Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:20 am  

Beverley red wrote:

A very sad day for our sport. The game will end up being a Northern curiosity

Oh good. we can all go on enjoying it as we have done for it's 125 years and counting as a "northern curiosity"....

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:59 am  

This is so bloody frustrating. My thoughts were that the WC should go ahead without Aus and NZ but I know that was always unlikely and impractical. The NRL has got the game by the short and curlies. They are clearly liars, putting their competition before the international game under the pretext of player welfare and they are using their (undoubted) strength to hold the rest of the game to ransom. The NRL has put the WC organisers in an impossible position but giving in to bullies never ends well. I don’t know how but the RFL needs to take the lead now in shifting the balance of power in the game back towards the northern hemisphere.

Edit - Will moving to a 10 team Super League be the answer? I’m not so sure it will.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:00 am  

It's not what I wanted to see but it's not unexpected. I personally would have ploughed on with it because this has basically killed off the international game now.

Premier League, Serie A, La Liga are all having to deal with the world cup being played in Qatar in the middle of the season next year. Yet our world cup (which will now get zero coverage thanks to it probably ending the week before the FIFA world cup starts) is postponed because one domestic league can't bear pushing the start date back by a fortnight.

Do people still wonder why we get no coverage in the press? We're a gimmick laden joke of a sport that's happy to pee it's heritage down the drain.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:06 am  

What happens next year when Australia is still not at zero cases?

I'm guessing it won't stop the aussies and kiwis sending teams to Birmingham for the commonwealth games but as well all know this decision has shaft all to do with player welfare.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:13 am  

Kevs Head wrote:

This is so bloody frustrating. My thoughts were that the WC should go ahead without Aus and NZ but I know that was always unlikely and impractical. The NRL has got the game by the short and curlies. They are clearly liars, putting their competition before the international game under the pretext of player welfare and they are using their (undoubted) strength to hold the rest of the game to ransom. The NRL has put the WC organisers in an impossible position but giving in to bullies never ends well. I don’t know how but the RFL needs to take the lead now in shifting the balance of power in the game back towards the northern hemisphere.

Edit - Will moving to a 10 team Super League be the answer? I’m not so sure it will.

There can never be a power shift as long as players in SL are paid so much less.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:16 am  

Beverley red wrote:

A very sad day for our sport. The game will end up being a Northern curiosity with the same niche audience as sheep dog trials. The NRL will end up fighting with Aussie rules for the hearts of a small tiny country, they have left the door wide open for the Union borefest to take over. & probably soccer to eventually take a big slice of their audience as it has a vast international competitive programme. I can’t forgive the cowardly self centred attitude of the NRL clubs who have destroyed the game I have played, coached & suported since the early 1960’s. At least it will allow us to finish our season by extending the time to allow all clubs to complete the missed games. I don’t think we will ever see another Australian side in the UK again, which is all the more depressing as we have just watched their hockey & soccer teams competing today in Japan. I am at a loss for words to express the contempt I hold the cowardly actions of the Australians & the NRL.

It does suck but let's not go overboard.

The sport in the UK not growing has nothing to do with the NRL.

We cant kid ourselves into thinking the world cup was some silver bullet which was going to change the fortunes of the sport dramatically.

As long as the structure of how the sport is governed remains as it is the sport has no chance of growing with or without a world cup.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:55 pm  

puroresu_boy wrote:

There can never be a power shift as long as players in SL are paid so much less.

I think that you should have phrased that "while ever players in Australia are paid so much more"..
Almost the same thing but, it's not as though RL in the UK can afford much more than "we" are paying out.

Even if the cap was scrapped, there wouldn't be any more cash swilling around in the sport.
Although, it may tempt more people to want to have a dabble at running a SL club.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:58 pm  

HXSparky wrote:

A massive first step would be to get RL 9's as an Olympic competition...

Really ?

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 3:31 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

I think that you should have phrased that "while ever players in Australia are paid so much more"..
Almost the same thing but, it's not as though RL in the UK can afford much more than "we" are paying out.

Even if the cap was scrapped, there wouldn't be any more cash swilling around in the sport.
Although, it may tempt more people to want to have a dabble at running a SL club.

But the gap between salaries wasn't always so big. The sport used to be able to sign Australians before they were over the hill as the earnings potential for players was similar.

The fact that SL salaries are no higher today than they were 15 years ago is a joke and shows the sport is getting smaller.

Re: Australia and NZ withdraw from world cup : Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:08 pm  

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/rugby-league-has-olympics-goal-as-brisbane-awarded-2032-games/ RL 9's at the Olympics would, IMO, get the game in the spotlight more than the World Cup.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/rugby-league-has-olympics-goal-as-brisbane-awarded-2032-games/ RL 9's at the Olympics would, IMO, get the game in the spotlight more than the World Cup.