TALKING RUGBY LEAGUE
A WEEKEND TO CELEBRATE-DESPITE ENGLAND’S DEFEAT
With
MARTYN SADLER
Editor
HAS there ever been a weekend when international Rugby League was so popular?
A record crowd for an Ashes game in England of 60,821 at Wembley on Saturday was followed on Sunday by a crowd of 44,682 for the Pacific Cup game between Tonga and Samoa at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, and preceded by a crowd of around 15,000 in Port Moresby for Papua New Guinea’s Pacific Bowl clash with the Cook Islands, while in France there was a crowd of 6,200 in Albi for the World Cup eliminator match against Jamaica.
So let’s not get too downhearted about the fact that England didn’t beat Australia.
When more than 125,000 people turn out around the world to watch top-level international Rugby League, I think we can conclude that the game isn’t doing too badly, particularly when we think back five years to the Covid era, when the international game looked to be almost on its death bed.