Why I don't watch Rugby League anymore

Sports
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Back in the '90s I used to take my kids to Wembley every year for the Challenge Cup Final. A great day out with everyone friendly. Now I don’t know if it is me or if the game has changed but some years ago I stopped watching League because of the 3 onto 1 block tackling.

Heads battered, necks snapped back, what is going on in these days of brain damage litigation and, in defence of that, pitchside brain analysis?

I have just come into the room and my favoruite team (along with Catalans), Wigan, are playing Huddersfield. Because it brought back memories of the glory days of Wigan with the kids (and the fact that I only had to buy 3 scarves, it was Wigan every year) I sat and watched for a while. But I have turned my back on the senseless violence of it all. If I was in charge it would be 1 on 1 tackling only and nothing above the waist. In fact with one on one there wouldn’t be much point in going above, big blokes would simply keep going with one ‘hanger one’. :rofl:

And don’t even get me started about boxing, where the whole point is to hit the head in such a fashion that the spinal chord is compressed to cause unconsciousness.

Edit: Wigan have just won. I am pleased they have, but I am also pleased that I wasn’t watching it. :joy:

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I recall Eddie “its an up and under” Waring in those halcyon days of watching Rugby…
Now, it’s become too commercialised with huge money at stake which, like most other sports, unfortunately destroys the magic atmosphere :angry:

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Yes indeed, I have just been skimming through the ‘glory’ years of 88 to 95 when Wigan won every time, actually I think it was 8 times, but no matter, and I see that there were high tackles (as in above the waist) but far more leg tackles than we see today. I also noticed that they weren’t very good at it, or perhaps players like Offiah were too fast and athletic, which may have encouraged the battering rams in the modern game.

My love of the game continued into my early days in France and I sought out my nearest team, way down in Villeneuve sur Lot. Went there several times on my own, sometimes took the caravan and had a nice meal and parked up in the evening. A really friendly club and one wall of the clubhouse was a giant mural depicting the attack on League in favour of Union by the Vichy regime of the war years.

Later, looking for more competitive international games I often went down all the way to Perpignan and Catalan Dragons. They still send me all their literature to this day and, because I bought my tickets from them, I found myself in amongst the local crowd with my Wigan scarf round my neck - watching Wigan win. :roll_eyes: All taken in good part though and I had a good time with them. But already I was beginning to question the tactics. I know that my old Rugby master (Union) at school would be turning in his grave to see the ‘mob violence’ of today. :neutral_face:

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Nah Graham there is very little money in the game which has been propped up by Sky Sports for the past 25 years. The game is surviving with compétant management from the RFL. They are trying to keep the RL triangle afloat which is tricky with so little investment.
They negotiated a deal with Premier Sports to show Championship games and a deal with C4 has seen SL games shown on terrestrial tv which has been great. The Beeb has continued their support for the Challenge Cup which is important.
Regarding the tactical side Dave, the game is much quicker nowadays as the players become fitter than ever. The rules change every season and I feel the rules are pretty good at the moment .
There is talk of a Super League of two divisions which is ok though the old problem arises of how the Sky tv money is dished out.

I regularly visit Perpignan and Toulouse as well as supporting the local teams for years and I have to say I’ve never witnessed any so-called ‘mob rule’ behaviour.

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My reference to ‘mob rule’ is the fact that 3 men tackle one man, high, and try to smother him on the ground. To my mind that slows what used to be a fast game and brings it closer to the scrimmages and scrums of the Union game, a game I abandonned as soon as I saw my first League game. I was taught, in Union of course, to tackle low on the basis that the largest of men can be immediately immobilised by the smallest of them. You can’t run with your legs clasped together. As a less than 9 stone weakling I spent my first year trying to keep out of the action till I was shouted at as a giant bore down on me and the only thing I could do was dive and tackle his legs. The feeling I got as this monster lay face down in the mud was a salutary lesson. I became a very speedy scrum half and was offered a trial for Notts, but had other things on my mind at the time. :roll_eyes:

This modern game stifles that sort of player and brings it all down to muscle and brawn. No finesse for these gym trained behemoths. But to what advantage? It ties up 3 players when one would do and, although I grant it prevents a pass being made, in doing so destroys a beautiful game (not the one that that usually refers to :wink:). As to speed, I dispute that the players are fitter, they are bulkier and heavier, that’s all. Not good imo.

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Good debate.
I watched my first pro game in 1967 and things have changed of course.
I just watched about 20 minutes of the 1980 final featuring the two Ulls. Good contest played at high pace. My observations are that players were indeed subject to slightly less mob rule tackling though it’s marginal imo. I think the reason for this is the rule changes regarding when the tackle is deemed as ‘complete’. The NRL a few years back defined the rules which then came to Europe. I don’t feel it’s affected the game too much though perversely there does seem to be more penalties conceded at the tackle and play of the ball.
During Covid the scrums , largely uncompetitive nowadays were scrapped which made the game much more free flowing and hence more entertaining imo. This led to more player injuries so the scrums were reintroduced. I think scrums should be scrapped with two more subs allowed. This would ease the injury woes as well as introduce more players from the squad.
Players are more bulky now but not to the point where the game has slowed imo. Modern props are very mobile and hard tackling which isn’t always necessarily entertaining.

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I came later to it Peter. Around 1984 I think. I had seen some on tv and thought that this was a game more in keeping with my own ideas than Union, but it was only when, with Fran, my new ‘other’, we had a caravan holiday all round the north of Scotland returning down the west coast. I was determined to see an RL game and we timed our arrival in the land of RL, Lancashire and Wigan :wink: for the Saturday. Imagine my dismay when I was told that they played on Sundays in order to avoid all the football matches. :astonished:

We made another trip, to the Lakes, later that year and eventually saw our first game at Whitehaven. For a few bob with dozens of others we saw an entertaining game and I was hooked. Some years later RL came as far south as Nottingham and I went along to Harvey Hadden stadium but it was a disappointment. The newly formed Nottingham team did well in the first half but faded with the exertion later, so my loyalties remained with Wigan, and later, Catalans.

BTW, back in my taxi driving days in Sydney, Where League was/is very very big and the clubs rich, I often went while working to the great St. Georges Leagues club. I was impressed by the palace I saw as I dropped my fares off, but never once ventured inside. Only later did I realise what I had missed. :roll_eyes:

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Sydney is a real RL hotspot as is much of eastern or southeastern oz. Many NRL stars play in the UK, usually at the end of their careers.
I’ve been doing RL journalism for a few decades and the game hasn’t really changed for me except for the improvements with fitness and technique especially in the lower leagues.
My problem in the good old days was thatI was from Norfolk with all the RL teams on the other side of the country. My team , St Hélens was a twelve hour round trip so I used to go to my ‘nearest’ club Doncaster to watch RL.
I like RU too but RL is something else. I played some RU, very badly but I would never have survived the RL physicality.

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This thread brings back memories of Halifax and watching them play at Thrum Hall back in the 60’s. I think it was Wakefield who visited and they had just signed an Olympic sprinter built like a whippet. I think they had taught him the basic rules and how to catch the ball. Then leg it down the wing and nobody could catch him. It worked for a while until one big Halifax player got a crossfield start on him, took him by the midriff and carried on with him through the advertising hoardings. End of the game for him!

Money for players then? Back then my parents ran a pub in Halifax and about 1961 it was re-decorated. The two painters and decorators were Freeman and Dixon, two very well known Halifax players of the time.

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Not one of my heroes then, not surprisingly at 5’6" and (when I was playing) 57 kgs, Andy Gregory and Rob Burrow, take that position, no contest. :joy:

To watch them race and lace themselves through the opposition is what the game was all about to me. I never got hit hard, I never got injured, I never even touched another player unless it was with my arms wrapped tightly round his legs. :rofl:

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My memories of RL are the '60’s, the heyday of Eddie ‘Early Bath’ Waring.

I was never a follower of RL, my school in Yorkshire being RU to the point of producing a steady stream of Eng and Sco internationals, down the years - Logie Bruce-Lockhart [Sco], John Spencer [Cambs, Eng, capt] my contemporary Mike Biggar [London Scots and #8 Sco. capt]. Will Carling [Eng] , Will Greenwood [Eng. RWC winner] James Simpson-Daniel [Eng forever injured] …

My school competed in the Northern Schools range shooting competition. This particular year I was one of the Cadet Pair. My other half was a chap named Toase. RSM Ashworth [Instructor ret. British Army Small Arms School] inevitably called him ‘Toast’.

Toase spotted Eddie Waring, whose son was at Rosall. “Look Sgt.Major! Eddie Waring!” RSM Ashworth grasped Toase by the arm, marched him up to Eddie Waring and said, “Mr. Eddie Waring! - Toast! Toast! - Mr Eddie Waring!” and marched off.

We won the Cadet Pair.

My school, being in the diocese of Bradford, sponsored a Boys’ Club there. Still the days of fagging, beatings by senior boys, no girls and notions of patriarchy. Thank God all that has gone.

A game of rugby was organised, 30 mins RU, 30 mins RL. We were given a quick run down of the RL rules and racked up an embarrassing score. We were so much fitter. In winter and Easter terms the 1st XV squad, of which I was a member, trained/played rugby 5/7. With ball in hand the Bradford lads couldn’t get near us. The 30 mins of RL was a shambles on our side but again, with ball in hand, we ran in tries at will.

My mother refused to launder my rugby clothing. When I got home for the holidays she dumped it in a plastic bag which was packed for the return to school. This was always accompanied by a plea, “I can mend pretty much all of you” [she being a QA A & E op theatre sister] “but please - not the teeth”. No gum shields in those days. I hope they have them now.

Parent of boys about to go to schools like mine, with a very distinguished RU tradition, must see how things are on the pro and international field these days, of monster hits by monster men, and be very worried. I would be.

PS. I always like the idea I read once about RL “A game where a man could walk to an away match”

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Great reading.

Not such a good result for a the Reds last night ?

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It’s an Asda now. I remember them pulling the stadium down, and the bowling green and then putting up the retail monstrosity.

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Not such a good result for a the Reds last night ?

On the contrary, Forest back in the PL. If I were a footie fan that’s where my loyalties would be. :joy:

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Yep, good to see Forest back in the Prem.

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Not the result I’d hoped for but as Klopp said, “After the whole season, 1 point off Man City and 1 goal short of Champion’s League winners”. And both domestic knock-out cups – tho’ winning both by pen shoot-outs is not ideal.

Year by year, L.F.C. achieves more. Looks like a replacement for Mane will be needed but L.F.C. seem to be able to find the plums amongst the custard. Suarez is on a free …

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Loadsa debate about how good this lpool side is. Obviously a top side but the ‘best ever’ Prem side ? No way.
Mane is irreplaceable imo so the board need to find extra money to improve his deal.
Or maybe he wants a new challenge ?

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Every player is replaceable ,no exceptions, because they could be injured tomorrow and never play again.
As for Forest ,it will be very difficult to stay in the premiere division without investment in players , many of the loanee players will be returning to their parent club and not be loaned again Worrel the centre back is being eyed by other bigger reputation sides. Its a waitand see but I hope there won’t be a swift return to the first division

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Reading the match reports it looks like the ref won it for Forest.

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Next year no one will be reading the match report just the score😉