AngrySeahorse
Peter Sullivan (51)
Swat I'm probably being very favourable to Rugby in my ratios. I never really watched any Rugby outside of tests (a couple of Local Sydney games on TV at most) & the occasional game from my local suburban mens team when it used to have its own mens team (not any more sadly). I did watch NRL weekly & was a regular at Knights games, SOO was more important then than now despite what State was winning.
I talked to a mates younger brother, he asked me what sport I played, I said Rugby Union, he said quite bluntly & straight faced "I play League because I'm not smart enough to play Rugby". A lot of this is down to how a kid is raised "too hard dont try" gets thrown around a lot I find. Poor media doesnt help as you say, nor does untrue stereotypes. Whether a kid goes on to play Rugby or not I think giving it a go through something like 'try rugby' is better than rejecting it outright because of some of the crap they've been fed about it.
Regarding the point about noticing Rugby more due to your brother I think family is a big deal too. I had family in both codes & I kind of had that whole "follow in their foot steps feeling" when I started training. Gender wise the female angle might be a bit different to the male angle as guys have always had contact sport as an option whereas for me seeing an ad for womens rugby for the first time was awesome because I hadnt seen anything available like it for womens sport. Not so sure if males would get so excited over a Rugby ad given its been available for males since inception. In terms of introducing Rugby to females is easier I find because that is the only contact sport choice, get them in straight away, they get hooked, then we've got them for life pretty much. The males are a bit tougher to get to try Rugby because of the options & I think a lot of the guys I know who come from predominant league families tend to get some stereotypes on Rugby drilled into them from a young age - like my buddies younger brother.
I talked to a mates younger brother, he asked me what sport I played, I said Rugby Union, he said quite bluntly & straight faced "I play League because I'm not smart enough to play Rugby". A lot of this is down to how a kid is raised "too hard dont try" gets thrown around a lot I find. Poor media doesnt help as you say, nor does untrue stereotypes. Whether a kid goes on to play Rugby or not I think giving it a go through something like 'try rugby' is better than rejecting it outright because of some of the crap they've been fed about it.
Regarding the point about noticing Rugby more due to your brother I think family is a big deal too. I had family in both codes & I kind of had that whole "follow in their foot steps feeling" when I started training. Gender wise the female angle might be a bit different to the male angle as guys have always had contact sport as an option whereas for me seeing an ad for womens rugby for the first time was awesome because I hadnt seen anything available like it for womens sport. Not so sure if males would get so excited over a Rugby ad given its been available for males since inception. In terms of introducing Rugby to females is easier I find because that is the only contact sport choice, get them in straight away, they get hooked, then we've got them for life pretty much. The males are a bit tougher to get to try Rugby because of the options & I think a lot of the guys I know who come from predominant league families tend to get some stereotypes on Rugby drilled into them from a young age - like my buddies younger brother.
