Is this worthy of discussion?

We know that the 'Union' game is in a parlous state in many countries (Britain and Australia for certain). 

I can't comment on the health of the 'League' code because I have no personal experience of it.

- 13 or 15 players;

- contested or uncontested tackles;

- line outs and scrummaging

- points awarded

What are the other significant differences between the two codes?

Will it ever happen?

At that level there is a lot of interchange of players between the two codes, made easier by the different seasons of each. 

At the Semi pro level most clubs survive hand to mouth and suffer the same issues as their Union counterparts. 

At the top Superleague level the game is facing the IMG plan to try and revitalise it. 

At international level I'm afraid it is a farce. 

All this just to say it won't happen and uniting two codes with their own financial issues won't solve anything. 

As a fan of both codes, I'd say "not a chance".

One day you might see a "hybrid" game, which will be played exclusively for the telly and watched only by the curious, a bit like those Wigan Bath cross code games some years back.

Not long after that, (1996) Wigan RLFC were invited to the Middlesex Sevens and won the competition.  And Bradford Bulls (who I still prefer to think of as Bradford Northern) won it in 2002.

Halliford wrote: I remember Bath just about beating Wigan at RU. Wigan had to use a coach as a lock as they did not have forwards big enough. When they ran the ball, Bath struggled..

I was at that game, at Twickenham.

Craig Murdock, the Wigan scrum half, ran quite the length to score a cracking try.

Graeme West, the Wigan coach, played in the 2nd row, which is where he played as an RU player in his day.

The Wigan back row had Scott Quinnell at No 8, with Va'aiga Tuigamala as one of the flankers, Shem Tatupu the other, an all ex-RU back row.

The referee was from Leeds.

Didn't Andy Farrell play for Wigan?

What is he doing now? :-)

Captained the side that day and partnered West in the second row.

No idea what he's doing these days.

It's on youtube.  The scrums were contested to begin with but Bath stopped about 20 minutes into the game from memory.  

I think there was a lot of difference.

But that was at the dawn of professionalism.

In fact, I suspect these games did a lot to put up the price of those coaches.

I am not sure there would be that difference today.

Personally I think a united game would be a great thing on many levels off the field, it's just whether their could be a bridging of the egos involved to make it happen. There would need to be delicate public relations to make sure it was genuinely presented as a merger not an acquisition.

On the field I struggle a bit more as I like the mixed tempo, tactical kicking & scrums in union; while the continuous play, and tighter focus on the core skills, seems to be a key appeal to many league fans.

For me they were noticeably different.

There's a game that is stop start I cannot watch unless highlights.

Players of each code like and respect the other, and have no problem (except technically) in switching. As a little kid, I supported Bradford Northern, as they were then; I lived near Odsal Stadium. But I got into Bradford GS and played Union from 11 onwards. I have never played RL in my life, or even watched an amateur game.

Nowadays (70 years on!), I find League sterile and boring, mostly, but I think it is a hugely enjoyable game for youngsters, still. Lots of stuff on YouTube, which I started to watch during Covid lockdown.

Most Cumbrian villages have two rugby clubs, inevitably at opposite ends of the village.

You could call it a religious divide, but it is more serious than that.

And with Flag Football* being incorporated into the LA Olympics in 2028 it's going to gain even more interest and possibly even central funding.

* essentially NFL Tag

I'll go to the Challenge Cup final for a day out, proudly wearing my British Lions shirt but I have to agree. League is just so much more dull and predictable. Every game is always "5 tackles, kick and pray then repeat". It is just a slightly faster version of american football. 

There's some very good rugby league going on here.

NRL is franchises, isn't it? No promotion or relegation?

I do get a little tired of the crash ball tactics and the attention on big hits. Big men ploughing into big men (concussion anybody?). Where are the dummies, the sidesteps, the sway of the hips, the swagger of passing into space and knowing that a team-mate would be in the right place to run onto the ball.

Can I lend anyone my rose-tinted specs?

..or would it?

As someone who watches a lot of both codes, and despite being a dyed in the wool Mose fan would probably say I overall prefer RL (don't say that out loud very often), my big fear is that the inexorable logic of reunited codes, certainly in England, is rugby league on the pitch, run by the RFU.

Which makes both the union and league sides of me feel a bit sick.

I don't think you are alone Greg. That's why I prefer watching NL rugby to that of the Premiership. Less "gym monkeys" and less reliance on the so-called "big hits" (since when was a "hit" part of rugby union?). Mind you there are a few big lumps in NL of course but then again there are more big lumps in the general population now than there was in the "good old days".