The new Super League season is underway, and with the All-Star game in Australia setting up the eagerly awaited NRL season, 2013 looks like being a good year for entertainment in the 13 man code. With the added bonus of the World Cup at the end of the year, it seems like it’s a great time to try and entice more people to the game.
Rugby League falls second best behind Union in the popularity stakes, and I, for one, do not understand why. I have nothing against Union, it provides me some entertainment at times, but this list aims to counter-balance the argument and gain Rugby League some more followers.
So without further ado, here’s my list….
5. Big Hits
Although the shoulder charge has been outlawed in the southern hemisphere, there still promises to be a fine array of big hits flying about in the NRL, and with the controversial, armless tackle still retained in this country, there are bound to be some absolute bone-crunching tackles landing into the rib cage of many an unfortunate ball-carrier between now and the end of the season.
Despite the outlawing Down Under, the return of Sonny Bill Williams to the NRL is bound to result in more than a few people being ‘billed’ before the season commences with the World Cup Final at Old Trafford in November.
Below is a video that showcases a range of hits from the 2012 season.
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8 Comments
You asked why rugby union is more popular than league world-wide, well your first two reasons just go to show that shoulder charging and fighting isn’t anyone’s cup of tea. Why would parents like myself want to let our kids play rugby league when all we are shown on tv are violence acts before every games. Other football codes don’t promote guys getting concuss, broken bodies and fighting before a world cup, test matches or grand final.
Rugby as a whole is an intense contact support, it doesn’t matter whether it’s league or union. That being said, the sport played by children and young adults at university and school is vastly different to the one played at international and national levels. Whilst it may seem dangerous at these levels with a vast array of injuries and fights, the men that play them do so professionally rather than just for fun. These aren’t people who are playing on a Saturday for their school and who have formed a group with the lads from the local, these men earn their bread by putting in big hits and doing anything to win the match.
As to the main article, I personally prefer Union over league purely because of the breakdown of play at every tackle. The ruck and maul are in my opinion what make rugby such a wonderful sport, taking these out completely sort of ruins the game for me. It seems that League is trying to be more American Football than Rugby.
i see your point, yet union displays stamping and eye gouging, which i would say are worse than fights and tackles. they also have Schalk Burger and Richie McCaw as role models, who both spend a vast majority of the 80 minutes seeing what they can get away with, and the former was found guilty of eye-gouging and let off lightly.
Nice article.
A few facts:
- In Australia League is both richer and more popular than Union
- Both sports are highly interchangable and very similar, almost all of your points apply to both codes
- Last years NRL championship team had 3 union players
- Last years Super 15 championship team had 1 very high profile league player
- This is the southern hemisphere perspective, your view probably doesn’t apply down here
yeah that probably is true, southern hemisphere rugby is probably generally better across both codes, but yeah this article is written from my English perspective
As a spectacle and entertainment wise Rugby League wipes the floor time and time again with Union which is quite boring to watch with very little attacking Rugby on show. The only reason Union is popular is due to its links to the establishment and the fact that for 100 years it banned players playing League. Now their is a free gangway people can see which is the best code. Nice article.
I am of the opinion that union is a better sport due to it been about possession, tactics and teamwork, not just about pace; but this is a really eye opening and well written article into why league is a close second best.