Comments on: Extend the Four Nations to include the Ashes

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:51:35 +0000

October 23 New Zealand v England Westpac Stadium Wellington, New Zealand
October 24 Australia v Papua New Guinea Parramatta Stadium Sydney, Australia
October 30 New Zealand v Papua New Guinea International Stadium Rotorua, New Zealand
October 31 Australia v England Venue TBC Melbourne, Australia
November 6 England v Papua New Guinea Eden Park Auckland, New Zealand
November 6 New Zealand v Australia Eden Park Auckland, New Zealand

November 13 Four Nations Final Suncorp Stadium Brisbane, Australia

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:03:05 +0000

whats the full schedule?

i also find it strange not to start with your biggest game – aus v NZ

so basically its a replay pf the world cup ’super group’. hopefully england turn up this time.

any word of england returning to ‘Great Britain”?

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:53:06 +0000

M1tch the schedule has Australia playing New Zealand in the last match, which I find odd as by then it could, or most likely, will be a dead rubber for the final. I hope not though.
Good to see the Parramatta test, a full house there will look better for Sydney then a half full SFS. Also good to see hindmarsh state he might be playing rep football again! Hindmarsh for NSW captain!

By: M1tch

M1tch — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:40:35 +0000

Common sense prevails with the Australian v PNG match to be played at Parramatta stadium

By: jus de couchon

jus de couchon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:42:16 +0000

Does the RFL employ marketers rather than accountants? Here in England they do.

By: M1tch

M1tch — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:16:42 +0000

in the rugby area

By: M1tch

M1tch — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:16:22 +0000

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:54:01 +0000

totally agree with you in regard to free to air exposure. same applies for any sports. FTA is vital

By: Dogs Of War

Dogs Of War — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:46:35 +0000

Yeah, the only way is to get back on free to air TV in some form. More than just a highlights show, at least a match to showcase the sport, and get people interested that may have moved away from following the sport.

As for the TV rights side of things. News Ltd has been milking the game dry for far too long, and the game itself needs to get rid of it’s influence once and for all. Hopefully what is happening in Australia, can be replicated over in England. Rugby League in England needs to realise that it will always have some sort of reliance of being on Free to air to generate interest in the sport, and really, being only on Sky Sports has hurt it a lot.

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:37:34 +0000

ha your dreaming about tv rights covering the costs. i refer to ian’s above figures on the ratings in the UK. RL is sliding in the UK> it needs to somehow stop the rot.

did u notice the RU crwods this weekend throughout ALL of europe?

By: Dogs Of War

Dogs Of War — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:34:52 +0000

Ian, I think that the ESL really has to push to get at least one game on Free to Air TV. Even if they give this game away for free, the exposure it would give the code is the shot in the arm it needs.

By: Dogs Of War

Dogs Of War — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:32:55 +0000

Who says it isn’t? TV rights alone should cover it. I would think that their are a lot of things not included in that profit/loss statement.

Anyway, it’s iIn Australia next year and I am sure it will build the coffers of the international board a fair bit given the strength of the Aussie dollar, and places like Melbourne bidding to host certain fixtures.

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:31:31 +0000

yea but how long can the IRFL keep investing 1.5M for a tournament that doesnt turn a profit?

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:29:03 +0000

exactly. ppor crowds because there was a lack of interest. doncaster was a sad reflection on where RL is at in the uK.

By: Mick from Giralang

Mick from Giralang — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:05:03 +0000

Ian: Thanks very much for providing this. It appears the Four Nations rated second, well behind the union but well ahead of everything else? Was it shown only on Sky 2? The only other figs I’ve been able to find was 1 million viewers on BBC 2 for New Zealand v England. Can you confirm? Thanks again.

The four nations was never conceived as a money making exercise. The 1.5 m investment has been recouped many times over in publicity and exposure of the game.

By: Ian Noble

Ian Noble — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:03:34 +0000

The reality is that RL choose the Stoop and I was there by the way because it is the home of Quins RL and they were hopeful that ex pat ANZAC’s would watch. Capacity of 14500, just over 12000 for the game. Next week Quins v London Irish capacity crowd, perhaps an indication of either poor marketing or lack of interest in RL. Doncaster is in the heart of RL heartlands, good motorway links and a brand new stadium, should be sold out but no, a pathetic crowd for an international fixture. Conclusion is that RL in the UK has real problems in selling it’s product. For ratings see my posting later in the thread.

By: Ian Noble

Ian Noble — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:43:43 +0000

Mick

Taken from Bard, Eng V Argentina (RU) was the highest, final of 4 nations was 5/6th. I also read that the 4 nations tournament lost £1.5M (3M Aus $). RL have issues which revolve around the financial viability of the sport, as a professional sport. Is there an over reliance on TV money? Based upon these figures when the next round of negotiations take place compared to RU which is on the up in England not only in numbers but also competitions, RL will be negotiating with it’s back against the wall.

Sky Sports 1
w/e 15 Nov 2009
000’s
1 LIVE INTERNATIONAL PRO20 CRICKET (Sun 12:00) 492
2 REP OF IRELAND V FRANCE-LIVE (Sat 19:30) 419
3 WALES V SCOTLAND – LIVE (Sat 14:33) 388
4 SOUTHAMPTON V BRIGHTON-LIVE (Sun 16:15) 378
5 LIVE INTERNATIONAL PRO20 CRICKET (Fri 15:30) 360
6 LEEDS UTD V GRIMSBY TOWN-LIVE (Tue 19:30) 300
7 HUDDERSFIELD V WYCOMBE-LIVE (Sat 12:00) 287
8 SOCCER AM (Sat 09:00) 261
9 SOUTHAMPTON V CHARLTON-LIVE (Wed 19:30) 227
10 LIVE FOOTBALL LEAGUE (Mon 19:30) 221
Sky Sports 2
w/e 15 Nov 2009
000’s
1 LIVE INTERNATIONAL RUGBY UNION (Sat 14:00) 528
2 LIVE FOUR NATIONS RUGBY LEAGUE (Sat 19:00) 301
3 HAYE V VALUEV-THE FINAL JUDGEMENT (Sat 17:00) 140
4 LIVE ANGLO WELSH RUGBY UNION (Sun 13:30) 73
5 EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Sun 09:00) 72
6 NFL LIVE (Sun 17:31) 59
7 LIVE INTERNATIONAL RUGBY UNION (Sat 22:00) 49
8 EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Sat 09:00) 48
9 LIVE TENNIS (Wed 10:00) 46
10 LIVE PREMIER LEAGUE SNOOKER (Thu 19:30) 44

By: Mick from Giralang

Mick from Giralang — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:24:59 +0000

King of Gorgonites says ” TV ratings were also poor”

I’ve tried in vain to find the ratings…can you please supply an official source to back your claim re. the ratings and the financial returns on the tournament?

PS: Why are you suddenly referring to rugby league as “our game”?

By: oikee

oikee — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:33:25 +0000

We are all jumping the gun, the interantional program was basically only started again last year, so small crowds like we had also at the World cup can be expected for now. Give it time to grow, please. Cheers the oikster.

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:40:25 +0000

I agree about the Ashes. But the Tri/Four Nations has seemed to work as of late. The ‘04 tournament had excellent crowds, as did the ‘05 one. The ‘06 comp wasn’t that good, especially the Sydney crowds. Englands poor form affected this years crowds, although the final was sold out except for that one stand the stadium didn’t open. 2010 early scheduling looks to maximise crowds, except for the Sydney game.
The ANZAC test should be scrapped, NZ are no good at mid-year tests, especially when they are always played in Australia.

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:30:53 +0000

I think Englands performance at the world cup cost the crowds a bit. The 04/05 Tri nations games were sold out,as were the 01/03 Ashes series. The Toulouse crowd was one of the best attended tests in recent years. The Oz games will be similar. The Eden Park games will hopefully be 30000+, Melbourne will be sold out, Sydney Vs PNG will only get 10-15000, which is another reason why the final should not be held there. The final, depending on the competitiveness and whether Australia is involved, could be anywhere from 25000-50000.

By: Springs

Springs — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:23:58 +0000

That is true. But they created about seven clubs in three years, so hopefully The RFL aren’t as stupid.

By: Tom Alexander.

Tom Alexander. — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:19:02 +0000

Could the steady decline in the competativeness of the British (now English) national team be a result of the lack of regular Kangaroo tours? With all those mid-week tour matches, i reckon even the British club sides benefited from those tours. I firmly believe when we scrapped those tours the British game overall lost something much more important, which was probably the ability to gauge how far their own standards had progressed up against the best Rugby League side in the world. Although not as critical with so-many Kiwis now playing in the NRL, Those 3 test matches every 2 years in between those Kangaroo tours must have had some benefit to the Black and Whites own International Progress. Now, all we seem to get outside of the 3 and 4 nations tournaments, are regular Anzac test floggings. Maybe in the aftermath of the Super-League War, all these new concepts probably seemed a good idea at the time, but a decade on, the tournaments still can’t attract full houses or drum up enough interest. Bring back the Ashes, scrapp the 4 Nations, make the new Pacific and European Tournaments World Cup qualifiers, use the Prime Ministers 13 as an extra touring side not just to PNG but throughout the Pacific to further promote the game, and to help the Islands gauge their own standards. In hindsight the Ashes test series was something we should never have scrapped in the first place.

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:01:06 +0000

i agree about the lesser nations. the problem is though that the IRFL cant afford to keep supporting tournaments such as the 4 nations. seen the IRFL finaicla lately? they dont make good reading

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:59:49 +0000

remember the super league war brother. it almost cost us our game. over-expansion can be dangerous

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:59:01 +0000

i bed to differ on the crowds up north. i would have loved to see the stadiums sold out. unforunately the werent. your right about doncaster. that was a ppo decision. toulouse was ok without being good. how wil we go in oz (crowd wise)?

By: King of the Gorganites

King of the Gorganites — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:56:55 +0000

in all honesty if you think irlenad or scotlan wil ever have a ESL club your dreaming. the irish sporting ma a bit likt rket is already so crowded ( a bit like the australian market). they arelady have the galeic games, plus rugby and soccer. there is no room, or money, or population to support a RL team. can u tell me how many registered RL players in ireland or scotland?

look at wales. they have a long history of RL (mainly based on stealing RU players), but still struggle with a ESL team. they have poor crowds, have lost 3 M punds this year, and will fold in 2 years. if they cant succeed in Wales then there is no hope for ireland or scotland

By: M1tch

M1tch — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:53:46 +0000

Grow the pie, grows the revenue which means grow the money which can go back to grass roots..
The more games we have the ‘lesser’ nations playing IS only a great thing for the game.

By: Springs

Springs — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:42:25 +0000

I agree, if enough support is built up in the next decade in Ireland/Scotland why not have a team in these countries. The North has eleven teams as it is, Widnes is likely to be back in soon as well. Harlequins have poor crowds, Crusaders will build, Catalans are successful and Toulouse have a chance of promotion as well. Surely expansion will only improve the game.

By: Springs

Springs — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:32:21 +0000

Who are we fighting in the north? I thought crowds were better than ever. Saying that we are never going to have Wales playing their own matches and forgetting about the rest of the UK is just going to confine us to the north.