Rugby league's doom predictors

Earlier commenters have made assertions about the demographics the fan base of the various footy codes. Here's an article from 2004 about this very subject.( Published in the Australian). " In a league of their own By Michael McGuire February 27, 2004 WHAT is the richest sport in Australia as measured by fan base? Rugby union is likely to be the first sport to jump to mind - all those tweed jackets, leather elbow patches, Range Rovers and merchant bankers would seemingly guarantee the No.1 spot. But a new survey by data marketing group, Torque, has found while union certainly has more seriously rich fans, rugby league is Australia's richest sport. This is partly because it has more fans in the nation's most populous and expensive state, but it's still good news for a code widely regarded as the sport of the working class. Torque says rugby league is the richest sport in "terms of the total affluence of its supporter base" - just beating the Australian Football League. Part of the reason for this is that average incomes in rugby league strongholds NSW and Queensland are higher than in southern AFL states such as Victoria and South Australia. Torque asked 3222 people about sport and 2726 of them nominated a code that particularly interested them and that was then further divided by income. It found league was over-represented in the $100,001 to $150,000 household income bracket compared to the general population, but under-represented in the less than $30,000 band. Of those that nominated league as their preferred sport, 13.4 per cent of league's supporter base fell in between $100,000 and $150,000, while 22.36 per cent earned less than $30,000. League only just fell short of toppling rugby union in the $100,000 to $150,000 category, with 13.68 per cent of those identifying themselves as union fans falling in that band. The AFL could find only 9.25 per cent in that category to be the poor relation of both. Torque managing partner Sean Cooper says the figures contradict conventional wisdom that league is almost exclusively a blue-collar sport. "The image of the game is not reflected by its fan base," Cooper says. "But it is surprising that rugby league is as mid-market as it is." It also raises the question of whether rugby league has been marketing itself to the right audience. Of the 73 respondents in the $150,000 to $200,000 category, 2.4 per cent identified as rugby league fans, 3.36 per cent were union and 2.83 per cent AFL. Beyond $200,000, the split of the 38 sport fans was 1.2 per cent league, 2.69 per cent union and 1.1 per cent AFL. Torque also found that rugby league had more than its fair share of fans classified as senior government or business manager or executive. While it was doing well in the professional ranks, it missed out with farmers who make up less than 1 per cent of its fan base. The figures will be welcome news for a sport that has been having a horror week following allegations that six members of the Bulldogs sexually assaulted a woman at a Coffs Harbour, NSW, hotel at the weekend. The problem for league, however, will be hanging on to those affluent fans if the Bulldogs scandal continues to run. Bulldogs sponsors will be closely examining the good conduct provisions in their contracts and fans might not be too far behind. The Torque survey also examined sponsorship by asking its respondents about products and services they actually used. Electronics group, LG, which sponsors the Sharks in the National Rugby League and Melbourne in the AFL, was the big winner, outperforming rivals Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer and Samsung across the three codes. Citibank was the favoured financial service provider for league and union fans, while AFL fans stuck with the AMP and ANZ. But in a victory for good taste, Torque also found that fans across the union-league-AFL divide were all united in at least one thing - all were unlikely to have read any of the last four issues of either Woman's Day or That's Life magazines. The Australian"

Don't hang around too long - it stretches the neck

Sorry -- thought you meant social class! I am a Professor in the dictionary sense of "one who professes", i.e. I'm happy to have opinions that exist independently of facts :-) Your comments have been taken on board, about USA vs NZ. I am cynical but I don't limit it to League ; you'll see that I whinge about rugby-type tackles in soccer, chucking in cricket, "wraparound" in Union (i.e. why not just call it obstruction or shepherding?). The only other comment to add is the 6 tackle business -- I know the game relies on 6 tackles, but I think if the rules were enforced, the game would not move from end-to-end routinely in 6 tackles. Most 6 tackle sequences would move about half the length of the field, not the full length. I think this could actually be helpful in opening up the game, but the administrators are more interested in seeing a quick play-the-ball (not that it has to be played correctly), and fast movement. Perhaps they are right, perhaps the fans do like to see a lot of movement and speed.

CC you are easy to find I have shown the reason for fairfax/Nine tie-up I have given you classic examples of burial (even one yesterday) and you dismiss it as so called scheduling - it was a humungeous error that they buried. Get it - they scheduled a game at a venue that the brumbies had booked 6 months earlier at the same time. I am not sure why you accept that News accept money for stories but not Fairfax from Nine about NRL when they are in joint ventures. It would seem hypocritical...I notice you avoid the hawks premiership player analogy

Move on

As a Prof you would either have a class or laboratory or just taking the mickey with that moniker ,as I did in my response.I thought perhaps the former would be the case. You not I made the point you liked the coaching styles in ru of the various countries,specifying Japan and the USA as examples. I realise the game was an exhibition,but my comment was just to show coaching style for the USA was really stifled.Unless of course they are playing another minnow.When the local media referred to the visiting team as Australian,we have an identity problem. I can assure you if the Kangaroos played a game in a minnow country and won 74 to something,the cynics would have a field day.Yet we get the only is an exhibition game,OK it goes both way. Think you are being a little simplistic with the allowing obstructions comment.There have been penalties,reviews for penalties and some that were dicey.The game is based on 6 tackles ,so of course it will be up and down the field unless kicked earlier or a try scored earlier . Good defences can at times be broken, by offloading the ball in a multi man tackle,as the likes of Fifita and Gallen have done.I assume you have seen them play.Lining deep and angle running can break a defence ,flick passes,run arounds ,dummies.You have to have the talent and the coaching in place to so do. That may well be the case in union ,but at least in rugby league ,exceptionally talented players the likes of Hayne(gone) Cherry Evans,Stewart,Inglis,Slaters etc ,have a far better chance of creating gaps and scoring brilliant individual tries,than you get in union.Put it down to less players or just plain brilliant athletes.The last players I can remember were Campese and the Ellas. The individual brilliance of rl players in thios country drew me as a fan ,from rugby union as a 19 year old. If anything the English rl team ,the Pacific Island rugby league teams play the code as it should be played,hard running forwards with quick offloads and continuous running and ball handling in the backs. The Fijians who play rl,have adapted because they like the freedom to move via expressing themselves Uate Radrada. ,and the lack of technicalities. The way many NRL clubs play and the Kangaroos at times is stifling and can be monotonous.Perhaps this 4 nations tourno will change their attitude.

You can suggest ,surmise ,crystal ball gaze ,as much as you wish.You have no proof of any substance to back up your view.Your bitterness at so called scheduling re Brumbies/Raiders has created some antagonism toward the NRL, that is mind blowing. From what most rl fans read,is the NRL is more a tightwad than a spender.The limited promoitonal work for the 4 nations is an example.My conspiracy theory is having a Banker in charge ,means less payola. It hasn't stopped Weidler serving it up to the NRL admin as he did today in the Sun Herald,nor calm FizSimons anti rl rantings that regularly pop up. I can tell you this many years ago before SL war,rugby league received a hell of a lot more coverage in the SMH than it does today.Clarkson being one of the rl writers from memory and also from Memory Heads. But its not the paper's demographic according to the trolls.You don't usually flog ad space to areas that are not interested .You guys make me laugh. All your arguments are based on some screwy conspiracy theory,without providing one iota of proof.Showing a story appearing on page XY or Z is not proof.Admission such as the AFL (in the C7 Stokes court case) that they paid News for favourable stories is proof.I do not know why I waste time responding .

I suggest Nine and Fairfax have done a deal on RL coverage , Gyngell organised a tie-up with the AFR show on Channel Nine when they were floating to get good press coverage about the floated when TV advertising was struggling. They are also wedded to bringing a streaming service similar to netflix in a joint venture and are involved in other joint enterprises. It makes sense for Nine to get good coverage for NRL in the Canberra, Sydney, melbourne, newcastle and Wollongong where it owns papers and as a counter to news who bear a grudge after Super league and the AFL spending money in their Tele, CM and suburban papers. Fairfax is struggling and open to "marketing" just as they accepted money from Lowy for soccer. It happens in all media and this is fairly obvious to any who have ome knoweledge of the industry eg gallen' s tweet was originally 8 pages back in the sports section until it blew up and suddenly the NRL leak to Fairfax that they had paid some of Gallens legal fees. You dont answer with substance - you dont answer the Avua dometic violence burial on page 16. As i aid with raudonikus grandson, the SMH made it an issue by burying it in a RL article. By your odd logic, so long it involves a tragic death you cant criticise anyone for any foul deed because you are mentioning a tragedy. By the same logic you cant mention the missing schoolgirl death in the News phone hacking case...But we will agree to disagree because you will just harp on about that tragedy to avoid answering the evidence I produce. If a hawks premiership player was caught with domestic violence do you think that would be on page 16 of the Age. Compare this with the coverage of Kurtley beale where it was big herald news for days..

Agreed. Channel Nein regularly gives short shrift to soccer, and will usually cut the video as a goal is about to be scored. Even in the off season we are bombarded with World Championship Wrestling-type stories, that seem to be the product of a fevered PR writer's imagination. That said, I don't mind a bit of League, but would prefer the proprietors of the code indulged in fewer mind control games, and got back to some of the good things about League, e.g. bring back the draw, enforce a few of the rules about forward passing, obstruction, etc.

I'm not sure what class you think I belong to! My preferred football code is soccer,but I can see that it can be described as one-dimensional. I have always taken an interest in League, and wouldn't mind if it expanded internationally. I think the English team has added interest to the game, and will force a re-think of the game in Australia. Probably Aussie Rules is a more open game than either rugby code or soccer, purely because of the size of the field, but I can't abide it. The Eagles/All Blacks game was only ever going to be an exhibition, but 74-6 probably compares favourably to the Wallabies' 2008 53-8 loss to the Springboks. Japan's 2013 results against Wales were better with 1 win and 1 loss. The point I was trying to make was that a Union team seems to have more ability to play to its strengths, e.g. a good kicker, to frustrate an opposition that is better. England uses this tactic well, and even Scotland beat Australia twice by not allowing the Wallabies to play their own game. In League, because a good defence cannot be broken, there are only the options of kicking through or kicking over on the final tackle -- or perhaps daringly on the penultimate tackle. The movement up and down the field in a set of 6 tackles only occurs because the referees ignore distances between attack and defence, allow obstructions, and allow forward passes (the same can be said of Union). I would love to see this pattern broken up, and if the international game can do it, that would be good for all League fans.

I really liked the assertiveness of the English Referees, the Australian ones are too busy calling out their first names and being buddy buddy.

To the anti everything RL trolls "I love the smell of fear in the morning" :) Been coming out in droves lately, pity the people running the game don't get it right like the people playing the game, the trolls would top themselves, they'll get there tho, I'm hanging around for that day, will be worth it in every way. It's called vindication, nothing beat it.

I'd reply seriously if I actually took you seriously

Abuse Harry LOL.I cannot treat anyone seriously who comes on board with continuous anti rl conspiracy theories.Have a read of your posts not only here . None of your examples proves the NRL or the SMH are working in collusion.If the NRL wanted more good news or try to hide things ,they would pay the likes of the D.T . Don't accuse me of abuse, when you brought up Tommy's grandson's death as an example to try and prove a point.You lost any respect from me there and then..

CC No response to the substantive calims just abuse by you. eg Domestic violence by Souths Avua on page 16 (left side) in todays SMH on a slow news day...

I don't see why they can't all be a thing. One year the World Cup, next year FN, next year NH tours, next year just a simple trans Tasman test or tri series, or maybe a NH all star team tours (the European Colonists?, the Northern Fleets? Anything but the lions please.) the south with a few one offs against Samoa, PNG, and a series between aust and/or NZ (maybe they could alternate between the two)

harry really. I'm going to have a nice cup of coffee and then look for UFOs with my scope,they gotta be out there. I subscribe to the SMH ,and read finance/sport and interantional news,have done so for ages.I suggest I have a fair slab of an idea,what is written either objectively ,subjectively or just plain reporting. We get you ,you don't like rl,but don''t let emotion get in the way of reality by substituting it with conspiracy theories.Just get the ARU up to scratch ,Pulver needs your input.

Venue blunder - heres a situation (follow closely) where the NRL with scheduling only 6 weeks ahead scheduled a game 6 weeks away at a ground whee the Brumbies were playing - get IT!!!! Completely different to whatever u are talking about - the fact that they then hid the blunder is the point.but u missed the point entirely proably coz u are writing so much As you are such an avid reader of carlton/Fitz you would have noticed how as old men they tired of Rugby and especially the Waratahs (Sydney heads view of the world) and found it uninteresting forgetting theres a whole other world. However you cant have missed it. You mentioned Growden = he sledged Rugby at every chance

Just to support my argument a tad:- http://fijisun.com.fj/2014/11/07/nrl-to-set-up-base-here/

Prof. Fortunately the previous incarnations of the game involved violence unchecked at times,predictable unlimited hog the ball and four tackle football,have gone to the waste bin of history. .Surfing and athletics can be classified as one dimensional,beauty in the eye of the beholder. Smith and Grant see International rugby league differently to you,they are actually doing something about it.More emphasis and scheduling being made ,than prior admins .Thus what you see in a snippet of time,will bear little relevance to the wider time expanse measured in years. Cameron Smith also sees playing for his country as the pinnacle of the sport.I mean what would he know. The same Internationals RLWC in 2008 & 2013 that enabled many viewers new to the game in England see the 2013 event.The very same 2008 RLWC that has given Fiji a tremendous boost to the growth of the sport in that country.To such an extent they now are applying to have a team in the NSW cup with matches played in Fiji.As PNG has in the QLD cup. And there will be an RLWC in 2017,no doubt which you and your "class"" will be required to attend. Yes the International with the ABS and the USA.74-6.The unique coaching style of the Eagles came to the fore,with the bevy of tries that ensued.They sure must have frustrated the Wals for a nano second . The fact like many before you continue to draw comparisons with AFL Internationally, where there is no semi pro or pro team outside of Oz,no Govt recognition etc,with rugby league reflects an air of ignorance. With due respect as a Prof of "human movement" it seems,I would concern myself with the current state of RU in this country.Do try and get them back in black(excuse the pun)instead of what you see (subjectively) on the peripheral of the NRL..