Quote:
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Originally Posted by Deffeh
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugb...ue/6313389.stm
Given that im completely indifferent to both types of rugby because i think its fairly shit, but i probably prefer Union to League simply because it seems to have international competitions which hold more prestige....
... can someone explain me why league followers hate union, and presumably vice versa?
From that link
" For so many historic, cultural and social reasons - some real, some imagined, some exaggerated - your dyed-in-the-wool league fan will at best ignore the efforts of the England rugby union side, and more commonly, hope for their miserable failure."
what? Seriously, league fans will cheer against englands ru side?
Info plz
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To be honest I don't really know why there seems to be that hatred. It isn't that bad at all down here and I don't know anyone who would want the Wales/Lions league team to lose despite the fact everyone I know prefers union over rugby (ignoring those who don't like rugby at all).
The only real reason I can see for the built up animosity is the old amateur/professional devide which used to exist and then the frustration union fans used to feel at seeing their best players poached away by league clubs with more money. I know Jonathon Davies got given a huge amount of stick for leaving union. Maybe now the league fans are bitter about the fact it is happening in reverse and the fact their game never got more popular despite all the extra money and supposed higher standard it was meant to be at (Wigan annihilating Bath in the cross code game a decade or so ago). Now it is probably just traditional to hate the other code.
Wales never really had any league teams though which has probably meant the rivalry isn't as strong here as England. Considering league is a northern game and union a more southern biased then part of it could come down to an extension of that on top of the factors effecting Wales.
I heard something similar around 2003/04 when the Welsh rugby team was doing badly while the football was finally on the up under Hughes. In one six nations game when Wales lost a load of fans at Ninian Park cheered as they saw it as a victory for football over rugby which I just found really strange.