Who wants to be converted? (Rugby Teams in General)

Member Name: dibuzz

Product:	Rugby Teams in General
Date:	01/09/01 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good fun to watch, a family sport, not as expensive as football

Disadvantages: Evening matches finish late for kids

Rugby league is my favourite sport whether it is amateur or professional.

There are 2 main divisions, the northern ford premiership and the superleague. Superleague consists of 12 teams who compete for the top 5 positions to go into the playoffs for the grand final. The team who finishes top of the league are not guaranteed the superleague trophy (ask the Bradford fans).

It is a very physical game consisting of two 40 minute halves. Players who are judged to break the rules either get sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes or for serious offences they can be sent off. Players are sometimes placed on report which is a bit of a cop out by the ref.

If any player is cut he goes to the blood bin to be dealt with and another player can come on in his place. These blood bin substitutions don't count in the total allowed.

There is a lot of rivalry between the fans of each club but most of it is friendly. Fans are not segregated from each other at matches.

Superleague players are more down to earth than footballers and some clubs hold training sessions for young players.

Matches are always exciting, especially when the top teams are playing each other. When the Sky cameras are in attendance there is a video ref so that if the pitch referee is unsighted or wants to check something such as the grounding of the ball he can. These can be very tense moments.

A try is worth 4 points, a conversion (goal attempt after a try) is worth 2 as is a penalty goal and a drop goal is worth one. A team can therefore score more tries but still lose.

Rugby league has traditionally been a Sunday afternoon sport but has now shifted to Friday and Saturday evenings for Superleague, mainly to fit in with Sky sports. Although this is inconvenient for lifelong fans it is the price we have to pay for the input of Sky and its funding.

Every Friday and Saturday a match is televised, usually the best teams at that
time.

At the moment rugby union is trying to poach some of the best league players but have not succeeded with two of the best, Keiron Cunningham of St. Helens and Kris Radlinski of Wigan who have signed new contracts with their clubs.

If you haven't been to watch a Superleague game I would definitely recommend it and to all the rugby union coaches out there:- HANDS OFF OUR PLAYERS!

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