roopy wrote:
It gets stronger every year, and has done for the last 20 years.
It amazes me that people can't see that.
2000 was the low point for International RL, with the game only being played in 5 countries and only 3 of them being competitive.
In 2020 we will have the game being played in between 40 and 50 countries, and about 8 of them will be competitive.
Every World Cup now is noticeably better than the last.
If you could be any more wrong, it would be a struggle.
2017 had fewer fans in attendance than 2013,,,,,,,that's not better than the last. The game being played in many places by ex-pat pub sides is great, but is still doesn't change the fact that outside the 5 sides, the rest are crammed with heritage players and now PNG have slipped down the heritage rabbit hole too....if Tonga win the RLWC 2021 without a tongan born player it will be a massive achievement in Tonga, NSW, Qnslnd and along the m62, but everywhere else it will be seen for what it is....a small sport trying to look big, when in reality, if we spent some money on those pub sides (SERBIA for a start) then we'd see genuine rewards.......not another international route for NRL/SL players not good enough for ENG/NZ/AUS.....
BTW......2000 was a nadir, but the game was still played in more than 5 countries....it's just international travel and the heritage rules weren't as easily available....we had South Africa and Russia in 2000....now we have Greece and Jamaica...........both will be rammed with heritage players.
The target for 2021 is 700k minimum...if we get the 16,374 that we got in 2013, then we'll make 500k.......it's the other 7,000 per game that we need to find.
