Discussion: League and/or Union... Print
Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:00

Lars Solem, (Fredrikstad RK) launched a discussion about Rugby League and Rugby Union. Give your opinion on this topic...

Currently, we have a small Rugby Union and an even smaller Rugby League society in Norway. What’s your opinion about these two codes of rugby, are there room for both in Norway, or will there be a fight for players and resources in the future damaging either or both of them? Will a club benefit of running both activities, or will they be better off focusing on just one?

At first, I thought it was ok for my players to join league trainings and games, since I thought league trainings would just be positive for my union players. But I’ve talked to others later which claim they would be better players by focusing on just Union.

I guess one of the reasons some players wants to play both is because of the number of activities at senior level in Norway. They just want to have more games. At junior level, this can be a problem in near future since we already got activities almost every weekend. Should I be concerned?.

Lars Solem.

 

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 September 2010 17:32
 

Comments 

 
-2 #1 Vincent Bouchet 2010-08-19 18:13
League and Union ate two complete different sport with different rules. I think we can imagine that League and Union are like volley-ball and football, same ball shape/size but completely different. Some people prefer League, others Union but very few like both.

Moreover, tackles and contact are much more "violent" in League than in Union, what can lead to some dangerous attitude regarding Union laws while playing Union afterwards.

Then considering the rugby situation in Norway, so far we didn't have any conflict (what I mean is damage cause by the development/activity of one of these sport to the other one), but it is something to consider in a near future as Union with the NRF is setting up an ambitious development plan, and I'm guessing the NRL should be quite motivated after this season League games.
 
 
+2 #2 Thomas Bichard-Bréaud 2010-08-20 11:04
I think no one can decide wether a sport has the right to exist or not. It is up to people to choose their sport. Nonetheless, it could be very helpfull for both sports that NRF og NRL work together to establish a planning that could allow both sports to exist at the same time as Norway has not that much rugby players yet!
 
 
+4 #3 Thomas Ward 2010-08-25 17:30
Rugby league is, more or less, a simplified version of union, making it quite easy to understand and is very entertaining to watch. Union is a bit complicated to understand if you know nothing about the game. It has a lot of rules, some I still don't know and believe that the refs make them up as they go along.

I personally think league would probably be more popular in getting more of a following, especially getting more Norwegians interested. It’s full of big hits, good hand skills and great running lines. All the things we like to see in rugby and being simplistic enough for any new spectator to quickly grasp the concept of the game, instead looking at a mound of bodies on the floor fighting for the ball.
 
 
0 #4 Thomas Ward 2010-08-25 17:30
Rugby’s rugby at the end of the day. I can see how the two codes could help each other out. League has had interest from union players am sure people who have only played league might be interested in union. I think having both codes will help widen interest in whole rather than just having one code. You will always have people who prefer one to the other and people who like both games.

There is also tag rugby which hasn’t really been advertised, as I know there’s a team in Stavanger that play regularly amongst themselves, we got a few players because of them. It’s another path to making rugby more popular. It’s just as competitive and is enjoyed by all ages. Am sure there are a few people who use to play but don’t fancy taking hits anymore, not every one likes getting smashed up. I think there should be at least one tournament in the year as I think this would bring more awareness.
 
 
0 #5 Thomas Ward 2010-08-25 17:31
developing both codes if not all areas of interest are met.
Being a country with a population of only around 8 million, you will struggle any hows with I might have gone off the subject a little bit, but its good to get a good rant out.
 
 
0 #6 Pierre Bonnet 2010-08-25 19:08
Regarding the way the rugby Union is managed at the moment, I understand where the worries come from.
I truly wish a bright future to both Rugby League and Rugby Union, and if there should be only one for any reason, then the other will have done something wrong.

I believe that the success of a sport has nothing to do with the sport itself, but with its organisation, its efficiency and what it has to offer in terms of personal satisfaction. So if one of the two fails to survive, it can only blame itself. Making the other responsible would be to refuse to acknowledge ones own failure.

Now, in an ideal world, and considering the number of rugby matches played in Norway today, I guess that the two could plan their schedule together and satisfy people willing to play both.
 
 
-1 #7 Lars Solem 2011-01-11 20:52
From the 2011 Fixtures from Union and League, there are lots of games on the same dates. I heard this has been agreed by NRF and NRL to make these games use the same facilities where possible.
My concern now is that many players want to play both, and they can't possibly do any of the games 100% because of the other on the same day. This can't be good for the future of these sports.

If we can't find enough weekends for all games during summer, I suggest moving some rugby league games to the winter season. This might seem strange in a country like Norway, but all the bigger cities got indoor pitches, and I think rugby league is better suited for artificial grass than rugby union.

Just my thoughts..
 

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