I HATE CHESS (each to their own)

So why watch a game where the rules stop the game from being entertaining? Just watch league!

It's like a goal in soccer being worth 2 and a free kick 1. It's easier to get 2 free kicks than 1 goal, so why bother, in union, it's easier to win 2 or 8 penalties than it is to score a try, there's too many people on the pitch to do so.

To be fair the French in the past have also thrown the ball around. But that game this morning was DIRE! England's biggest cheer was when they won a penalty from a scrum near the end, high fives all round. What sort of game is that?

aye, they should reduce drop goals/penalties to just 2 points.

and get rid of the flankers, line outs, introduce 6 tackles and play-the-ball...

I honestly think that the main reason rugby league fans hate rugby union, at the risk of upsetting a few people, just comes down to class, education and the 'North/ South divide'. Both games have skill involved, and its only completely blinkered comments from rugby league hardcore fans that say different. Ask a rugby union fan what they say think about league, they'll tell you they enjoy watching it in the pub on a Friday night but they'd prefer to play union. Ask a rugby league fan the same question and all you get is "Shit Union, kick n clap blah blah blah'.



Rugby Union is a bigger game than rugby league and always will be.



Ahhhh why cant you all just get along.

You can play onion without being particularly fit. There are PLENTY of people who are RU 'fans' (and I use that term loosely) because of the supposed social status and 'networking' it can provide. Many do not even know the rules, and have to be corrected by a 'thick' RL fan with 2 degrees who is a rocket scientist for a living. That game this morning was DOG EGGS, as have been many many many England games in the past (kick penalties, next to no ties). IF you do watch, how annoyed do you get when you see a scrum set 3 or 4 times because it moved round a few degrees and the scrum half arrised about for ages before passing it?



On the other hand I agree with a few other comments, in South Wales (not the North, many hate it!) it is not a middle class sport. Same in Bristol. It is still a bit middle class in NZ, hence why most NZRL players are Maori or Pacific Islanders, although they are less racists than most places to be fair.

Not true at all, but it's much easier to come out with cliches rather than actually ask, and I mean really ask. I watch both and regularly post on the union board (yes there is one on here). I've lost count of the number of union fans who over the years have posted on RLFans with the sole intention of causing trouble, but I've yet to hear of a rugby league fan trawling union forums trying to pick an internet scrap. There are close-minded zealots in both sports so please don't do the usual thing and lazily trot out the ignorant, Northern, chip on shoulder rugby league fan spiel.

You say 'class, education, North/South divide' as if they are bad things. Are you sure it's wise to come onto a Leigh board and have a go at Northern working class people? I know plenty of people from the lower working classes right through to upper middle classes and I can tell you I've met my fair share of idiots throughout the social spectrum. Some of the kindest, most intelligent people I've met work in factories or clean houses whilst others run their own companies.

What has an education got to do with league or union? Do you honestly think all union fans went to university? Union is a grounded, working class game in and around Bristol and Gloucester. I myself went to university, am a fully qualified English teacher and speak three languages. Should I therefore ditch Wigan for Wasps?

As for the North/South comment, are you aware that there's plenty of rugby league in the South just as there are hundreds of union clubs in the North?

And so what if union is a bigger sport than rugby league? Forget the fact that domestically it's on its in Australia and that many professional and semi-pro clubs in England are bleeding money. Forget the fact that attendances are down this year. Forget the fact that the game in Ireland, Wales and Scotland was in such dire straits that they had to go through a process of slash and burn followed by continual tinkering which has brought us the Celtic/Magners/Pro-12 competition. Forget all that because to a fan of rugby league it doesnt matter. It doesnt matter that the sport is smaller than football, union or cricket. What matters is that they get to watch their sport of choice and support their team.

There's nothing like rugby league fans when it comes to knocking your own sport so the constant sneering in the press and media when it comes to the game is just not necessary.

Any RU fan reading these posts will be laughing their heads off. All written by people who don't understand the game, have never watched it, never tried to understand it. RU players at the top level are as fit and athletic as any you will see in SL as for being fat our league looks like an advert far fat fighters at times.

As for being an upper class sport I am sure the people at Leigh and Tyldesley RU clubs would find that really amusing there are just as many if not more RU clubs in the NW as there are RL clubs.

It is this narrow minded one eyed view that keeps our game where it is a very distant second.

I played RU from age 11 to 18. My younger bro refs the game.



It is an enjoyable game to play but it it is extremely boring to watch if you watch England or any of the other home nations. That is self evident.



Sometimes I have been to the odd game and in my experience local club games do have more passing and less kicking but it still gets tedious very quickly for me.



In this country there are about 10 teams who draw decent crowds the rest rely on player subscriptions.



Why it is so popular with the middle classes astonishes me maybe they are thicker than we thought they were. Ask someone in the South East who claims to be a fan and you will see what I mean.



They would never go to a footie game' for them it is far too common.

I agree with that mate. I played the game to a vaguely successful level which is where it stopped being fun. Having played League before (and only really knowing how to play that code of rugby) I wasn't really cut out for doing a certain job (and only that job) which is attributed to a particular position in Union. When I was younger you could get away with playing off the cuff because it wasn't really that serious. As you progress in years it becomes more structured (which is fine if that's your bag and you're prepared to play the game 'properly') but it wasn't mine.

Watching the 9's is belting, espescially FIJI. Though no-one seems to know how to tackle !!!!!