergers have taken away a lot of the character from the clubs. Perhaps they just don't like sport as much. People in Melbourne are defined by their AFL team even more so than which school they went to (and there is a very big emphasis on that) and the clubs are closely identified with geographical areas of the city and have been for up to 150 years.


                I agree, I don't understand it either, I hoped you might. I'm not sure if it is a beach culture thing in NSW or what. The Queensland teams seem to draw decent crowds mind. The disgusting forced mergers won't have helped but to be fair crowds weren't great before then either.

                I always thought Scotland was a football obsessed country but it's much more in your face here. Even my wife and daughter, who both hate sport, have had to pick a team. My wife was never asked who she supported in Scotland. When you meet somebody new here it doesn't take long for it to come up in conversation.


                Your wife has clearly never lived in Glasgow, where, unfortunately, it remains one of the first questions.

                How long have you been out there?

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