Was scrapping GB the right thing to do?

[CherryPie]

Pretty straightforward question really. Was it right to get rid of the Great Britain team and revert to the individual nations?

As it stands I can't see what the benefits of that decision are. Right now we have teams from Ireland and Scotland that are really weak which isn't exactly going to do much for growth as far as I can tell.

I know many people weren't too happy about having players with no real connection to those countries playing for the likes of Ireland, Scotland, Wales etc. but given that Rangi Chase is now considered an Englishman it doesn't look quite so bad in comparison. At least Eamon O'Carroll sounded Irish!

It seems to me that more players should be encouraged to represent the smaller nations like Scotland, Ireland and Wales in order to make them as competitive as possible. This big stumbling block is that few established players would be willing to turn out for other nations because they want to play for England at the top level.

It seems to me that having the GB team just makes more sense if strengthening the home nations is an aim.

[WoodenWarrior]

Well we just end up have the Irish and Scots with extra grandparents playing for England anyway so we might as well still be GB because we basically are just without the blue on the badge or kit. I do like the status of it being England as I'm proud to be English but as you say it doesn't really seem too sensible to seperate the teams into 4 when the others are just looking rather weak.

You have to feel sorry for the coaches of Ireland/Scotland/Wales because the only players available to them are players that McBanana doesn't want.

[jools]

Extra grandparents?! Bet Xmas was good!

[Farmduck]

(06-17-2012 06:16 PM)WoodenWarrior Wrote:  You have to feel sorry for the coaches of Ireland/Scotland/Wales because the only players available to them are players that McBanana doesn't want.

There were a few Australians playing for Wales last year.

Scrapping GB was the right thing to do. The wrong part was giving Ireland Scotland and Wales automatic entry to the World Cup. We saw in last year's internationals that Lebanon narrowly lost out to Italy for the last slot but, since Ireland and Scotland didn't have to play Italy or Lebanon, we have no idea of their relative merits.

[WoodenWarrior]

(06-17-2012 07:20 PM)jools Wrote:  Extra grandparents?! Bet Xmas was good!

Oh it always is, I have 6 granddads myself.

There was for Ireland too FarmDuck.

[rally]

Maybe having an home nations competition like the six nations might be attractive for some players play for the weaker nations. There will be players who can qualify for the other nations to try an raise the profile of the teams and make a competive competition. The competition could include England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France. We wouldn't have players swapping nations like Brough or Henderson etc.

At the end of each season we could see the return of the GB team to play test games against the Aussies and kiwis or just have the tri nations.

[CherryPie]

That's what I was thinking Rally. In order for international rugby league to grow I think it needs a greater European presence. At least then England might actually have some decent competition in the northern hemisphere.

Unfortunately it would probably require a little bit more of that dreaded E word - expansion. Wales are showing good signs of improvement but there's a limit to just how much they can improve at the moment. We need as many players in Super League who will represent the other nations and many more players from the lower leagues.

It would obviously be difficult to achieve because of the low profile of the game but I think if people actually want the international game then strengthening those nations has to happen.

[Cheese]

wales played france yesterday, and not one mention on here.

[rally]

(06-17-2012 08:45 PM)CherryPie Wrote:  That's what I was thinking Rally. In order for international rugby league to grow I think it needs a greater European presence. At least then England might actually have some decent competition in the northern hemisphere.

Unfortunately it would probably require a little bit more of that dreaded E word - expansion. Wales are showing good signs of improvement but there's a limit to just how much they can improve at the moment. We need as many players in Super League who will represent the other nations and many more players from the lower leagues.

It would obviously be difficult to achieve because of the low profile of the game but I think if people actually want the international game then strengthening those nations has to happen.

The only way to attract players to play for the smaller countries would be money. I like the idea of these exiles games but why is it only benefitting the English team? Surely they should play the other nations too. I hope we can achieve a 5 nations competition but it'll take a long time to establish it. Fans need to back an idea like this if it happened. Too many fans I know are only bothered about there club teams and say we should just scrap internationals all togther!!!

[Cheese]

is that wrong rally??

maybe they just see it as a bit of an inconvenience and that rugby league could as well concentrate on club rugby.