Where you don’t have to win the ball, the other team have to give it you. I used to be a big fan until they brought in the sixth tackle rule, not Rugby anymore, more like Sevens.
WHS.
Just had £20 on the Rhinos @ 5-1 to win the Grand Final !
and £5 on Pritch to break Roly Howards ( record managerial stint at Marine ) @ 2000-1. 
Where you don’t have to win the ball, the other team have to give it you. I used to be a big fan until they brought in the sixth tackle rule, not Rugby anymore, more like Sevens.
Are you for real??? Rolling about on the floor stamping on each other, kicking the ball back to each other or alternatively out on the full in order for a lacklustre fixed uncontested lineout! 80 minute games lasting 90 due to the stupid and never ending smorefest called phases of play. Games being won by kicking penalties and trys are frowned upon! I mean League is so boring 6 tackles to score a TRY you want to remember that in yawnion sometime! High impact, fast and honest…no fake blood rubbish on show here.
Decent odds for the whinos them.Tough one to call this year with them Wigan,Saints, Wire all in with a shout. Catalans may be the surprise package this year?
May be fast and honest but it is the only game where the opposition have to give you the ball, in Union you have to win the damn thing. League is a great game but spoilt by the six tackle rule, where, if you haven’t scored after five tackles you have to kick it. Think about it, which branch of the game is truly national and international? I’ll give you a clue, it ain’t league. Which game attracts massive gates for club games? again, it ain’t league. And which game has massive gates at virtually every international match? have you finally got it,it ain’t league so it must be horror of horrors RUGBY UNION!!!
WHS.
Thanks for the reply. I thought you might try and make a constructive attempt to explain the points that many find bores and wrecks your game but your only complaints seems to be about the fact that its 6 tackles and you have to give the ball back, before you go off on the well worn path that Union fans like to trot out to try and put league in its place.
Firstly it is not the only sport you give the ball back to the opposition as part of the rules, basketball has worked on the same principle for years with its time limit.The whole point of having limited tackles is to make the game quick, dynamic and great to watch live or on TV. This is the product and fans old and young alike do not want a return to the days of unlimited tackles.
League is seen as a Northern game played on the M62 corridor with other with currently two other super league clubs outside of this. There are huge junior and senior developments being funded by the RFL to give the game the wider market it deserves to develop the game. In fact it was recently announced that Rugby League is the fastest growing sport in this country in terms of participation. Union to me seems to have a league structure in place that appears to be in need of development. The guardian and telegraph in the past month have been full of stories about the death of club rugby in this country. Attendances between both codes actually stack up pretty equal with each league currently having 5 teams with average 5 figure gates. League will be looking to improve on this with Saints back home in a new stadium which will see a huge upturn in attendances. Other ground developments have seen Salford build a new stadium, which I am sure you Sale fans are keen to see, Leeds have improved Headingly to increase capacity to over 21000, wire have increased capacity, Catalans have increased capacity, hull kr have increased capacity, Wakefield have improved their ground and cas are advanced in their plans for a new stadium. Although there is criteria for licences the vast majority of this is because the popularity of the sport is growing. It is not a coincidence that the most watched sport on Sky after football is Rugby League. I am not aware of any development of facilities in Union and judging by the articles in the broadsheets it is required sooner rather than later. Union also has its own M4 corridor of clubs with sprinkling elsewhere, no more an endorsement of a national league than rugby league is it? It attracts huge gates for club games held at Wembley and Twickers but so does League in its club grand final. Granted league clubs have not ventured to bigger stadiums in recent times to test their attraction, that is apart from magic weekend which on the whole did not work in my opinion but should in Manchester this year. League have tried to develop the game nationally and we must be doing something right as the RFU are trying now to muscle into League areas with the promise of International matches. Finally with regards to internationals you must be absolutely delighted that League is behind Union in this one. Although there are sufficient numbers of countries that are playing the international game the elite level competition is simply not present at the moment. It is sad that only OZ, NZ and occasionally England are competitive and the rest are miles away. Union seems to be more of a level playing field with a clear divide over quality between Northern and Southern hemisphere rugby…union should be glad League is playing catch up in this area for now.
Sadly for me i see Union as the older brother picking on its younger brother, always trying to keep it in check and make sure it does not go ahead of him, be better than him or outdo him. Union would ideally like to keep League in its shadow but i think it is in better shape now than it ever has been. The struggle reminds me very much of our own with them across the town, erm no canal, no sorry across the nomadic wilderness in which they now exist. Like it or not we have been in their shadow bar a 3 year period since the formation of the NPL.For me now is the time to strengthen our position on and off the pitch and worry only about us and how we can develop, but this is making this thread go off at a tangent and that is the last thing i want.
Wonderful reply Club Shop, you make very valid points. Our Scrums are a mess but that is because they are contested, I see no reason for the scrums in league except to restart the game, might as well just have a play the ball restart. Line Outs are fine, but you are right, in some games there is too much kicking for position and I would make a rule change there to curtail it. My major problem with league is that it is fast. Yes, I know that sounds silly but the fact is that to play League you need to be fast, burly is not much use, nor is being tall. In Union burly and tall can be very useful which means more youngsters and older people can play it, not just athletic looking people. (I played scrum half until I was 32, then I played in the centre, at loose forward and finally in the front row as a hooker when my pace went and my weight went up!) Before the sixth tackle league had its fair share of “Odd” looking players, now they all look the same. Anyway, the fact is a love both codes for all their failings, unlike football it is played by REAL men who don’t start crying every time they fall down and they don’t argue with the ref either, in either code. Viva la difference!!
WHS.
Wonderful reply Club Shop, you make very valid points. Our Scrums are a mess but that is because they are contested, I see no reason for the scrums in league except to restart the game, might as well just have a play the ball restart. Line Outs are fine, but you are right, in some games there is too much kicking for position and I would make a rule change there to curtail it. My major problem with league is that it is fast. Yes, I know that sounds silly but the fact is that to play League you need to be fast, burly is not much use, nor is being tall. In Union burly and tall can be very useful which means more youngsters and older people can play it, not just athletic looking people. (I played scrum half until I was 32, then I played in the centre, at loose forward and finally in the front row as a hooker when my pace went and my weight went up!) Before the sixth tackle league had its fair share of “Odd” looking players, now they all look the same. Anyway, the fact is I love both codes for all their failings, unlike football it is played by REAL men who don’t start crying every time they fall down and they don’t argue with the ref either, in either code. Viva la difference!!
WHS.
Is,nt union for the toffs and league for the lower classes ?
The other point - Like it or not we have been in their shadow bar a 3 year period since the formation of the NPL.
Blame the great Ken Barnes for recommending to the then board not to apply for the NPL !
I ain’t no toff and neither are my sons, we are “working class” and proud of it!!
WHS.
Eli, we have been in their shadow for the last 15 years because they have been spending other peoples money and we haven’t. They have been cheating all that time and now they are in the crap, which is only what they deserve. The NPL was set up by White and Swales to get Altrincham into the Football League and to be honest at the time was strange idea as the Cheshire League was by far the strongest non league in the North West so why break it up.
WHS.