Re: Yawnion World Cup : Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:38 pm
Something definitely seems to have slipped in terms of both media coverage and also general enthusiasm/awareness in the population compared to a decade or so ago. This was a world cup quarter final, England beat Australia comfortably. Yes its being covered, but it's not got the same dominating coverage that it did before. The benchmark that stands out to me is not 2003 but 2007. 2003 was mega hyped obviously because England were favourites and hadn't won a world cup in anything for years. In 2007 though, England went in in terrible form and the sporting headlines were dominated for weeks before about how bad England were, same through the early rounds then it hit a fever pitch of excitement when England beat Australia in the quarter final and then France in the semi en route to a final which they lost to South Africa. The hype/excitement about this world cup is not even close to that.
I'm not saying the media is ignoring it, far from it, I just think something has slipped for RU compared to a decade or so ago. I don't think the game is really growing.
I really noticed when I moved down to London and so out of my former northern bubble, that RU is smaller than I thought it would be. When the six nations come around, all the Welsh/Irish people that I know from work etc all seem to make it a big deal. For the English it's just a certain social class, and they don't seem to follow it particularly fanatically either. It feels like the same dynamic as you get with cricket. A lot of people who will watch the internationals on TV, read about it on the internet/papers and have an opinion on it without actively going to games or following a club team.
We always talk about how RU is great at marketing itself and so on but I wonder if it really is. When I went to Australia a few years back I was also surprised at how RU seemed to be seen as a minority sport there and was trailing way behind cricket, league and AFL in the nation's consciousness.