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A bit of mungo bashing
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Karl
Bill McLean (32)
Ok. Given that Vichy is a term used in association with France to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis Powers from July 1940 to August 1944, I am struggling with the reference to vichyball. Is it some hint that Rugby is illegitimate? Disloyal to some higher power or ideal? The Merkin thing made sense but this vichyball thing is too opaque for me.
Hang on. Just found this article http://www.rugby365.com/news/773654.htm posted here http://leaguefreak.createforumhosting.com/vichyball-violence-drives-player-away-t2240.html. Maybe its a reference to French Rugby in particular, but that doesn't explain it's wider use to describe Rugby in general.
Anyway, nevermind. OCD moment over.
And if a Mungoballer wrote an article as literate and witty as the one that has your panties in a twist Mr ParraEELsNRL, I would laugh and be impressed, if slightly incredulous as to the originality of the authorship. The vitriolic reaction you guys had sort of confirms one of the main points in the article about how ridiculously seriously you guys take yourselves.
It's like what I imagine watching a Radical Muslim Cleric reading The Satanic Verses II, the Illustrated Edition, would be like.
Swat
Chilla Wilson (44)
Welcome... Glad to see you've found an appropriate forum for intellectual discussion on our beloved games... although inferring what we would all do seems a bit pretentious... maybe try not to pick a fight with randoms over an article you dislike and rather talk like grown ups...
Schadenfreude
John Solomon (38)
I think the thread you are looking for is here: http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/co...t-get-up-my-nose-about-rugby-these-days.9972/
Plenty of hints in there if you want to write one.
Jnor
Peter Fenwicke (45)
I recall something about the Vichy government banning mungo while they were in power, and leaving rugby as it was. Presumably this is why mungo is now not the wildly popular world game it might have been.
Great article by Paul Pottinger, I love how all the reaction has assumed that he was a rugby fan too. Supreme trolling.
Great article by Paul Pottinger, I love how all the reaction has assumed that he was a rugby fan too. Supreme trolling.
Bowside
Peter Johnson (47)
I think they banned professional sports, not rugby league in particular.
WorkingClassRugger
David Codey (61)
Bingo. Unfortunately, you cannot get this through to League fundamentalist who are insistent it was a Rugby conspiracy. Furthermore, if you go further they'll detail how Rugby sided with the Nazi's while completely overlooking the inconvenient fact that the Nazi Party actually banned Rugby prior to the War. They all overlook the fact that French RL was still quite strong in the post war period through to the 60s. League only really grew in France after their national Rugby team were banned from competing against the the home nations and unsurprisingly reverted right back after that ban was lifted.
AngrySeahorse
Peter Sullivan (51)
Probably should ignore but I'll bite regardless, gotta shake out the webs for 2012.
I remember when Trent Barrett commented on league players going over to Union as a raid on league & that leagues retaliation was warranted because quote "Union started this". The answer I thought at the time was one of "No, Mr Barrett your mob started it when it came into being, started professionalism with player payments then raided the sport of rugby to your own advantage with no remorse". Historically thats what happened, its there for all to see. I point this out because ParraEElsNRL, you, like Barrett & many other league fans I talk to seem to suffer from having the memory of a goldfish, approx 5sec I believe.
In all honesty what planet have you been on? "Mungoballers" have been denigrating Rugby in news articles & across all forms of media for years. I've lost count how many times league players have bagged Rugby on talk shows, in articles that may not have had anything to do with Rugby in the first place, & lastly during in game commentary they sometimes put the boot in. This isnt even going into the constant idiotic remarks from league supporters on just about every Rugby article on the daily telegraph. Then you have league supporters bagging out Rugby supporters as elitist & upper class even in the face of direct evidence against this, such as the local Newcastle Rugby comp where most players are indeed working class or poor uni student. I even know some Rugby guys that work on construction sites that still get labelled as upper class (& not even as a joke but serious) by league supporter work mates despite the fact that they are right there doing the same job & living within the same socio-economic status. Thankfully I, like others, have got used to this behaviour or in really bad instances have acquired the skill of selective attention. If the Paul Pottinger article upsets you then, well mate cry me a river.
I still occasionally watch league as I like to punt on it sometimes & still think it has better pathways to engage country players but I dont watch it anywhere near as much like I did when I was growing up. My amount of league to union watching was about 60:40 in favour of league but I'm def more Rugby orientated now - the Paul Pottinger article simply outlined a lot of truths to how many people are feeling about league.
waratahjesus
Greg Davis (50)
Alright, I've been I'll today and I would like to thank e online rugby league community for keeping me entertained.
The day started with an opinion piece and seems to have gone as follows.
Personnal attacks on the man that wrote it
Attacks on news LTD
Attacks on RL management
Attacks on each other
Attacks on rugby union
Attacks on afl
Attacks on guy who wrote it again
And in this it's eleventh hour, it turns to my favorite part of any bashing. Conspiracy theories
Seems the telegraph has commissioned this piece and masterminded it's outrage as to place a black name next to rugby league, why you ask. Well according to RL fans in the know the telegraph is sydneys largest paper due to it being targeted for rugby league fans. Now, they sell less papers during the off season because there is of course no rugby league. Therefore they need to do something to keep it in the headlines, usually this is player behaviour problems etc, things that put a black mark against RL name. But wait, why do they want to give RL a bad name if it's the reason there the number one paper. Well easy, news LTD owns the telegraph and also foxtel and RL is up for a new TV rights deal, so by publishing this stuff it apparently makes the game of RL less valuable that saves them money in the contract negotiations and they go home happy. Far fetched you say, not RL fans as accurately pointed out, they tapped phones or have we forgotten the news of the world scandal.
But the greatest moment of the day goes to a reply on the LU forums that point out that rugby league should be cheered for playing during the war. After all he remarks, what's wrong with sending less men to war and bringing joy and entertainment to the country. What's wrong with it indeed.
The day started with an opinion piece and seems to have gone as follows.
Personnal attacks on the man that wrote it
Attacks on news LTD
Attacks on RL management
Attacks on each other
Attacks on rugby union
Attacks on afl
Attacks on guy who wrote it again
And in this it's eleventh hour, it turns to my favorite part of any bashing. Conspiracy theories
Seems the telegraph has commissioned this piece and masterminded it's outrage as to place a black name next to rugby league, why you ask. Well according to RL fans in the know the telegraph is sydneys largest paper due to it being targeted for rugby league fans. Now, they sell less papers during the off season because there is of course no rugby league. Therefore they need to do something to keep it in the headlines, usually this is player behaviour problems etc, things that put a black mark against RL name. But wait, why do they want to give RL a bad name if it's the reason there the number one paper. Well easy, news LTD owns the telegraph and also foxtel and RL is up for a new TV rights deal, so by publishing this stuff it apparently makes the game of RL less valuable that saves them money in the contract negotiations and they go home happy. Far fetched you say, not RL fans as accurately pointed out, they tapped phones or have we forgotten the news of the world scandal.
But the greatest moment of the day goes to a reply on the LU forums that point out that rugby league should be cheered for playing during the war. After all he remarks, what's wrong with sending less men to war and bringing joy and entertainment to the country. What's wrong with it indeed.
Swat
Chilla Wilson (44)
Totally agree with everything you said Angry but the above section got me thinking. As a youngster all I ever was exposed to was league and it wasn't until my older brother took up union that I paid it any attention. It was only through personal exposure to the game that I came to realise how brilliant it actually is. I think that if many league people gave themselves enough time to get acquainted with the game they would come to enjoy it. I'm not necessarily going to presume that they would like it more or less than league but that they should at least give it the benefit of the doubt enough to learn more about it. I don't know how many strictly league followers I've heard say that they don't watch union because they don't understand it, or it's too hard to follow and yet I don't know a single pro-union person who doesn't understand the rules of league. Surely this would be enough to make anyone curious enough to find out more. By being ingrained through the media this mentality of league vs union many league followers are excluding themselves from great potential enjoyment. To me it all sounds a bit silly but it does reflect the influence the media can have on the uninformed. As I saw on a brilliant bumper sticker the other day "is that the truth or did Alan Jones tell you that?"
p.Tah
John Thornett (49)
Pretty similar to my expereince. I grew up in Sydney's West and all I wanted to do was to play for the Eels. Through circumstance I came into rugby and now I can't get enough of it.
Agree, there are those that don't like Union and that's fine, but I think there is a proportion who don't want to like it and look for reasons not to, but who cares, that's their loss.
Badger
Bill McLean (32)
Yeah, like some of the other G&GRs, I followed league pretty much until the Super League saga and got jack of all the subsequent dramas. My interest in union was raised when I watched the Sydney Bledisloe Cup game in 2000 which the ABs won 39-35. I thought how good was that? Since then, I am happy to watch any rugby match that I come across. I love the intricacies of the game. Nowadays, I struggle to watch 10 minutes of league. 5 tackles...kick to the opposition. Then repeat.
It would be interesting to note how many league fans who bag rugby have actually watched a game or have they based their perceptions on what they hear from people and/or the media.
It would be interesting to note how many league fans who bag rugby have actually watched a game or have they based their perceptions on what they hear from people and/or the media.
kambah mick
Chris McKivat (8)
I think Rugby suffers from the same syndrome as classical music. People are frightened of the reputation of Rugby as being somehow too highbrow and too complex when it is just different and can be enjoyed as per League or any other game. I like almost all types of music, I like almost all sports and believe people who confine themselves to only one or two of each are robbing their lives of considerable enjoyment. I feel sorry for them.
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