Opinions on Rugby League

[The Cat]

I've always enjoyed both forms of the game .

With Union , I enjoy the complexities , nuances and tactics of the game , especially the forward battle .

League is a much simpler game , and can be a bit one dimensional , but I enjoy it for its physicality .

I've recently started working in St Helens , and I expected the locals to be ambivalent towards "kick and clap" . However some work colleagues have shocked me with their hatred of Union . Citing perceived injustices from the "shamateur" days pre1995 , and the real injustices of the Vichy government . Apparently we're all "public school " snobs , etc etc .

Am I in the minority in enjoying both games ? Although I'm no lover of the gin and tonic drinking , old farts from Twickers , I always thought that all this class c**p , them and us , amateur v professional stuff had been left far behind .

Your thoughts please .

[Hull Fan]

I live in Hull which has 2 rugby league teams, Hull FC & Hull KR, that have a healthy hatred for each other.
I personally enjoy both league & union. Living in the east of the city which is traditionally Hull KR, so i've adopted them as my team.
Generally the league supporters i know like union more now then they ever have.
They only mention the "rugger" or posh stuff when i've wound them up about being an M62 sport, not world wide like union.

[Kinoulton]

I concur with Hull Fan, living in the same part of the World.

Even though I live a good way from Hull, right in the middle of nowhere, the fact that I live a few hundred yards to the EAST of that tranquil little river means I am a dyed-in-the-wool Hull KR fan! One doesn't get to choose.

Definitely it's Rugby League territory through and through. I'm quite mystified as to how Hull City AFC gets 20,000+ fans for its footie matches as no one round here seems to give the game a second thought.

Rugby Union though, does have a lot of popularity. Even out here in the East of Yorkshire there are good clubs at Beverley, Hull, Scunthorpe, Driffield, Malton, Goole, Hornsea, Scarborough and Bridlington.

[westy154]

Love it.

Never used to like it until I moved in with a Yorkshireman at university. He disliked Union for all the usual reasons and I disliked his code for all the historical reasons. We both educated each other, and 10 years later we both still enjoy each others sport. Once you get over the fact that it is it's own sport, you're fine.

Then again I enjoy practically every version of football to varying degrees. In order: Union, American, League, *, Association, Australian.


* Ice Hockey, Cricket - non-football sports.

[Kinoulton]

I've always wondered about the player's positions in RL. From what I see on the TV there is almost never a "scrum" worthy of the name, yet this is how the players are categorised.

If you look along the line of 13 players, they all look like peas from a pod. All big, strong, fit, quite quick, and with a very low BMI.

Certainly you don't get the sort of variation we have in Union, with all shapes from Julian White to Geordan Murphy and Tom Croft to Harry Ellis.

[chinnjamie]

To be honest i never watched any rugby league until i got sky a couple of years ago, but now if there isn't any union on i dont mind watching a bit of league. Im still trying to learn all the different rules but it all seems pretty simple to me. If there is one team i always look to win then it would have to be Castleford, just because i noticed they too are called the Tigers

[Northenlad]

I'm also a Hull lad, but now live in Leicester. My old man played for Saints in the 60s and was never really a fan of League, but when we moved to Hull I played Union and League and loved them both so he had to watch both.

Whilst I always prefer the variation in play of Union, the kicking gets on my nerves at times. League has the perception of being a faster game due to the lack of kicking, lineouts and scrums (real ones that is). What league has over Union is trhe defensive side of the game, straight running and hard hitting tackles.

Our kid (my brother in non-Hull language) played for the Great Britain Police Rugby League squad in the World Cup in Australia last year, but has also represented England in Union. The transition to League from Union is far easier than the other way round as there are only three things to learn to play League - run, pass and tackle.

In conclusion, both games are great and both games can teach the other code different skills which are transferable. Also both are excellent to watch, but you would not want to play in a Rugby League Sunday League match unless you are a complete thug, or enjoy pain!

[The Cat]

Thanks guys ....nice to learn I'm not the only one who enjoys both codes .

They're now very different sports , certainly with regards to the demands placed on the forwards . But I believe , enjoyable in their own right .If only we could all get past this "hatred" of what the other code represented in Victorian times .

[POSTIGER]

Love it.

Never used to like it until I moved in with a Yorkshireman at university. He disliked Union for all the usual reasons and I disliked his code for all the historical reasons. We both educated each other, and 10 years later we both still enjoy each others sport. Once you get over the fact that it is it's own sport, you're fine.

Ditto Westy, I didn't really know an awful lot about League until I went to Leeds Uni and the northern boys put me right! I love both codes and think that conparing the two is pretty pointless - both terrific sports and really quite different!

[redtiger]

big issue where I am, it's all about social class, i get slaughtered by my mates for being into union, it's all league here, mainly st helens/ widnes/ wigan and union is "for toffs" and people who wear caps and smoke pipes whereas league is the working class game for the everyday bloke. i'm an everyday bloke on a :censored: income but it was always union in my skool so i got into watching it from that. i just think that sport should be about enjoyment/ appreciation of a game rather than some form of social divide.

[redtiger]

that was never a swearword!! boo!!