Any Rugby League fans out there...?

[SteCenturion]

My team, Leigh Centurions play Leeds Rhinos tonight in the Challenge Cup Quarter Finals & although I know we will get tatered I am super excited...

this got me to thinking if there are any other R.L fans in CC Towers.

As a Mancunian & if I were sticking to the support your home town team mantra, I suppose I should be supporting Salford or Swinton but until I moved to Leigh aged 11 I only knew football (Man Utd fan).

Tonight then my beloved Centurions are on the telly box, LIVE & in HD having won 16 straight games (sorry can't get rid of bold type on phone) - Unbeaten all season ('least until tonight).

Who do you support ?

How are they doing ??

 

[vernon]

Shouldn't this be merged with the football thread?

 

[SteCenturion]

Shouldn't this be merged with the football thread?

I don't know Vernon really.
It's a very different sport.

Might require a specific thread although it's quite a regional sport & may not have many followers.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

@vernon could be right, after all it was back in the eighteenth century that a pastry discussion group was merged with a pork and jelly debating society, the rest is history - think of the possibilities. Or maybe not.

 

[vernon]

I don't know Vernon really.
It's a very different sport.

Might require a specific thread although it's quite a regional sport & may not have many followers.

Ask both of them.

 

[SteCenturion]

Ask both of them.

Or the other One.

 

[nickyboy]

I am a general RL fan in that it is a much better spectator sport than RU (having being a RU player for years).

I have a soft spot for Leigh having had a mate (sadly passed away) who was a mad Leigh fan and lived in Henrietta St in Leigh

 

[Yellow Fang]

No, I keep thinking I should give it a chance, although I didn't approve of all the silly name changes. Do they allow half the players to be substituted like in Union?

 

[SteCenturion]

Really close to the old Hilton Park ground your friend lived, sorry to hear about your friend.

You are bob on that it is the better of the 2 codes of rugby.

I had to switch to playing R.U when I joined up as there were no R.A.F R.L teams then, it just wasn't played.

Thankfully I played in the very 1st R.A.F R.L team which came in a few years before I left.

What I love about RL (I love football too) but RL more is that you can go to a ground in our league & stand next to a speccy from another club & share banter without any possibility of fisticuffs breaking out (apart from Wigan, Widnes & Leeds) where segregation is necessary.

You can also travel,watch match & have a few scoops each for under £60 a couple.

Add to that you are guaranteed to see tries & that players don't fall over like they have been shot with an Elephant gun as soon as another looks at them & I think it's a winner, over football at least.

 

[SteCenturion]

No, I keep thinking I should give it a chance, although I didn't approve of all the silly name changes. Do they allow half the players to be substituted like in Union?

8 interchanges per team in duration of match, so if you use 5 in the 1st half then 3 left for 2nd etc.

It's a tough, tough game @Yellow Fang & of recent years the RFU have been busting a gut & big £££ to get the best RL players to switch.

Even the England coaches have been ex RL stars.

Just had a quick butchers & seen that you are down Reading way.

Unfortunately the London Broncos are not doing very well at all so to go watch them might not be the best advert, but the Challenge Cup is coming to Wembly.

The best time to go would be for the Magic Weekend where every team plays over the 2 days & normally they are all or nearly all derby matches, it's a great weekend.

So far the Magic Weekend has been played at Cardiff, Edinburgh & Manchester & may well return to London soon.

Give it a shot if you have spare time, it's bone crunching, high adrenaline stuff.

 

[RedRider]

What I love about RL (I love football too) but RL more is that you can go to a ground in our league & stand next to a speccy from another club & share banter without any possibility of fisticuffs breaking out (apart from Wigan, Widnes & Leeds) where segregation is necessary.

Widnes 'supporter' here (Ok, I've been about three games in the last 20 years). There was usually fisticuffs when Warrington came to town but this was 20-30 years ago. Don't know about now.

 

[SteCenturion]

Widnes 'supporter' here (Ok, I've been about three games in the last 20 years). There was usually fisticuffs when Warrington came to town but this was 20-30 years ago. Don't know about now.

Widnes have come a long way over recent years what with a wealthy new backer & much improved side as well as returning to Super League as you know.

A small minority of their fans have got the club into trouble this year, fighting & ripping up seats etc but their genuine fans are very knowledgeable & respectful.

I listed Wigan & Widnes as matches that are segregated as they are really hostile matches with very fierce rivalries with Leigh.
The Leeds inclusion is because they have a much larger section of (we will call them followers) who are not really rugby fans but Leeds Utd fans who attend purely for fighting, causing a ruck, they also attend some Featherstone matches but are not really fans.

Widnes are through to the Challenge Cup SF after trouncing Keighly (Championship opposition) last night.

 

[RedRider]

Widnes have come a long way over recent years what with a wealthy new backer & much improved side as well as returning to Super League as you know.

A small minority of their fans have got the club into trouble this year, fighting & ripping up seats etc but their genuine fans are very knowledgeable & respectful.

I listed Wigan & Widnes as matches that are segregated as they are really hostile matches with very fierce rivalries with Leigh.
The Leeds inclusion is because they have a much larger section of (we will call them followers) who are not really rugby fans but Leeds Utd fans who attend purely for fighting, causing a ruck, they also attend some Featherstone matches but are not really fans.

Widnes are through to the Challenge Cup SF after trouncing Keighly (Championship opposition) last night.

There's a pic of me somewhere holding the Challenge Cup (with black and white ribbons) in a schoolmate's house - her dad played for Widnes. One of the things I liked about Rugby League as opposed to football (having moved from Liverpool as a teen and being a big Reds fan) was how the players were not so distant from the supporters which I guess was about salaries being not that different from a bloke who drives a fork lift truck for a living (say).
I still get my fix when I visit my partners family who're all West Yorks Dewsbury/Leeds/Bradford etc supporters.

 

[davdandy]

I`m a Leyhter,born bred and most likely die there,even though i live in Lowton (the Poplars) i still call it Leigh.Sad to say though i do not follow rugby,my dad however was a massive fan and lived for the game,but it just didn't rub off on me.I quite like the game but it just never `grabbed` me as it should have.But i always give the town my fullest support and hope they knock seven bells out of every opposition they come against.
Maybe i should pop down one day and give it a shot to see if the game `grabs` me.The last time i watched a game was with my dad about 40 years ago.

 

[MarkF]

What I love about RL (I love football too) but RL more is that you can go to a ground in our league & stand next to a speccy from another club & share banter without any possibility of fisticuffs breaking out (apart from Wigan, Widnes & Leeds) where segregation is necessary.

I go to 50% of Bradford City's away games and often sit/stand in the "home " end, never have a problem.

I like RL, a bit, enough to give me reason to diss RU which I don't like at all. I've switched allegiance from the Bulls to Keighley, the latter I can cycle to in 40 mins, the former I just got fed up of and won't see again until they do something sensible for once, move to Valley Parade.