Steven Cook

Over 12 months ago I predicted this. And I was out by 20 mins. @footyindustryAU

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 Phil Waugh? Went to Shore. Senior banking executive. I don’t know his background. But, those details don’t exactly shut down the stereotype.

@Steven_J_Cook @Wynne202 It’s run by 2 guys who were top level rugby players

Can some with half a brain please explain to me what the Wallabies “represent”?

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 So to try to put it succinctly. I think rugby has an elite establishment. It has elite roots. It’s run by elites. But there are also normal people associated with the sport that I’ve listed. And they seem to be the people that I upset because they don’t see themselves that way.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I think category 1 are the elitists. &still a dominant force. 4. Often. 3. Sometimes. 2. Usually not. I was trying to explain my view of why people, who aren’t blue bloods, end up associated with rugby, and then tend to take offense when I reference the elite roots and elements

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I still don’t think I was being inconsistent, but it seems we aren’t understanding each other somewhere.

@Steven_J_Cook @Wynne202 This is why I wasn’t interested in engaging with it hours ago. I knew you’d go round in circles.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I don’t think so.

@Steven_J_Cook @Wynne202 Steven, sorry to say this mate but you come across as deeply confused about your own point of view.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 Abdo is 3. PVL could have been a 2, but not everyone was lost to that. I wasn’t trying to say everyone that went to uni in the early days took up rugby. Just that it happened. Also, for PVL, it was in the 80s when he went to uni, and at Wollongong, so that influence had weakened

@Steven_J_Cook @Wynne202 You know the 2 most prominent and powerful people in the NRL fit into your category 1 and 2 right?

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I don’t know if you are Canberra based or not, but I concede the connection in Canberra with rugby is different to the rest of the country thanks to the Brumbies. It’s a small city with only the rugby codes, so it’s had a different cut through.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 See I think it’s there underneath. Lots of the comments reject the labels, but if you scratch beneath the surface, I reckon most rugby people fit into one of those groups in their family history. A few maybe picked the game up in the 90s and 00s when it was briefly “cool”.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I think I combined two of your posts there and mixed messages.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 Of course I do! I’m intrigued what parts you find weird, willfully ignorant, etc.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 I live and grew up on the Barassi line in southern NSW. I always find it amazing how much underlying demographics, and family history determines which football code resonates with people and how un-shiftable that remains even a few generations down the line.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 But I also very much feel rugby in Australia is still controlled by the Blue Bloods

@Wynne202 @brumby_fan Absolutely agree with that. I want Australia to win, but I want RL to win more.

@brumby_fan @Steven_J_Cook Here is one for ya brummers and I would love for Steven to whack his two cents in , I reckon 50% of Australian RL fans would support the kangaroos losing to help the international game , such is there commitment to “RL” over Australia RU shouldn’t take this to heart .

@gbyrne1974 @brumby_fan I’ve hated rugby my whole life because of what has happened since 1895. I’m happy to start listing all the things that are “wrong”. I honesty don’t mind if you don’t agree but I assure you that it’s no flippant position or a result of “modern culture”

@brumby_fan It's typical of the modern culture of if I don't like it I must hate it or there's something wrong. Epic levels of stupidity.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 And my original comment was as much tongue in cheek as it was serious. Deadly serious in the context. But the context is still ultimately sport, which isn’t really deadly serious at all. So it should be taken that way. Just a RL fan, with a RL chip on his shoulder.

@brumby_fan @Wynne202 Someone once called me a “rugby league nationalist”. It was a joke but maybe it’s kind of the best way to describe it. It’s something tied to identity, loyalty, and cultural belonging. And I defend it accordingly.