World Rugby Corporation
In retaliation for Super League, Packer launched a bid to start a rival rugby union competition. It was a similar move to Super League, a smash and grab at the games stars. The difference being that for Packer, this was a tactical move. Packer had little to no intention of having a world wide rugby union competition, but he knew Murdoch couldn't afford to lose rugby union which provided his world wide cable network with a lot of content.
This forced two things.
First, it forced Murdoch to invest a lot of money in rugby union at a time when he would have rather just focused on gaining control of League.
Second, it forced the hand of rugby union and after a 100 year battle that at times was a farce in itself, rugby union embraced professionalism.
Rugby union embraced professionalism...almost as if it had been practising for oh...100 years. Over the next few years rugby union gained a foothold in many areas of the world lead by an incredible amount of growth.
After 10 years, union has gone from a wide spread by small code of football to a very big, very powerful opponent to Rugby League. It is in direct competition for sponsorship dollars, fans, players and media attention.
The one thing that must be said is this.
You could not imagine rugby union having a better 10 year run than it has just gone through. At the same time, you can not imagine Rugby League having a worse period then it has just experienced.
Even so, League finds itself in rude health, as does union. And as union is starting to run into many of the problems that professionalism brings, League is not only regaining its feet, but it is starting to stride ahead.
I believe that one day market forces will force a merge between the codes. But unlike many I think that this will be a natural progression of both codes that both codes will accept.
Rugby union is slowly but surely evolving, just like League had. It is starting to get closer and closer to League and yet, it doesn't quite reach the masses as League has managed.
The International Effects
The effect of The Super League War was absolutely devastating on international Rugby League.
Despite the fact many countries received large amounts of money to join Super League, many millions were wasted, international competition all but stopped, any administration that was in place was completely fractured and in many cases the game ceased to be played in many countries.
In the new era of Rugby League the dollar was king. This meant that unprofitable games against Pacific Island Nations became a thing of the past.
The need for top NRL and European Super League clubs to make money and therefore play as many games as possible killed of any chances of long Tours and even warm up games against smaller nations.
During and after The Super League War, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain had to spend all of their time re-establishing the game in their own countries. A great deal of damage had been done to every level of the game and the slow job of repairing that damage took a lot of time, effort and money.
During this time other nations were neglected completely. These nations either battled on or gave up in the face of other opposition sports that were going through a period of growth of their own.
Posted by League Freak
on July 16 2006 03:53:48·
0 Comments ·
1405 Reads ·
League Freak 01/08/2010 04:11 Ridiculously, it all resets after every World Cup. Or the WC doesn't count. One of the two.
fazerino 30/07/2010 06:46 Ref Willie Manu. Didn't Hayne play for Fiji in 2008 WC then tour with the Kangaroos 2009??
League Freak 21/07/2010 03:27 Solid buys. Finch is a handy play maker, Lima a good prop. Hoffman has had injury probs though.
wiz66 20/07/2010 22:34 Lima, Hoffman and Finch signed for Wigan next season back with Mcquire good buys or not
League Freak 03/04/2010 04:05 People like you keep my fires burning. That and the Deep Heat I rub into my genitals.
john 02/04/2010 15:12 very funny,you nearly had me, keep up the garbage you prick
League Freak 01/04/2010 01:39 Hes not bad. Good mobility, gets stuck in. Doesn't mind playing in the middle of the field, unlike Gareth Ellis!
wiz66 31/03/2010 23:29 Freak - Have you seen and what do you make of young Flanagan that signed for the West Tigers from Wigan at the end of last year
League Freak 06/11/2009 02:13 Rich backers, the exchange rate and relaxed salary cap monitoring.
fazerino 06/11/2009 01:03 Fair enough, so why does SuperLeague have more cash than NRL? (if it's only played in grotty Northern towns in England?)
League Freak 03/11/2009 23:21 A Nation Comp means a bigger TV deal and bigger sponsorships. The NRL's deals are smaller because they don't have the national reach on a weekly basis.
fazerino 03/11/2009 07:24 Freak- why does AFL have more cash to lure players from league when there is absolutely no international scene?
League Freak 06/10/2009 22:14 To be honest all I know about him is that he is an assistant coach at Melbourne. He should be pretty good though.
wiz66 06/10/2009 15:28 Freak - what is the form of Micheal Mcguire who is supposed to be coming to replace Noble at Wigan as coach
League Freak 12/08/2009 13:09 You know, they can blame Smith all they want, they are just playing dumb, soft football.
NEWCASTLE 09/08/2009 21:58 I dont want to talk about how awful the knights have been playing lately its like they have lost all hope
League Freak 26/07/2009 22:29 Saw a bit of him against Leeds, he played well!
wiz66 26/07/2009 18:28 Seems Kris Rads has been coaching his full back play at Wigan to great effect
wiz66 26/07/2009 18:26 Cameron Phelps is turning into one of the best imports in SL at the moment
NEWCASTLE 22/07/2009 11:02 I bet newcastle are gonig fall back to their old culture next year.
1. South East Queensland 2. Gosford/North Sydney 3. New Zealand 4. Perth 5. Central Queensland 6. Adelaide 7. Papua New Guinea
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. However, if you feel any material on this website is copyrighted or incorrect in any way please contact us on leaguefreak@hotmail.com so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission.
RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, the RLSA (Rugby League Supporters Association) or the 100% League Network are not responsible for the content of its sub-sites, please email the author of this sub-site if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.
Email RLFANS.COM's owners admins@rlfans.com if further assistance is required.
1999-2010 RLFANS.COM
http:www.leaguefreak.com is owned and operated by The King Of The Internet: League Freak
League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak, League Freak,
Posted by 
