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I’ve heard an argument that since other nations don’t relate to league the way Australians do, international rugby league is not worth supporting.
I completely and utterly disagree with that.
The idea that countries need to embrace the game the way Australians (or Papua New Guineans…) do is really not a valid argument. They don’t have to do anything of the sort.
You don’t need rugby league to be the number one sport in the UK or New Zealand in order for a competition between them to be successful. You only need them to be competing against each other every year.
What is required is a series of matches with a real connection to a domestic season and played every single year. Whether it is 3-Test series, a tri/ four-nations tournament, a World Cup or even a tour, the most important condition required is that it is actually played.
The connection with the domestic season creates meaning and interest in the selection of the national team. This season can easily include Origin or whatever other concepts the UK and New Zealand can come up with for their own players.
I call this the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ factor. Players, fans, and sponsors need to see that there is more beyond just the club. They need to see things building up to something grander. A grand final is the goal for clubs – and fair enough too – but internationals need to be positioned so that it becomes the goal for the sport itself.
The importance of playing each and every year is vitally important in capitalising on the potential of the international game. The current ad hoc staging of games is useless. Even if it is not ad hoc, there is an image that it is and this only serves to distance internationals from the public’s sporting mindset.
This is very important. Sports events need to be positioned within a country’s sporting landscape. Regular – and by regular I am referring to annual – staging of a series in whatever form is appropriate is the only way to do this.
There is no other way. Without that positioning, you may have a story but you will not have the stability required for the public – and sponsors – to read into it.
What is most fascinating is that much of the story for international league is already there. International rugby league has a long history. It is not something that needs to be made up for the sake of some grand marketing scheme. It is already exists.
With history comes rivalry and interest. History is a marketer’s best friend. It means he doesn’t have to start from scratch. You cannot argue that there is no interest. The recent World Cup showed that there quite clearly is. And you most certainly cannot argue that that interest cannot grow. After all, that is what they pay marketers for.
Origin has a history of state tension that has allowed the event to become what it is. Internationals have even a longer history. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that it cannot grow into something even bigger than Origin.
Here is hoping that it does.
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