My my my my Gary,you do love to push the envelope on taste dont you."RUGBY UNION BORING"Um let me see from that statement I can only assume, and I don't usually assume any thing cause that makes an ass out of you and me,in your spare time you wrestle polar bears,or swim with great white sharks.Or do you get your kicks playing russian roulette with a loaded 45 hand gun ?."BORING".Umm and please dont let me put words in your mouth all those thousands of people who follow and live this game are dills cause the game is boring.Yikes.Of course you are allowed to have an opinion,but it is still bollicks none the less.
Phill.

Rules is more national than Union or League. btw I played for the New York Magpies USAFL team many years ago :)

Phill,

As a media spectacle--the game made in heaven--union makes for boring television in terms of attracting the consumer interest, consumer dollar and big audience for free-to--air, even if it is not boring for the fans who love an hour or so of scrummage,kicking for possession and lineout. Union should be pushed over to Foxtel and its place taken by a far more diversifed and stylish ways of playing in soccer.

In terms of nationality the Socceroos have captured the national imagination far more than the Wallabies ever have. The nation has got behind soccer in a way that it never has with union.

Gary,What you have said UP to the moment is true.However Soccer will never be in Australia at the entertaining level of Rugby League/Aussie Rules.Many of my friends are fifth generation Australain and right or wrong,they associate Soccer with wogs and poms.I don't like the way they think but it is a fact.When the ball has been put away after the world cup,it will be business as usual for the home grown product.As an aside what good actors these soccer players are,some of them should get an accadamy award.In fact some of them would be better served in the Australian or for that matter any country's diving team.Just an opoinion mind you.Phill.

Hmm, I'm pretty interested in following the Soccer WC despite the fact that we have no (South Africa) national team in the competition. I tested myself on which game, Soccer or Rugby, was the more boring by switching between France v South Africa (rugby wc u/21) and England v Ecuador. (Ok I know it's England) . Frankly, Rugby at least had consistent scoring, crunching tackles without the petulance and overacting that is soccer, and some impressive attacking and defending. Soccer seems mostly a game of fouls, with about 80% of attacking moves being thwarted by a foul, often over dramatised, of one kind or another. Rugby has sorted this out by resorting to the sin bin, why does soccer not do the same in the case of a yellow card?

I found the Rugby to be exciting for most of the time, even though it wasn't a particularly close game. The soccer had its moments, but they were few and far between.

Ozarkian,
Re your comment:

Soccer seems mostly a game of fouls, with about 80% of attacking moves being thwarted by a foul, often over dramatised, of one kind or another. Rugby has sorted this out by resorting to the sin bin, why does soccer not do the same in the case of a yellow card?

I agree. It spoils the game for television. It is why I'm not that interested --other than the spectacle of a world cup.

We don't get it up here - never will. Soccer, while enjoyed by our kids to great lengths in leagues across the country, loses its luster on TV. And Australian Rules is played in this country only by insane college guys who enjoy bleeding and losing teeth - or crazy homesick transplants like Cam. As for it's watchability on TV, I've never even seen it broadcast.

Which is why we jumped on the American Football bandwagon - it's made for TV, with all the hype, commercialism, power, money and even a little sex thrown in - in the form of cheerleaders. (Interesting note: most of the "sideline interviews" with players and coaches are now conducted by good looking young women.) We've created Modern Gladiators, Time's New Romans.

It seems Americans are watching the World Cup, but only out of selfishness. Now that we've been eliminated, you can count on dwindling ratings. In John Stewart's words: "So we lost to the West Africa's least malnourished nation."

As for Ozarkian's comment on "the petulance and overacting that is soccer," Buddy, you need to see some American Football - the whole thing is an act.

I'd like to see a football game where the teams had only ONE coach, the players played both sides and wore ancient (1950s) pads and helmets. There'd be no communication with experts upstairs and no headsets.

It has gotten so bad in this country that when a coach is talking in his headset, he will actually cover his mouth. This is so that the opposition can't - get this - Read his lips.