By Paul J
December 1st 2009 @ 2:50am
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Future has never been brighter for rugby league
Referee Ben Cummins sends David Fa'alogo to the bin with captain Roy Asotasi in the centre in the NRL Rugby League Round 25 South Sydney Rabbitohs v Sydney Roosters at Sydney Olympic Stadium, Saturday, September 1st, 2007. Sydney Roosters 26 bt South Sydney 12. AAP Image/Action Photographics/Colin Whelan
About six weeks ago, Masters and Magnay, among others, broke the news that an independent commission was looking increasingly likely, with News Ltd agreeing to finally walk away from the game and with the NRL clubs themselves being very keen on the new leadership model.
This was quite a revelation for League fans who had heard only distant rumours of an independent commission coming into play. Although some fans and media personalities such as Phil Gould backed the idea, there was no real time frame given with some fans assuming it could still be years away.
With David Gallop giving away as much information as a Russian spy, it was hard to know what the NRL had in store for fans in regards to the independent commission, expansion and the next television rights deal.
Was it to be the case of more banged heads on brick walls?
From seemingly out of nowhere last Sunday, rugby league fans were treated to another bomb shell – not only was there serious work been done behind the scenes to get an independent commission up and running, but we could expect the new leadership model possibly before Christmas.
If not, then definitely in time for the 2010 NRL season kick off.
After years of bickering between the many rugby league governing bodies, and then the knock down punch of the News Ltd led Super League war, the thought of a unified governing body free of internal disputes and conflicts of interest seemed just too good to be true.
After all, isn’t rugby league the peoples game that is supposed to show working class resilience to hit after hit by always climbing back up off the canvas for more?
Suddenly rugby league fans have a new found confidence and a spring in their step that has not been seen since the early nineties. And even back then, the Tina Turner led confidence did not hold the huge potential that fans can genuinely enjoy today.
The arguments are not now if rugby league can make more money, but how much more, and how quickly?
Admittedly the new independent commission is not completely perfect.
There is still one solitary dinosaur left from the ARL in Colin Love. However, he will be guaranteed the role of Chairman for only the first two years and will be working with eight independent commissioners who have never worked for News Ltd or the ARL.
And we don’t know by how much the Melbourne Storms’ six million dollar annual loss will decrease when they move into the new stadium next year.
If the Storm are not at least breaking even in three years when the funds from the new TV rights deal comes into effect, how will the other 15 or 17 other clubs feel if the Storm are still needing some extra money to cover costs into the immediate future?
But the many pros overwhelmingly outweigh the few cons.
News Ltd can no longer use its co-ownership of the NRL to short change rugby league on future TV rights deals.
All clubs, including struggling clubs like Cronulla and Newcastle, can expect larger and equal yearly grants from the independent commission.
Industry heavyweights within the commission can use an impartial and commonsense approach to where expansion should go to give rugby league an extra game to sell in the next TV rights deal.
The next TV broadcast rights deal itself will be negotiated with far more insight and business nonce than the last one with predictions of “most lucrative ever” to “possibly one billion dollars”.
This will be by far the greatest leadership structure rugby league has ever had in this country. Within fifteen turbulent years, we will have gone from the very bad old days to the very, very good days.
The future has never been brighter.
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Corey said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:08am | Report comment
Loving the look of the future of Rugby League, hopefully we see more people turn up to games because of this as well. I can’t wait for this, I love this game and hope the nation gets to see the game, not just NSW and QLD. Long Live League.
Pippinu said | December 1st 2009 @ 7:44am | Report comment
PJ
I might use your thread to summarise the main themes posted in relation to the four codes the last few months:
NRL: only the sky is the limit to our future growth
Soccer: we are the world game and all Australians will come to realise that in the very near future, restoring us to our rightful place in the Australian sporting landscape
Rugby: if only we had a national comp…the Wallabies might finally win a game
Aussie rules: I wonder if Wayde Skipper will get picked up by anyone?
James said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
LOL so true
Every day there is something on NRL politics (including AFL ‘threats’ )on the Daily Tele.
Meanwhile in AFL land, just the news of the Draft is enough to keep everyone’s attention going
oikee said | December 1st 2009 @ 7:46am | Report comment
Yes, very good to hear, and i am already planing more away games to support, maybe the PNG,Kangaroo match in Sydney. Sure i will be able to get tickets to that game.
M1tch said | December 1st 2009 @ 8:12am | Report comment
If the next NRL rights are 1 billion I will be absolutely astonished, with Gallop and Love I simply cant see them in tough negotiations with the broadcasters demanding more money.
oikee said | December 1st 2009 @ 8:57am | Report comment
The movers and shakers on the commission will be negotaiting t/v deals mitch, so bankers, top end bussiness CEO’s and the like. That is why we need a independent commission. These guys run our big bussiness, if they dont know how to make money, we all are in trouble.
Jay said | December 1st 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
We should have made this independent comission absolutley ruthless in their apporach of promoting rugby league and negoitating RL’s next contract. Lets get Mr. Howard back in, Geoff Dixon’s a yes, Turnbull looks like he’ll be out of a job (former investment banker, very business savy), top lawyers and some private equity execs (corporate cowboys).
Fox and Nine would cringe at that line-up in 2012.
Tom Alexander. said | December 1st 2009 @ 10:12am | Report comment
Lets be realistic, it’s not an independant commission with Gallop (news limited) and Love (ARL) still holding positions of power or influence for a few years to come. But i suppose we have to start somewhere and maybe this is it. Be interesting to see who is nominated for those commissioner positions.
The Link said | December 1st 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
From the sounds of it the 2 years is a transition period. Makes sense to have some sort of continuity. Whether that should be C Love or not is another thing
Paul J said | December 1st 2009 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
King…
I would assume that the NRL IC will focus on RL in Australia more so than the international game. But the IC will be great for RL both here and overseas.
“poor crowds, disappointing ratings and average oppostion.” I disagree with that but let’s not go down this road with you again. Rugby is bigger that league overseas and league is bigger that rugby in Australia.
James said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:10pm | Report comment
“And we don’t know by how much the Melbourne Storms’ six million dollar annual loss will decrease when they move into the new stadium next year.”
You are assuming that just by moving into a stadium next door, the Storms crowds will increase. Hmmm….possibly, but do not forget there will be a Super 15 team coming online too that may take away some of those crowds.
Also, I can’t imagine the rent required to play at the brand new stadium to be lower than that at the derelict Olympic Park. Not sure how the losses will decrease – the only thing that will change is that the NRL clubs via the commission are going to take the place of News Ltd now in funding the club.
Corey said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:17pm | Report comment
The Victorian government, if I recall properly, are looking to keep a NRL team and therefore are trying to lower costs for teams to use the rectangular field (i think the Union team will get some concessions as well). But the Union expansion might also help league, the two codes are similar (albeit league is the better product) and will have facilities to share and immigrants to Melbourne will likely go to Union than AFL (Union is more international), and this could help league as it is more entertaining.
Pippinu said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:47pm | Report comment
Do you know which of the four codes actually attracts the largest percentage of overseas born to its game? (both English speaking and non-English speaking)
Cracker said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
I would guess that would be soccer Pip. Correct?
Pippinu said | December 1st 2009 @ 4:01pm | Report comment
Cracker
I’m glad you asked.
If you go to this ABS site:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4156.0.55.001Feature%20Article1May%202009?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4156.0.55.001&issue=May%202009&num=&view=
A whole lot of stats are provided about all four football codes which make for interesting reading.
Scroll a few pages down and you get to an section called attendances by country of birth, and you will see that Australian Football attracts more overseas born Australians than any other footblal code.
Michael C said | December 1st 2009 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
blessed are the footblalers……
btw –
was that Australian Football?
or
Australian football?
oikee said | December 1st 2009 @ 6:06pm | Report comment
Pip, i am going to rock your world sonny, your patting yourself on the back, check out this International rugby Union video, your game is way down the list sucker. The world already plays rugby union.
Check it out, the little video my good fellow, it blew me away. These suckers are extreme athletes, not just one sudanese player. Hhahaha. Have a look. Click the little video.
http://www.irb.com/irbsevens/index.html
Cracker said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Corey it depends who you talk to as to what is the better product but I’d agree that the Melbourne union and league teams could work off each other as opposed to battling with each other. They’ll be playing at the same ground and will likely have supporters which follow both clubs. If they take on something of a united front they could both benefit – it could be similar to Maccas being next door to KFC and both doing good business.
Corey said | December 1st 2009 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
King, the 4 nations only had poor ratings because channel 9 never advertised the game and when I rang up channel 9 about times for the games they gave me the wrong times and Sydney times (I live in QLD and rung up the QLD office). Channel 9 is leading to the poor ratings, I hope channel 9 gets the AFL, and 7 or 10 get NRL. Watch the change of the Aussie sports landscape. The heartland will keep demanding more and more, and we will continue to only concentrate on the heartland instead of the nationwide landscape. Just because there are passionate fans in the heartland doesn’t mean there aren’t passionate fans in Perth, PNG or even Darwin.
oikee said | December 1st 2009 @ 6:48pm | Report comment
Poor ratings, ? the game was on at 4-5 in the morning here in OZ, any ratings were a winner, In England the final attracted 931 thousand veiwers, not bad.
Ian Noble said | December 1st 2009 @ 9:52pm | Report comment
Oikee
Sorry your figures are not correct here are the viewing figures for the particular week, courtesy fo Bard
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
Largest audience was for Eng v Argentina (RU) , final of 4 nations was 5/6th.
Ian Noble said | December 1st 2009 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
Oikee
These figures are UK figures, I presume your figure was for an OZ audience.
Matt S said | December 2nd 2009 @ 8:22am | Report comment
Ian, you forget about replay figures on BBC.
prowling panther said | December 1st 2009 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
Re- expansion. Not sure what happening for teams to enter for 2013. Some media outlets say two teams are guaranteed whilst others say theyll be no expansion till 2017. Anyways, There is a golden age for league on the horizon. WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
oikee said | December 1st 2009 @ 6:12pm | Report comment
I think what Gallop is saying, we need to build up the war-chest, and only expand if its government funded or has fantastic backing by big companies, . He is laying down the Gauntlet, and see how many fish he can pull into the net. Dont be surprised come 2013 we see 4 teams come into the comp, dont be surprised if we see none. Just be happy.
Springs said | December 1st 2009 @ 7:01pm | Report comment
To you Kingit seems the Four Nations gets worse with every day that passes. If the opposition was average then Australia was very average, as they could not beat NZ, who were ‘average opposition’. By next year you’ll say the 4 Nations lost 5 Million
Tom Alexander. said | December 1st 2009 @ 8:59pm | Report comment
I wouldn’t trust anything that comes out of Gallops mouth if you go on his past statements and actions (underselling the game etc) . Imagine how much more ground will be lost, if Rugby League were to once again, hold back expansion until 2017. It makes you really wonder who’s side this clown is on. I think it’s safe to say there is a war going on for the sporting dollars in this country, and if Rugby League doesn’t get a move on, we will be again left to eat dust by the other 3 fast moving expansionist codes. A lot of Rugby League stalwarts thought the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Bears were doomed to failure back in the eighties. 20 years on (whether we like it or not) they are part of the sporting landscape in both NSW and QLD. Expansion wise, Rugby League needs to Strike while the iron is hot, before the fans and potential investors get sick of all the stalling and the endless excuses and decide to invest elsewhere.
jus de couchon said | December 2nd 2009 @ 2:02am | Report comment
From a purely economic perspective would you continue to invest resources into The Storm in the hope things will get better? If this is a business plan I would love to be at your Presentation .
Paul J said | December 2nd 2009 @ 7:35am | Report comment
The Storm needs 2 things to change if they are to get some decent growth in Melbourne.
First is a brand new stadium, not the 1956 Olympic training track they have been in. This will happen next year.
Second, and more importantly, they need the NRL to force the networks to show Storm games into Melbourne on FTA at decent hours. This won’t happen, if at all, for at least another 3 years.
In round 2 this year channel 9 showed a Storm v Broncos game FTA prime time in Melbourne (not up against an AFL game) and they got 203K viewers.
The rest of the season any Storm games shown in Melbourne were outside of prime time (11.30pm, midnight) and the average was about 30K.
I remember when the Bears/Lions were a joke in Brisbane. They moved to an upgraded Gabba from Cararra and that helped. When the AFL forced the networks to show Lions games FTA on prime time (Saturday night 7.30pm) then the Lions started to get somewhere in Brisbane, now they have avg Brisbane audiences of about 90K. (Broncos about 320K).
The storm are still at least 3 years away from even getting the same chance as the Swans in Sydney or Lions in Brisbane. We’ll have to see where they stand in 10 years and access it from there.
Also after the next TV deal the NRL will be more cashed up and can increase marketing and junior development in Melbourne.
Ian Noble said | December 3rd 2009 @ 1:26am | Report comment
Matt
Both codes have replays on BBC, but no figures as audiences must be pretty small. I thought you might be interested to see viewing figures for week ending 22 Nov, includes a Friday night RU game on Sky 1 which compares very favourably with RL games during the summer on Friday evenings. It also includes the first ever audience for a women’s rugby international, which was highly entertaining with good flowing rugby between Eng and NZ. Obvious comments from my mates who were watching but we were pleasantly surprised by the game and is an interesting precursor to the WRWC 2010 which will be in England with the final at the Stoop.
The RU game on Sky 1 was Cardiff v Wallabies.
Sky Sports 1
w/e 22 Nov 2009
000’s
1 LIVE FORD FOOTBALL SPECIAL-MATCH (Sat 12:00) 1,040
2 WCQ:FRANCE V REPOF IRELAND-LIVE (Wed 19:30) 948
3 FORD SUPER SUNDAY (Sun 15:36) 726
4 FORD SUPER SUNDAY (Sun 13:00) 572
5 GILLETTE SOCCER SATURDAY (Sat 15:15) 527
6 IPSWICH V SHEFFIELD WEDS-LIVE (Sat 17:15) 300
7 SOCCER AM (Sat 09:00) 251
8 RUGBY UNION (Tue 19:30) 185
9 GOALS ON SUNDAY (Sun 11:00) 163
10 JIMMY HILL’S SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT (Sun 09:30) 94
Sky Sports 2
w/e 22 Nov 2009
000’s
1 LIVE ENG V NZ RUGBY UNION (Sat 14:00) 558
2 LIVE SA V ENG ODI CRICKET (Sun 07:30) 319
3 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Fri 19:30) 117
4 LIVE WOMENS ENG V NZ RUGBY (Sat 16:35) 98
5 LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Sat 08:00) 82
6 FORD FOOTBALL SPECIAL (Sun 22:04) 76
7 ATHLETIC BILBAO V BARCELONA-LIVE (Sat 20:58) 55
8 REAL MADRID V RACING-LIVE (Sat 18:55) 52
9 LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Fri 12:00) 52
10 NIRELAND V CZECH REP U21S-LIVE (Tue 19:30) 52
In addition the audience for Wales v ABs was 1.94M on BBC 2
20 HORIZON (TUE 2101) 2.11
21 ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY (WED 1712) 2.08
22 ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY (THU 1711) 2.06
23 AUTUMNWATCH (FRI 2030) 2.02
24 ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY (MON 1715) 1.99
25 ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY (TUE 1714) 1.97
26 AN ISLAND PARISH (MON 1931) 1.96
27 MASTERMIND (FRI 2001) 1.94
28 RUGBY UNION (SAT 1700) 1.94
29 MIRANDA (SUN 2202) 1.93
30 JAMES MAY’S TOY STORIES (SUN 1858) 1.9
On more serious matters I thought you might be interested in this article about Quins RL which is concerning following on from the financial problems of the Crusaders in Wales.
[www.skysports.com]
http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/12/01/RUGBYL_Harlequins_Lewis.html
There have been a number of comments on a thread to day but I think the following are probably more relevant.
“Perhaps the Rugby League may finally realise that professional RL in London will never be a total success. OK it’s played a lot at amateur level but that doesn’t reflect in the Quins RL attendances.
Coming from Hull and growing up with RL it always annoyed me how the then London Broncos were placed in Super League without actually winning the right to play at the top level on the pitch. I appreciate a lot of that was Sky’s influence but Fulham/London Crusaders/London Broncos and now Quins RL have always struggled for crowds and recognition.
Mind you if you thought the RFU were bad, thy’re like a well oiled machine in comparison with the clowns at the RFL.”
Quins RL has just celebrated it’s 30th anniversary.
“This is strange because there must be a huge number of potential Harlequins RL fans in the Greater London area – not least northerners & Aussies now transplanted here, temporarily or otherwise, plus those locals playing amateur RL.
Surely a marketing task force from the RFL and/or Harlequins RL could conduct a research survey to find out what would attract more Londoners? ”
“When they first came to the Stoop they had crowds of around 8K. But they couldn’t hold on to them and it gradually slipped back to around the 4K it is now.
So there’s enough interest out there, they just need to tap into it somehow”
“When the club finish one place above Crusaders or bottom should they be kicked out of the comp and crowds reach sub 2000 then the RFL will simply say Super League in London has not worked and rightly so. I hope you lot will be proud of how you clapped the trash off the pitch no matter the score and refused to stand up and demand a total change in management and players.”
RL has lost it’s way outside it’s heartlands and really needs to get it act together in the UK otherwise it will lose some of it’s TV revenues as it will not be considered a nation/international sport.
Paul J said | December 3rd 2009 @ 8:54am | Report comment
Ian
RL is behind RU and soccer in England. I don’t see that changing.
To predict the demise of RL in Eng does seem highly unlikely.
Out of interest are you a rugby or soccer fan, or both?
Ian Noble said | December 3rd 2009 @ 9:57pm | Report comment
Paul J
I am a sports fanatic. I captained my college football first X1, played RU at school in Lancashire, watched RL but did not play expect for the odd game.
Currently an STH (season ticket holder) for Quins and Quins RL and although I watch football and any sporting contest, I really enjoy watching rugby.
I am not predicting the demise of RL but I think they have been taken by surprise through the growth of professional RU in the UK. Indeed so have I, although there still is a big body of people who still feel that turning professional was the worse thing to happen to the code The problem for RL is that in terms of marketing and brand awareness it has slipped behind professional RU in the UK rather more quickly than I suspect was ever considered possible. Ok you can blame it on the media, but at the end of the day media responds when there are good stories and the fundamental problem with RL in the UK it continually overhypes competitions and frankly fails to deliver. The RLWC2008 and the just finished 4 nations are two cases in point.
There is also the question of personalities in the game, RL doesn’t have the Beckhams, Wilkinsons et al of this world who can spread the word across the sporting fraternity in the UK. Frankly they don’t appear on TV or radio enough to be nationally known and that is probably more to do with the marketability of the top English RL players.
Mr cheese said | December 4th 2009 @ 10:44am | Report comment
There is some truth in what you say, but I’m not convinced that the media overhype RL.
It depends who you mean. Eddie and Stepho at Sky make it sound like a cross between paradise and the garden of Eden before the fall.
They, at SKY, are obviously obliged to talk it up.
But the other medie do not talk it up. It has a low profile, no ?????
katzilla said | December 3rd 2009 @ 1:48am | Report comment
They need to get Morello from the apprentice to negotiate the next TV deal.
That guy could sell snow to the eskimos.
oikee said | December 3rd 2009 @ 12:10pm | Report comment
There is acouple of things wrong with the Quins, 1st their name, why borrow a rugby union teams name, and 2nd, the club wants to promote English players, so does not buy imports. ? What are these 2 issues going to solve. 1st, change to a better name, more identifiable, London Force? London power? and second, get someone to do the recruiting, and buy some big names,.
SBW would be the 1st guy i went after, and also a good half-back, Thurston, and a decetn centre or 2. For London to work, the game needs publicity, the guys running the show have no idea, Honest.
Ian Noble said | December 3rd 2009 @ 10:23pm | Report comment
Oikee
There are restrictions on the number of overseas players in any matchday squad and therefore all clubs have reduced their overseas contingent. At the moment Quins RL have Dorn. Howell, Randall, Temata and Williamson within their full squad. As you probably know there is a salary cap and it makes it difficult to sign the top player when you need to build a squad. The majority of the other members of the squad are young players from other RL clubs who have taken the gamble to move to London. One encouraging sign is that the number of London players is increasing and if I recall 5/6 of the squad are London born.
Every year they make a big play to encourage RU sths to buy a RL sth with special offers etc and one of the reasons it has not taken off is that Quins RL is not very succesful and people like to watch a winning team and frankly towards the end of last season they were pitiful and dropped like a stone from 3rd in SL to 3rd bottom. Many RU fans are open minded in the UK and will watch RL, but the product has to improve.
Quins RL has been in existence for 30 years and for many years it was known as London Broncos but that failed to light the touch paper partly because they did not a permanent home, they shared both Fulham and Brentford’s football grounds at various times. The opportunity to sign a long term contract at the Stoop was an opportunity not to be missed with the sharing of ticketing and some marketing facilities. The Stoop as a rugby stadium is probably one of the best in the UK and the CEO of Quins sits on the board of Quins RL presumably to help with his expertise to grow the brand.
The solution is not immediately apparent but if Quins RL could make a better fist of their performances than gates would increase. Certainly that has been the case with Quins where gates have grown out of all expectation and the opening of the new stand is needed to cope with the demand for tickets particularly for the Heiniken Cup games and the GP playoffs.
Incidently for Quins it makes sense to have a RL link because the SL season dovetails neatly with the GP season and the Stoop is used all year round as a rugby stadium.
Mr cheese said | December 4th 2009 @ 10:49am | Report comment
Oikee,
I like your optimism but it’s probably more suited to Le Sud de La France than to the south of England.
In England, RL has a specific culture i.e. certain northern working class towns.
Most Londoners like to think that the world outside does not exist.
Therein lies the problem. In part it is a cultural problem.
Plus…..you must understand that 95% of sports media goes to football. I’m not proud of that but that’s the way it is.
You should have a look at the website of the Catalan Dragons. If you read French, have a look at what they’re saying. There is some real enthusiasm down in Perpignan.
oikee said | December 4th 2009 @ 8:38pm | Report comment
So 95% goes to football, well we need to have at least 10% go to rugby league. Would help. Anyhow, if you can get 12 thousand aussies and kiwis to the ground, surely it would not be impossible to get 10 thousand poms. Any how, over the next 5 years rugby league should have more of a profile, ? If they watch the world cup which is their 2013, surely that can raise the profile abit.
Hopefully one day they have 2-3 teams around London. anyhow, see what happens over the next few years. Its no big deal, they have not taken off yet, but who knows whats around the corner. I still think the name change was wrong. And the players profiles are not huge. Being a big city, it needs some big name players to kick start the team.
You dont get much bigger than SBW.
jus de couchon said | December 5th 2009 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Oike your comments are symptematic of leagues idiotic marketing policy. If Quins were allowed to develop and grow thru a difficult time they may prosper. London Force? Do you work for the RFL? Here in England the game is run by people who are more concerned with selling a product rather than a sport.
Crosscoder said | December 4th 2009 @ 6:41am | Report comment
Ian Noble
Think you are being a tad harsh.the average joe would be aware when ru went “openly” pro,the flow of ru players to rl would either cease or be stemmed.So it is no surprise there.
RU in the UK (the game’s heartland) will always be far bigger than rl,again no surprise.
That rl struglles professionally in Wales and London is no surprise due to the strength of footballl and ru.That being said, has not prevented an upsurge in grassroots growth in amateur clubs and schools in both areas.and that BTW is gardly hyping rl up.
The RLWC 08 OK was a small event by ru standards,however still managed to rake in a profit of $5m plus(despite many ru peple and some within rl bagging the event),have people in countries like Fiji(used up satellite dishes) to watch the team play in a semi.The fact it was a success in 08 ,has ensured continuity by being played in England in 2013.
According to a few ru officials in Australia,union going pro and the 03 WC would be the death knell of rl.It din’t happen rl went forwards and ru backwards in this country.So much for ru going pro having the hiuge impact.
Today I read that on 14th november the Sth African rugby league academy was opened at the Tech High school in Potchefstroom,North West Province.the academy team beat Ed-U-College,a private school from Welkom Free state.Having the clinic has ensure the SARL of a new senior provincial team from Nth West Province next season.
Why do I bring in Sth Africa? for the very same reason as the UK>grassroots development means pro rl is a long term, thing.
Anycase this thread is about the IC involved in Australia.
It is the best thing to happen for the game,independence away from self interest.
Consolidation and ensuring the current clubs are strong ,junior development is expanded and funded and country and lower tiers rl is backed up.
There is no conflict of interest when negotitaing the next TV deal.
Colin Love is only there fo a transtiionally 2 years(he knows the game at grassroots and intnlly),and Gallop apart from his past News Ltd ties at least will be answerable to the new commission.Gallop wil not be in a position to dictate terms and neither will News ltd.
Ian Noble said | December 4th 2009 @ 9:45pm | Report comment
CC
It is too easy to forget the early days of professional RU in England and how unprepared the RFU were for the transistion. There was no competition at the time that would provide the opportunity to grow income to support the new professional environment. Major clubs in the amateur era who tried to become professional struggled and famous clubs such as Richmond, Bedford, Nottingham, London Scottish, Orrel, Ceventry, Wakefield, West Hartlepool et al who were probably considered to be top flight clubs either become insolvent or reverted to amateur status. It was a very difficult time and there was a big question mark over whether RU was capable of supporting a professional game.
It wasn’t the RFU who saved the professional game but a number of wealthy individuals who invested in clubs and decided to form the EPL, which is now the GP. They realised that to attract the punter they had to create a game where the imported foreign player would raise the profile of the game, but also would provide a stop gap as the majority of English players at the time could not afford to become professional players as the rewards and the precarious nature of the structure otherthan for the top few was pretty poor and it couldn’t compare with “Main Street”.
The guys who put their money on the line brought to the game, quality investment in terms of market awareness and considerable entrepreneural skills. Not only have they raised the profile of the game, but have created an environment where TV wants more of the product and the brand.
RL for many years particularly during the 1960/80’s enjoyed a solus position with extensive coverage on FTA, every Saturday pm a major RL game was featured on BBC and drew large audiences. That was the time to grow the game throughout the UK. I know that RU facilities were not available, but if look at Quins RL as a example it was established 30 years ago but is systematic of the inability of RL to kick on.
What is the answer for RL in the UK? There is no reason why RL as a code should not be succesful in Wales and London there are afterall enough rugby players for both codes to exist side by side. However the signs at the moment are that the expansion to other parts of the UK may fail and the game retrench to it’s heartlands. I hope that is not the case but it is a possibility as clubs such as Widnes, Leigh, Halifax are gagging to get into SL. Based upon their present gates and business plans they would make a success of any promotion to the SL
RL is playing catch up and needs more financial muscle to market the game and raise the profile and I can’t see where it will come from otherthan from TV revenues. If TV revenues fall because RL is not seen as a national sport than it could create a major problem.
Springs said | December 4th 2009 @ 10:43pm | Report comment
The FTA situation has become even worse, the Challenge Cup has been delisted from the FTA-required sports events.
I am guessing when you were referring to the competitions like the World Cup and 4 Nations that the media overhyped England’s chances, not the comps themselves. The World Cup was a major success especially in the face of the (Australian) media continually bagging it.
Widnes I say will be admitted into SL when the licenses are reviewed, possibly at the expense of Salford, the heartland club with the worst crowds and performance. Leigh have recently been demoted to the third-tier, and Halifax are a chance but I doubt it.
Crosscoder said | December 5th 2009 @ 6:17am | Report comment
Ian Noble.Agree with the validity of all your points.
My remit is solely based on the experience in oz,with union going openly pro,and rl has thrived regardless.
I do note however that without the largesse of TV monies many codes througout this world,would be struggling.Union,and rl in Australia,who knows? NFL? Even the Crusaders lost $800,000 last year in the spiritual home of NZ ru,despite Tv monies.
The RFL may well have jumped the gun in expanding too early in places like Wales and London,but doing so has enabled youngsters whether at school or junior level in these pioneer areas,something to aspire to.Much easier to sell the game at grassroots with a team in situ.
Les Catalans is a no brainer ,a good move and laying the foundations for further expansions in France.I suggest once a more than competitive France has emerged from its current sleep,the game will go ahead in leaps and bounds.Why? Internationals,that is where the real biscuits are,as any ru man worth his salt knows.
As to where the rl in the UK will get the money.Well the 29m pounds the code secured in Sport England grants for the next 4 years is a good starter,as is the continued profitibality of the RFL.Plus despite the cynicism by some,the 4 nations was apparently on budget and returned a profit according to NZ officials.