is football more entertaining than rl?

[southernpie]

I will watch most sports, one of my more pleasurable memories of the last summer was the joy on the face of Sophie Christiansen when she won gold at the paraolympics. I got caught up in the curling at the last winter olympics and I never miss the Four Hills Ski Jumping. However when it comes to football I watch all of the England Internationals and the final stages of the Champions league... if there is an English team involved. I can never be bothered watching weekly PL matches although I do keep an eye out on the news and in the papers for how my original home team (Spurs) are doing. When I do watch a match I spend most of the time frustrated at the 22 players chasing the ball around with very little end product. As has been intimated in earlier posts, in most other sports there is a winner in 90% plus of the match ups, however in football, scoring a goal is incredibly hard to achieve and over the years there have been many "flukey" wins where a team has been completely dominated for 90 mins but managed to get the only goal sometimes by more luck than judgement. Just think how many giant killer games have happened in the FA cup over the years. This goes against my inner belief of the cream will rise to the top and may the best man win.
On the other hand I will watch and for the most part enjoy any RL game I can get to see at whatever level. I will go out of my way to ensure any RL on tv is recorded if I can not watch it live. The dominant team will win in the majority of matches and apart from the odd top championship side beating a lower super league side there are very few if any Giant killings. Although I do appreciate there are some people who find giant killings are what makes the game exciting.

To me if a lower level team came and dominated Wigan for most of the game and won I would be able to accept that, but if like happens so often in football a flukey score against the run of play got them the win that would not be enjoyable. If a player makes a break and beats all the defenders in Rugby he will score, unlike football where even if he has rounded the keeper he can still miss the target. The only way of ensuring the opposition do not score in rl is by having exceptional defence, this is not necessarily true of football when even with bad defending the opposition still can't get the ball in the back of the net.

So in my opinion Football is no where near as entertaining as RL

[highland convert]

Like any entertainment package it involves a team on the field, actors on stage, or whatever. Now that could be boring or exciting dependent on the story line. Attending a match, the excitement is generated by the action, it is then compounded by the crowd. On telly we have the same action but the excitement has to be compounded by the commentators. Football have a good commentary team. They can make a dull game watchable. RL has a commentary team that can kill the spectacle. Nrl is great because the commentators commentate on te match without super analysing every play. The better spectator sport comes second and always will until it is better presented. I rarely watch football unless there is an international or crunch match.

[bonbon]

I've never been interested in football, even as a kid. It has always been RL. Been to two football matches in my entire life, so that sums up my interest in footie and its not because of any insecurity, i just find football unentertaining. I would rather watch a RU match.

[cow yeds]

I look at this way, unless a goal is scored there is hardly anything to cheer about. That's why the crowd who have nothing to cheer entertains themselves singing and chanting.
It's boring!!!!!!

[cpwigan]

If a sport was simply about scoring though why are we not all watching basketball instead then?

The climax to the PL last sason was as good as sport gets IMO. IIRC the season(s) we won winning several matches in a matter of days, on points difference were similarly amazing. How frightening/exciting was the avoiding relegation season.

The present format of RL renders 90% + of games irrelevant and meaningless. You do not have to fight for your lives to avoid relegation and as Leeds have shown you be abysmal to mediocre for most of the season.

People talk about how we (Wigan) dominated the sport / killed it BUT IMO that was utter nonsense. Widnes created a genuine once in a lifetime era of stars and took the championship v us with an Offiah hattrick that everybody remembers.

Perhaps other posters read Wood recently telling us how we should be thinking / endorsing the view RL is wonderful today. I thought his comments beggared belief BUT maybe others thought he was right.

Football is now ultra aggressive in recruitment. Clubs scour the globe for existing / emerging talent. Clubs take British youngsters virtually out of nappies to develop as future stars. RL misses out on so much talent. To some extent if we get a star it is by sheer luck. If Sam T remained in Milton Keynes who would have heard of him? Wigan produces far more professional RL players than it should. The majority are very well developed married with personal attitude/ambition. How many are genuine world class freakish talents though? WORSE How many potential genuine freakish talents have never played RL / never will play RL in their lives? Is that situation getting better or worse? Look at how the sports council dishes out money, world success = money, no world success = cuts. What has been hap[pening to RL?

Football in the 80's was dreadful. IIRC 'Charles Hughes' tried to destroy it from within. It is far better now. Matches are entertaining, more goals are scored, attack favoured, how many games end nil nil today? If football ever embraces video referees and technology it would be even better.

Is RL better today than in the 80's. Yes but is it more entertaining / exciting? probably not. I can recall Wigan under Lowe putting set moves where the ball was moved umpteen times left / right before Bell usually came up a gaping gap in the middle. I have yet to see a centre like Miles. Look at how Monie switched his game plan to play from our own 20 with Miles as a third half back almost. No matter how amazing new players may be are they any better than Offiah / Robinson.

It is always easier to learn how to kill play rather tham create it IN ANY SPORT. Look at Leeds. Are they bringing RL forward? or just reducing mistakes to the bare minimum and kicking teams to death? Do people think the most successful team in British RL over the last decade are amazing, sport changing for the better?

[Ron Doran]

cpwigan - Well said sir.

[southernpie]

If a sport was simply about scoring though why are we not all watching basketball instead then?

Many people do

The climax to the PL last sason was as good as sport gets IMO. IIRC the season(s) we won winning several matches in a matter of days, on points difference were similarly amazing. How frightening/exciting was the avoiding relegation season.

The present format of RL renders 90% + of games irrelevant and meaningless. You do not have to fight for your lives to avoid relegation and as Leeds have shown you be abysmal to mediocre for most of the season.

The results through the season caused a fairly unique situation where if City won on the last day they would win the league for the first time in god knows how many years and then I think they went behind which made for an exciting situation, however day to day, week in week out I can not find football as entertaining as RL. You say 90% of the weekly rounds were meaningless, but I say only in context of who is named champions. Every match I saw was entertaining and left me with an emotional reaction which depended on whether Wigan won or lost

People talk about how we (Wigan) dominated the sport / killed it BUT IMO that was utter nonsense. Widnes created a genuine once in a lifetime era of stars and took the championship v us with an Offiah hattrick that everybody remembers.

Perhaps other posters read Wood recently telling us how we should be thinking / endorsing the view RL is wonderful today. I thought his comments beggared belief BUT maybe others thought he was right.

Don't get Wood's rhetoric and mismanagement of Super League confused with the entertainment of the game of RL. The product is still 80 minutes of highly entertaining sport.

Football is now ultra aggressive in recruitment. Clubs scour the globe for existing / emerging talent. Clubs take British youngsters virtually out of nappies to develop as future stars. RL misses out on so much talent. To some extent if we get a star it is by sheer luck. If Sam T remained in Milton Keynes who would have heard of him? Wigan produces far more professional RL players than it should. The majority are very well developed married with personal attitude/ambition. How many are genuine world class freakish talents though? WORSE How many potential genuine freakish talents have never played RL / never will play RL in their lives? Is that situation getting better or worse? Look at how the sports council dishes out money, world success = money, no world success = cuts. What has been happening to RL?

Football in the 80's was dreadful. IIRC 'Charles Hughes' tried to destroy it from within. It is far better now. Matches are entertaining, more goals are scored, attack favoured, how many games end nil nil today? If football ever embraces video referees and technology it would be even better.

Again I doubt anyone on here would dispute the fact that the sport is mismanaged or that an awful lot of talent is lost elsewhere, but that still doesn't take away from the fact the RL players we do have give us an awful lot of entertainment.

Is RL better today than in the 80's. Yes but is it more entertaining / exciting? probably not. I can recall Wigan under Lowe putting set moves where the ball was moved umpteen times left / right before Bell usually came up a gaping gap in the middle. I have yet to see a centre like Miles. Look at how Monie switched his game plan to play from our own 20 with Miles as a third half back almost. No matter how amazing new players may be are they any better than Offiah / Robinson.

The question wasn't is RL more entertaining today, it was is it more entertaining than football

It is always easier to learn how to kill play rather tham create it IN ANY SPORT. Look at Leeds. Are they bringing RL forward? or just reducing mistakes to the bare minimum and kicking teams to death? Do people think the most successful team in British RL over the last decade are amazing, sport changing for the better?

What about Melbourne Storm or Manly or any other NRL side. The OP didn't ask if football was better than Super League he asked is it better than RL. At the end of the day we each hold our own ideas of what is entertainment, I breed and show dogs, my grand final is Crufts and I find my weekly trips to dog shows to be great entertainment, I have shown my dogs in Holland, Sweden, Austria, Ireland and the USA, however I would think most people on here would be bored to tears if they had to spend a day at a dog show.

[KOOCH]

Simple answer. NO!!!

That's really quite simple cp and probably not the answer you would expect.Brought up as a child in a rugby orientated family who saw rugby as a game that the nancy boys played.Yes I know it is politically correct these days to utter this kind of statement.But then again I am of a generation that was akin to the cave man.Fortunately or unfortunately I am stereotypical of my parents.No doubt those with a more open mind than that of my own will probably be tut tutting.Alas I am blinkered to most sports other than boxing.Probably I am draw to the more physical side of sport.In Wigan Rugby I believe.

[Wes]

Certain teams just aim to qualify for CL footy so unfortunately CP they play the qualifying for the important trophy game too.

[ancientnloyal]

Football wasn't boring in 1989:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQmO3S2eLPE[/youtube]

Michael Thomas