But popular where? League has a very small amount of countries where it is played seriously. How many countries even have a league competition? New Zealand, more successful in World Cups than England only have one professional club and that has to travel to Australia to compete in a league.
I'm not a rugby fan at all but I prefer union over league. However, I wish Rovers all the best today. Unlike some of the weird ****ers who support FC and Rovers as well as Liverpool or Man U, I'll never want one of my city's sports teams to lose against non-Hull opposition.
That's naïve. The southern press and media have always portrayed Rugby League as just a regional sport. I went to see a club RL match at the Sydney Cricket ground in the mid 70s in front of a huge passionate crowd. It isn't just a regional sport.
Rugby League isn't particularly a popular sport. I call bull **** in claims that its the 9th most popular sport in the world. I feel even common sense would say that that's not a true claim. It's 31st. It's not even popular in this country let alone the world.
Judging by the wording, that's lumping both codes together. As they're both codes for football, you may as well add association to that and go the whole hog. I've heard several claims about rl coverage and viewing figures. None yet have stood scrutiny. It's not that long ago it was in the same slots as table tennis, and figures have declined since.
If people like rl, fair play enjoy it. This desperate need to justify it and compare it to football, or claim it's a global sport, betrays the self doubt and reality.
Nobody is comparing Rugby League to football. If "global" is defined by every single country in the world playing it then football is probably the only truly global sport. However if global means played by countries around the world then Rugby League is a global sport.
It's generally understood that a country's national sports include those played in popular professional or regional leagues. Two kids playing table tennis doesn't constitute one of a country's national sports.
Yet they have been in the last 3 finals. And won one of them, something England haven't done. So a country with only one pro club is better than the most populous country with a league. They don't seem to have problems fielding enough teams to have competitions in the more popular code.
Rugby, for the purpose of the list, did lump both codes together (just as Hockey included both ice and field) and it was joint 9th with American Football, which is mainly watched in just one country. http://sporteology.com/top-10-popular-sports-world/ It's a popular sport in Britain, France, Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, it's nowhere near football, but it's still quite popular.
As much as I don't get Rugby League, one thing I will never understand is why Golf is so popular. I mean, as a spectator sport it truly is the most tedious, boring thing I have ever been forced to witness. And on TV it's even worse - you can't even tell what's going on. Ball silhouetted against the grass; ball silhouetted against the sky; ball silhouetted against the grass - thrilling! Yet millions seem glued to it. WHY?
