The Random thought thread

[willedoo]

Our girls are flogging the Poms at the World Cup match in Perth. Jillaroos are up 36-0 at half time.

[Marty_d]

56 minutes ago, red750 said:

Rush on wise guy, hell ain't full yet.

 

The speed limit doesn't say you have to travel that fast, it's the maximum you are allowed to travel at.

That's true.

How do you feel about cyclists riding 2 abreast at 20kph Peter?

Same thing.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Slightly different depending on road width. They have the right to do it but for a wide enough road they are being discourteous by doing it where they could easily ride single file to allow cars to safely pass... without interrupting their progress.

 

Where the road isn't wide enough (often around here) it's a pain but just part of driving.

[facthunter]

Pushbikes aren't allowed on freeways.They are a rather dangerous thing to be on, on any trafficked road. Nev

[old man emu]

15 hours ago, willedoo said:

Our girls are flogging the Poms at the World Cup match in Perth. Jillaroos are up 36-0 at half time.

The Australian Jillaroos defeated England 78–0 in their Women's Rugby League World Cup Pool A match at HBF Park in Perth on October 24, 2026.

 

Did the Lionesess take to the field? A team wouldn't cross the try line that often during training.

[facthunter]

 WE Bathe in the reflected glory of OUR athletes while we grow fatter and eat More Processed food and alcohol and hardly ever even Walk anywhere. Nev

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Pushbikes aren't allowed on freeways.They are a rather dangerous thing to be on, on any trafficked road. Nev

Wouldn't be such a problem if we just banned all those crazy motorcars.

[facthunter]

Their Tolls pay for it.  They are great freedom machines and are fun to drive. They gave People Personal Mobility and they got to Know what the World 30 kms and more beyond their Home was like.. Protected you from the elements. Helped Bank robbers escape. Make Babies at the Drive-In. Nev

Edited yesterday at 02:36 AM by facthunter

[nomadpete]

2 minutes ago, facthunter said:

  They are great freedom machines and are fun to drive. They gave People Personal Mobility and they got to Know what the World 30 kms and more beyond their Home was like..

Oh, for a moment you were still talking about the great invention of the velopicede.

[facthunter]

WE ARE addicted to the Motor car. Of that we can be sure. Nev

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

Oh, for a moment you were still talking about the great invention of the velopicede.

Not sure how you make babies on a bicycle. Good balance required!

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, old man emu said:

The Australian Jillaroos defeated England 78–0 in their Women's Rugby League World Cup Pool A match at HBF Park in Perth on October 24, 2026.

The Australian kicker missed a lot of two point try conversions, otherwise the score would have been 90+. Watching the game, I couldn't help thinking that if the England team is their best of the best picked from clubs, they must be fairly ordinary at their club level. If their World Cup team was a club here in Australia, it would be at the bottom of the ladder in club rankings. They've got a long way to go. Our only real competition in the women's World Cup series is New Zealand; they beat France 92-0 today.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Is it Rugby Union or League? If League, it is the lesser game here. If Union, it is a worry for England. 

[old man emu]

New Zealand beat France 92-0. There have been some incredibly high scores. England beat Wales 70-6 and Samoa beat Wales, too, for 76-0. It looks like the three top teams are Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

 

Jerry, the clue is in the name of the competition: Women's Rugby League World Cup 

[red750]

Rugby is not a sport, it's a brawl with goal posts.

 

A quote from Midsomer Murders.

 

[facthunter]

Rugby League or Union?. Nev

[willedoo]

I'm not a fan of Rugby; to me looks like a mad rabble compared to the more structured League. I tried playing Rugby at high school for a short time, but coming from a background in League I found it hard to transition. 

 

Just to clarify a point to people in AFL territory - some of you use the term Rugby to describe Rugby League and /or Rugby Union. In the states that play the codes, the term Rugby is used for Rugby Union only. Nobody ever calls Rugby League Rugby. No fans or public, no media and no officials ever use the term for League. Rugby League is used as an umbrella term for the Rugby League sport in general and the term NRL is used for teams and games under the National Rugby League organisation. The NRL is the highest level of the sport, below that it's just called Rugby League. The common term is often shortened to just League, same as Rugby Union is often referred to just as Union.

[red750]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Rugby League or Union?. Nev

It's an English show, so I'm guessing Union. The preceding sentence to the quote was "30 men constantly crashing into each other." It was said while the police were investigating the death of a player. 

 

Personally, I don't know much about either, and I don't really enjoy watching it.

[willedoo]

16 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

If League, it is the lesser game here.

That could be part of the reason Jerry. In Australia it's the other way round and Union is the minor game. In schools, Union is only played at private schools so it's a lot smaller game, and considering school sport is where it all starts, that's a big disadvantage to Union here. League here has a much larger talent pool coming up through the ranks. Also being a bigger game, League attracts the sponsors and the crowds which in professional sport equates to more money for the clubs to invest in facilities and the best training their money can buy.

 

 The performance of the women's England team doesn't reflect on the natural abilities of the players. Likewise, our players aren't necessarily freakishly gifted players from the start. They've got to where they are by being backed by a large organisation that can provide top tier training. The physical skill training is one thing, but the technical theory training in Australia (ie: the mental side of it) has skyrocketed in Australia in recent years. If you wind the Rugby League clock back 20 or 30 years ago, players just went out and played football like they always did. These days, the NRL and the NRLW teams all have a core group of players in their teams who dominate in tactics and playing smart. England is probably missing out on that aspect of it. Digital technology has helped a lot as well in training. The England team had one stand out player but she spent four years playing for Australian clubs and learnt her skills there.

[willedoo]

1 minute ago, red750 said:

The preceding sentence to the quote was "30 men constantly crashing into each other."

There's the clue Peter. Union has 15 players each side, league has 13. If it was League the quote would be 26 men constantly crashing into each other.

[facthunter]

I played Union at Teachers College and Hated it. The Scrums were ridiculous. It's the Minor game in Australia but the Roughest.. The International game is RUGBY League.  Nev

[old man emu]

The naming difference between the two forms of football came from what might be classed as social class sources.

 

The Rugby Football Union was established in London in 1871, uniting 21 clubs and officially standardizing the laws of the sport. So it was a joining together of a group of clubs, no doubt to enable a competition to be run.  In 1895, the sport split into two separate codes—rugby union and rugby league—over a dispute regarding "broken-time payments" (compensating working-class players for missing work to play). There's your social class factor. Very much a similar thing happened with cricket, with the non-paid players called The Gentlemen, and the professionals.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

The International game is RUGBY League. 

I don't think that is correct based on which code has bigger reach globally but i know very little of either sport

Edited 1 hour ago by Jerry_Atrick

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

I played Union at Teachers College and Hated it. The Scrums were ridiculous. It's the Minor game in Australia but the Roughest.. The International game is RUGBY League.  Nev

You'd hate it worse if you were the bloke nearest Hopoate in the scrum.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I don't think that is correct based on which code has bigger reach globally but i know very little of either sport

You're on the right track Jerry. Union is played in 135 countries, League about 70.