Up and Over

Just finished reading Dave Hadfields book "Up and Over - A trek through
Rugby League Land". Very entertaining read!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1845960483/qid=1148972320/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/203-3463038-7951145

One thing that interested me was the comparative size of alot of the
towns where all the famous club names originate (I'm in NZ). The Wigans,
St Helens etc are actually quite small towns which surprised me! Got onto
Wikipedia & got these populations for the current English Super League
sides:

Huddersfield (146,234)
St Helens (102,629)
Bradford (293,717)
Hull (248,500)
Warrington (193,700)
Salford (216,103)
Wakefield (79,885)
Castleford (37,525)
Wigan (89,876)
Leeds (443,247)

When you think (until last year) of Australia's dominance of the game
(since 1970), that probably has alot todo with it. RL in NZ is a minority
sport, and comparing the population of NSW (6,764,600) & Queensland
(4,000,000) with the towns/cities above, you realise Great Britain is
probably alot of the time going to lose to Oz purely through smaller
player population. Hadfield also seems to make the point that alot of the
players League got its real strength from in Britain where miners etc.
With the closure of alot of those industries, players are coming from
different areas of life & backgrounds.

Anyway, fascinating book and a great insight into the game in the North of
England!

cheers
Daryn



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