[cybereye (Mario)]

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel....

I was going to let your thoughts pass by with my previous post but I thought I should point out some of your misconceptions regarding the games of Rugby League and Rugby Union....

Originally Posted by danielsun

Oh Boy.. Here we go.....
The game of Rugby can only dream of of getting the sort of crowds that AFL get. A standard AFL home and away match of even the lower teams will pull more than what a rugby grand final ever will.

This one's easy... the crowd for the 2012 NRL Grand Final was 82,976 while the average GWS crowd for 2012 was 15,903. There goes that argument - however this was not the biggest League/Union crowd at Sydney's Olympic stadium. That was a Rugby Union Bledisloe Cup game - that's an international game played by two different countries (Australia and New Zealand) who play the same rules in their local comps - which had a crowd of 109,874. The largest AFL crowd was the 1970 Grand Final which had a crowd of 121,696. However there were standing room areas available at the MCG while it was seating only at the NRL GF and the 2000 Bledisloe Cup.

As for the skill.. well in rugby there is no skill needed! You just have to be big, run and throw the ball backwards and get your head ripped off by what you guys call a tackle!! Thats all!! Where is the action????

Some of the greatest players in both Rugby League and Union have been on the smaller side. An icon of Rugby League is Clive Churchill who played during the 50's and was 5'9" high and weighed 76kg. Perhaps the greatest player ever to play both codes, Dally Messenger, was 5'8" and weighed 79kg. Tommy Raudonikis - 5'7", 73kg. But what about current players? Try Matt Bowen - 5'9", 84kg. Matt Utai who plays for Wests Tigers is only 5'6" tall. So you don't need to be big to play Rugby League...

Higher intelligence....rugby???!! really???!!

Intelligence? I'm not sure how I argue this one... maybe I should consider these players... Dr. George Peponis, Dr. Nathan Gibbs (so smart that he's the Sydney Swans' doctor as well!), Fr. John Cootes - these are just from memory... Having played Rugby Union, I can tell you that you need a Ph.D to understand the rules. They have a rule for any and every eventuality and even some more to cover anything else! I'm not a big fan of referees but have to admire the Union ones!!

In AFL There is action and excitement every minute. Great marks, great goals, tackles and takes skill to hand pass the ball ( not throw it! ) and kick the ball properly and also have to be able to kick and hand pass both feet and hands.

Should you ever get a chance, try "passing" the ball. You'll find it's a lot more accurate when done properly than either "throwing" or "hand passing" it. And nothing can change a game so quickly as a perfectly executed flick-pass. How about I send you a copy of the 2005 Grand Final when Benji Marshall flick-passed the ball to Pat Richards leaving Matty Bowen clutching at fresh air. I'd like to see someone do that on an Aussie Rules ground... In fact here's a link to the pass in question

You must be the complete athlete to play AFL.

Hence the excessive money paid to Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau to switch codes.

I laugh when I see rugby players try to kick the ball, absolutely clueless!

Rugby League: Johnny Peard, Mal Meninga, Eric Simms, Keith Barnes, Hazim El-Masri...
Rugby Union: Morne Steyne, Matt Giteau, Johnny Wilkinson, Dan Carter...

Also the fact that AFL is clearly taking over your beloved rugby states is also great to see and also pulling more crowds than your own game is even better.

751,000 people watched last year's NRL Grand Final on TV in Melbourne. 740,000 watched the AFL Grand Final on TV in Sydney. Which code is taking over which?!

Rugby is dying a slow death and being such a skilless game of thuggery, the sooner the better.

Is this the best spot to mention Barry Hall?

Well this is sure to get the thread locked now but hey... you guys started it.: lol:

At least we can agree on all matters astronomical!!

Cheers,
Mario