That's a pretty convoluted argument. Rugby League is a recognised international sport. Why should anyone care what southerners think, especially considering it's in their interests to try and denigrate a rival rugby code.
Rugby is the ninth most watched sport in the world. The biggest surprise on the top ten list is cricket, which comes second.
You could probably find a list that puts synchronised swimming top if you looked hard enough, it depends on what you're measuring.
Not so surprising given its popularity in India. Though, more surprisingly, the largest crowd for a sporting event in India was for a football match.
So is lacrosse, which is more widely played. How many countries have an actual league? England, Australia, France...Any more? Gollum was wittering at the RL World Cup what a great achievement it was for all the home nations to be in the top 10 rankings. LOL. Which teams are the champions or cup winners in Scotland, Wales or Ireland. They don't have a league yet they are in the top 10 rankings. Why is it in the interests of southerners to denigrate a rival code? They have little knowledge of or interest in rugby league. Whereas a lot of northerners have an interest in RU. There will be more people in pubs watching the RU World Cup than the RL one.The crowds for the forthcoming RU Cup will show how much more nationwide interest there is in RU. It is all virtually sold out despite the scandalously high prices. The Etihad will have over 50,000 there. That for a supposedly southern sport. There will be no crowds under 8,000 like there was in the hotbed of rugby, Hull, for the RL World Cup.
City got more world wide coverage when they beat Arsenal than anything, including Cup Finals, involving the rugby clubs. The difference was brought home a few years back by the mayor of Wigan who said their first PL game against Chelsea had attracted more media attention and world wide publicity than anything in the town's history. When you look at the amount of league wins and Cup wins the rugby club had won, which dwarves the total won by both Hull clubs combined it puts into context how much national or world wide publicity the doings of our rugby clubs attract.
I said Rugby League is a recognised international sport....it is. There has always been competition for recognition between the two codes and the London-centric press and media have always favoured Union.
Irrelevant, they are both popular. and some will like both and also like football, cricket and many other sports that are popular.
It isn't a case of the press and media favouring Union. It is the case rugby union is more popular throughout England, Scotland and Wales than League. If the press and media thought there was more interest in League there would be more coverage. The media don't make money printing about or showing stuff the public don't want to read about or watch.
