: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:24 pm  

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:

Erm, yeah

Union is focusing on growing participation, and diversifying the player base. Feel free to stick your head in the sand and write them off as posh frat boys, maybe they were but they won't be eventually - because they have a plan to change, and the resources to do it. I can't stand the game personally, but if you think that's a worse long term strategy than having a few clubs on the East coast for a few years and then pretending a pro league wil just spring out of nowhere like magic in 2010, then good luck to you mate. I loved that Kevin Costner movie too, but I reckon in the real world they won't just come if you build it - you need a step-by-step, organic approach. Step one? Get amateurs playing the game for fun. The obsession with professionalism and illusory business opportunity is stupid - first things first, get people to enjoy the game through participation. That then becomes the platform for later pro growth. If the US guys had spent more time since 1994 focused on that, and less on grandiose schemes and bizarre press releases, who knows we might have a bridgehead now to kick on from. As it is, we've got vapourware. A great job indeed!

Negative crap

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:25 pm  

Catalancs wrote:

and georgia, russia, romania, half of africa, canada, japan, much of asia, uruguay, chile....
none of these countries have made it into the top nations.
argentina were in this list, but fair play to them, there's no way you could say they haven't made it.

havent made what?

no one gives a s** there.

have a look how the sport is almost gone from australia without worrying about places like argentina etc.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:27 pm  

the way soccer has over taken union in australia theres a fair chance the sport could go back to semi pro within a decade.

the failure of union in australia is going to have a big impact on union as a world wide sport.

the S14 faces a lot of problems and on top of it the kiwis are losing all their best players to france.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:31 pm  

http://www.nrlus.com/nrl2010 seems like they do have some sort of strategy, and they are hinting at having broadcasting arrangements in place.

http://www.nrlus.com/nrl2010 seems like they do have some sort of strategy, and they are hinting at having broadcasting arrangements in place.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:42 pm  

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote:

Lofty goals that are repeatedly unrealised get people bored, and diminish your chance of ever building anything real - cry wolf anyone? That's my point - this is not a one-off, this has been said time and time again

there are hundreds of millions of people in the us, the couple of thousand max who could possibly be disenfranchised if this fails are inconsequential in the bigger scheme of things

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:45 pm  

dally messenger wrote: a few stuck up kids playing some union hardly comprises much of a sport You might want to take a look at THIS before making assumptions like that.

dally messenger wrote: a few stuck up kids playing some union hardly comprises much of a sport You might want to take a look at THIS before making assumptions like that.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:54 pm  

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: Meanwhile, rational earthlings just get on with working hard and organising their sport without talking fruit loop nonsense - see http://www.usarugby.org/ and use the "find a club" tool, where there's more clubs with names beginning with "B" than the AMNRL have in their entire organisation! Wow, they have more clubs beginning with 'B' than there are in MLB and the NFL combined. Rugby union must be the powerful sport in the US. Meanwhile, rational earthlings do not compare the number of clubs in a single league with every single club that play a sport no matter how small or at what level thinking it proves anything. Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history That is simply a bad copy and paste effort. Amateurish, for sure, but having seen the earlier version of the page when it was first linked on this thread they had those same paragraphs but in the correct order. That is the problem with making a site public before it has been developed, which is clearly the case as it seems to change every time someone mentions it. Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: I loved that Kevin Costner movie too, but I reckon in the real world they won't just come if you build it - you need a step-by-step, organic approach. Step one? Get amateurs playing the game for fun. The obsession with professionalism and illusory business opportunity is stupid - first things first, get people to enjoy the game through participation. So the only real world approach is to totally ignore different cultures and just do things they way the British way irrespective of how people relate differently to sports in other countries. While American football is played at high school and college it is not a club sport, it does not have hundreds of amateur clubs playing for fun. It was around for decades before television brought it to the masses, from where it has grown to be the biggest sport. Maybe you should tell the NFL how stupid their approach is. I also never knew that people who enjoy watching sport only do so through participation. Michael.

Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: Meanwhile, rational earthlings just get on with working hard and organising their sport without talking fruit loop nonsense - see http://www.usarugby.org/ and use the "find a club" tool, where there's more clubs with names beginning with "B" than the AMNRL have in their entire organisation! Wow, they have more clubs beginning with 'B' than there are in MLB and the NFL combined. Rugby union must be the powerful sport in the US. Meanwhile, rational earthlings do not compare the number of clubs in a single league with every single club that play a sport no matter how small or at what level thinking it proves anything. Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: If you're a couple of attention seeking weirdos, you do this... http://www.nrlus.com/history That is simply a bad copy and paste effort. Amateurish, for sure, but having seen the earlier version of the page when it was first linked on this thread they had those same paragraphs but in the correct order. That is the problem with making a site public before it has been developed, which is clearly the case as it seems to change every time someone mentions it. Hull Kingston Bronco wrote: I loved that Kevin Costner movie too, but I reckon in the real world they won't just come if you build it - you need a step-by-step, organic approach. Step one? Get amateurs playing the game for fun. The obsession with professionalism and illusory business opportunity is stupid - first things first, get people to enjoy the game through participation. So the only real world approach is to totally ignore different cultures and just do things they way the British way irrespective of how people relate differently to sports in other countries. While American football is played at high school and college it is not a club sport, it does not have hundreds of amateur clubs playing for fun. It was around for decades before television brought it to the masses, from where it has grown to be the biggest sport. Maybe you should tell the NFL how stupid their approach is. I also never knew that people who enjoy watching sport only do so through participation. Michael.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:17 pm  

mav wrote:

So the only real world approach is to totally ignore different cultures and just do things they way the British way irrespective of how people relate differently to sports in other countries.

Seems that some people are having difficulty grasping the concept that some things are done very differently over here and sport is one of those things.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:30 pm  

mav wrote:

While American football is played at high school and college it is not a club sport, it does not have hundreds of amateur clubs playing for fun. It was around for decades before television brought it to the masses, from where it has grown to be the biggest sport. Maybe you should tell the NFL how stupid their approach is.

I would do, but they are American....and the reason that US footie was popular before TV is simple....gambling.
Now, if you want to tell Lou Cabrazzi to stop swimming with fishes and start supporting RL.....good luck.
TV Cash rules and the sheer aggression of RL will appeal to the US Market.........and good luck to them.
Bottom line is they will throw some cash behind it.....more than my club will ever do

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:20 pm  

Does anyone think it's a bit confusing the whole two NRLs? Will that help or hinder this in America?