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I’m a rugby league tragic. Each year I buy my season ticket, renew my Foxtel subscription and enjoy seven months of the greatest game of all.
But this year something has changed, seeing me turn off the television of a Friday night.
The problem isn’t something the NRL is or isn’t doing.
It’s Channel Nine.
Deep inside the Channel Nine bunker at some point between Anthony Minichiello raising the Provan-Summons Trophy in October last year and kick off for the 2014 season there was a meeting held. At this meeting a question was asked, the answer to which defies all logic and belief.
“So who should we get to call the second Friday night match?”
Someone suggested Ray Hadley as an option, and someone else, presumably more qualified and highly paid, approved it.
I sometimes wonder if it is actually a social experiment being played on the rugby league fan-base, or maybe a mole from the AFL has infiltrated Channel Nine?
Certainly no one with the game’s best interests at heart would subject us to the gibberish that is Ray Hadley, especially combined with the nonsensical Wally Lewis.
Regardless, we have been stuck with Ray for most of the year. This has more often than not had me switching off Bronco Night Football. This round though I was rather excited about the Manly versus Broncos match. Manly are flying and a joy to watch, and the Broncos were desperate for the two points. But again I had to go to the big red button after about 20 minutes.
Why you ask?
Because for about 20 minutes Ray talked about Manly’s jumpers. They were yellow, and he didn’t like them. Neither apparently did “someone” he spoke to outside the ground before the game. Ray was very, very upset that Manly were wearing yellow jumpers, and lamented that “some marketing guy with a pig tail and a Porsche” forced this sacrilege.
In the time I watched there was no explanation of why Manly wore the yellow jerseys, Or why four other teams would also be wearing special jerseys across the weekend.
Ray and “someone” (I assume “someone” is related to “they said”), weren’t happy. The rugby league university was headed towards an imminent implosion because of the colour of a jersey.
Well Ray I have some news for you, and sit down because this might come as a shock. You were wrong, very very wrong. And your imaginary stereotypical marketing guy was right.
Entering Canberra Stadium on the weekend, I walked behind a family with two small children. Have a guess what the kids were talking about? Have a guess what toys they had? Have a guess what jerseys they were wearing?
Even in the tiny crowd of diehard fans, you would not believe the number of Hulk Raiders jerseys being worn, especially by children. In a year when the club should be refunding season tickets, people were putting their hard earned down to buy new jerseys by the hundreds.
Hulk masks and movie tickets were being handed out inside the gates, you could feel the buzz for the families and see the smiles on the faces of the kids as they walked around the ground.
The super hero round was a brilliant piece of cross-promotion.
Would anyone not turn up next week because Manly were wearing yellow? Not at all, and if they tell you differently they were not real fans to begin with.
In fact, did anyone not come again after the Raiders wore yellow jerseys early this year for charity? Of course not.
Could a family who enjoyed a day out at the footy consider it again because their son or daughter now has more of an interest in the game and wants to wear their Hulk/Wolverine/Captain America/Thor/Iron Man jersey? Absolutely.
So Ray, next time you want to talk about getting crowds back to the game, it might be worth checking in with one of the the pony-tailed marketing guys. Sometimes they actually know what they are doing.
Oh and one more thing, give yourself an uppercut.
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