A meteoric rise in Pacific Island interest in the game of rugby league, will leave permanent damage on World Rugby, if there is no response.
In this video I cover, the NRL’s strategic engagement of the Pacific Island population in Australia and New Zealand, which is a breeding ground for International World Rugby talent.
It’s never been more important for World Rugby to protect their deeply engrained connections throughout the Pacific Island countries of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands and Niue.
The Wallabies and All Blacks would likely be the teams most impacted by this shift, but with 20% of World Rugby’s playing pool of Pacific Island descent the entire international game will take a blow.
Hope you enjoy this video. All use of footage is completely transformed to suit alignment with the research essay / analysis and adheres to fair use. If any issues please make contact with me.
As always thanks for watching! & please share with your rugby mates.
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Thanks for watching everyone! Had some connection issues during the premiere – apologies
Rugby will never learn, they are white collar elitists who always look down on league. Meanwhile league has been quietly outsmarting them for decades.
League should destroy union for the latter’s racist treatment of Oceanic/Pacific teams. The problem with league is it doesn’t have regional competitions to keep it relevant between world cups like union does.
Friday ngt — April 7, 2023.
Good video with interesting points but with MANY assumptions based on dubious opinions.
Sadly this wishful thinking, league hasn't the money or international presitage to offer anything near the same as Union
What a load of 💩😂
I came back to watch this for a 10th time cause I’m drunk bro lol
Rugby League is not just winning on the Pacific Island front, but they are looking to duplicate that in the Caribbean and Africa as well. Jamaica, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria (whose rugby federation is currently suspended by world rugby) have all seen investment brought into their rugby league national teams. All of these nations have either had league players who are descendants of immigrants that ended up representing England or played in England and help push the popularity of league in these countries (like Jamaica and Nigeria), are traditional rugby union playing territories that are now interested in giving the other code a try (like Kenya), or are completely new to rugby and are choosing to go with league (like Ghana). World Rugby should find this alarming because if more nations aren't getting brought up to speed with the established tier one nations, then the IRL could find a way to stunt the growth of the sport in many of the developing nations they seek to bring along.
Rugby Australia has been fumbling the bag for 20 years. They have had their arse kicked by the AFL and NRL. Union on a broad scale is only really played in private schools down south and in NSW and Queensland. As far as i know and i could be wrong the school development pathways in Vic, SA, Tas and WA are still shit. Then when the kiwi woman came over she emulated NZ poaching tactics from the pacific Islands and further neglected local development. She didn't get a TV deal which pushed RA to bankruptcy. Then that covid bullshit almost finished them.
I think international league and union need rules in place to cap how many players can be recruited from international teams and especially the pacific Islands.
I always talk about how different it would be if everyone got the same pay. The disparity betweens teams is night and day. Great insight and information
rugby is it's own enemy, the rfu has changed the rules so much that it has become a bore to watch, in fact it's now just a poor version of league with lineouts, yellow and red cards are a blight on the game which ruin the game for players and spectators alike, ok send a player off with a red card, but, replace him with a sub, don't punish everyone for one mans stupidity, players safety has gone too far and refs don't have common sense when dealing cards, eg, a tackle around the shoulders = a card depending on how the ref feels, and the advantage rule ? ridiculous lengths of time, rugby in the 90s was a fantastic game, but today ? it's crap and being pushed into oblivion by the rules and changes to the structure of the game, so bad in fact that i have started to enjoy soccer much more, yes !! SOCCER !!
Alot Islanders will play union because size is needed more than league. Stade Rochelias European champions has huge pack with Islanders that are biggest players in world
Drivel. They'll stick to the real thing, not pseudo rugby.
If these Pacific island teams had their full roster instead of losing players to NZ and Aus… they would be so freaking good, sad to see guys cant represent their home country in union because they are getting paid pennies
Brillliant work bro!!!
Test footy should be the pinnacle but Australians only care about State Of Origin and NRL. They couldn't care less about test footy and growing the game globally. Even the Rugby League World Cup is made up of mostly artificial teams played in front of half or quarter filled stadiums. Even the World Cup final couldn't sellout. NZ, Tonga and Samoa wanted to do a Tri Series during the State Of Origin window but the NRL clubs wouldn't release them.
Well, as a european (🇨🇵), I would also said that rugby is a global market. And unfortunately the pacific islands do not have a great GDP. I think this might be a clue why the IRB did not act.
Georgia alone might have two or three times the combined GDP of these islands. No wonder why they prefer to have samoans or fidjians playing in biggest countries teams' rather than developping their domestic national teams.
Sorry for my poor english but I think you will understand my main ideas
Unpopular opinion: you play for your land of the 4 fathers, paid or not …As a South African 🇿🇦 it's literally priceless to play for the South African National basketball team
I cant wait for the upcoming RC. Come on wallabies
What a great report with a good analysis of current situation. For far too nz have been draining the Pacific island playing pool.
Should only be a one year stand down if going from a tier 2 to a tier 1 country. Looks like Georgia will be locked out of the new international comp along with Tonga and Samoa.
Very informative channel luv it 👏👏👍👍
Rugby League is still a provincial oddity in 2 Australian states and a few balding, desperate old men in the north of England. I Love State of Origin, but the game has actually shrunk in the past 40 years. We used to have tests against South Africa and France.
As for payment, it could be better. But the reality is that ticket payment gap is high which makes the team payment gap high as well. Then there is the merch payment gap as well. So basically if a 'rich' country plays against a 'poor' country, then the rich have to fork out all the tickets etc at the price of maybe injuring their players for lower ticket price (it has to somewhat also pull in the poor country pockets) teams. So the risk is a lot higher for the rich countries. A game between NZ vs Eng is going to garner more ticket sales and merch sales than say Eng vs Fiji. That is just basic economics. That being said, is the current rates 'fair'? I think not. When England gets paid 20K + vs Fiji $300 for the same game. Yeah, even with all the 'risks' and economic viability maths aside, thats nonsense. And for world cups, not excuses. Every single team should be payed equally. If you made it to the world cup, you're in the top teams. And that makes the 'world cup'. Reguardless of the ticket economics.
New Zealand All Blacks wouldn't be a world force if they didn't pick all those Tongan, Fijian, and Samoan players.
Nobody gives a fuck about league outside Oz I’m afraid.
Europeus comandam o rugby, Europeus querem que as ilhas do pacifico afundem e américa do sul tbm.
Rugby Union is becoming more soft because there's too many new laws.🤬
They should bring back the Pacific Islands team but have them play at World Cups – bit like the West Indies in Cricket!
When I grew up in the 90’s the Pacific island nations were a major excitement that drew me into the game. At the dawn of professionalism, they could still compete… and slowly, they’ve lapsed behind – rugby union has taken advantage of these islands and their people instead of strengthen them to grow the game! Been saying this for 30 years – it’s getting really frustrating. It’s a similar story for Georgia/Romania – not given a bloody chance. A disgrace that Argentina were in four nations before a Pacific nation. Also 6 nations needs relegation and promotion or just let Georgia/Romania in. It’s like they don’t want to grow the game. Idiots
Great video and some really great points raised.
Pacific Island players in the rugby field are now choosing to send their kids to the European competition. There's too much competition for so few spots in NZ and Aus. Hopefully Rugby int learns from whats happening in League and starts adopting a few more measures to bring the pacific teams up. Hopefully their heads aren't stuck to far up their arses that they think they're untouchable. The problem in Australia is they really need to sort out the grass roots side of things. The issue of tier 2 teams not being paid much compared to their league counterparts is a very telling problem in terms of keeping talent in the sport. One that will take a lot of thought as to how to fix the problems and shortcomings.
Nrl is in as much trouble as rugby union ask the players union.
Out of it all you have to realise this game n its fruits would be dictated by the sponsors n those that run the governing bodies. There is Gladiators n spectators n the people running the show are not the gladiators unless ur Russell crowe n gladiator lolol😅🎉.
I grew up watching rugby union but now I prefer league. I hope the Pacific embraces it to become the most popular sport in our region.
Great video
There aren't many Pacific Islanders. You have many more union clubs in the world where they can play. Plus big sponsors are drawn to union. Next the Super Rugby Americas, already helped Chile make to the WC and Uruguay become a permanent participant almost. Love both codes, I think you are on point regarding Pacific islanders but they are a minority regardless and how good they are and their national teams in union are subsidised to compete, I guess the same applies for league. There is anyway a big danger for union to drop. Why? Protectionism. The tier system is a disgrace. Clubs are less and less financially viable in many countries. The resources are misspent and I repeat the game needs to open up just like any other sport otherwise it risks slowly disappearing. League has always been far more savvy with their limited public, etc. Always avant garde. Union is living with one foot in amateurism, posh dreams and one in the present.