We all know how commercially voracious the National Rugby League has become.
Basically, they don’t appear to like anyone else making money off things they consider to be their IP – even if, as an example, it’s England and New Zealand playing in America on a weekend where there are no club games.
When the NRL Nines returns next year, there will be no middle man – AKA Duco Events – involved.
They have the staff and resources to keep everything in-house and that’s where the want the money to stay.
WatchNRL is an app for people living overseas who want to see games. It’s pretty nifty; you can hook it up to your TV, you get a lot of Fox League magazine shows and matches on demand.
But people in developing league nations, particularly in the countries where people can’t afford the subscriptions, don’t like it because it preaches to the converted. There is now an incentive to keep the game off traditional television overseas.
If you don’t know what rugby league is, you’re not going to stumble across it if the NRL is restricted to an app and all videos on YouTube are being taken down by the league’s lawyers.
But in grand final week, I can see opportunities that aren’t being exploited.
I’m still not sure where I’ll be watching the big one on Sunday but at this stage, the most likely venue is Belushi’s in Camden, London. They show all the big NRL and Origin games but the league doesn’t get a piece of the action.
There’s no reason why they can’t. There’s no reason why memberships and merch can’t be sold at these things, no reason why former first graders who live in London such as Tony Rea, Greg Barwick and Mark Ioane can’t be co-opted into hosting these things.
And no reason why that formula can’t be duplicated all over the country.
In America, there is a company called FanWide. They organise watch parties in bars across the US; if you’re a Buffalo Bills fan living in Atlanta and the Bills are playing San Francisco, they have a matrix which will organise a party for Bulls and 49ers supporters in Atlanta.
The bar pays FanWide for the business but, importantly, FanWide will work with the clubs to leverage the events.
The 49ers’ and Bills’ sponsors can access these watch parties with signage and samples, there are merch giveaways and people volunteer their contact details to be added to the clubs’ databases.
FanWide are contemplating expansion into Canada and Australia.
I’ve been saying for years now that if Telstra was an international company, there would be an incentive to send Justin Olam to Papua New Guinea, Maika Sivo to Fiji, perhaps Northern Pride’s Joe Eichner to the States, and definitely a Burgess to England in grand final week to promote the sport and the coverage on the talk show circuit.
The other night at a function at Australia House here in London, I met a young fellow called Angus who was working at AFL Europe.
How can the AFL have an office in the country where rugby league was born and the NRL does not?
Just about every day here, I see someone in a piece of NRL merchandise.
There is definitely more rugby league gear on display at my local gym here in South London than Premier League march – even though this is a city where the local Super League team struggles to attract more than 2000.
As promoters of an RLIF property, the World Cup Nines, the NRL is trying to get people through the gate in Sydney but awareness of the tournaments in the competing countries is low.
In grand final week, it’s important to remind ourselves that pulling up the draw bridge on your properties and IP is a sound approach only if you’re willing to foot the bill of promoting them yourself.
Otherwise you’re just keeping your business, your sport, a secret from the wider world.
Big Daddy
Guest
But hard for the NRL to get people to sell the game internationally when they struggle to get coverage in their own country. The RLIF have a staff of 3 people who should be working with NRL and Super league. Every time we have international matches they're either in U.K. or Australia. Look at Australia v NZ . Nearly every test match is played in Australia. Of the last 25 only 2 played in NZ.
Max power
Guest
Yep, Queenslanders will always find a way to blame Sydney even when it’s unrelated
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
I just laugh when blokes go, “ maaate. We can do theUS. We should be cranking in Scotland. Maaate, if they play soccer Dubai, they’ll be gagging for. NRL.” Here’s a tip, when you can get Tasmania locked up, then we can look to see what is next after,say, dominating market share in Victoria,SouthAustralia and Western Australia.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Well League should do better overseas as there 1,000s of Soccer and Union fields the world over that easily convert to a League field. AFL is severely strangled in this aspect as there is very few cricket fields that readily convert to AFL dimensions (that of an oval). So when you consider that AFL is doing ok ----- Also most sports are either gazetted in England or France and deseminate from there. Most localized sports, like AFL, have trouble travelling. Despite NFL having huge resources it has not established any worthwhile beachheads anywhere.
deucer
Roar Rookie
I've been to London many times, including Thamesmead which isn't far from Putney (where Steve Davis hailed from), but have never seen a NRL shirt. I've seen a couple of AFL ones, which was unusual, but they were Aussie tourists.
deucer
Roar Rookie
It's not up to Channel Nine - they're a commercial enterprise - what would they get in return. It's up to the NRL - they could use contra in the next tv deal to include this and more advertising of the game outside of NSW and QLD. Of course this will mean less actual cash up front but you've got to weigh up what's best for the sport
Maximus Insight
Guest
"If AFL are doing things so well how come nobody outside of Australia play the game." Because the AFL dedicates very little resources to international development notwithstanding Steve Mascord's experience... The only annual report I could find from AFL Europe 2014 indicates a total turnover of 160k pounds...some fraction of this would be an AFL grant. From that report apparently the main two grant programs they offer are for goal posts and new club set up. There are about 130 clubs listed in europe....so the total turnover of AFL Europe is about $2k per club (unless it has increased since 2014) Compare that to AFL NSW / ACT that "employs more than 270 staff across the region, consisting of about 100 full-time staff (including 20 trainees), and 170 part-time and casual staff members.". In addition to this, consider the millions the AFL puts in each year into facilities development and of course ~$40M distributed to the two pro clubs (including ~$10M additional funding to the Giants above the average) ...so the "why does nobody outside of Australia play the game" (which isn't exactly true anyway) is a bit of a non sequitur as a response to Michael Keeffe's frustrations about the level of effort the AFL put in at his kids school compared to the NRL In terms of game development, the AFL's first and last consideration is NSW and QLD
GoGWS
Roar Guru
I’m not sure it’s true that the AFL does actually escape media criticism... but this does seem to be a popular claim. If you pay attention the AFL does cop plenty of criticism over various issues; AFLX, AFLW, China games, Gold Coast club, failure to add a Tassie team, shambolic video review system, over zealous crowd control, ticket pricing... criticism is there, and if there is no criticism then some markets like Sydney the AFL is largely ignored. I don’t buy the often repeated claim the AFL gets a dream run in the media - that assertion just isn’t backed up by the evidence. And on AFL international presence ... fair enough that AFL’s reach compared to rugby league is limited, and it will be for the foreseeable future. Why? English colonies tend to play English sports ... simple as that. There are examples, across many countries - soccer, union, rugby league. If a version of football had existed in England in 1800 that was what we now know as ‘Aussie rules’ then what do you reckon various former English colonies would now be playing? ... they’d most likely be ‘Aussie rules’ by another name.. as it is they play cricket, union, soccer...and some of them also play rugby league. USA and Australia both came up with their own ‘football’ codes, and these probably will not spread internationally.
Beastie
Roar Rookie
Honestly though, shouldn't his manager have not brought this up the week of the GF? It is his job to look after his players best interests, including news stories that could potentially harm them. The media is just doing what media does, reporting news as it hears it.
Superspud
Roar Rookie
Been hearing this for years. I'm getting a little bit sick of the rails run AFL get in the media. Gill McLaughlin could drop a cow pad off the back of the Southern stand and it would be called artwork. If AFL are doing things so well how come nobody outside of Australia play the game. I find it a little bit contradictory to sight the AFL in an article about international spread of the game. As bad as Rugby League mat be doing it's 10 times more successful than AFL.
Michael Keeffe
Roar Guru
Steve it's not just in the UK that the AFL does better. They do better everywhere. My 10 year old has grown up watching league with me, but is now about to start playing AFL next winter. The AFL is smashing league with what they do in schools. The NRL could at least attempt to copy it. It's crazy. He goes to one of the 10 largest state schools in QLD - almost 1400 primary school kids and the nrl presence is virtually none.
Big Daddy
Guest
And now we have Paul Kent saying Bateman wants to leave Canberra. I'm fine with what Bateman is doing but to release this story grand final week is why the media are hated.
Vaughn
Roar Rookie
Channel Nine, the alleged "Home of Rugby League" isn't going to do anything to help spread the game, unless they get paid for it. Case in point - they geo-block all their NRL content from being seen in the USA. How can the game gain a foothold in the sports-mad USA, if Americans can't actually see the games? Or, even the highlights, as posted on Twitter?
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hi Steve. FanWide, I think that an awesome idea, I am four hours from the nearest team and 11 from ‘my’ team. That is a great, great idea. I know there was s 5 million people in Sydney, but there is something like 3 outside in rest of NSW.
R J
Guest
Izzy Foreal? I hope V'landis sorts out this current mess
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
I thought we had an international team playing Sunday with the “Green Britian” team
Randy
Roar Rookie
Not at the Finchley Road Walkabout on NRL grand final day.
Wayne Lovell
Roar Guru
So long as our game holds the “protect fragile Sydney at all costs” attitude intelligent ideas like this will continue to be ignored
Ad-O
Guest
You must live in Putney, right? Has to be the only place in Sth London with anyone wearing an NRL shirt. I lived in London for 13 years and can count on 1 hand how many times I saw an NRL shirt.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Agree. The concept of having a one off game in the States is waste of time and money. I’ve lived in Asia in the past, plenty of expats, and so hard to find a venue to watch NRL games. Plenty of baseball, soccer and US football. Get the expats involved and build a international supporter base.