Why is rugby league so unpopular in the south of UK?

Question

I live in Essex and love travelling to watch Bradford play. I was born in Essex and do not understand why League gets such dismissal here. I personally find it a faster, more interesting game.

Why the obsession with Union in the South?

Answer 1

Same in Scotland, I used to play and hope my kids take it up. The problem is too many people are fixed on football. Why?

is beyond me.

Answer 2

Because Union is the gentlemens version of the game, and the League is the workers version (by the way I mean no offence but that is the correct answer). Eaton, Harrow and all the Universities played Union so it caught on down here.

Answer 3

Just another example of the north/south divide.  

Southern England has a tradition of mainly following Rugby Union, which developed in the public schools and is, therefore, perceived as being somewhat elitist, rather than Rugby League which developed in the working class industrial towns of the north.

Answer 4

i loved it !!!!!!!! i used to play for my school at the top level and when we trained the proffesors used to say this evening we are playing league i loved it ! a harder game if you were a foward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i live in london !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

It's the competing for the ball, contested scrums and not little pass-backs that make the Union game a much better game. Look at the interest in Union worldwide and in the World Cup. Only a handful of nations play tick rugby..er sorry rugby league.

Answer 6

It alll has to do with the game in the late 1890s.

The 1890s was a competitive time between clubs and players, with things getting pretty heated.  There were definite cultural clashes between the southern gentleman’s clubs and the northern working man’s club.  

The debate about professionalism within the Rugby game was ignited, and since it remained unresolved in August of 1895, twenty-two clubs split away from the RFU.  

After a brief meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, the details were worked out and the Northern Rugby Football Union or NRFU was created.  Most times, it was referred to as just Northern Union.  

The rules began to gradually diverge from the rules of Rugby Union.  Even as the rules started changing, the Rugby League name did not become official until 1901 when the Northern Rugby League was formed.

Answer 7

good question. i dont actually know. but i live near london (but actually born in nz) and when i want to see a match i always have to travel up north as well. but i do sometimes go and see the quins in london who are the only southern team.

i wish it would become more popular in the south so when i talk about all the great players, like lesley vainakolo they would actually know who i going on about. league is also a much more exciting game to watch than union and you see more action too.

Answer 8

League is a tough game and i personally think the boys up North are made of harder wood than the boys down south

Answer 9

in Southern England it is probably explained best by the fact that Rugby Union is a game for the middle class and soccer is the sport of the working class and you get taught a differnt sport depending on what type of school you go to. Whereas in the North, League was formed by working class people breaking away from Union as they needed to be paid if they wanted to carry on playing.

This doesn't explain why it's never really caught on in Wales though, where Union is the working class game. It maybe due to the resentment of Union fans of losing some of the best Welsh players to League over the years.

The Celtic Cruisaders of Bridgend do seem to be getting fairly decent crowds though and now that they don't have a proffessional Union team in Bridgend, there may be a chance for the sport in Wales.

Answer 10

Northern boys are harder than their southerner cousins therefore they play the tougher game./

Union make look more brutal but they dont have the brutal collision you get in league.

Johnny Wilkinson might be able to kick but he sure cant fight.!!

Answer 11

My boyfriend reckons that the answer to this is quite straight-forward. They are a bunch of Southern Jessies, apparantly.

Answer 12

because Union was the 'toffs' game and League was the working mans game, and we all know that there are very few working men in the south who have proper jobs :)

Answer 13

might be because they enjoy watching all the old greats of  rugby league now playing union.