union or league? local or antional? (Rugby Union in General)

Member Name: yorkie

Product:	Rugby Union in General
Date:	15/12/00 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Both are better than football

Disadvantages: Image and internal strife

Rugby Union and Rugby League are two essentially different games which happen to use the same shaped ball. Obviously, there are features which are very similar, enabling players to swith codes, but the tactics and ethos behind the games are at odds.
Both are territorial games, but the ways in which teams gain territory differ. League is about pressure, waiting for defences to crack, whereas Union involves moving the opposition's forwards around.
What really divides the games are their profiles. League is, and probably always will be, a parochial game where fierce tribal loyalties create a great ground atmosphere. The club game thrives whilst at international level, Australia dominate. The best match of the World Cup was Lebanon vs Cook Islands, but who wants to watch that?
Rugby Union is an international game, ripe for telvision and appears more exciting because of the nature of the competition. Matches are frequently dull or error-strewn, but are compelling because national loyalties are at stake. At club level, only Leicester top 10,000 a week and many clubs are still amateur in their set-up.

Summary: