yorksguy1865 wrote:
Like others have said, I would say it is simply because of where it is played. More popular in the south where there is more money for people to invest. London is more appealing to investors and players than Widnes or Wakefield say (no offence to those places, just examples).
I don't consider London to be a RU stronghold. It's true that London is the home of the Establishment and RU is very much an Establishment game (although it has worked hard to broaden it's appeal in a way RL has not), but the "big" London RU clubs are on the edges where London merges with the home counties, and more of the big English RU clubs are actually in the South West or Midlands.
yorksguy1865 wrote:
I suppose that a factor is the leagues and international game has been a lot more structured and stable over the years.
I think there is a parochial mindset entrenched amongst a significant section of the RL base which has always held back expansion, I suspect it (partly) has its roots in the way RL emerged as a distinctly professional sport, so the 'amateur' side of RL came as an afterthought in a way that isn't true of other sports that are played professionally. There have been some genuine attempts to break out of being a regional sport, but it's always done with a chunk of the RL base fighting against it every inch of the way. English RU on the other hand has been far more willing to embrace change and far less dogged by small mindedness. Interestingly I'd suggest that some of the experiences of Scottish and Welsh RU have been more akin to RL's struggles, but they have that stronger international game to fall back on.
RL in Australia has fared better the social and economic conditions were better:
- Association Football has never had the same level of dominance as it does in the UK (and huge swathes of the rest of the world)
- Australia has less of the baggage that came with the 'RU' split
- The RL heartland in Australia developed in its most populous and economically powerful region (NSW), whereas RL's heartlands are within the historic counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumberland, which declined in relative economic power throughout the 20th century.
I look back on the first time I visited The Stoop to watch the Broncos in the Branson era, it was big and bold and there was a sense of great things being possible with SL, we played Saints and a few players like Paul Sculthorpe were coming close to having a genuine national profile. Twenty years later and it has imploded.
