posted Nov 10, 2008

England's poor performances are easy to explain.
too many average foreigners playing in Super league,Too many people beleiving the hype of Stevenson and Co.
Anyone who has watched Aussie NRL this season must off realised what was coming,
they have at least five top quality players vying for each place while we to be
perfectly honest are struggling to find one
quality player in some areas?

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posted Nov 10, 2008

There is a league in Ireland, and the teams are:
Treaty City Titans
Carlaw Crusaders
North Dublin Eagles
Dublin City Exiles
Tullamore Knights
Portadown Pumas

They are not of course at a very standard compared to the nations with professional sides.

There are also some 24 ranked nations in the Rugby League hierarchy, including Lebanon (who were unlucky to miss out on the WC), Serbia, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, the USA, the West Indies and the Cook Islands.

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posted Nov 10, 2008

Sorry meant the Catalan Dragons not Giants

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posted Nov 10, 2008

It will never get going properly in Ireland they are too stuck in their ways with all the gaelic whatever, thats why they cannot really play any other sports because they just are not willing to change and adapt because heritage is all that matters, not moving forward and getting progressing as a nation towards more sporting glory.

The national sports are the GAA games and they are well supported, and what is wrong with that? Irish Tour de France winner, Irish world champion boxers. The best producers of top class race horses (and you posting under the name of a horse ridden by the great Irish jockey Fallon), just beat the Aussie rules footballers in their own backyard. A very poor inaccurate WUM!!!!

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posted Nov 10, 2008

As an Irishman im very proud of the way the lads have accounted themselves. I think that too much emphasis is placed on the players country of origin. Being Irish isn't all about being from the hills of Donegal, its something thats in the blood and passed down by family. Irishness is a frame of mind in these new times and with a massive influx of varying nationalities in the country this is the new face of Ireland and the way in which we are choosing to embrace change. After all, England have been handing out citizenships like cornflakes cards and do those people, who are technically English, really swear to Queen and Country? The squad of players can be proud of their performance but heres hoping they go one, two or three better next time

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posted Nov 11, 2008

If England had played in any other group they would have struggled to go through.

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posted Nov 11, 2008

Wht is the possibility of some of the top Irish RL teams pooling their resources and aiming for a Superleague franchise in the future? Call me an expansionist if you like (I'm an RL fan from outside the heartlands so I'll take it as a compliment!) but with teams in Superleague based in London,Wales and France what about building on the great work done by the Irish team in RLWC '08 and aiming for a franchise ahead of a 2013 RLWC? Any thoughts from Irish RL fans out there?

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posted Nov 11, 2008

There are some truly bizzare comments on this page about Irish culture... that Gaelic games controls everything and no other sport stands a chance... and that rugby union would be next in line?!

The biggest sport in Ireland in terms of public interest in soccer, and English game. It may be interest in the Premier League, but it still counts, particularly as the FAI are beyond useless. The GAA too powerful (IMHO), but do not have the final say on sport in Ireland.

The last RL World cup took place (partly) in Dublin in 2000, and the Irish team did incredibely well, better than this year. And nobody cared. No media coverage, bare mentions at the end of news reports etc. Same as this time around. Its a shame, and fair play to the lads on the team for playing so well, but I doubt interest will grow from here... despite the performance being 100 times better than the RU team in their WC last year.

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posted Nov 11, 2008

I do like the super league franchise idea though... that could help. Gathering support, both financially and in terms of attendees at games, would be a massive challenge.

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posted Nov 11, 2008

Suppose one way of generating interest could be to sign a few 'names' from either NRL or Superleague,maybe some of the guys from the Irish world cup team might be interested or convert a few union players?

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