The Random thought thread

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

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.

ome, I guess it's a similar story in NSW where you live. In Queensland, and I guess NSW, Union is the private school code. It's also the predominant football code played in rural areas. The reason behind that is that a lot of kids in rural areas go to boarding school due to the lack of nearby public schools. Some kids in the bush would have to travel for hours each day to get to a public school, so boarding school is often the only viable option. They play Union at boarding school and bring it home with them when they leave school. Country Rugby Union is a fairly casual affair. Most of them do it just for the social life. It's often the only social life for young people in some places. In some country towns if you're not a player or supporter or somehow involved with the football scene, you're right out of the loop.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

It's also the predominant football code played in rural areas.

Gilgandra doesn't have a Rugby team, but for some reason Gulargambone, up the road does have a lub and theGil boys play there. I agree that it is the Boarders who are the main players, but the local boys still do well. What is interesting is that the Aboriginal boys are not made welcome. That's why they play League.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

What is interesting is that the Aboriginal boys are not made welcome. That's why they play League.

That is interesting. One of the Aboriginal blokes I worked with in the oilfields was the captain of the Dubbo A grade Rugby League team, and the other Aboriginal people I worked with were all League supporters and some were players.