rugbymatt

Ever played the game?

bealerDSB

I lived in Wales for 22years, where the real Rugby players are from, and love the Sport. However, this is a Thread about Football.

DSB.

rugbymatt

Did I quote you?


Wales is the home of the real rugby players eh? That would be Union players.... come on guys, you're not even very good at trying to wind people up.

Dick Dasterdly

Ony a little a schoolboy level.
Enjoyed the rough and tumble to a certain extent but found the Union type game a bit disjointed and stop/start compared with League or Soccer which IMHO are much more constantly flowing and exciting both to play and watch.
My son played for a short while at club level, but also moved on to other things.
I think the respective popularity of the games Worldwide tells its own story.

jimenato

Which would make Football first, Union second and League third - not quite what you were saying.

Some years ago I watched a Rugby international and a Football international (England played in both) in the same pub in the UK. The pub was packed in both instances. In the Rugby match the entire pub watched the action intently, cheering or groaning, totally engrossed in the action. In the Football match however, although the pub was packed, no-one actually took much notice of what was going on. Only if there was a goal or a foul did they seem interested at all. At one point I was aware that a lot of the lads were watching the screen intently so I glanced up - it was half time and it was a bra advertisement.

Dick Dasterdly

Whilst I admit I was only guessing at the numbers,I would be surprised if Football didn't outstrip the two Rugbys put together.
I would also be surprised if League doesn't eventually outstrip Union for the reasons I mentioned.
IMHO Union is in desperate need of a major overhaul as recent events have shown.I don't think its yet moved into the 20th century in many respects, let alone the 21st.I think its survival in many places has to a large extent been down to tradition and the public school effect.
Only thing is how can it be improved and made into a more attractive,faster flowing game, without following along the lines of Rugby League, and the cloth cap guys and that would never do at all old chap,heaven forbid.
So once again, only in my own humble opinion, I see it unfortunately stuck forever in a sort of time warp.

bealerDSB

There's more contact in Football now than Rugby
DSB.

jimenato

http://plover.net/~bonds/rugby.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_W...Media_coverage

It is the third most popular game in the world and gets only just fewer viewers than the Olympics

I suspect that Union is perfectly happy to be in that time warp and that League would love to be there too.

Dick Dasterdly

One swallow doesn't make a summer.
The fact its a World cup only once every few years and gets massive media hype means even ppl.who know very little of the game may take some interest in the result.
The Cold Hard Facts are these,...
Even the very poor fourth grade of English football attracts more ppl.in a season than the Guiness Prem .
Even the poor Scot.Prem Lg attracts more than double per season.
Even the Rugby Lg super league attracts more in a season despite all the live tv.
As for the World Cup,estimated viewing audiences were 10 times greater for the Soccer version than Union!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Drop below the Guiness Prem level and you might be looking at 2 men and a dog,...thats providing that the grasss isn't too wet for the poor delicate soles to venture out on.

rugbymatt

rhymes with "hit", begins with a "T"

Lushdaddy

Twit?

jimenato

You are correct of course that Football is massively more popular than Rugby. Why? I have no idea.

The Rugby Super League has an average attendance of 9,336.

These are the average attendances for Rugby Union around the world:

Super 14 21,504
Top14 France 12,107
Guiness Prem 11,786
Currie Cup - SA 11,433

The RFU Championship average is 2096 - That's one man and his dog?

The RL COOP championship average is 1872 - must have left the dog at home.

Dick Dasterdly

"RFU Championship average 2096,....One man and his dog?"

Compared to 9 times that figure for the Football Championship,...YES!

Statistics,statistics,.........gets very boring anyway.

Lushdaddy

Can I ask how much it is to go and watch a top flight rugby team. I have no Idea. The last time I went to watch rugby it was Bradford Bulls v Keighley Cougars and I got in free, we were just above the dugout bits and were right by the pitch cheering and drinking. We went in the lounge where all the players go afterwards and there was free ale. I can't remember if the team we were supposed to be cheering won or not but it was good as we were introduced to the players and given a meal too. This is my only taste of live top flight Rugby. My experience of watching a top flight football team cost me over 40quid, I couldn't see much as the pitch was that far away, it took a couple of minutes before we realised that our team had scored and by the time the cheers trickled up to us and we cheered back they had kicked off again, there was no drinking allowed. We left our seats at 9.30pm left the stadium at 9.45pm, left the car park at 10.30 and got home at 11.30. When I got in my dad was sitting in his nice warm front room with a couple of empty cans by his chair. He said 'Well that was a really good match wasn't it?' I said, I don't know I didn't see it can I have a beer please I'm knackered and stressed. I then stayed up to watch the highlights.
I'm a football fan, but going watching live matches, rugby wins hands down for me.

Dick Dasterdly

Ay,Rugby League lad,...proper game,..Eddie Waring and all that.
Just off for an early bath.