During October, while I’ve been ill, I’ve been watching some of the Rugby League World Cup on TV.

I cannot understand the game or its attraction.

Think upon it thus-wise …

• It’s a game with effectively no competition and no invention.
• The only tactic seems to be to get the ball and run straight at the nearest three opponents, so they can throw you to the ground.



• The set plays are all uncontested: the play-the-ball, the scrums, the restart from the ball in touch – you know the outcome in advance.
• The scrums, as they are defined as uncontested, are pointless – you might as well just give someone the ball and say “Go”.
• Meaningful penalties are almost non-existent; the vast majority of penalties are effectively no different to the play-the-ball.
• The opposition only get the ball when you make an error, not by competing for it.
• Players (and referees) are unable to play without a continual supply of water, with extraneous bodies wandering on and off the pitch to fulfil this need.
• The referee spends half the time running backwards.
• Referees seem unable to make decisions – so many of the decisions, especially tries, are referred to the video referee for a decision.

The game is totally sterile and pointless.

And then they try playing it in wheelchairs!

Compare with Rugby Union, where the scrums and line-outs are properly contested; penalties mean something; the tackled player-with-ball sets up ruck and maul which become a contest for the ball; and much more invention in passing and kicking flows from this.

I just cannot see why Rugby League even exists, let alone why anyone would want to play it.