Is it time for Rugby League to change its name?

[Dan]

One thing that has been even more highlighted for me since living abroad is how hard it is to explain to people that I don't really watch much Rugby but instead prefer Rugby League.

Then they just look confused and think it is the same thing, so i have to explain over and over again that they share the same sort of field, a fairly similar ball and a few general aspects but are completely different games with different rules and different dynamics.

It gets a little tiring, and irksome especially around Americans who just wont get it.

I think its time that Rugby League went about changing its name, sure they have tried in general competition to call it the NRL, and Super League. However they are very localised and not really dynamic enough to explain the sport as a whole. I think there would be great benefit in its ability to market itself on a global scale and stand out from its links to Rugby. It opens up a marketing opportunity and immediately differentiates itself from Rugby in general.

Now I don't know what that name should be, Whether just "League" is enough, though it does seem to work, there is some creative work that could be done.

Just an expats musings but I think worth considering if they want to grow the game beyond its current walls, rather than look at internal expansion and larger stadium, they could easily look at a wider scale simply by changing its name!

 

[Deleted member 26876]

Nah i don't think so, although i do agree that it is annoying having it being called 'rugby' by others.

 

[Lyonstomenzies]

My son called it Manlyball till he was 4.
I vote for that.

 

[ManlyMatt]

with all the new rules brought in by Gallop, Smith and Greenburg I reckon we should call it sterileball.

 

[robbiea]

Good luck Dan if you can manage to get someone to understand.The rugbies are all the same to most who aren't in the know.You can see people don't give a #### as you try to explain the different aspects.Most Canadians think they know Rugby League because they spent two periods learning Rugby in highschool..

 

[manlyfan76]

with all the new rules brought in by Gallop, Smith and Greenburg I reckon we should call it sterileball.

Touchfooty

 

[Harvies elbow]

My son just went to Japan to stay with a local girl and her family and I sent a bunch of Manly caps to give out and to avoid confusion between rugby I said just call it nrl.
Sorta worked.

 

[Pablo]

The Smith Cronk Thurston League.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Petticoat League ( the way it's going).

 

[Pablo]

The sport formally known as

 

[Loaded dog]

Even the Victorians call it rugby. But that stems from the "kick and giggle" fixation that 99.9 % Of them have...
( I will watch the Swannies win tomorrow, however)

If the NRL can't educate our own countrymen as to the difference between the two "RUGBY's" what hope is there?

 

[Shoe1]

We're talking about football right?

 

[Little Grubber Kick]

Even the Victorians call it rugby. But that stems from the "kick and giggle" fixation that 99.9 % Of them have...
( I will watch the Swannies win tomorrow, however)

If the NRL can't educate our own countrymen as to the difference between the two "RUGBY's" what hope is there?

Once upon a time you could at least say that Rugby was the version where no one knew the rules.....but they fixed that.

 

[wedgetail eagle]

Even the Victorians call it rugby. But that stems from the "kick and giggle" fixation that 99.9 % Of them have...
( I will watch the Swannies win tomorrow, however)

If the NRL can't educate our own countrymen as to the difference between the two "RUGBY's" what hope is there?

Some years ago, an AFL mate asked, why doesn't Wally Lewis get picked for the Wallabies?
Also, AFL people will refer to the 2 games as Footy or Rugby. (AFL or NRL)

 

[KOMORI]

Valid points Dan...

We had a similar argument on the old "Silverhammers" forum back in 1906, regarding the naming similarities between Cricket and Croquet. There were some ill mannered chaps that had trouble discerning betwixt the two, and foresaw that the general decline of the English language would lead to the two being mislabeled and one or the other facing a decline as a result.

The then general manager of Croquet Australia (coincidentally a bald man by the name of Tom Greenice, but with truly magnificent mustaches) argued quite convincingly that the two games had a "distinctly unique flavor" and "going forward would ne'r be competing against each other, given the intrinsic differences of the two sports". He felt that the technical difficulties of croquet and its appeal to the gentry would see it gain great popularity amongst the...err...populace and that cricket would fade into irrelevance soon enough.

He was so very wrong, and died not long after Max Walker (RIP) declared in the opening credits to the original Wide World of Sports show "and for all you croquet fans, we've got f*ck all as usual"..

RIP Tom Greenice, a man of magnificent mustaches, a man who championed the cause of the chrome dome, a man of vision who, unfortunately, saw the wrong bloody thing...

 

[Bearfax]

I think your first suggestion is the best. Call it just LEAGUE. Call the players leaguers. If the word is used by itself long enough, it will be become the accepted norm. I mean where did 'Soccer' come from. "Rugby' was just a town. The words meant nothing until they became associated with a particular game. Now everyone knows what it means. Say LEAGUE enough without the Rugby appendage and in time people will understand the difference.

 

[globaleagle]

As robbie said, tis the same in Canada...maybe not as bad when you explain the difference.

Canada has both union and league organisations. Union is the more popular.

Actually, Union is predominately a game for the girls in schools here.

If anyone cares when I'm talking to them I usually say that league is like american football where play stops when you get tackled, union the ball generally gets recycled, league is more brutal than union...league is probably the most brutal team sport in the world.

then arguments follow as they usually think (ice) hockey is.

As for calling it something different, not a bad idea, but what? (seriously)

'League?' Trouble is league is also a kind of generic name: baseball league, basketball league....dodgeball league, etc!

I reckon actually trying harder to grow the sport in other countries to raise awareness....but that'd mean the nrl would not able to be run like an amateurish, incompetent, tribal self servers.

So I doubt it.

Go Manly!

 

[Rex]

I think your first suggestion is the best. Call it just LEAGUE. Call the players leaguers. If the word is used by itself long enough, it will be become the accepted norm. I mean where did 'Soccer' come from. "Rugby' was just a town. The words meant nothing until they became associated with a particular game. Now everyone knows what it means. Say LEAGUE enough without the Rugby appendage and in time people will understand the difference.

League is functional for now. But maybe something more contemporary and evocative of power, like thunder.

Thorball

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

"Rugby League" as it was (till say 1996), is still played: but just not on TV. Specifically its played in country NSW and Qld, in the PNG, Fiji.

It is not played in the current television run and televised 'sport' now known as the NRL competition. That is a completely different, er 'new' game.
This sport is such a highly contrived, fu**ed about thing that it bears little relation to the sport it has originally evolved from. Ofcourse, evolution is a step by step progression. But enough is enough.
Yes I am in favour of re-naming the current NRL played code to a more suitable name: eg
"Checchin's folly", "Toddies Touch", "Judiciary Jokers Code"
"Newscorp Tonight cavort"

 

[MadMarcus]

The sport formally known as

The television product formerly known as a sport...