Union or League - what did you start with?

[suckerforred]

Grew up with cricket mad father, sent to league school and found it boring so really didn't follow it at all. Other then being strapper / first aid for the team. Then discovered Rugby and haven't looked back. Can't even watch Origin any more, just frustrates me.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Given your choice of quote Army Gav, i though you were going to say, prior to my teens, I was a timelord.

Thought it was a strange choice of quote.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Started playing rugby in primary school (Catholic) but my dad was a North Sydney Bears fan so I all over that until they got shafted. Now I hate NRL because it isn't the same game I watched back then. Scrums an embarrassment. Dedicated Tahs fan now.

My old man hated what League had become prior to his passing. It's actually why he went from being someone who favoured League but had an active interest in Rugby to bar the occasional Souths game someone who despised what it had become. He often mentioned that it wasn't the game he grew up with and that Rugby was more true to what Rugby of either code should be. Sport for the sake of sport not in the pursuit of money.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I used to like and play League, then I used to like and play both, then they brought in the 10m rule and all the other "let's make it easy to score tries" rules; and League lost me completely. I can't even give a shit about SOO.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

We appear to have had very similar sporting orientations growing up. Played Soccer in addition to League for 6 years. Saturdays were very busy in my family.

@WCR Yes, does sound similar doesn’t it. Did you do little A’s by any chance? I did that for a few years starting at 5yrs old. I know athletics isn’t amazingly popular but I liked little A’s. I really wish Cricket was more accessible for me growing up.

@WJ, What do you think of the Central Coast Bears proposal for a team? I’ve talked to a few people online from the North Sydney area who are split over this, some say they just want the bears back, others say they don’t want the bears unless they are based in North Sydney.

@SaderCheif, that’s horrible luck to slip it twice we have a second rower coming back from a bulging disk & she was in all kinds of trouble.

@Goddess, I’d say Rugby to League ratio in Catholic schools is pretty equal from my experience. I did all my years through Catholic school. At SFX Hamilton yr11+12 (formally Marist Bros) provided a few NRL players (Jarrod Mullen, Cory Patterson, Anthony Quinn – just off the top of my head). Anthony Quinn is in my year book photos under the League & Union teams. I know Hamilton Hawks where I am locally gets sometimes called 'the Catholics', my Club Newcastle Uni has Irish Catholic ties in its history I believe also, Wanderers were called GPS old boys & have a non-catholic connection to Newcastle Grammar from memory, Merewether I think has a connection to selective non-catholic school Merewether high. They are just a few local examples. I dont think differences of religion plays a huge role but it may explain some slight differences between clubs cultures. Studying the various Rugby club cultures would be an interesting piece of research for a sociologist.

@Scott Allen, NFL is growing on me, haven’t decided on an NFL team yet. No team has an Aussie origin naturally so I’m looking for a team that represents either an Irish or/& German ancestry population (give me something to tie myself to it). So far the front runners are New England then the NY teams, will need more research. I did like the story of the New Orleans team, going from NFL jokers to Superbowl champs. Don’t give up on the Darts! I used to skip darts when they had it on Foxtel but after a while it does become watch able.

@wamberal, completely agree about the league players training work ethic. I have a mate in Newcastle who is a personal & sport fitness trainer, he’s got some ties to the Canterbury Crusaders. Anyhow he’s a Rugby tragic, trains all sports, considers Rugby the best code but concedes that in his experience the League players make a lot of Rugby players look very lazy when comparing their attitudes & effort toward training.

 

[Jethro Tah]

I was raised in a household that was anti-contact sport and played soccer on weekends. I went to a public school where league was the language spoken but never really followed the game as I associated it with the school boofheads who played it. My first exposure to Heavens Game was going to the local netball courts on saturday arvo to watch the girls where Union was being played on the oval next door but I soon realised the backline was made up of the same league boofheads from school. I played touch footie at uni but still never followed either code except the odd Origin game. It wasn't till I was in my mid 20s that I caught the Union bug when I was lucky enough to score corporate seats to the 3N games in the Gregan Larkham era and I have been hooked ever since. I really couldn't be bothered with league now (or soccer for that matter) but do still enjoy the odd AFL game live.

 

[mark_s]

Union didn't exist where I grew up so it was league for me.

 

[FiveStarStu]

AFL, then Union at about 10, then every other sport imaginable, then League.

Ahh Melbourne...

 

[Gnostic]

I can't vote as I was raised on both equally.

I was initiated by my father to the Galloping Greens in the era of the Ellas and Walker and instantly loved the game (how could one not love it with those masters playing?) However I was a regulat at Newtown oval and never failed to watch a game of the Blue Bags simply because my old man worked with a few of the first grade side. With that personal connection I was attached the League as well. A young fella gets a certain fame when he gets to sit behind the bench (in those days the reserves bench really was a bench on the sideline) cause your old man's mate is the number 1 lock in the game.

That all ended though when the NSWRL kicked Newtown ut of the Premiership. I LMFAO when the League type started to wax lyrical about saving the game's history an culture to bring Souths back into the NRL. Newtown was a founding club yet their "culture and history" didn't save them. Something to do with the South Sydney Casion and Money pit I think.

Anyway I digress, since the Blue Bags got punted I was Rugby and only Rugby between the options above though I played soccer, and League and Rugby and surfed (and for one forgettable season swung the Willow). Give me a 50:50 voting spot.

 

[chasmac]

From 5 - 10 I played League for a school team in a small country farming community. The school I went to only had 25 kids in primary. Then I went to boarding school in Toowoomba and they played union, so that is where I got my introduction.
Senior school was playing all union - boarding school in Sydney in the 80's - but we generally all had a League team we followed as the club rugby scene was not exposed enough.
Everyone followed the Wallabies through the grand slam and the '87 world cup but it wasn't until the s10 got good coverage (and the 6 team comp with Fiji etc) that union became something that was more widely discussed. Until then it was easier to get behind a mungo team as at least they were going to be on TV.
I have started watching AFL recently as my father in law played many many years ago in SA and still has a strong interest.

 

[Country Kid]

Soccer at recess and lunch time at primary school. School league, primary and high school - virtually no awareness of rugby at school.

After school decided to play club soccer (had a lot of natural talent - yet had never played a comp game). Soccer games were washed out - and played a game of rugby in the wet for the Pirates Rugby Club (Tamworth) and then played 11 seasons there - won the comp in 1985, a real highlight.

Went to uni in my late twenties and played some more rugby, one game of soccer & scored a goal (the one & only comp soccer game), one game of league (scored a try).

 

[p.Tah]

League for me then Union. Can't get enough of Union these days.

This is likely to get me burnt at the stake here but food for thought. Presently 60% (30/50) of the Australian raised were introduce to rugby AFTER League. This may not be a representative sample of the wider rugby community but it indicates that many Union supporters have come from a League background.

Questions: is the League Bashing that some of us display good for our game? Are there potential converts from League (or even AFL) that we are turning off? Does this perpetuate the belief that we are snobs?

If someone 'bags' out something you are passionate about what is your reaction? You push back. You are hardly likely to embrace the ideas of those who are persecuting you? Why would someone watch a game of rugby when we put down the sport they enjoy?

Also, not everyone has an exclusive preference for a winter code, there may be those that enjoy both.

Code Bashing may bring some short term smugness, but it may in fact be hurting the game in the long run.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

League for me then Union. Can't get enough of Union these days.

This is likely to get me burnt at the stake here but food for thought. Presently 60% (30/50) of the Australian raised were introduce to rugby AFTER League. This may not be a representative sample of the wider rugby community but it indicates that many Union supporters have come from a League background.

Questions: is the League Bashing that some of us display good for our game? Are there potential converts from League (or even AFL) that we are turning off? Does this perpetuate the belief that we are snobs?

If someone 'bags' out something you are passionate about what is your reaction? You push back. You are hardly likely to embrace the ideas of those who are persecuting you? Why would someone watch a game of rugby when we put down the sport they enjoy?

Also, not everyone has an exclusive preference for a winter code, there may be those that enjoy both.

Code Bashing may bring some short term smugness, but it may in fact be hurting the game in the long run.

You may be right. Though I will say this. I give League absolutely no thought 99% of the time and tend not to waste my energy on denigrating it. However, and I find this more of a regular occurance. I find a great deal more mud and misinformation is slung Rugby's way than than reverse.

As you rightly stated according to this poll around 60% of us started with League. I would suggest that would be pretty indicative of the Rugby community. I would also suggest many would have at least a passing interest and appreciation for League, well, in my experiences. It cannot be said for say 60% of the League public.

Through marketing and deification via the media many have developed a zealous dislike of any other football but in particular Rugby. They whinge when in many instances we retaliate yet they constantly bombard the media with subjective dribble without recourse while we have to just grin and bare it. League if allowed to get away with would be a flat track bully and we all know it and I for one hate bullies.

So, for these reasons I engage in these petty to and fro's and from experience they quickly fall apart. I'll leave this with a thought, I can honestly say I have never had the same fervent clashes with either AFL or Soccer fans regardless of the former evangelical musings. Why are League fans so threaten by us?

 

[TOCC]

My family were Broncos fans but I moreso support Illawarra and North Bears... Super League happened, i stop following the Broncos and the Steelers and Bears were disbanded..

Introduce professional rugby to Australia and I've been a Reds fan ever since!

 

[Keithy]

League to rugby. In small town Queensland you only got ABC Union Tests for the rugby fans. Every week you got ABC league match of the day Saturday and Qld Cup Sunday. With no junior rugby clubs you played league or football until your parents sent you to the big smoke for boarding school. Every school was a rugby school and you played rugby no matter what you loved. Fox Sports has probably changed this a lot.

 

[RugbyReg]

I grew up rugby through and through. My dad coached first grade at GPS in the late 70s and my earliest memories are going to Yoku Rd with him first thing in the morning to set up the field, coming home for breaky and then heading down again for the rest of the day. We always a bag of rugby balls in the car or around the house and a stream of players come through the house for dinners, lunches and drinks.

So yes, it was always rugby for me. In saying that, in about 1984 dad took me to a State of Origin game and a Kangaroo test v the Kiwis (the one Dowling and the kiwi had the biff over the sideline - perhaps 85?) and I very much enjoyed it. I still loved my rugby but got into league. Went to most home Bronco games and celebrated their premierships massively. Went to an Origin game a year for most of the early 90's.

It pretty much changed around super League. It wasn't just the greed that put me off, but the two competitions. The likes of the Adelaide Rams and the Perth team I found too manufactured. The rep selections where complete duds were getting to play for Australia, put me off. It all corresponded with a move to the USA and when I came back after 3 years I didn't recognise a lot of players let alone teams. I slowly lost interest. I made it to one more Broncos game. Their grand final win at the SFS v the Bulldogs (perhaps 99?) whilst I was living in Sydney. Took my wife. Was surrounded by absolute scum. The most abusive crowd I have ever encountered. Particularly some who didn't even have a team in the game, but just went to call people "fluffybunnys" etc. That was probably the final straw in my eyes. Even Origin these days seems nothing like it was. I don't see the skill level as particularly high anymore, "not like it was back in my dad". The whole game just seems so predictable and these days I'd be lucky to watch more than handful of games on tv.

 

[p.Tah]

WCR, I completely understand what you are saying. I don't necessarily advocate 'turning the other cheek'. In reality those of us on Internet forums are the 'zealots' and 'being nice' isn't probably going to convert anyone.

I guess it's something to keep in mind. Perhaps if we can show some restraint it may lead to another bum on a seat at a Bledisloe match, an extra super rugby membership or another kid taking up the game. Anyway, enough of this kind of 'olive branch' talk...

I think this is a fascinating poll (well done Swat). I've always wondered how others got into the game. What is encouraging is the number who have come from a league background. Let's assume that 60% (30/50) is indicative of the general rugby community. On top of this let's say the number leaving union is less than the volume coming into the game (just a gut feeling based on the record TV ratings and participation levels) you could say that despite the numerous problems with the game it continues to grow the supporter base and its not just rugby folk breeding more rugby folk. That's something to be positive about.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

WCR, I completely understand what you are saying. I don't necessarily advocate 'turning the other cheek'. In reality those of us on Internet forums are the 'zealots' and 'being nice' isn't probably going to convert anyone.

I guess it's something to keep in mind. Perhaps if we can show some restraint it may lead to another bum on a seat at a Bledisloe match, an extra super rugby membership or another kid taking up the game. Anyway, enough of this kind of 'olive branch' talk...

I think this is a fascinating poll (well done Swat). I've always wondered how others got into the game. What is encouraging is the number who have come from a league background. Let's assume that 60% (30/50) is indicative of the general rugby community. On top of this let's say the number leaving union is less than the volume coming into the game (just a gut feeling based on the record TV ratings and participation levels) you could say that despite the numerous problems with the game it continues to grow the supporter base and its not just rugby folk breeding more rugby folk. That's something to be positive about.

I have always found that once you are able to get many League fans to look past the prejudice they are told to believe and give the a basic understanding of the game, a great deal of the misconceptions of it being dull and boring tend to quickly erode and an appreciation for Rugby develops. They may never prefer it to League but they do watch and enjoy the differences between them. It's this that I honestly think that those so invested in the game either through the media or personally (fans and such) are somewhat fearful of and hence engage in the attempted subjugation of Rugby.

It is a rather insightful subject Swat has touched on and does suggest Rugby is rather effective in drawing in fans regardless of the propaganda we get spoon fed. Several members of my family are proof of this. All of my male cousin with the exception of one all prefer and watch Rugby thanks to my brother and I as early innovators while maintaining an active interest in League.

 

[wamberal]

I have been far more critical of league than most, perhaps because I used to play it, used to watch it a lot, in person, and on the box, and have watched its deterioration as a sport with dismay. And I really, really, dislike the hyperbole that the league writers and commentators go on with, about their players. Legends, immortals, and stars, the lot of them.

However, at the time that JON made his famous attack on the game, I cringed, because I knew that he was immediately discouraging a huge number of potential cross-over fans from watching our game with an open, enquiring, mind.


I still believe that one day the codes will re-engage, and some sort of compromise game will be forged. Perhaps it will only be played in the Southern Hemisphere, and we can leave the north to trundle along with endless scrums, the ridiculous no-tackling maul rule, and the three point field goal ad infinitum.

 

[DrewB]

It appears League is a gateway drug.