Packer was the one who went after union, Rupert had RL, if Packer didn't get union, Rupert and RL would have stripped union bare.
Ever heard of Rugby Ltd?
It includes Union and League.
That's the whole point, union didn't want to come out into the open, their game was pure, the devils game (Pro Rugby) already existed.
Just before union went open, the Wallabies, NZ and Sth Africa were all about to jump ship, it was reported that these 3 countries were all about to take the money and join RL.
This forced the hand of the IRB and the RFU, they knew they had to come into the 21st century or die.
The reason you see S14 every Feb is because of the SL war, if Rupert had of won, there would be no Super Rugby Union.
There would be a European SL, a Australasian SL and an African SL, plus it was reported in the 1998 Rugby League year book by David Middleton, it states that on
January 31 1997 Super League's International Board chairman Maurice Lindsay announces that business interests are prepared to invest $60 million into a eight-team competition in Japan.
As for union being this big international sport lmao.
If you remember, their first UWC in Australia couldn't even get 15,000 into Concorde oval for the final.
In Europe, union could get crowds for internationals, in NZ also, but everywhere else they couldn't, Sth Africa couldn't, Australia couldn't, so there is two of the Biggest union countries already taken out.
All that leaves you with is England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France, yet back then, they only played a couple of tests each year in the 5 nations, and a test or two against Aus and NZ every couple of years when a tour was on.
Nowadays, people are complaining that union has too many internationals, the same teams all the time, but even more than before, that's why the crowds are slowly falling and the TV ratings are on a big dive.
All union has is internationals, take them away and it starts to look very sick.
They have always relied on IRU to get the money in, that's why over in England, the club comp has only been around for 10 years, yeah they might be 100 odd years old, but a club comp can not survive on crowds of 100 family and friends.
In the last 10 years, club union in England has been pushed, the media like to print nice big things about it, saying how long a history it has, all the firsts for Rugby happen, a Challenge cup and all the rest, pity the media doesn't print the truth and say, BS, RL has been doing all this in England for 112 years
