Us rugby league folk, we have a chip on our shoulder.
We think rugby league is sport's best-kept secret, even though it has largely failed in its bid to escape the clutches of a single motorway running through the north of England for more than a century. Unless you want to go to the other side of the world.
That is down to a number of factors, one of which is the incompetence of several of its administrators over those years, matching the current situation in Downing Street and Westminster more widely.
Which brings us to Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
On Thursday, Dorries spoke at an event ahead of the Rugby League World Cup which will take place in this country in the autumn, 12 months after it was initially scheduled owing to complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite things being largely back to normal towards the end of last year in this country, southern hemisphere players, coaches and administrators did not feel it was safe to make the trip and thus it was agreed the tournament would be delayed.
But excitement has not waned, and it was revealed shortly before Dorries took to the stage in St Helens that over £25million of positive change across a host of communities has already been delivered before a ball has been kicked.
The World Cup is a huge deal for rugby league in this country and the northern hemisphere as a whole, providing arguably its biggest opportunity yet to grow the game and set it on its path to one day reaching its vast potential.
Every game of the men's tournament will be broadcast live on the BBC, with full programmes also in place for women's and wheelchair editions.
An untold amount of work from employees and volunteers alike has already gone in to the competition and will continue right up until the final at Old Trafford on November 19.
"I’ve always quite liked the idea of rugby league," Dorries began, in what immediately felt like an unlikely declaration. "My long standing memory is that 2003 drop goal. I’ll let you into a secret. I think we were drinking Bloody Marys at the time… it was 11 o’clock in the morning."
That would be Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal to win the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup.
As those in attendance showed remarkable restraint not to laugh, or swear, she kept digging.
“But wow. What a moment that was. But from my limited watching - I’m not going to say I’m an expert who watches it all the time - I’ve heard rugby league is a physical and sometimes brutal sport and it often ends up in a scrum which actually reminds me very much of politics.
“I think we have a lot in common and given that a lot of the media like to call me the prime minister’s attack dog I wonder sometimes if I should give rugby a go.”
Now, we cannot pretend this is anything less than hilarious. The government's actual sports minister stepping up in front of journalists, officials and supporters alike and recalling a story from an entirely different sport in a bid to seem like she knew what she was on about.
No-one in attendance would have expected Dorries to have been some kind of rugby league oracle, but they could - and should - have expected a modicum of research and planning before speaking at such an event out of respect for those who have worked so hard to make the World Cup the success story we all hope it will be. If not her, then her advisors.
And that's why it's insulting. Insulting to those listening, insulting to the staff and volunteers, insulting to fans, players and coaches, and insulting to rugby league.
Billy Vaughan, vice-chairman of the Portico Club in St Helens where the speech was made, said it perfectly.
“What I think is, whoever writes speeches for people, there’s a number of things you should do.
“One, you should get your facts right when you write them. Secondly, if you are the person who is delivering that speech, you need to do your research so whatever is written it is correct.
“To make that reference towards rugby league about ‘when the drop goal went over’, I was sat next to a very prestigious individual and believe me we were both absolutely floundered. We were astonished at that comment.”
If we want to go more broadly, it's symptomatic of a government that has a sheer disdain for a large proportion of its electorate.
Ever since 22 teams across the north of England broke away to form the Northern Union in 1895 and escape the clutches of the amateur game to earn a few quid, rugby league has always been looked upon as the poorer relative.
The class difference between league and union is inescapable, and comments like these from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport do nothing to get rid of that aforementioned chip on the shoulder.
It's never felt more like us and them.
