Well at least we agree with you Yorkshiremen on football.
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Donât letâs get all sectarian on football codesâŠ
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the best state : West Australia - all play Australian Rules football âby defaultâ - as do most non-urban areas of Queenland (Rugby is mostly Brisbane and Gold Coast AFAIK) - i.e. most regional places in Queensland - and NOBODY (or hardly anyone) plays Rugby in the âtop endâ of the Northern Territory - is a huge AFL âstateâ (with a tiny population) - many players in the top teams of the AFL are indigenous from the Northern Territory - and - Aussie Rules also borrowed some stuff from an indigenous game called âmarngrookââŠ
And Aussie Rules is close enough to âGaelic Footballâ they can swap aroundâŠ
I was born in Newcastle NSW - but - spent most of my life in WA and Victoria - where Aussie rules is the default football code 
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When I was 11 years old, my dad got tickets to watch huddersfield vs Leeds a local football derby. At half time he asked are you interested in football, my reply was negative. So we left the match. That was my first and last football match. 58 years ago !
When my daughter was 14 i won tickets to go watch the rugby, huddersfield vs the new Zealand national team, we watched the guys dancing and chanting on the field and the first few kicks, but then it started to snow. We left⊠Not been to another rugby match sine then.
When it was the rugby world cup a year ago, I installed the sound and projection system in our village centre so others could watch, took it down at the end of the matches. Never saw any play.
As you can guess team Ball sports just hold no interest for me.
Struggle to even watch girls beach volleyball⊠I am a no hope case.
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I did not know that. It puts a different perspective on it.
Lets shelve the football heroics ⊠all codes have a concussion problem and a gambling problem.
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100% and all (our) political parties have a sports gambling problem (i.e. a very powerful lobby group) - I find the sort of gambling that creates addicts just as insidious as narcotics - but one is is openly embraced and acceptableâŠ
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I dont understand why governments listen to lobby groups. ? Are there political party donations involved?
But is that not the voice of the people ?
Like surveys, or on line polls ?
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That is what worries me. Lobby groups are the voice of select minority groups of people.
I thought democracy gave us all an equal voice?
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But you elect a représentent and 5 years down the line you vote again. In the meantime time how do you get your thoughts across. I quite often take part in yougov polls or similar to try to influence a vote which I may or not support. Such as removal of fixed téléphone from copper to fibre. Patron of invictus games, pension age, etc if enough vote the uk government puts motions before the house.
On a local level our Deputy Mayor lived and worked in our village so we were able to talk through her to the mayor. That quite often got finding for our events. Small things.
Yes, there are ways to have a say, but it requires some personal effort.
We have a census at the moment⊠our first on internet forms. There are groups trying to influence how people respond to various questions.
You would think demographics would be straightforward, but no, there are contentious questions.
So many questions are geared around the reply you want
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Sad to say, but I believe the lobbyist have a bigger say in government then the voters.
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Because political parties and representatives listen to group opinion more than they do to individuals, and they listen 24/7 not just on voting day.
The press and other media are a sort of a lobby group, and they are less selective than minority lobbyists, but they can be biased.
There is no mechanism other than an expensive referendum, to get an unbiased peopleâs vote on an issue.
What I was wondering was how are special interest lobby groups becoming so powerful?
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Money! Very large donations to politicians re-election campaigns. At least thatâs my opinion.
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âTheyâ have an unlimited supply of cuddly creatures, fresh from the cloning vats.
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Yorkshire has its own martyr.
Read about Nicholas Postgate
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That is the first time I have read anything about him, thanks for sharing that. Strange but the event is celebrated in middlesborough and in July not August.
Normally we clame Robin hood but that is always a debait
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His hideout is now gone after all these years.
âThe 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Englandâs Sherwood Forestâtraditionally known as Robin Hoodâs hideoutâdied in June 2026 after failing to sprout leaves. Wildlife charity RSPB stated that extreme climate stress, heavy tourism, and compacted soil caused the ancient treeâs final decline. [1, 2, 3]â
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The abbey where he shot his last arrow still existe and his grave, but it is in private Land and no access is allowed. Although as a child i visited it with my father
It was a pub now just a resto and the name has changed several times
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How is it realy with Robin Hood was he the peoples man and helped the poor or was he just a theif ?
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