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State of Origin is rugby league’s showcase. It’s about State against State, mate against mate. Not only is it a showcase of rugby league, it’s a showcase of being Australian.
Every year Aussie expats pack pubs right across the UK in the morning this time of the year to cheer on New South Wales or Queensland.
This year should be no different, but think again.
As of 6pm yesterday evening Setanta (the broadcaster for the NRL in the UK), ceased trading in the UK. This means Aussies right across the country will miss out on cheering their State and enjoying the greatest game of all at the greatest showcase the sport has.
Although this is unfortunate to say the least, questions should be raised on why the game’s showcase isn’t being beamed into the very country where rugby league was invented.
Imagine the Football World Cup not being televised in England.
This morning, Ireland will have coverage, Italy will have coverage, the United States will have coverage, even Zimbabwe will have coverage, so why not the UK.
This is a joke to say the least.
I live in the North of England, near some of the country’s biggest clubs. This is rugby league’s heartland, for crying out loud.
Obviously this is not the NRL’s fault, it’s Setanta’s. But my anger is centered on why Setanta stopped trading the day before rugby league’s biggest game. There are well over 300,000 Aussies living in the UK, many of whom have subscribed to Setanta to watch NRL as well as AFL on TV over here.
This can only say one thing about Setanta’s overall commitment to rugby league.
They couldn’t give a stuff.
My next question would be towards the NRL and how they are going to address the problem.
If they were serious on promoting the game in the UK, and worldwide, they would have a stronger strategy to get people watching.
Although I don’t claim to be an expert in broadcast deals, we need to learn from this and encourage prospective broadcasters to televise more games. The package we got from Setanta had up to two games a week, mostly one game a week.
I remember one week we had the bottom table battle of Cronulla Vs Canberra and that was it. Weekend wasted.
I can’t bear to see my team win a Grand Final and I am unable to watch it! Many of us wouldn’t mind paying an extra quid if we can see our teams play regularly.
So I leave it to you, NRL, to solve. We want our footy back on UK TVs now.
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