General Superleague Is Underrated

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

Manchester City are the second biggest profesional football team in Manchester - there are about five in all - and the fact that they fill that stadium every week shows the difference in popularity, and therefore money, between football and any other code on England.

 

[Sup42]

Pretty sure it's was Phil Clarke who grabbed ridgeys plums. Golding was a grub tho- got into a couple of pub fights when they toured NZ and I lost count of how many times he punched on with freeman.
After a test in chch I handed him a kiwi flag to sign- he thought I was giving in to him and said thanks lad and walked around the ground waving it. Wonder if he kept it.
Hanley was the man.
Tbh I've only started watching the super league again since the Tompkins rumour has come out too- geez he's a player- I've got no doubt he would make an impact but wonder if all these pommy players do come to the nrl how much it will hurt their competition? On the other hand it could be a good thing for the international game.

yeah that's right it was Phil , Bobby was more of a punch up man as you say ( but it sticks in my mind that he did something dodge on tour here aside from pissing on the floor at a Pub / Bar )

 

[mode81]

Manchester City are the second biggest profesional football team in Manchester - there are about five in all - and the fact that they fill that stadium every week shows the difference in popularity, and therefore money, between football and any other code on England.

I'd stoop so low to watch AFL before I'd ever watch soccer, you mean those guys who fall over invisible potholes and cry like little bitches? you watch that shit, well that explains alot.

 

[fanrrior]

I'd stoop so low to watch AFL before I'd ever watch soccer, you mean those guys who fall over invisible potholes and cry like little bitches? you watch that shit, well that explains alot.

*cough* it isn't soccer, its football.

 

[HD]

Ellery Hanley was a freak and is regarded as the best player England ever produced. By the tine he got to the Tigers his best playing days were behind him but he was still a great player.

I rated Farrell, Schofield, Ofiah and Edwards as well.

Players I love to watch now are Tompkins, Burrow, Crabtree and Briscoes to name afew. Even Ellis and Morley have some grunt and mileage left in them.

To me though this thread is about comparing the different leagues and not about isolating certain players. In that regard I stand by my statement that overall, the ESL is inferior to the NRL...

Crabtree is funny. He was soft as shit for the better part of his career(imo). It's only in the last four years or so that he seems to have realised he's about 8 foot and 20 stone.

I've heard it said from players who've experienced both competitions that one of the definitive points of difference is that the coaching over here (England) is terrible/non-existent.[DOUBLEPOST=1370186293][/DOUBLEPOST]

*cough* it isn't soccer, its football.

Actually we call it soccer quite a bit in Europe, it's a recent idea that soccer as a term is improper.

 

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

I'd stoop so low to watch AFL before I'd ever watch soccer, you mean those guys who fall over invisible potholes and cry like little bitches? you watch that shit, well that explains alot.

I didn't say I watched it?

Anyway, the falling over a crying thing is a bit of a myth as the players are only trying to win free kicks and penalties by feigning injury. The only game I can think of that stops every time someone gets a sore foot etc is rugby union.[DOUBLEPOST=1370193579][/DOUBLEPOST]

Crabtree is funny. He was soft as shit for the better part of his career(imo). It's only in the last four years or so that he seems to have realised he's about 8 foot and 20 stone.

I've heard it said from players who've experienced both competitions that one of the definitive points of difference is that the coaching over here (England) is terrible/non-existent.[DOUBLEPOST=1370186293][/DOUBLEPOST]

Actually we call it soccer quite a bit in Europe, it's a recent idea that soccer as a term is improper.

Soccer is short for Association, I think?

 

[Xt1ncT]

Soccer is short for Association, I think?

no.

It's just a name the USA came up with to differentiate the game from their football.

The game is and always will be football. End of.

 

[Jay M]

no.

It's just a name the USA came up with to differentiate the game from their football.

The game is and always will be football. End of.

not according to this - apparently the term soccer predates football by about 18 years...

https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/06/the-origin-of-the-word-soccer/

of course, I don't know how accurate the website article is...

 

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

no.

It's just a name the USA came up with to differentiate the game from their football.

The game is and always will be football. End of.

I am pretty sure that soccer is an upper class abbreviation for association, as in Association Football (along the lines of rugger and champers.)[DOUBLEPOST=1370209257][/DOUBLEPOST]Anyway, my original point was purely highlighting the huge gulf between football and all the other codes in England in terms of interest and money.

 

[HD]

no.

It's just a name the USA came up with to differentiate the game from their football.

The game is and always will be football. End of.

Nope, that's just what soccer fans say because they can't come to terms with the fact Americans reject their favourite sport.

Soccer has always been used in Britain to refer to football to varying degrees, especially amongst children, it's a relatively new development for people(flag waving wankers, often) to have a big song and dance about it. Personally its unnatural for me to say it because I'm used to calling it football, but I make myself say soccer because I get off on spiting soccer fans who think they should have total ownership of the word football

And I can't speak for anywhere else but I get the feeling that non-Brits who reject the term soccer are uppity sorts who think that by watching the sport they're cultured and high class, Americans and Aussies give off this vibe, they think they're awesome for watching a world sport lol. I don't know how it happened but soccer has become the sporting equivelant of white people eating hummus or obsessing about South Korean cinema. It's almost hipster territory.

brb playing PES
brb watching Soccer AM
brb getting all high and mighty because an American used the word soccer lol

There's really nothing wrong with calling it soccer, especially if you're from a country with a predominate football code other than it's-not-soccer-it's-football-ball.

 

[Xt1ncT]

Nope, that's just what soccer fans say because they can't come to terms with the fact Americans reject their favourite sport.

Soccer has always been used in Britain to refer to football to varying degrees, especially amongst children, it's a relatively new development for people(flag waving wankers, often) to have a big song and dance about it. Personally its unnatural for me to say it because I'm used to calling it football, but I make myself say soccer because I get off on spiting soccer fans who think they should have total ownership of the word football

And I can't speak for anywhere else but I get the feeling that non-Brits who reject the term soccer are uppity sorts who think that by watching the sport they're cultured and high class, Americans and Aussies give off this vibe, they think they're awesome for watching a world sport lol. I don't know how it happened but soccer has become the sporting equivelant of white people eating hummus or obsessing about South Korean cinema. It's almost hipster territory.

brb playing PES
brb watching Soccer AM
brb getting all high and mighty because an American used the word soccer lol

There's really nothing wrong with calling it soccer, especially if you're from a country with a predominate football code other than it's-not-soccer-it's-football-ball.

Erm I am English....

I have never ever heard in my 43 years someone in England call it soccer. Never.

The first I heard soccer was when the North American Soccer League was about with teams such as New York Cosmos.

 

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

Erm I am English....

I have never ever heard in my 43 years someone in England call it soccer. Never.

The first I heard soccer was when the North American Soccer League was about with teams such as New York Cosmos.

I am also 43 and English, and have only ever heard upper class rubgy union watching old Etonians call it soccer in that country.[DOUBLEPOST=1370232363][/DOUBLEPOST]Someone will probably post a link on the oigins of the word soccer, but I am pretty sure it goes back to the ruling classes tradition of adding "er" to the end of words, such as rugger.

 

[OMG]

Derailed much..Where's the dislike button when you need it? Should bring it back for certain topics

 

[Xt1ncT]

On topic though - I like watching the ESL.

Very simple rugby league played with passion.

What's not to like?

 

[HD]

Erm I am English....

I have never ever heard in my 43 years someone in England call it soccer. Never.

The first I heard soccer was when the North American Soccer League was about with teams such as New York Cosmos.

That's an unbelievable claim. You've presumably never heard about one of the most popular football panel shows of all time, Soccer AM. Or Soccer Saturday, Soccer Extra. You aren't familiar with Pro Evolution Soccer, a hugely popular video game series. Or the mass of English books with soccer in the title, many of which are created by the FA for British publication. You don't know anyone with the Sky Sports Soccer Centre app on their phone? Never heard of the magazine World Soccer? Never read a newspaper? You couldn't get away from the word in the 90s and I've heard it's more or less the same for the seventies and eighties!

The terms soccer and footy have been popular slang for football for decades, particularly amongst kids, they're 'cool' whereas football wasn't. It's only when people grow up do most of them make a conscious decision to wipe soccer from their vocabulary, because they're brainwashed into thinking the word's at odds with being British.

What are the odds of never hearing the word soccer until you run into Americans using it. How convenient that of all the countries in the world that use soccer regularly, including our nextdoor neighbours (Ireland), it's some American team/comp you first see using it. That's nice and convenient for you lol

(and you're right Lord Gnome, the term was created by some posh southerners)

 

[fanrrior]

Actually we call it soccer quite a bit in Europe, it's a recent idea that soccer as a term is improper

Really? You say you are actually in England so I'll take your word for it. Mates of mine insist that it must be called football instead of soccer. So I thought I understood their perspective in a similar way to how I get more pissed than I should when someone calls League, just rugby when they know full well it is a different code to union. I guess I learned something today.

 

[HD]

Really? You say you are actually in England so I'll take your word for it. Mates of mine insist that it must be called football instead of soccer. So I thought I understood their perspective in a similar way to how I get more pissed than I should when someone calls League, just rugby when they know full well it is a different code to union. I guess I learned something today.

Well look, if I went to the pub and started talking about soccer someone would pull me up on it and I'd get in the same argument as we are doing here. The vast majority of Britons call it football, that's just a fact. But that doesn't mean it's never called soccer. Calling it soccer isn't an absolute anomaly and it's definitely not an Americanism. Children as far as I know still play "footy" and "soccer", and lots of media use the word. And then there are people like me who don't like football fans trying to monpolise the term football and so I'll make an extra effort to call it soccer at times!

It's-not-soccer-it's-football-ball fans like to think they're traditionalists and that soccer as a word is a Yanky bastardisation, but history and popular culture shows objecting to the use of the word soccer is a relatively modern thing. And when you speak to people who don't like the word it almost always come down to the same thing, they're mad that Americans reject their favourite sport. It's sad and pathetic but that's the reason. I've got no issue with people who want to call it football, why not, it's the predominate football code in Britain and by rights can call itself whatever it likes(I'd call it football if it weren't for the fact I think they're wankers), but when you run into people insisting that it should be called football it's often an unusual and sad attempt at rallying against American cultural hegemony. Watch in future and tell me the next time you see this debate that the football fans insisting on it being called football don't have an obvious issue with America, especially Brits. I'm not the #1 fan of the USA by any means, but when I spite them I spite them for drone-bombing children, y'know, stuff that matters lmao

As funny as it is I just had a smile to myself on the way back from my Dads house, as we're pulling off the motorway what do I see? An advertisement at the side of the road for a 5-a-side football comp with soccer as part of the brand name. https://www.prodirectsocceracademy.com/

Lol you wouldn't like the north of England, many people in the heartlands call it just rugby seeing as it's the predominate code

 

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

Yeah, it really confuses kiwis when a northerner calls league rugby.

 

[mrblonde]

Heck, I've been following the EPL since the early 80s and it's only in the last four or five years I've been constantly referring to it as football and to be honest that's only because of a certain computer game - Football Manager - which, gee what a surprise, is called Worldwide Soccer Manager in the US.

I know of several people who don't bother differentiating between rugby league and rugby union - it's all rugby. In 1999-2000, Rugby League Week tried to rebrand itself as League Week but it just looked weird without "Rugby", although I hardly ever in conversation refer to the game as "rugby league" - I usually just call it "league" - and I never refer to the Super 15 etc as "rugby union", just as "rugby".

BOT. Can't comment on whether Superleague is underrated as I veddy veddy rarely watch it. I think the England v Exiles game from last year was the last time (not counting the England games in the Four Nations, etc) I watched non-NRL/Australasian league.

 

[AttilaTheGorilla]

Better defensive structures/effort result in fewer line breaks in the NRL.

My main concern with the NRL is its shift towards athleticism in favour of footballers. I think it's a result of the 10 metre rule.

If you check out some old footage of Aussie league before the 10 metre rule, there's fewer tries, but a lot more footy being played. More risks being taken. Plenty of chip and chase attempts even from your own end, great attacking shapes and structures, set plays off scrums, brilliant fast decision making, offloads, accurate passing.

Today with the 10 metre rule you can put an attacking kick on the end of most sets, if you have a few big, strong, hard running forwards.