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Rugby League
Super League / Northern Hemisphere
Why isn't Rugby league much bigger in Ireland? (or Wales and Scotland)
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<blockquote data-quote="RoosTah" data-source="post: 642306" data-attributes="member: 12207"><p>When you don't understand something it's easy to dismiss it with one-off lines like that. League fans here do it all the time, describing Union as just 'kick, kick, kick penalty'. Both are uninformed simplifications.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot more depth to League than a lot Union guys give it credit. It's not quite as diverse in the styles of play, but then American Football is more diverse in its offerings than pretty well anything in terms of tactics and style, so it's a question of what you're after. For instance, I also love the diverse styles of play on offer in Union, but sometimes wish it wasn't so diverse that games like the Brumbies-Sharks game on Saturday were possible... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but strategy and tactics are really quite different things, and there's plenty of both in League. Strategy is more global; from a sporting perspective it includes your marketing strategy, training, dietary approach, pyshcological attitude and communications. Tactics meanwhile are much more specific and deal very much with how you approach targeting the physical weaknesses of your opponent in a specific match.</p><p></p><p>League is an intensely gladitorial sport with a greater emphasis on collisions and power, but also on speed and ball skills. The entire ethos is built around maximising ball in play and rewarding the team that can do most with the ball, rather than focusing on the competition for the ball like in Union.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The preference for ball in hand rugby has become a sort of law of Australian Rugby League/Union, but in terms of explaining the divide I think it's more social... </p><p></p><p>Ultimately, I think the decision to stay amateur and largely focused (but not confined to) on the very WASPish private school system for its development hindered the game and contributed to it being viewed as a game that wasn't for or of 'the people', as it were. People liked aspects of it, but the decision to close the doors on the working man in 1908 was a poor one. In a country like Australia with an ingrained dislike of class structures and a suspicion of authorities in general, it effectively resulted in the vast majority of Australians turning on Rugby, and ultimately the game lost both its best talent and a large number of its supporters. </p><p></p><p>In truth, the game was never as elitist here as it was in England, but perceptions inform reality and that is effectively how the 20th century played out; union having niche support and losing its best talent to the professional Rugby League, which along with AFL was the 'everyman' sport of its regions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RoosTah, post: 642306, member: 12207"] When you don't understand something it's easy to dismiss it with one-off lines like that. League fans here do it all the time, describing Union as just 'kick, kick, kick penalty'. Both are uninformed simplifications. There's a lot more depth to League than a lot Union guys give it credit. It's not quite as diverse in the styles of play, but then American Football is more diverse in its offerings than pretty well anything in terms of tactics and style, so it's a question of what you're after. For instance, I also love the diverse styles of play on offer in Union, but sometimes wish it wasn't so diverse that games like the Brumbies-Sharks game on Saturday were possible... This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but strategy and tactics are really quite different things, and there's plenty of both in League. Strategy is more global; from a sporting perspective it includes your marketing strategy, training, dietary approach, pyshcological attitude and communications. Tactics meanwhile are much more specific and deal very much with how you approach targeting the physical weaknesses of your opponent in a specific match. League is an intensely gladitorial sport with a greater emphasis on collisions and power, but also on speed and ball skills. The entire ethos is built around maximising ball in play and rewarding the team that can do most with the ball, rather than focusing on the competition for the ball like in Union. The preference for ball in hand rugby has become a sort of law of Australian Rugby League/Union, but in terms of explaining the divide I think it's more social... Ultimately, I think the decision to stay amateur and largely focused (but not confined to) on the very WASPish private school system for its development hindered the game and contributed to it being viewed as a game that wasn't for or of 'the people', as it were. People liked aspects of it, but the decision to close the doors on the working man in 1908 was a poor one. In a country like Australia with an ingrained dislike of class structures and a suspicion of authorities in general, it effectively resulted in the vast majority of Australians turning on Rugby, and ultimately the game lost both its best talent and a large number of its supporters. In truth, the game was never as elitist here as it was in England, but perceptions inform reality and that is effectively how the 20th century played out; union having niche support and losing its best talent to the professional Rugby League, which along with AFL was the 'everyman' sport of its regions. [/QUOTE]
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Super League / Northern Hemisphere
Why isn't Rugby league much bigger in Ireland? (or Wales and Scotland)
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