Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team

Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team

Quote My Mate Ronnie="My Mate Ronnie"Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team'" So the BBC has been trying to get the final moved back fo the last 5 yrs so has all the fans what bloody plonkers are the RFL

Quote My Mate Ronnie="My Mate Ronnie"Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team'" So the BBC has been trying to get the final moved back fo the last 5 yrs so has all the fans what bloody plonkers are the RFL

Quote My Mate Ronnie="My Mate Ronnie"Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team'" So the BBC has been trying to get the final moved back fo the last 5 yrs so has all the fans what bloody plonkers are the RFL

Quote My Mate Ronnie="My Mate Ronnie"Interesting reading ....... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/no-he ... gland-team'" So the BBC has been trying to get the final moved back fo the last 5 yrs so has all the fans what bloody plonkers are the RFL

To me it seems a fair & balanced assessment of the state we are in, that maybe because I think the same? The widely held view is that the biggest factor holding the game back is the RFL (or is it the top clubs fighting their own corner?) To me it has been a no brainier that an international programme with a fixed date in the calendar every year on free to air media will bring in more viewers hence better sponsorship & Advertising revenue that all the club games put together. It would also create an audience for the challenge cup & club games in the long term.
Get rid of the loop fixtures, get the international tours back. But most of all give the media the fixtures they want at a time that’s best for them as they know what sells & when it sells.
That said the biggest challenge will be getting the inward looking self obsessed Aussies to even consider the game outside Sydney.

Don't think there is much in that article and what you said that most people don't agree on, but The RFL have had there heads up their own a***** so long now and do not listen. interestingly i always thought it was the Beeb who made us play the CC that weekend, appears we are all misinformed.

It was the Beeb, but the first year under the Bank Holiday August Final was back in 2005 so they’ve obviously changed their minds over time. Think originally it was yo fit us in around other sporting events they had at the time, now they have less that’s probably less of a problem to find weekends to fit RL in.

If the BBC have been asking to move it then it would seem daft to keep it in August. I suppose it might depend on what contract the RFL have with Wembley.

On the internationals I agree entirely with the article that they should be our priority. However it’s tricky for the RFL when we only have 2 other international teams to play. Even if the Aussies weren’t a bunch of pillocks it would soon get boring if we played them much more than we currently do.
I think we need to somehow get the internationals mid-season rather than end of season and also have a European nations comp every year at the same time as a Pacific Nations comp down under.

Give Wales & France guaranteed games against England every year and they’ll soon develop much quicker and it also gives England a chance to develop a proper brand/identity and following. I also think we need to find a stadium and make it our home. Maybe somewhere like Man City’s ground. I think we seriously struggle because half the time even die-hard fans don’t know when and where the games are going to be. A union fan knows that every year there are going to be a minimum of 3 games at Twickers and they know roughly when they’re going to be. We don’t even know if England are going to play any games at all in 2019 for instance.
Get some long term certainty in the internationals and I think we’ll see the popularity increase.

The RFL’s hands are also tied to some degree by the clubs and the NRL. The clubs are the biggest negative in the game in my opinion and desperately need power taking away from them. The NRL are just as short-sighted unfortunately. They’re happy in their own little insular world and can’t see the opportunity they’re missing. An opportunity that Union didn’t miss.

Whilst you can blame the clubs looking after their own interests.....where do International teams get their players from?

The clubs. But that’s a non-argument in my opinion. Where do the clubs get their income from? The fans, sponsors and the TV deal. Leeds playing Wigan or Cas a third, fourth, fifth or even sixth time in a season isn’t going to bring any more fans or sponsors into the game nor is it going to increase the tv deal.

The clubs are sticking themselves to a vicious circle of fighting over a few quid now that doesn’t in any way help invest in the future. Internationals do. And would bring bigger gains to the clubs in the future.

Union saw this decades ago and the clubs regularly sacrifice the loss of their players because they see the huge benefits it can bring.

We have to prioritise the international game, it’s the only time we ever become even slightly relevant to the rest of the country.

People outside RL areas naturally don’t relate to Castleford or St Helens etc most people won’t even know these places exist, why would they? There’s still a lingering recognition of Wigan from their famous run and also from the football team but even the cities of Leeds and Hull don’t inspire relevance to someone living in Gloucester say. They’re just relatively small sports teams from a city up north. There’s nothing for anyone outside RL to grasp hold of and relate to. When England play that is reversed. And a lot of the issues and struggles we have in getting media attention and cut through to people outside RL are solved simply by England playing in front of a good crowd on the BBC. Get that more regularly and we’ll start to see an uptick in acknowledgement across the country. It’s a slow process but we have to start it at some point. Unfortunately Union stoke a march on us 30+ years ago and we’ve been busy wasting time effort and money on short term rubbish since.

The clubs can feel better in the short term with an extra few K in their balance and so they can go and buy another Aussie but in 5 years time e’ll be back with the same issues and just 5 years wasted bumbling along with a load of clubs desperate to be the biggest fish regardless of the fact the pond has become a puddle.

Problem with most of your argument is the belief that the strength in international sides of good enough to capture the attention on tv broadcasters. Yes the NZ series did good and Aus will do too over here at prime times but playing 2nd tier teams won’t nor will away fixtures played at 5/6am.

A key reason why the England RU international calendar works is because they have competitive Northern Hemisphere teams to compete against and those Northern Hemisphere countries all have competitive club sides.

That’s a key problem in RL, that some people think we can grow other NH international teams just by playing them once or twice a year at international level without those countries having prominent club sides like Wales and Ireland do in RU

You can exaggerate about SOME clubs POSSIBLY playing each other 4/5 times but that’s a lame argument. Of course more fixtures bring the clubs more money through sponsors and tv deals etc. so why should they turn them down in favour of 2nd tier International teams who tv aren’t interested in....did BBC pick up the Eng vs Fra game recently? No. We obviously could play Aus and NZ more but let’s see you or anyone else have any luck in talking the NRL into making space to fit those games in.

Got to get Tonga Fiji Samoa PNG and ing Australia into an international calendar. Mal Meninga wanted it but what is it that’s making the Kangaroos hold international rugby league back?

2020 and 2021 are massive years for the game in regards to internationals and going off that we really must make the most of it. The viewing figures could be huge if the side continues to impress and we need to get our house in order in regards to venues and ticket sales. That Ashes series in 2020 needs to be played in big stadiums, including one in the south and they need to get it all sorted as soon as possible. If we do that we can get 50k+ crowds for all three and along with the viewing figures on the BBC, it could be a real shot in the arm for us.

In regards to the Challenge Cup Final thankfully it’s being brought forward, as it should’ve been years ago. I don’t buy in to it having to be at Wembley tbh. I don’t think a game between two northern teams (or a French team) brings in the locals. Yes there’s a prestige about playing at the place and a few more column inches but internationals in London are what will grow the game IMO. I’m not saying we never play it at Wembley but I’d rotate it between Wembley and the Millenium stadium to freshen it up. I would have some form of international fixture in London ever year though. The locals will buy in to a national side, they don’t buy in to Wigan vs Hull or Leeds vs HKR.