Rugby league is a game primarily played in Northern England, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea as well as some Pacific islands and southern France. The game was created on 29 August 1895 at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
Northern players wanted to be paid for playing rugby union but the RFU (Rugby Football Union) wanted to keep the game as amateur. This was fine for the south yet the players up north were working class (coal miners, mill workers) and did not earn enough money to take days off work much longer, so they broke away and created the Northern Rugby Football Union.
Over the coming years rules were changed and by 1898, the game was made professional. The highest ever attended rugby game of either code was between Halifax and Warrington in the Challenge Cup Final in 1954. The attendance was 102,575.
In this article, I will give you six reasons why to watch and give rugby league a chance. It’s a very underappreciated sport and one that deserves far more publicity and money than it gets.
1) It is end to end
Rugby league is a game of attrition, honesty, brutality and skill with both the hands and feet. It’s relentless. Football (soccer) is end to end but has moments of drabness, of dreary viewing but rugby league doesn’t have this problem.
It’s a simple game on the eye and because of this, always offers excitement. The rules aren’t overly bewildering such as its brother code and with the six tackle rule, it, of course, has to be end to end. No matter if the game finishes 8-6 or 48-46, it’ll be a great game.
2) The tackles and hits
Everyone loves to see some big hits and rugby league offers that in abundance. It can’t quite rival American Football for sheer collision force at times yet with a significantly reduced amount of padding (for some players this means none at all) it’s a game you cannot help but admire the bravery of the players.
The sight of seeing one prop run the ball in at full speed, to be met by his fellow opposition props to a crushing standstill is nothing short of ruthless, merciless and compelling.
3) No scrums or lineouts
Some may enjoy a well-contested scrum but for me, rugby (whatever the code) should be about tries, breaks, big hits and therefore, exciting the paying public. Resetting scrums for five minutes and spending a minute watching the hooker dry the ball with a towel before throwing back in is dull.
Rugby union is an 80 minute game with only 30 minutes on average of actual gameplay. League averages 60 minutes of gameplay per 80. That’s twice the amount of rugby. What’s not to love?
Rugby league scrums get laughed at but they aren’t seen as a way to prove who the bigger pack is or contest for the ball, it’s just a way to restart the game with the forward pack all together. Scrums are traditional to rugby so it’s the main reason why league still uses scrums.
Lineouts are a similar issue. Seeing two big blokes lift up a lanky bloke who will then catch it and throw it down to the small bloke (scrum half) seems pointless. Just tap it and let’s get going to playing rugby.
4) Varied kicking game
Union is known to the league folk as, ‘kick and clap’ and this is due to the sometimes obscene amount of kicking that is taking place. It’s as if having the ball is a bad thing in rugby union. League, of course, involves kicking but it seems far more varied.
Grubber kicks, up and under, cross-field, chips, 40/20’s and drilled kicks are some of the different sorts that can be used. Due to the six tackle rule a team cannot just pick and go and take time and use phase after phase. They must express themselves, create an opportunity or just put their opponent under pressure.
Grubber kicking close to the line, a cross-field kick to a winger close to the line, drilling it into the corner to pin your opponent back and or to run the clock down, a 40/20 to gain territory and gain a new set of six tackles, they’re all there for a purpose.
Union, of course, has wonderful kickers but it seems limited to punting for territory or an up and under. When have you seen grubbers near the line? A cross-field kick which isn’t a guaranteed try? A cheeky kick in behind from play of the ball? It’s rare.
When it comes to goal kicking, league is weak but that can change but when it comes to kicking in play, despite what is said, league is more varied and therefore creative.
5) Excellent skills
Because rugby league is a simple game there isn’t such a requirement for specialised skills. This means that the basic, core skills of any rugby is at its highest in rugby league (NRL/State of Origin being the highest level of any rugby anywhere).
The passing, running lines, planned plays, intricate, creative kicking game, tackle rates, offloads and such are a joy to behold. Seeing an overload being perfectly exploited or seeing a wonderfully audacious, bold offload from a prop to the supporting half who then breaks the line to then draw the fullback in and pass out to the supporting player... it’s wonderful.
6) The Drama
The cinema rugby league creates is quite remarkable. Last year alone two crucial games either side of the world were decided in the last few seconds. Starting in Europe where Leeds Rhinos won the League Leaders Shield right at the death.
Leeds went on the lift the Super League Grand Final to complete a historic treble after also winning the Challenge Cup.
In Australia, an equally remarkable story unfolded in the Grand Final between Queensland rivals, the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys. The game was going to finish 16-12 to Brisbane yet on the last play North Queensland came up with some wonderful off the cuff football and scored in the corner when the clock hit 80 minutes.
Jonathan Thurston hit the post with the potentially winning conversion and it went to extra time. What happened in extra time? Ben Hunt dropped the ball from the kick off for Brisbane and Thurston ended up taking advantage and kicking a drop goal resulting in an incredible and memorable 17-16 win for North Queensland. Amazing.
