In terms of the governing body, yes I do.
I believe the current crop do not have the best interests of the game at heart & despite the lack of money in the game, there's some pretty good salaries getting dished out to the top brass when the game's profile & appeal is as low as I can remember in this country
What links does Burnham have with Leigh other than being local. Does anyone know what he actually did during his time and must admit I can't remember seeing or hearing much of him at all. Happy to stand corrected.
Don't need links to get involved and do a good jobjust need proper qualities. With his background and personal experiences would have thought Adams should do a good job particularly player welfare and help some of the more wayward ones stay on the right tracks.
Burnham is Honorary Vice-President at Leigh. I'm not actually sure what that means, and Webbo might be right, but I also seem to remember him saying something about his Father being a life long fan of the game.
Edit. Just found this ...https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...nt_for_Leigh_/
I’ve heard Burnham talk up the game a few times, I’m sure.
Adams has already proven to be a good appointment, IMO. The game is getting friendly coverage in places where it is usually ignored, which as far as I can see is basically the purpose of an ambassadorial role like this.
The RFL should seize the opportunity with any top sports star who shows a keen interest in our sport. Freddie Flintoff and Bradley Wiggins could be recruited. So many opportunities are missed. Ian Botham who showed a keen interest when his lad was playing being just one example..
I read the original comment as just being 'change' and not specifically personnel at the RFL
I don't know whose interests they have, I assume they do have the best interests of the game at heart but don't know.
What I do know is we don't need more changes and gimmics, and there's no money in the game, so we are restricted in what can be done
The vote that the SL clubs won to change the structure of the league was also effectively a breakaway vote. After winning it SL Europe now has control of everything related to SL, from promotion and marketing to negotiating the next tv deal. The RFL is now basically focused on the lower leagues, challenge cup and community game.
Which is why I'm always surprised when RFL get so much stick when they look after everything but the golden egg. SL have the power and lines share, they should do more to promote the game, the other clibs should do more to sort out their business. But I guess it's modern society to look for blame elsewhere, not my fault it was them bull I hear so often.
RL has to snap out of this victim rubbish and stop looking for persecutors as we are making things more difficult for ourselves. We should talk our own game up
I agree with some of this, and it’s true that the RFL has taken the blame for some bad decisions that were actually made by the clubs (e.g. reserve grade, the Stobart deal). But we’ve only had clarity on the separation of responsibilities between SL and RFL for a couple of months so I think it’s too early to pass judgement on the the Elstone-era SL governance yet. Ultimately the measure of his success or failure will be the next tv deal, IMO.
They are there to make as much money for themselves whilst doing as little graft as possible.
Yorkshire old pals act who couldn't organise the proverbial in a brewery. No money in the game, I take your point. But they need to be busting their backsides to get some in.
From what I see, they are not doing it. They find themselves in top positions not due to their ability but who they know
I'm not saying your wrong, it's just I have no evidence of your claims, I don't pretend to know something based on assumptions and rants on forums.
So do you know what they do from day to day, what challenges they face, what budgets they have, what they actually control, how much power they have, how they recruit staff?
I am not basing what I think from rants on forums & if it comes across that way, then I can only apologise.
I emailed the RFL enquiries address the other week (before the stuff came out about them requesting that Cats, Tolouse, Toronto cough up a fairly chunky sum of cash to play in the CC).
I made the point that the final would be better at Cardiff, due to the stadium being better, the fact that it's about 16k less in terms of capacity & that there's much more around the stadium due to its location. The response I got was along the lines of: 'The Challenge Cup & Wembley have a great tradition.' Brilliant, that'll get the seats sold. The old Wembley maybe. Most people, including me, couldn't care less about the place. It's rubbish, been there twice with Saints, twice with England RL & numerous times with Utd. A half-baked response & then they came out with the gem of charging those non-heartland clubs to compete (one of the clubs who won it last season). It's farcical.
Not even trying to fill the ground that they've decided to play the showpiece event at for however long. Penalising the non-heartland clubs because they won't bring many if they get to a final. It's absurd & penalises success on the pitch in getting to a final. I can't get my head around why people don't see this for the absurd idea it is. It's ridiculous. A cop-out.
As they are the governing body, I would expect them to have a fair amount of clout. Mind you, Moran, McManus, Lenegan (pretty successful people from what I see) weren't happy with things & got a chief exec in for SL. Koukash expressed his frustration with the RFL & I think he's done alright as well. No help from the RFL to try to make Salford work though.
Day to day, I don't really know. They never communicate with the fans. They don't provide updates on anything. Never see any adverts for recruitment, notably marketing roles. I think there's a development coach's job going at the moment, that's it.
The game needs to generate some money. You generate money by having a good marketing strategy. The product on the pitch is there. They had an international at Anfield in November on a Sunday afternoon & sold 26k. It's embarrasing. people in Liverpool didn't even know the game was being played. why didn't they put an offer on for Liverpool season ticket holders, I would have had no problem with someone paying around £900.00 for a season of football & then getting a ticket for the England game for a tenner.
You can't just throw your hands up & say 'aw that's it.' I can't see the drive, desire & ambition to drag this game off it's backside by it's own governing body. They aren't doing enough.
When you throw into the mix the other horlicks' they've made...
Stadiums... Cas & Wakefield don't have a new stadium. Leeds' half done. Hull KR half done. Yet we all thought that was compoulsory.
Sally Bolton...did a brilliant job for the World Cup in 2013 (why didn't the RFL give her a permanent role)? She did more for the game in this country than the RFL have done for 20 years.
Challenge Cup: no sponsor.
The failed expansion clubs.
I could go on & on.
They are not up to it.
Good post and good insights
Couple of points, marketing isn't simply a few posters, today's marketing is much much more than that and not easy to seek rugby to a football town
Selling league with no money is a tough sell, it may be struggling to advance despite the RFL and not necessarily because of them, more analysis would be required to know exactly where the pinch points are. Simply saying nobody turned up isn't thorough enough.
If everyone who is outraged at the RFL and poor attendance turned up to watch there would be good attendances. The irony of those blaming the RFL and not turning up is obvious, or should be, but much easier to give a lazy slur to the RFL, in my humble opinion.
Yep see your points. Doing it properly is probably expensive & if there isn't the cash to do it then it's a problem.
But if we don't get a big sell, we don't get the bums on seats and then we are at square one.
But having said all that and as a previous poster alluded to; the tv money is the crucial one.
The current one was hardly a negotiating master class from Wood & we ended up playing on Thursday nights in half full grounds.
We keep saying we are a family sport but most of the game's are on when the kids are off to bed. So mum & dad possibly can't go either.
Then the media see the half full grounds & just laugh at us. Eddie Hearn said the game is on its knees & I can believe him
You're right though, there will be fans who hammer the RFL & don't make an attempt to go. I can honestly say I do. I care about the sport. I love it