Wallabies to play Great Britain Rugby League team.......... ugh.........

[p.Tah]

They will ne4ver reunite unless Union just swallows league, which I can't see happening

Not so sure. Professional sport doesn't hold the same level of interest with the junior generations as previous generations. I think there will be a lot more collaboration with the pro football teams in the future. league vs. Union has just become an us vs. them type mentality without any serious anger. The Schism was over a hundred years ago, the hostilities of fanatics is now based on rivalry similar to team rivalry rather than anything more serious. I'd say most of the population is oblivious to those hostilities and would watch if the game, in whatever form, was entertaining. If the collaboration is really entertaining everyone wins.

 

[RugbyStu]

Great words by P.Tah. The code we follow is more a legacy of our parents than anything else. How many people follow a premier league team or an AFL team ridiculously passionately because "my uncle was from Liverpool, my grandfather was from Collingwood".

I know myself my family were huge supporters of the Brisbane rugby league and when it died in combination with the fact that they went to Brisbane State High (the GPS school with no fees) meant they switched to rugby union.

Also they moved here from country NSW and as soon as they left they became staunch Queenslanders but if they hadn't it would have been interesting I might have been yelling go blues or tahs instead (apart from other side of the family being rum guzzling, cane-cutting, drawling Northerners haha)

And its a great point that as people get fatter, more tech obsessed, more protective wussy parents the junior base may sadly dry up for all the footies and the footies might collaborate more.

 

[Slim 293]

Your Cricket vs Baseball analogy is a bit more left field #pardonpun then what is being suggested here. Union/League hybrid.

RL & RU both come from the same apple tree that Webb Ellis created. the fields are the same. the balls pretty much same dimensions.

I'd actually be more interested then seeing the worlds greatest footballers remove their helmets & pads & see how they go taking down gladiators with hairs on their chest.

And rugby evolved from football......

I can't wait to see the Wallabies take on Liverpool or Barcelona in 2015........

Maybe we'll get to see a kangaroo box a dwarf for the prematch entertainment?

 

[Sully]

Has anyone heard anything from any other source? Pulver and Link are holding a press conference tomorrow but I assumed it was for the NRC.

I must say I'm not keen on the idea. I can imagine the NRL crowing if we lose and ignoring it if we win. But $5000000 is a lot of money. But it also means another game in a pretty big season.

 

[Slim 293]

And the idea that the two codes of rugby will eventually merge is absurd......

In this country we overestimate the significance of rugby league because the north eastern coast of Australia is the only place on the planet aside from a few northern English towns that is aware the sport exists.......

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Don't forget that Loig is huge in at least three Auckland suburbs as well.

It is truly international. Apparently they manufacture a World Cup of Loig as well.

Several thousand people really care about the outcome of the Kiwis vs Kangaroos game that doubles up as the World Cup every 4 years.

 

[Slim 293]

Has anyone heard anything from any other source? Pulver and Link are holding a press conference tomorrow but I assumed it was for the NRC.

I must say I'm not keen on the idea. I can imagine the NRL crowing if we lose and ignoring it if we win. But $5000000 is a lot of money. But it also means another game in a pretty big season.

So far the story has only been reported by a solitary mungo reporter, and ignored by the entire rugby press.......

So, there's a good chance it's just another wind up.........

 

[Slim 293]

And no surprises here..........

Fox News reporting that this is not the done deal that was originally reported.........

 

[Woodenspoon]

Would you give up 5 million dollars that you can raise in a single match just for pride? I don't think so.
Sure it's going to be just a show, but ARU can hopefully use money to develop rugby union in Australia and to give the Wallabies more visibility.
Anyway, I would have preferred a series of two matches (union + league) between Australia and New Zealand with players selected from both Superruby and NRL

 

[Tomikin]

Wayne Bennett did flot the idea of hybrid game and I would like to think he knows more then me.. I dont like it but that doesn't mean im right

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Tomikin]

I just worry from both sides about injury your playing some one at the top of there sport at their sport.. 5 percent can cause you to get hurt. .. wrong scrum.. not quick enough at the play the ball... its got injury written all over it.

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[Zander]

I think the best idea for this would be stage a game at ANZ (biggest rectangle stadium in Oceania) that has hybrid rules between Australia and New Zealand. Australia is a made up by a mixture of Kangaroo and Wallabies and the New Zealand side the All Blacks and Kiwis (league nickname??). ARU/ARL would have to work together with the coaching/selection so I doubt it would ever happen. It would be massive however and get enormous ratings worldwide.

 

[Dan54]

Why would it get enourmous ratings outside Australia and maybe NZ?? Who in Europe even know who the Kangaroos or Kiwis are? There is absolutely nothing to be gained except a bit of publicity for League. But I absolutely sure NZRU wouldn't even entertain the idea, don't really think ARU would either, sure it's just another beat up by Fox sports in one of their what is the stupidest idea we can come up with to excite gullible people comp!!!

 

[Brumby Runner]

Would you give up 5 million dollars that you can raise in a single match just for pride? I don't think so.
Sure it's going to be just a show, but ARU can hopefully use money to develop rugby union in Australia and to give the Wallabies more visibility.
Anyway, I would have preferred a series of two matches (union + league) between Australia and New Zealand with players selected from both Superruby and NRL

If it happens, it will be more of a demonstration match I believe. In that case, I hope that the Wallabies team won't comprise the majority of current test players. Would be an opportunity to give fringe players on tour a game.

 

[Brumby Jack]

sure it's just another beat up by Fox sports in one of their what is the stupidest idea we can come up with to excite gullible people comp!!!

The person who had the 'exclusive' isn't with Fox Sports but is a league fanatic keen to stick the boot into other sports as they see fit

 

[Quick Hands]

Good point.
The hybrid game as it has been played thus far,is Rugby in ong half of the field,and Mungo in the other,with a time limit on each possession phase.
For example you play Mungo in your half,and as soon as you go over 1/2 way you play Rugby rules.
Sounds disjointed,but the Schoolboy game I watched was possibly the fastest game I have seen.

I'm not really a fan of the game, but the hybrid game you describe is better than playing half the game under different rules.

I recall somewhere that the one half under different rules was tried somewhere before, maybe 5 years ago or longer. Not surprisingly the union team won their half convicingly as did the league team. I also think from memory that the scrums had to be depowered on the grounds of safety which lessened the advantage of the union team in the union half of the game. Very difficult I would imagine to get league forwards up to speed on scrums to safely play full contact rugby scrums.

 

[Quick Hands]

Your Cricket vs Baseball analogy is a bit more left field #pardonpun then what is being suggested here. Union/League hybrid.

RL & RU both come from the same apple tree that Webb Ellis created. the fields are the same. the balls pretty much same dimensions.

Yes, but they have diverged fairly dramatically, particularly in the past 20-30 years.

Scrums - no push v full contact technical scrums
10 metre offside at play the ball v zero metre rule at rucks and mauls
Different definitions of high tackles and sanctions on them
Different interpretation of what is and isn't a knock on
Left side/right side configuration v traditional inside/outside centre
League forwards have become far more aerobic compared to rugby conterparts

I like both games and watch Manly league and union play whenever possible. I go to league grand finals, super rugby matches and rugby tests. I prefer rugby, but certainly don't hate league. I don't see what can be gained from the exercise.

 

[wamberal]

And the idea that the two codes of rugby will eventually merge is absurd..

It must be nice to be so certain about the future. You must be a rich man.

From a rugby perspective, I am sure you predicted the advent of professionalism, years before it happened?


As for me, I have seen the game change enormously over the years, in ways that I could not have predicted. Oh, to be as wise as you.

 

[Blue]

Fuck right off.

Pulver will sell the game's soul if he is willing to get into this type of rubbish.

 

[Lindommer]

Has this been reported anywhere other than in The Daily Telegraph? It should be noted it's in a gossip column, not a stand-alone article with reputable sources quoted.

Nine's Wide World of Sports did a bit of digging and came up with this: http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8768053

"Britain's Rugby Football League is not planning to participate in a hybrid-code fixture with the Australian rugby union team, Press Association Sport understands. Reports on Saturday and Sunday said the governing body had agreed to a December 6, 2014 date with its Australian 15-a-side counterparts, which would pit the Wallabies against a Great Britain rugby league side at Wembley. But the RFL is keen to distance itself from the stories. Although the RFL had received correspondence about such a fixture, it said it had not met the organisers and was not looking to progress it any further."