Footy

[willedoo]

The NRL 2023 season has kicked off and local team the Redcliffe Dolphins are on a roll. The club has been around since 1947, but this is their inaugural year playing in the NRL, and the first new NRL team in 15 years. Queensland now has four teams so is starting to get better represented. The Dolphins are the first ever team to graduate from the BRL (Brisbane Rugby League) to the NRL. So far, the first two matches have been good for them. Last week they won their first NRL match at Lang Park against the Sydney Roosters, and today won the first match at their home stadium against the Canberra Raiders.

 

They have a good strong team and legendary coach Wayne Bennett behind them. After winning 2 of 2, Wayne Bennett is almost smiling. The corners of his mouth are bending ever so slightly upward, which is about as frivolous as he ever gets. It's not only a good coach at play; they've put a lot of effort into recruiting for the new team. Rugby League legend Arthur Beetson would be smiling down on his old club.

 

 A lady on the ABC radio said the Dolphins have the highest membership of all the clubs in the NRL at over 20,000, but on checking the official figures, that's fake news.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Never have and probably never will understand Rugby. But, the 6 nations are on here (Union) and it is a good excuse to go to the pub!

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Never have and probably never will understand Rugby. But, the 6 nations are on here (Union) and it is a good excuse to go to the pub!

It sounds funny when people refer to Rugby League as Rugby. In Rugby League playing areas, the term Rugby is used to label Rugby Union. It's known as Rugby, Rugby Union or simply just Union. Rugby League is called Rugby League or League and is never, ever called Rugby. It's a distinction between the two codes. People will look at you like you have two heads if you refer to Rugby League as Rugby.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Over here, they refer to both codes as Rugby and when they need to differentiate, they append league or union. When I grew up in Melbourne, it was only referred to as Rugby on the few times it made news. I listern to Triple-M Melbourne, and I am sure when they refer to the Melboune Storm, they are talking Rugby - is teh Storm league or Union?

 

[willedoo]

42 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Over here, they refer to both codes as Rugby and when they need to differentiate, they append league or union. When I grew up in Melbourne, it was only referred to as Rugby on the few times it made news. I listern to Triple-M Melbourne, and I am sure when they refer to the Melboune Storm, they are talking Rugby - is teh Storm league or Union?

 

Melbourne Storm is an NRL team, Rugby League. Union is really only a minor game in Australia. It's a private schoolboy game which is why it is often played in country areas. A lot of the adults who play Union in the regions were introduced to the game in boarding schools. State schools are all Rugby League which might explain why it's the premier professional game in the Rugby code. A lot more schools playing it, so a lot more players coming up through the system; just a bigger game overall. I think in New Zealand it's the other way around where Union is the dominant game.

 

The two Rugby codes have grown into quite different games over the years, mainly due to constant changes to League rules, whereas Union hasn't changed much over the years. The changes to League, apart from safety changes, have been to speed the game up, with the view to get more spectators. More fans = more sponsorship = more money to grow the game. Particularly important nowdays when a lot of Victoria is moving to NSW and Qld, bringing AFL with them, Rugby league has to keep evolving to compete with Australian football in it's home states. It's all about bums on seats in the stadiums. The more exciting and professional League becomes, the more people will watch it.

 

So that's about it, League is the big professional game whereas Union is more the regional amateur game. That's in Australia. Like with NZ, the roles might be reversed in some of the other Rugby playing countries with Union taking precedence over League.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Over 'ere, Union is the dominant code, and I guess it is for most nations, as the world cup (of which Austtralia is prominent - not bad for the little payed game there) seems to be the bigger. I know when I moved out here, the NZ team impressed fear on the English, with the English players moving out of the way of Jona Lomu, and basically allowing him to try.

 

When we moved to Aus in 2003 - at the time the Rugby World cup was being played there, my partner was mortified that the TV had ads to tell us Victorians the rules of the game. She was gobsmacked that, apart from going to a game to see what was going on, not too many really cared, and less knew too much about the game. "But it's your national team; your national game!!!".. My response, "No.. Cricket is our national game; Ruggers is played up north and Aussie rules down south..."!

[red750]

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

when they refer to the Melboune Storm, they are talking Rugby - is teh Storm league or Union?

League.

[facthunter]

Soccer is dumb. Heading the Ball has got to smash your brain and look  at the behaviour of the supporters. The UMPIRE decides who wins.  Nev

[willedoo]

I can't speak for NSW, but in Qeensland, Rugby Union is popular in the country areas mainly because it's a social amateur game. Also for young adults wanting to play football, there's more Union teams in the country areas. In some of those country areas the local football (Union) club is one of the only social outlets. For a young bloke in western Queensland wanting to socialise and meet girls, the only options are the pub, the occasional B&S ball, or the football club.

 

They also fund raise to do trips away to play other clubs; not in any great organised competition, but just to travel and have a bit of fun. My cousin and few mates I went to school with were in a local team and they got to go on a couple of trips to Canada and the USA playing Union. Being just a bunch of country beer drinkers, they played up like second hand lawnmowers and were quite surprised that the Canadians and Americans took the game so seriously. At one match, when the ref blew the start of play whistle, the whole team rolled on their backs and played dead ants. The said the Canadians were not impressed. I really think most of them were in it for the social life rather than the game.

 

For anyone moving to those areas, the opportunity to meet people is very limited unless they get involved with the local footy club, so the clubs get a lot of support.

[facthunter]

I know of some of those Country football experiences and I wouldn't want my Daughter involved  in that sort of Machismo $#!T. In my early experiences of Darwin (mid 60's) they'd do a poofter bash after training.. My spell Of Union was in Newcastle.   Nev

[old man emu]

The country Rugger Buggers have brought the game back from the city boarding schools they attended. Very much the game of the Squatocracy. Even before the youngsters start heading off to boarding school, their parents don't like them playing Rugby with the same Aboriginal kids they sit in class with all week at school.

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, old man emu said:

The country Rugger Buggers have brought the game back from the city boarding schools they attended. Very much the game of the Squatocracy.

Bear in mind not all who go to boarding schools are rich kids. In a lot of the western areas there's no high schools, so people have no choice but to send the kids off to boarding school to get a secondary education. A lot of unwealthy farmers struggle and sacrifice to send kids to school, something that city dwellers take for granted. If they have two or three kids of secondary school age, it can financially break some families. It's also heartbreaking to have to send their kids away at the age of 11 or 12 until they're 17 or 18 and finished school. That's a lot of lost family time that can never been regained. It's one of the reasons I'm dead against the new Queensland thing of incorporating grade seven into high school. It's just one more lost year at a tender age.

 

Sure, there's school of the air remote learning, but it's not a desired option, and makes for a lot of extra work for at least one parent. A lot of families make the hard choice to send the kids to boarding school so they can be socialised and have the company of people their own age. It's not all beer and kittles in the bush as some city people seem to think. This so called Squatocracy is a minority. Forget stereotypes; it's bullshit.

[willedoo]

On 12/03/2023 at 3:06 AM, Jerry_Atrick said:

Over 'ere, Union is the dominant code, and I guess it is for most nations, as the world cup (of which Austtralia is prominent - not bad for the little payed game there) seems to be the bigger. I know when I moved out here, the NZ team impressed fear on the English, with the English players moving out of the way of Jona Lomu, and basically allowing him to try.

 

When we moved to Aus in 2003 - at the time the Rugby World cup was being played there, my partner was mortified that the TV had ads to tell us Victorians the rules of the game. She was gobsmacked that, apart from going to a game to see what was going on, not too many really cared, and less knew too much about the game. "But it's your national team; your national game!!!".. My response, "No.. Cricket is our national game; Ruggers is played up north and Aussie rules down south..."!

Getting back to what I mentioned previously about the term Rugby referring only to Union in these parts, the World Cup is the Union competition. The equivalent competition in League is called the Rugby League World Cup. Basically, the term Rugby on it's own refers to Union only, unless someone is using it as a general term to reference both codes. That context would usually only be used by a follower of another code like AFL or Soccer. League followers might occasionally call Union Rugby, but not often. They normally refer to it as Union or Rugby Union, and I guess that would apply in reverse.

 

The NRL (National Rugby League) is continuing to grow. With the addition of the Redcliffe Dolphins this year, there are now 17 teams in the national competition, one short of the number of AFL teams. The next broadcast license is up for renewal in 2027, and it is expected an 18th. team will be in place by then. There's also some talk of 20 teams in the competition by 2030. The fan base probably won't be much of a problem; more likely providing enough player talent will be the issue, plus the logistics of running that many weekly matches. With the growth potential of the game, clubs will have to address the problem of development of talent. Only a few do it properly, with a good plan in place from the juniors upward to foster talent.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Not a great start to the season for myt team:

 

 

Look at those odds next week against Sydney! I think I will put $50 on..

 

Thankfully there was a hitch with my membership this year which meant that I didn't get access to watchafl.com.au to watch it. I may have had to see a shrink afterwards.

 

[old man emu]

 

On 16/03/2023 at 2:05 PM, willedoo said:

The NRL (National Rugby League) is continuing to grow

Keep an eye on the growth of AFL and Union in New South Wales over the next ten years, especially in Regional areas.

[willedoo]

6 hours ago, old man emu said:

 

Keep an eye on the growth of AFL and Union in New South Wales over the next ten years, especially in Regional areas.

I can see that happening. Up here AFL is growing. Probably due to the Victorian refugees; they make up a sizeable percentage of our population now.

[old man emu]

I see the growth of AFL and Rugby in Regional NSW and possibly Queensland Regionals being due to the more open running nature of those games as opposed to the current barging of League. The Aboriginal kids love that open field play, and don't have the bulk for the argy-bargy.

[willedoo]

That's true, they are more runners than bulldozers. There's a lot of Aboriginal players in the NRL, but not the more traditional skinnier types of physique. Take the Pacific islanders and Aboriginals out of the NRL and you wouldn't have a competition left. The natural athletic ability of the more traditional  Aboriginals really lends itself to sports. And other things; on the stations, they took to horses like ducks to water. The ability of some of the Aboriginal ringers is amazing, they are excellent horsemen and make the best stockmen.

[Jerry_Atrick]

And they didn't include anything on Cyril Rioli:

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I find it hard to understand how they can be homophobic and at the same time play that game where they all stop for a gang-bang  ( they call it a scrum, but you only have to see one to know better).

[Marty_d]

Apparently John Hopoate took it to a new level. 

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

Apparently John Hopoate took it to a new level. 

He was probably a urologist in a former life.

[red750]

No. To use an old term not much used these days, he was practicing to be a proctologist.

[old man emu]

"Proctologist" I know, but what is "prcticing"?

[red750]

6 hours ago, old man emu said:

"Proctologist" I know, but what is "prcticing"?

In a hurry, missed the typo. Have to get this PC fixed. A lot of keys sticking, particularly the 3 key. That's bad, because my postcode has 3 3's in it.