Benji Marshall might be a little surprised to hear he is a little white bloke running around, the brains of the operation because those maori's and polynesians arent smart enough to have a 6 on their back. BTW it does seem very odd that Maori's and Polynesians have different attributes.



Also can I ask why Swimming isnt an explosive sport but sprinting is? What about weightlifting, surely the very epitome of explosive power why is that generally dominated by eastern European and central asians? Also its very strange that afro-carribean athletes cant compete with athletes from Africa in distance running. Would have thought one of the main reasons the afro-carribean community was so named was because of a hereditary link to..... well, africa.



Oh and to answer you first question his name is Christophe Lemaitre and probably not that long in the future.

There is no evidence that black people are more athletically suited to league. For you to say it is true, I assume you have some evidence to back this point?



Your whole argument is based on speculation and ignorance to be fair.

This is purely anecdotal and has no bearing on the athleticism question but on the OP - is British League too white? - I can't help noticing how few non-white kids appear in the photos in League talk. Maybe someone can enlighten me about participation in areas with large non-white populations. Are the pictures unrepresentative? Is there in fact healthy participation around Leeds and Bradford etc.?



Again, anecdotally and maybe wide of the mark but at the Skolars/Leigh game yesterday Skolars fielded three black players (would have been four if Bryan hadn't been withdrawn to prevent him being cup-tied) and Leigh fielded one, who happens to have come through the London system.



On the other hand there does seem a steady stream of superb black players in League, so the obvious question is, regardless of other issues, are we missing out on even more?

Quote SmokeyTA="SmokeyTA" Oh and to answer you first question his name is Christophe Lemaitre and probably not that long in the future.'" He's the best of the white sprinters at the moment & at 200m might have a decent chance of a medal but won't get a sniff of gold IMO Think you should all have a good read of this (opens a pdf file) which is a report made by hertfordshire Uni www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... D9v9VBQQzA and then have a good rethink about what has been said.

Quote SmokeyTA="SmokeyTA" Oh and to answer you first question his name is Christophe Lemaitre and probably not that long in the future.'" He's the best of the white sprinters at the moment & at 200m might have a decent chance of a medal but won't get a sniff of gold IMO Think you should all have a good read of this (opens a pdf file) which is a report made by hertfordshire Uni www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... D9v9VBQQzA and then have a good rethink about what has been said.

Its about players being the best, not what colour they are, give me 17 world class purple and green striped players and I will be happy.

Quote knockersbumpMKII="knockersbumpMKII"He's the best of the white sprinters at the moment & at 200m might have a decent chance of a medal but won't get a sniff of gold IMO Think you should all have a good read of this (opens a pdf file) which is a report made by hertfordshire Uni www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... D9v9VBQQzA and then have a good rethink about what has been said.'" Indeed. Biological/racial stereotypes have been prevalent for some time and have been written about in quite some volume. Football, being as big as it is, has been the focus of a whole host of studies confirming the outcome of the study you linked to, in so far as scouts, coaches, trainers, board members etc make the same assumptions about race and employ the same stereotypes which then form part of a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Quote knockersbumpMKII="knockersbumpMKII"He's the best of the white sprinters at the moment & at 200m might have a decent chance of a medal but won't get a sniff of gold IMO Think you should all have a good read of this (opens a pdf file) which is a report made by hertfordshire Uni www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... D9v9VBQQzA and then have a good rethink about what has been said.'" Indeed. Biological/racial stereotypes have been prevalent for some time and have been written about in quite some volume. Football, being as big as it is, has been the focus of a whole host of studies confirming the outcome of the study you linked to, in so far as scouts, coaches, trainers, board members etc make the same assumptions about race and employ the same stereotypes which then form part of a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Rancid thread.

Correct to a point. There is some circumstantial evidence that a larger proportion of black people from certain ethnic black groups are more gifted at say sprinting or long distance running. Obviously pigmies don't fall in that category for a start. However most of the greatest sprinters were and are black so there is something in it. It's pure genetics - in the same way as a slightly larger proportion of Scandinavians are more blonde and seem to make great Weightlifters, Germans more tall and make good headers of a football, Somoans are more often very big and make good RL players. It's a genetic mutation (Darwin) that has allowed certain ethnic groups to develop modest extra abilities in certain muscle groups with the result they can run very slightly faster than most people - in the story of human evolution it's no big WOW.



To suggest this is general amongst all black people is wrong, for every Linford Cristie there are dozens of not very athletic black people.



Only at the very elite 0.1% is there any real difference and frankly it's only a few who ever achieve it. In all my years of following the sports only Ellery Hanley has ever displayed any real superhuman abilities not found in any white players. Offiah was not that quick that he couldn't be caught, he had a good brain for RL and played in a great team which made the difference. Oddly Ellery was far from "pure" black for want of a better description.



So to conclude, being black as far as I can see occasionally offers extra but not very often. It's not a myth but it's very very out of the norm - you certainly couldn't pick young players based on skin colour and expect to see any better results.

League is faily representative of the make up of the UK although its Aisan players that are non-existent if you are looking at SL level. 3-4 black/mixed race players in the England team is more than representative, you could even argue its too black, which would be as ridiculous as too white. The one sport in the UK that can hold its head up as a leader in the inclusion of 'non-white' players, coaches etc is League.



Viv Anderson was first black England footballer and that was in late 70's, and I've got no idea about Yawnion.



We should celebrate Leagues diversity and its progressive support of minorities. (gets off soapbox)

Just imagine the uproar if you started a thread on here titled 'Too many blacks in RL?' The thread would be locked and you would be banned in about two minutes, so why hasn't this one?

The problem as I see it (and I do see it as a problem) is that the most black and to an even greater extent, asian people are just not interested in Rugby League.

My son plays under 12s in West Yorkshire and I can think of only 2 players in his division who are black and none who are asian. The same is true of his school team.

Given the local demographic, this is a massive under-representation. Racial athletic diffences dont even come into it.



Chile

I'm not sure why people have an issue with Celt's statements - he absolutely right. There are differences between blacks and whites, but it's not quite that simple. In terms fast and slow-twitch muscles, West Africans and Polynesians, for example, have a predominance of fast twitch muscle fibres, whilst it's also been found that East Africans are able to run at a higher maximum oxygen capacity than whites (or West Africans, for that matter). [url=http://run-down.com/guests/je_black_athletes_p2.phpThis article explains it fairly clearly.[/url



People of West African and Poynesian are, therefore, probably marginally more suited to League (and boxing, sprinting, etc), whilst people of East African origin are more suited to duration running. But - and this is key - many studies also conclude that those differences are only noticeable at the top end of any sport, where the marginal split-second differences count - sprinting being the obvious example.



Of course there are differences. To say there aren't is ridiculous. But to label it simply a 'black' or 'white' issue is wrong. Look at Papuans, generally short and stocky, against Kenyans, generally tall and slim. Yet both are black. Are they they same? Suited to the same sports, perhaps? Of course not. The fact is that different ethnicities have difference origins, their bodies had difference climatic and territorial factors to adapt to and overcome and over tens or hundreds of thousands of years different body types have developed. [url=http://www.silkassociates.com/information.php?info_id=8%3EA look at Polynesian origins here.[/url



Too many people are terrified to discuss any differences in race or ethnicity - because there are differences you know, and it's not just skin colour.



Anyway, is League too white? Not at all.

I bet you have a problem with the MOBO awards too don't you?

The “little white bloke with the 6 on his back” who is the “brains of the operation” is exactly the same argument that was prevalent in the world of NFL that black players can be linebackers, receivers etc but couldn’t be a quarter back – it was BS then and its BS here



Makes me cringe to even read it