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Thread: Why aren’t people watching rugby league?

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    Default Why aren’t people watching rugby league?

    On a world cruise at the moment (just to put into context) and spoke to a guy from Australia in Asia who is a Souths fan and played some of his junior rugby at the Oval ground Souths and is a Souths fan.He lives in the UK now with his partner around the Northampton area but doesn’t watch or follow Super League because there is none in his area. He now watches and follows rugby union as he says there is nothing in his area to go and watch rugby league terms and no big names within the sport over here now.....surely this is one of the issues Robert Elston and his team need to get a grip of if leagueas are watching other sports instead of league!!.....thoughts

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    I wonder which league team this bloke followed?

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    Too many matches shown live on sky whereas back in the winter era the challenge cup was eagerly anticipated on bbc. Loss of iconic grounds which generated fantastic atmospheres. Teams today playing the same robotic plays and styles.

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    I put on another thread about a match which flagged up on you tube...wire v pies world war three 1988 apart from the fighting the rugby is superb and I thought the same when I watched it ,todays is mostly robotic and a bit boring imo

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    I don't know if this answers the question posted and I'm not bothered as I've had a drink but I think the play offs and Grand Final have ruined the value of a league match and 2 competition points,there's very little riding on a league match nowadays, I like the Old Trafford Grand Final day but not deciding the champions, we've covered it on here but Wembley as CCFL venue is on its arse, finish the season at Old Trafford for the CC and have a FPTP Super League. We need to keep London as a venue but the England team is something everyone in the country can relate to, not 2 Northern clubs in a Final who from the South will be interested in that? Wembley, Emirates, White Hart Lane, Olympic Stadium are all interesting venues, can't wait for England game at Spurs new ground.

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    The game in the UK has little to no profile. We’re battling for coverage in a large market and are struggling to do so.
    St Helens Rugby League Football Club

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    The biggest factor is the lack of BBC coverage, it's massive even now the cup final and internationals demand a couple of million viewers..

    We're not alone in that people talk about big names, but we're not alone in that. If you look at Union, out of a handful of home international players you couldn't name many club players, even cricket, I reckon most would probably only know Stokes, Root and maybe Buttler and Broad out of today's test match team (if anyone actually realised there was a test ongoing) - I know cricket has other issues over 'red ball cricket'

    We've another massive opportunity next year with the world cup to build, which we should have done in 2013 and never. We've probably had more advertising than ever on the back of Harry doing the draw. Personally I think we should have moved our season to accommodate a summer world cup, but the NRL would probably argue. We could whip a load of interest, and then there's nobody to watch for nearly three months.. 20/20 attendances rocketed after the World Cup Win.

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    So many possible answers to the question.

    To pick one: the presentation of the sport needs bringing up to date. The sky production is horrendously dated. How can anyone possibly think that silly try music is a good idea? Why do the presenters need to talk so loudly and quickly when the current fashion is much more thoughtful and refined? Thursday games etc etc.

    Perception is often reality and Sky are becoming the Eddie Waring of rugby league.

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    Quote Originally Posted by paulscnthorpe View Post
    The biggest factor is the lack of BBC coverage, it's massive even now the cup final and internationals demand a couple of million viewers..

    We're not alone in that people talk about big names, but we're not alone in that. If you look at Union, out of a handful of home international players you couldn't name many club players, even cricket, I reckon most would probably only know Stokes, Root and maybe Buttler and Broad out of today's test match team (if anyone actually realised there was a test ongoing) - I know cricket has other issues over 'red ball cricket'

    We've another massive opportunity next year with the world cup to build, which we should have done in 2013 and never. We've probably had more advertising than ever on the back of Harry doing the draw. Personally I think we should have moved our season to accommodate a summer world cup, but the NRL would probably argue. We could whip a load of interest, and then there's nobody to watch for nearly three months.. 20/20 attendances rocketed after the World Cup Win.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/51168152, Looks like Harry is continuing his role witht the RL, as he's in Canada how much more publicity could Toronto want? Given his role with the Invictus games and RL's growing disability teams, there must be some way to align the two for the benefit of both...plus he's got quite a bit of time on his hands in the near future!

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    What ever we need to do we should do to make it easier for players to offload and encourage second phase play and of course eliminate the notorious tactics at slowing down the play the ball.

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    Just some balance on this folks. I have been watching Saints home and away for 50 years. In the era when I first started Saturday afternoon games in the freezing cold attracted at Knowsley Road as low as 2,700 and the average will have been no more than 4,000. The big world wide derby game us and Wigan at Knowsley Road I remember a 9000 crowd. The slump in the eighties was totally ecconomic thanks to a despote PM.

    Average crowds at Langtree 11000 perhaps since its conception and throw in the bars etc and it's looking good. Even the Championship isn't doing too badly.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyprus View Post
    Just some balance on this folks. I have been watching Saints home and away for 50 years. In the era when I first started Saturday afternoon games in the freezing cold attracted at Knowsley Road as low as 2,700 and the average will have been no more than 4,000. The big world wide derby game us and Wigan at Knowsley Road I remember a 9000 crowd. The slump in the eighties was totally ecconomic thanks to a despote PM.

    Average crowds at Langtree 11000 perhaps since its conception and throw in the bars etc and it's looking good. Even the Championship isn't doing too badly.
    It's a good point to be fair. I miss KR as much as anyone but are crowds are consistently up on what they were. Without having any facts infront of me I'd say there's probably other teams who's gates are up from 10 years ago. Cas, Wakey, Both Hull teams off the top of my head.

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    The Hull clubs with some but limited success have significantly increased their crowds in the summer era. In the early/mid eighties Humberside bucked the ecconomic trend and became the two teams to beat along with Widnes, both clubs had five figure averages and huge away support. However the bubble burst as the eighties ended and crowds had decreased to three thousand at FC and half that at KR. The narrative that super league killed the game outside of the elite is pretty weak when explored. I remember a Lancashire Cup game at Hornets with Saints in the Pinner era and the attendance was seven hundred and fifty, those clubs struggled then, it was transfer fees and equal RFL funding which kept clubs seemingly all balanced.

    My annoyance at Super League and Wood in particular. Every Lancashire club were forced into debt and new grounds, especially Salford who didn't need one. The Wood Yorkshire heartlands like the man himself pigs still in muck.

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    Soccer just dominates all the sporting news in this country. It's everywhere 24/7. Impressionable kids want to follow Premier League clubs because soccer is glamorous, and Rugby league certainly isn't.

    We have to accept that RL is a minority sport and has dropped down the pecking order along with sports like horse racing, speedway, greyhound racing and the like.

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    Quote Originally Posted by maghullsaint View Post
    Soccer just dominates all the sporting news in this country. It's everywhere 24/7. Impressionable kids want to follow Premier League clubs because soccer is glamorous, and Rugby league certainly isn't.

    We have to accept that RL is a minority sport and has dropped down the pecking order along with sports like horse racing, speedway, greyhound racing and the like.
    I think we are moving to a point where everything will be personalised and on demand anyway, so the notion of ‘mainstream’ sport might become irrelevant. e.g. there are now many podcasts, news sites, online highlights etc for RL so we don’t need to rely on mainstream media to cover our game. It doesn’t broaden our horizons, it probably does the opposite, but we do have more access to content

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Day View Post
    I think we are moving to a point where everything will be personalised and on demand anyway, so the notion of ‘mainstream’ sport might become irrelevant. e.g. there are now many podcasts, news sites, online highlights etc for RL so we don’t need to rely on mainstream media to cover our game. It doesn’t broaden our horizons, it probably does the opposite, but we do have more access to content
    The issue is can the game as a whole survive off streaming revenue alone without a major tv deal. The big clubs might e.g. Wigan, Saints, Leeds, but the likes of Cas and Wakey would be in real trouble while the likes of Swinton, Oldham, Batley and Dewsbury would go bust.

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    Quote Originally Posted by doc View Post
    The issue is can the game as a whole survive off streaming revenue alone without a major tv deal. The big clubs might e.g. Wigan, Saints, Leeds, but the likes of Cas and Wakey would be in real trouble while the likes of Swinton, Oldham, Batley and Dewsbury would go bust.
    I doubt any of them would survive in the current status quo just on streaming revenues. We may end up back as a semi pro sport if it comes to that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Angry Dave View Post
    It's a good point to be fair. I miss KR as much as anyone but are crowds are consistently up on what they were. Without having any facts infront of me I'd say there's probably other teams who's gates are up from 10 years ago. Cas, Wakey, Both Hull teams off the top of my head.
    And yet SL crowds have dwindled over the last few years at least.
    This despite a lot of clubs incentivising entry to the point that their fans can get in with a blue peter badge and a tesco clubcard voucher.

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    And yet SL crowds have dwindled over the last few years at least.
    This despite a lot of clubs incentivising entry to the point that their fans can get in with a blue peter badge and a tesco clubcard voucher.
    As long as its not with a Tesco parking ticket lol



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    We live in a society whereby people will buy into anything that is regarded as trendy . A designer society . The game needs leader who can diversify our sport into the mainstream by a rebrand ‘ trendifyifng’ like darts and even snooker .

    Many people go to rugby union international because its the thing to do ! To impress . I don't believe for one minute that all those attending a union game have any idea whats going on on the pitch ! But they have a selfie for instagram so its ok.

    Darts is the same, know body gives a shit whats going on . But they are there paying there money .

    Money and a massive marketing campaign, lower entrance prices . Make game day an event.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Side Of The Moon View Post
    We live in a society whereby people will buy into anything that is regarded as trendy . A designer society . The game needs leader who can diversify our sport into the mainstream by a rebrand ‘ trendifyifng’ like darts and even snooker .

    Many people go to rugby union international because its the thing to do ! To impress . I don't believe for one minute that all those attending a union game have any idea whats going on on the pitch ! But they have a selfie for instagram so its ok.

    Darts is the same, know body gives a shit whats going on . But they are there paying there money .

    Money and a massive marketing campaign, lower entrance prices . Make game day an event.
    Good post. I would hate for games to be full of dickheads like that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Side Of The Moon View Post
    We live in a society whereby people will buy into anything that is regarded as trendy . A designer society . The game needs leader who can diversify our sport into the mainstream by a rebrand ‘ trendifyifng’ like darts and even snooker .

    Many people go to rugby union international because its the thing to do ! To impress . I don't believe for one minute that all those attending a union game have any idea whats going on on the pitch ! But they have a selfie for instagram so its ok.

    Darts is the same, know body gives a shit whats going on . But they are there paying there money .

    Money and a massive marketing campaign, lower entrance prices . Make game day an event.
    Great post.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Side Of The Moon View Post
    We live in a society whereby people will buy into anything that is regarded as trendy . A designer society . The game needs leader who can diversify our sport into the mainstream by a rebrand ‘ trendifyifng’ like darts and even snooker .

    Many people go to rugby union international because its the thing to do ! To impress . I don't believe for one minute that all those attending a union game have any idea whats going on on the pitch ! But they have a selfie for instagram so its ok.

    Darts is the same, know body gives a shit whats going on . But they are there paying there money .

    Money and a massive marketing campaign, lower entrance prices . Make game day an event.
    Darts is full of woppers getting boozed up and looking for any excuse to act a neanderthal. Had a mate tell me he was offered a ‘cheeky line’ off some geezer in a neon blue suit at the Ally Pally, FFs. I bet the IQ of those who attend declines by half after going there.
    Still at least they dont have a video replay of 180s with some silly music thats about three ••••ing decades out of date. I wonder which sport does?

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    To grow and develop the sport I think Dark Side means that being at an RL game is the place to be seen at by celebrities etc.

    Social media is massive & for reasons unbeknown to me, people follow these 'influencers' et al like sheep.

    The sport has to be seen as the 'in' thing. I know it's not ideal but that's how it is.

    If Sally Bolton was brought back in, she'd have a good crack at it

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    Good thread. I sympathise with those that say we should try and make games more like 'events' but in theory we already have quite a lot during the season with Magic Weekend, Challenge Cup Final, Grand Final etc. If we wish to market the game properly and attract big 'celebrity' names to our game then these are the three weekends to do it. I don't see any evidence that we even bother trying to make any of these ready made events that special to be honest, which is a shame as Newcastle is full of students and also full of RU types who latch on to things especially outside of the football season. Maybe try not to play MW on the same day as the FA Cup Final for a start. The Aussies now have their MW, and I bet more effort went into marketing their first one last year than we've out into ours in the 14 years it's existed here.

    The Cup Final being moved forward should give us an opportunity for it to become one of the big Summer events if we market it right. It's in London, it's on free TV, and it's not going head to head with the 3rd or 4th weekend of the new football season for a change. If marketed well it could become a bigger event, and with proper BBC input it could be hyped up as one of the 'events of the BBC Summer'. When they do those promo videos hyping up their summer of live sport we should see the Challenge Cup Final on there alongside Wimbledon, Euro 2020, Olympics, The Hundred etc.

    These are the weekends when we should be doing more, because it wouldn't actually take that much effort to improve the image and stature of them. In the new TV deal we need to get at least one game per day from Magic Weekend live on free TV to showcase club RL being played infront of 40,000. With the Cup Final only a couple of months later on we could then have two weekends in the football off season when RL is on free TV being played in front of big crowds. But it needs to be marketed, and it needs to be showcased.

    The rest of the season should not be used to attract whoppers and fly-by-night Z list celebrities. RL has something unique in modern sport, namely authenticity and clubs that have real connections to their roots. I agree with the comments above about the Darts and certain big club RU showpiece events where it is quite obvious that half the crowd couldn't care less about what is going on. Watching a darts player lining up for a match winning double at Ally Pally whilst 1,000 beered up 'fans' in fancy dress are chanting 'Yaya Toure' whilst ignoring the pivotal thing that they've paid loads of money to witness is not something I would wish on any serious competition that I was passionate about. Imagine seeing thousands of RL 'fans' in fancy dress chanting 'stand up if you love the League' with their backs turned to the pitch whilst someone is lining up a match winning conversion, etc. No thanks.

    Whilst we may decry the lack of atmosphere and the sanitised new grounds compared to ones some of us grew up with (and I do that all the time) at least when you turn up for a game you know everyone is there for the right reasons. Magic Weekend and to some extent the Cup Final are ideal events to attract new people, celebrities, non RL media in to the game. Use them, promote them and prioritise them as the big marketing weekends for the club game, and of course the Ashes Series and the 2021 RLWC are massive as well for the game. Do those things right and we don't need to worry about the rest.

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