How to play Rugby League?

[Jock The Rock]

Gday

I've played Union for for nearly 12 years but just recently I decided to try League. A group has set up a comp here in Tassie for the off season

I have never fully watched a game of league and was just wondering if anyone had any good instructional videos of basic rules of the game and rules at the breakdown

Or just words of wisdom from anyone who has crossed over before.

I found at training tonight that laying the ball back after being tackled is a big no no as well as trying to follow the ruck (I play No. 8 in Union)

Thanks

[sheerluck]

Noooooooooooooooooo! Don't defect to the dark side!!

In order to play League, you know you'll need to put on 30kgs, lose two thirds of your vocabulary, and learn how to take a dump in a hotel corridor, don't you?

[Jock The Rock]

Noooooooooooooooooo! Don't defect to the dark side!!

In order to play League, you know you'll need to put on 30kgs, lose two thirds of your vocabulary, and learn how to take a dump in a hotel corridor, don't you?

I must admit you are right, it has nothing on Union. No tactics, no plays etc all you need is muscle and a big ticker

I already bit over 100kg so can't get much bigger apart from going horizontally :p

It's just something to fill in the gap til the Union season starts again, sure as hell beats touch footy :D I got pinged a few times last season for rough touches :angel:

[MickS]

Breakdown in rugby league is what happens to coaches week in week out. Other than that, there are 6 tackles, knock ons, turn overs, what can be loosely described as a scrum...among other things.

The Rules of Rugby League Football (http://library.thinkquest.org/3369/rugby/rule.htm)

Rugby League - Guide to the Game (http://www.therfl.co.uk/a_guide_to_the_game/official_laws)

[MickS]

This is all you really need though

Era Of The Biff - Rugby League Memories Stories 50s to early 90's (http://www.eraofthebiff.com/)

[sheerluck]

.........what can be loosely described as a scrum.................

aka 12 big guys get together for a cuddle.

Scrum :Rolling:

I played hooker (union) for a short while. Right up until someone stood on my face and broke my nose for a second time.

Was a winger after that. Seemed safer:D

[MickS]

Scrums in RL nowadays are a joke...and to hear a referee give a scrummaging lesson - telling a winger who is standing in for the prop to get his arm over whilst the half back puts the ball at the locks feet - and yells "out" - is a slap in the face to real forwards. Love the union scrums.

[Bigbjorn]

First you will need to learn to tackle. A Rugby League tackler needs to stop the player, put him on the ground and kill the ball. Preferably knock the wind out of him on the way. Rugby Union tackles are far gentler. Melbourne football doesn't have tackles, just a form of loving embrace. Forwards need to learn to be a ball distributor by developing ability to stand in the tackle and slip the ball (preferably) to an unmarked player.

Scrums and the play the ball are no longer contests for the ball thus taking a lot of skills and interest out of the game. Scrums used to be extremely violent affairs with plenty of rough stuff. George Piggins won the 1971 grand final for South Sydney with his skill at winning the ball in the play the ball. These changes were made at the insistence of the TV broadcasters who wanted to take "delays" out of the game.

Rugby League is a far rougher and tougher game than either of the other major football codes. I remember a captain of Valleys telling a new recruit from Rugby Union that he will need looking after for a while as "coming from Union you will not be tough".

I can't imagine that the standard of either Rugby code will be high in Tasmania.

[pop058]

one man trying to push 2 men up 3 mens bums :p

[Disco44]

First you will need to learn to tackle. A Rugby League tackler needs to stop the player, put him on the ground and kill the ball. Preferably knock the wind out of him on the way. Rugby Union tackles are far gentler. Melbourne football doesn't have tackles, just a form of loving embrace. Forwards need to learn to be a ball distributor by developing ability to stand in the tackle and slip the ball (preferably) to an unmarked player.

Scrums and the play the ball are no longer contests for the ball thus taking a lot of skills and interest out of the game. Scrums used to be extremely violent affairs with plenty of rough stuff. George Piggins won the 1971 grand final for South Sydney with his skill at winning the ball in the play the ball. These changes were made at the insistence of the TV broadcasters who wanted to take "delays" out of the game.

Rugby League is a far rougher and tougher game than either of the other major football codes. I remember a captain of Valleys telling a new recruit from Rugby Union that he will need looking after for a while as "coming from Union you will not be tough".

I can't imagine that the standard of either Rugby code will be high in Tasmania.

Hear Hear Hoges.When the wallabies were challenged to a game by the kangaroos for charity, they would not accept the challenge.One half was to be played Union the second half...league.
Now ain't that interesting on the wallabies part.I played both and I know which is the toughest..league.When the wallabies won the world cup back in the 1990's, their tackling coach was Randall from Manly Warringah and it showed.Now what's next from the " If in doubt kick out" people?The game is spoiled by whistle happy referees stopping the game all the time.Rugby League referees suffer from blindness from time to to time but in the main keep the game rolling.
John.

[Cobber]

the best thing to do would probably search for the League rules on the net.
Maybe even the NRL site has them on there somewhere?

[Bigbjorn]

the best thing to do would probably search for the League rules on the net.
Maybe even the NRL site has them on there somewhere?

I have an old paperback copy which is titled "Laws of the Game and Notes on the Laws" circa late 1960's from my courses to obtain junior referee certificate and coaching certificate. Forgotten most of it now other than the essentials.

[sheerluck]

..............Now what's next from the " If in doubt kick out" people?...........

Different strokes for different folks John. You clearly have no love of Union, in the same way that I find "Big boofhead picks ball up, runs at big boofhead in front of him. Gets tackled, rolls ball between legs. Repeat ad infinitum" dull too.

[Jock The Rock]

Thanks for all the replies

After some thought I decided to give it a miss

As Dave says League seems to be just about bashing into each other, I find Union to be a lot more enjoyable. More variety with proper rucks, malls, lineouts and scrums

That and I'm not sure I have the time, I want to get my next Landy project finished :)

[Disco44]

Different strokes for different folks John. You clearly have no love of Union, in the same way that I find "Big boofhead picks ball up, runs at big boofhead in front of him. Gets tackled, rolls ball between legs. Repeat ad infinitum" dull too.

Up in Qld they are commonly known as "The Rah Rahs'.It's common to go to a test between The Wallabies and The All blacks with a 50 thousand crowd barracking for the ALL Blacks.That's because of the number of NZers Living up here.All on the Gold Coast.
The same with the AFL.The crowds are predominately southern refugees (Mexicans south of the border) and they live on the Sunshine Coast.League ihe sport up here and in NSW.Figures for the State of Origin show that .The same for AFL in Victoria figures show that the "Rah Rah'" game comes a sad third.I think soccer would give it a shunt in Victoria too.
Them's the facts from another highly educated "Boofhead' forward who played Rugby League.
DOH,
John.

[sheerluck]

Up in Qld they are commonly known as "The Rah Rahs'.It's common to go to a test between The Wallabies and The All blacks with a 50 thousand crowd barracking for the ALL Blacks.That's because of the number of NZers Living up here.All on the Gold Coast.
The same with the AFL.The crowds are predominately southern refugees (Mexicans south of the border) and they live on the Sunshine Coast.League ihe sport up here and in NSW.Figures for the State of Origin show that .The same for AFL in Victoria figures show that the "Rah Rah'" game comes a sad third.I think soccer would give it a shunt in Victoria too.
Them's the facts from another highly educated "Boofhead' forward who played Rugby League.
DOH,
John.

John, it's much the same in the UK. There's a north/south divide between the two rugby codes, and it was always that the north was the working class, poor area, and the south the rich, affluent area. So league was played by the state schools, and union in the public (actually private!) and southern schools.

In days gone by, you got into playing union by virtue of how much money Daddy had, and league took the common oiks. These days it is clearly all about athletic ability rather than Daddy's bank account, but old prejudices die hard there......one of the many reasons why we left.

So your place of birth dictates which sport you can play and support.....:(