I’m not sure if there are many International Rugby League fans in this forum but on the off chance there is I have created this thread.

With the rugby league world cup proving to be a success last year (making $AU 5million) international rugby league has flourished. With three major tournaments coming up this year and a probable Atlantic cup involving Jamaica, USA, Japan and probably South Africa) the game is looking healthy. All three of these tournaments promise to be great competitions with most teams on fairly even par;

The Pacific nations- involving PNG, Fiji, Tonga, and the winner of Samoa v cook islands (to be played in Queensland) will take place in Papua New Guinea. (PNG). PNG are favourites to take out this tournament although Fiji aren’t far behind and along with the other teams will give them a great run for their money. The winner of this tournament will gain entry to the 2010 four nations tournament involving Australia, NZ and England to be staged in the southern hemisphere.

The European Nations- This is the tournament I am most looking forward to. It involves Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Serbia, Russia and Lebanon. I tip Wales to take out this tournament despite them missing out on a place in the 2008 world cup. The existence of a super league team is a huge advantage. There is fairly even competition across the board in this tournament with Serbia the only one tipped to struggle. It will be staged in various countries with the final to be played in bridgend Wales

Four Nations- This is the money making tournament. Involving Australia, New Zealand, England and newcomers France it promises to draw great crowds and draw a decent profit (hopefully used to promote the game in up and coming countries) As usual Australia are heavy favourites. Both world champions NZ (as shown in the past) and England hold a chance of taking it out though. France is somewhat of an unknown.

Other smaller low profile competitions will take place such as the Euro Bowl and the Mediterranean Cup.

PNG

I guess your optimism should be admired but there is such a thing as reality. Its time for RL to wake up if it is to survive. stop chasing fantasies and protect the little it has got.

If a rugby league world cup included criteria such as at leats 1% of a population should have at least heard of the sport, the tournament would be even more crippled.. Thats clearly not a requirement, of course, but how little does a cup then matter. RL ought to focus on saving its club-game if thats not too late.

RL in europe is seriously struggling. The club game is frankly hovering just above sustainabilty as a pro-game. Crowds are down, while they are up everywhere in RU. The growth in RU includes a rapidly increasing salary cap, making it unlikely RL can hold onto even a fraction of its young talent in the future.
RL ought to consider going semi-pro but at the very least should be careful about emphasing an international game, when it cant realistically hold onto its new talent.

Rugby league doesnt claim to have a huge international presence in Europe or wherever you want to mention. The Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) works extremely hard in the work that they do and it will still be quite a while before they gain the foothold that union has. theyre not arragant enough to claim theyre bigger than what they are. i'd be suprised if union has more than 1% of the population thats is intereted in it.

Union is the national sport in France. It is more popular than football.

as i said, i dont pretend to think that league is massive in europe. i simply opened up a thread because league is played in other countries and there wasnt a thread for it.

Everything you write about RL in Europe can be reversed and written about RU in Australia. Its struggling big time here. RL will always maintain that niche market though in Europe as will Union in Australia.

There's nothing wrong with expanding your international competition if you have the money, which the RLIF have at the moment.

I am relly looking forward to the Barbarians game at the SFS in June...it should be a massive crowd and it will be interesting to see how SBW will go.

I'll freely admit I haven't done any research on this, but I do find it hard to believe that rugby is bigger than soccer in France.

I know that in the Toulose region this may be the case.. but I doubt it elsewhere.

Actually it is the No 2 sport but it is No 1 in nearly all the southern half of France. There are over 1700 clubs and 200,000 players.

its definately not bigger than football redback_original. rugby has made great progress in the past decade to expand their game internationally. however the fact that a nation outside of SANZAR and england is yet to win it shows it still has quite a way to come. not quite as far as league but i have respect for both games. League lacks the funds but has made progress beyond expectation since the invention of the RLEF in 2003. the RLIF really lets the game down as ot is filled with the same careerists that run the NRL.
the barbarians game will be fantastic! perfect choice of stadium for it aswell. what a weekend , state of origin and barbarians!

So do we agree that soccer is the national football code in France?

definately

RL is not struggling in Europe. Swede's comments need to be balanced with a bit of reality. SL is moving along bloody well with clubs in Wales and France now present in the competition. In England, SL matches regularly outrate Guinness Premiership matches on Sky.

At the same time keith, many of these frontier competitions need to be seen for what they are. These places are a long way off being even semi-professional AND because they are new, they remain very fragile. If just one or two people stepped away in certain frontier countries, the game would collapse there.

I have no delusions of grandeur about the "global" presence of RL. At the same time, why would you stop anyone playing a sport they want to play? That's why comments like swede's "RL ought to consider going semi-pro but at the very least should be careful about emphasing an international game, when it cant realistically hold onto its new talent."

Leaving aside the fact his years of prophecies have amounted to little in the way of defections, not everything should be geared to professional internationals.

Yes. But France has won the Five/Six Nations trophy 24 times in the 77 years it has contested it so its Rugby is very strong.