The thread where stephen & jimmy debate NRL vs AFL

[stephen]

Are you kidding me? The RL/RU schism happened in England. There is nothing Australian about the origins of Rugby League. If anything BOTH codes were derived from Union.

Aussie Rules also combines big tackles, skillful passing, fleet footwork, speed, strength and endurance. Other sports that create a ferocious whirlwind of big hits and clever play akin to League include Aussie Rules, Rugby Union, American football & Canadian football.

Admittedly I like the scoring system of RL & points are indeed well earned. A friend of mine once said whilst soccer is too low scoring & AFL is too high, rugby has the best balance. He hates League mind you (nuts All Blacks fan).



Not sure about those analogies considering both hockey & basketball are both non-contact sports. Over the years several AFL players have successfully crossed over to American football & enjoyed sustained runs in the NFL (see Darren Bennett, Ben Graham & Saverio Rocca). On the flipside, League superstars such as Karmichael Hunt & Isreal Falou couldn't hardly get a kick during their respective AFL careers.

Hockey being ice hockey.

The afl players who have careers in the nfl are specialist kickers. Nfl is more like NRL inasmuch as the game is about field position and big hits and penetrating defenses.

Rugby league is a game for the working classes. It started because players wanted to become professional players. And since then it's been constantly making the game better to watch. Much like Australia has spawned from English culture but is now much greater.

 

[jimmy101]

The idea that football (the association kind) being low scoring makes it unsatisfying is hilarious.

Anyone who thinks that will never in their life experience via sport the emotion that I did when James Norwood’s header crossed the line last May. But those who know, know.

We could use a man like Norwood in the AFL but we're not worthy to tell you the truth. There's a reason why I selected Jimmer in round 1 of the draft.

 

[jimmy101]

Sounds like AFL is the national game of the arsehole of Australia.

You mean Brisbane, Australia's Chennai? That's RL country bro, they're the guys in maroon.

 

[jimmy101]

Rugby league is a game for the working classes. It started because players wanted to become professional players. And since then it's been constantly making the game better to watch. Much like Australia has spawned from English culture but is now much greater.

So what? Like I said, that happened in England something like 30 years before the Sydney RFL was founded. Not uniquely Australian, and going professional isn't even something that's unique to Rugby League. Heaps of sports were already professional by that time.

 

[GIMH]

We could use a man like Norwood in the AFL but we're not worthy to tell you the truth. There's a reason why I selected Jimmer in round 1 of the draft.

Excellent post

 

[Burgey]

Whilst you yourself might enjoy both codes mate, most people from Sydney are staunch anti-AFL.

This is just not true these days.

I’m disappointed you have used American football as an example of anything which decent people would want their own code to in any way resemble. Fmd it’s a terrible sport.

One thing which rugby league does have going for it is the first game in Australia was played at Birchgrove Oval, just down the road from my place. Beautiful old ground in the best setting in Sydney (and by extension, anywhere in the world).

It’s intersting how many of the old inner west locals still have links to the old league teams. Obviously there’s a lot of support for the Tigers here, and over at Newtown they still play at Henson Park and pull a good crowd. If you go for a run or a ride around Glebe and Annandale, you’ll come across a few of the old ovals which are mentioned in the stories of the good old days. I’m sure it’s the same around the inner suburbs of Melbourne wrt the old afl clubs too.

 

[jimmy101]

This is just not true these days.

I’m disappointed you have used American football as an example of anything which decent people would want their own code to in any way resemble. Fmd it’s a terrible sport.

One thing which rugby league does have going for it is the first game in Australia was played at Birchgrove Oval, just down the road from my place. Beautiful old ground in the best setting in Sydney (and by extension, anywhere in the world).

It’s intersting how many of the old inner west locals still have links to the old league teams. Obviously there’s a lot of support for the Tigers here, and over at Newtown they still play at Henson Park and pull a good crowd. If you go for a run or a ride around Glebe and Annandale, you’ll come across a few of the old ovals which are mentioned in the stories of the good old days. I’m sure it’s the same around the inner suburbs of Melbourne wrt the old afl clubs too.

That's good to hear actually. I wasn't aware that Sydney had such tolerance for each of the four main codes. And too bloody right American football is a terrible sport. Every few years some mates of mine here & there will try to throw a superbowl party, and every time I show up I try to give the sport a decent chance and try to get into it but it's just terrible on every conceivable format. Too much stopping & restarting for my liking.

I actually thought you might have been a Tigers fan. I find it really strange though that they took a club that was based in the heartland of Sydney and moved them out so far west! That being said, Sydney's west is probably the part of the city that is devolving at the quickest rate.

 

[jimmy101]

The analogous American sports are:

Cricket: baseball
League: nfl
Union: hockey
Afl: basketball

Let the record state that it was stephen who was drawing comparisons to his sport an American football.

 

[Burgey]

Actually a Parra fan. Born and bred there. Tigers have always been my second team though.

Tigers went the way of a lot of inner city clubs and merged with Wests where others died. Newtown went in 83 or so, Glebe went decade’s before then. Souths had to go to court to get readmitred, St George merged with Illawarra. There were just too many Sydney based sides so they had to merge/ consolidate or they’d die.

Saddest part of the whole exercise was Manly surviving over North’s because it rained at Gosford for a year and Canterbury also making it. If only those two sides had gone, the game would be perfect.

 

[jimmy101]

Actually a Parra fan. Born and bred there. Tigers have always been my second team though.

Tigers went the way of a lot of inner city clubs and merged with Wests where others died. Newtown went in 83 or so, Glebe went decade’s before then. Souths had to go to court to get readmitred, St George merged with Illawarra. There were just too many Sydney based sides so they had to merge/ consolidate or they’d die.

Saddest part of the whole exercise was Manly surviving over North’s because it rained at Gosford for a year and Canterbury also making it. If only those two sides had gone, the game would be perfect.

The merger-mania years of the 80's & 90's must have been a crazy time for RL in general. On top of that you had a whole bunch of franchise teams popping up all over the place. Think at one stage in the late 90's you had 12 teams in the ARL & another 10 teams in Super League. Surely the overall standard of the game must have taken a hit during that time what with more than 20 professional clubs floating around. Crazy when you look back at it.

It's good to see the Bears still exist in some form. Who knows? Maybe they'll somehow make it back into the top flight one day.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Bring back the Adelaide Rams

 

[Ausage]

Bring back the Adelaide Rams

Also the Crushers and the Reds while you're at it.

Insane that the league hasn't expanded outside of its heartland this century. Say what you want about the two sports but the AFL administration is miles ahead of the NRLs.

 

[Furball]

Union > League

 

[jimmy101]

The Rams, Reds, Chargers et al were all catastrophic failures, and the Storm & Warriors aren't much better. The reason why the Rugby League infection hasn't spread this century is because it can't. It has no-where left to go. Rugby League is a pleb sport if there ever was one. Pushed towards people who can't understand Union & think that it's "boring". Whilst AFL is the most popular sport in Australia, & Union is the most popular sport in NZ & RSA, Rugby League is the most popular sport NOWHERE.

It's been a bit of a shitshow from the RL fans in here so far. All I've seen is a bunch of garbage spouted that it's "quintessentially Australian", when in reality it wasn't invented in Australia & has been rejected by most Australians, plus a whole bunch of useless comparisons to NFL.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Do Australia even have a national Rugby Union team these days?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

It's been a bit of a shitshow from the RL fans in here so far. All I've seen is a bunch of garbage spouted that it's "quintessentially Australian", when in reality it wasn't invented in Australia & has been rejected by most Australians, plus a whole bunch of useless comparisons to NFL.

The only real garbage I've seen in here is the ridiculous notion that any sport is inherently 'better' than another. What about you is so insecure that you need to spend your time arguing with people about the sport you like being somehow better than one you don't? Even if by some dark magics you were able to prove that AFL is, inherently, 'better' than Rugby League what do you gain? Some sense of superiority? Who gives a ****. Like what you like and let others do the same. In the end you're sitting on your couch every weekend watching muscly men run around in pajamas, whether you watch footy, league, union, basketball or ****ing kabaddi. It's all the same in the end.

 

[Flem274*]

i love a good pile on aussie sport but the warriors have been a resounding success imo. they have a large, committed core fanbase, they have a pretty solid backlog of semis and finals appearances and their mercurial nature as a club always attracts the attention of wider sports fans in nz.

even someone like me who enjoys the odd game of league but will always massively prefer union can't help but look when the warriors are playing because it will always be interesting, win or lose.

edit - the storm are a success too surely? they win like 98% of their ****ing games the soulless annoying ****s

 

[jimmy101]

The only real garbage I've seen in here is the ridiculous notion that any sport is inherently 'better' than another. What about you is so insecure that you need to spend your time arguing with people about the sport you like being somehow better than one you don't? Even if by some dark magics you were able to prove that AFL is, inherently, 'better' than Rugby League what do you gain? Some sense of superiority? Who gives a ****. Like what you like and let others do the same. In the end you're sitting on your couch every weekend watching muscly men run around in pajamas, whether you watch footy, league, union, basketball or ****ing kabaddi. It's all the same in the end.

I actually watch hardly any football as it's the mortal enemy of cricket. However, I wouldn't read too much into the watching muscly men running around thing considering you're a wrestling mark.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Motor Racing is the true Aussie sport. Peter Brock would be looking down and thinking you lot are all soft

 

[jimmy101]

Motor Racing is the true Aussie sport. Peter Brock would be looking down and thinking you lot are all soft

New vid getting launched later today ;-)