Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:12 pm  

Anyone who can suggest that there is no such thing as an active anti RL agenda from the RFU is, quite simply, an idiot who has no idea how the upper middle class go about their business. Wouldn't trust any of them. The type of people who'd rather watch you drown than part with a single penny. The same people who cover up sex scandals and paedophile rings within the establishment.

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:30 pm  

moving on... wrote:

Anyone who can suggest that there is no such thing as an active anti RL agenda from the RFU is, quite simply, an idiot who has no idea how the upper middle class go about their business. Wouldn't trust any of them. The type of people who'd rather watch you drown than part with a single penny. The same people who cover up sex scandals and paedophile rings within the establishment.

That escalated very quickly....!!!

but never a truer word spoken,
I hate the sport with a passion

however I'd give Nigel woods left nut to have the media coverage they have.

Off the field Union is simply a different league to League.

Fortunately its still a dreadful sport and they know only by reducing the number of players and getting rid of lineouts and 7ft beanpole plodders and short chubby blokes is their only hope of making it any good.

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:17 pm  

If a sport has to introduce bonus points in the league to encourage teams to actually score tries, it is broken.

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:28 pm  

Wonder if any RL will get a look-in with these latest plans from BBS Sport ? I know we got some of the early rounds of the CC last year, it would be great if they were able to bring some live Championship/League 1 RL games too.

""The BBC plans to broadcast 1,000 extra hours of live sport a year online as it attempts to "reinvent free-to-air sports broadcasting".
______________________

More than 30 additional sports or sporting events - including Women's Super League football, the British Basketball League and wheelchair tennis - will be streamed live via iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

There will also be more coverage of early rounds of the FA Cup.

BBC director general Tony Hall said: "We're giving people more of what they love by working in partnership with the sports industry and making the most of digital technology.

"This shows how we're reinventing the BBC for a new generation.""

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:57 pm  

shinymcshine wrote:

Wonder if any RL will get a look-in with these latest plans from BBS Sport ? I know we got some of the early rounds of the CC last year, it would be great if they were able to bring some live Championship/League 1 RL games too.

""The BBC plans to broadcast 1,000 extra hours of live sport a year online as it attempts to "reinvent free-to-air sports broadcasting".
______________________

More than 30 additional sports or sporting events - including Women's Super League football, the British Basketball League and wheelchair tennis - will be streamed live via iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

There will also be more coverage of early rounds of the FA Cup.

BBC director general Tony Hall said: "We're giving people more of what they love by working in partnership with the sports industry and making the most of digital technology.

"This shows how we're reinventing the BBC for a new generation.""

That’s it then,il give anyone odds of 100/1 you bet that the majority of them hours will go on the FA Cup, RU may get some but no way will RL get a look in.

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 4:12 pm  

I assume 'reinvent free to air sport' really means 'we'll pay next to nothing for minority sports then pay mimimal production costs as they are only going online/red button'.

Hence maybe all the BBC RL CC coverage will end up this way

Re: Union. : Fri Nov 03, 2017 7:19 pm  

Jimathay wrote:

I get what your saying, and it is difficult to get actual figures as Sky are shrewd about them, but looking at various reputable news articles -

276,000 people tuned in to watch London Wasps against Leicester Tigers on BT (2014 news article)
An early season Wigan vs Huddersfield game on Sky Sports in February attracted an average audience of 299,300.

Yes they're cherry picked figures due to the difficulty in finding anything, but I think it's fair to say that the BT sport numbers are not "very much next to nothing". The growth rate of Union on TV is very real, and very significant, while League still stagnates.

We aren’t stagnating we’re going backwards.

Going back about five years ago or more Sky had something like:
Monday- x
Tuesday- that chat show with Stevo, 1hr
Wednesday- Boots’N’All, 1hr
Thursday- Super League Superstars, 1hr; Live Championship game, 3hrs
Friday- Live SL game, 3hrs
Saturday- Live NRL game, 2hrs; Live SL game, 3hrs
Sunday- All The Tries, 1hr

Plus England and Great Britain test series and games.

So almost all of the week you could tune into Sky at a prime evening or weekend slots and find something to do with Rugby League on with a total of around 15 hours of airtime.

Now we have:
Monday- x
Tuesday- x
Wednesday- x
Thursday- Live SL game, 3hrs
Friday- Live SL game, 3hrs
Saturday- Catalans h games, 2hrs
Sunday- All The Tries, 30mins

Plus one or two CC early round games and the Summer Bash.

With around 6.5-8.5 hours of airtime a week depending on whether Catalans are at home or not.

Did Sky put all of their eggs in the Premier League and Formula One and make cut backs or are Sky slowly washing their hands of us?

Either way, do we need to find someone other than Sky who can reach a similar audience that can grow? Because at this rate our viewing figures will only be going backwards.

I genuinely do miss Boots’N’All. It was a family tradition to sit down and watch that on a Wednesday. Even when I’d grown up and moved out of my parents I still went round and watch B’N’A with me Dad.

Re: Union. : Sat Nov 04, 2017 7:02 pm  

What do we need to do?
Go and headhunt Alan Sugar's head of Marketing from the 1980's.
To anyone under the age of 40, Mr Sugar basically peddled poop product for decades, yet (bar Branson) he's this country's most famous businessman..... ergo, they (his marketing team) must be doing something right. People are gullible.

Take music for example. Two of the most bland, insipid, dire "acts" in the world right now, are Adele and Ed Shearon. Personally, I'd rather have chronic diahorreah, toothache, galloping alopecia, penile warts and gingivitis, than have any of their records in my collection. But, as the general public have been browbeaten into being told that their music is so brilliant, people go out and buy it in their droves. The general public are TOLD what to like.People are gullible. They like to "fit in" with what others are doing.

The three point game fits into this, too. Not so much with the upcoming autumn internationals, but just you wait 'til late January, when the yawnfest that is the 6 Nations kicks off. You'll get middle aged housewives that have ZERO interest in sport, tuning in to watch with their husbands. Simply because the RFU have got their marketing dept going "all out" to get bums on sofas. Guess what? It's worked.
The same goes for tennis. Very few people in a population of 60+ million give a stuff about tennis. Come the end of June, the same middle aged housewives can't get enough of it. Does Mrs Smith of 23 Acacia Avenue, Tunbridge Wells, know who won last week's tennis event?? Does she hell. But she'll watch Wimbledon, 'cause it's rammed down her throat.

To me, we have the greatest sport on the planet. But no-one pushing it. Last night, I was bored, so I put Youtube on, and watched AGAIN, Man City v Monaco from last season. One of the most entertaining games of footie I've seen in years. Yet, there are loads of games of RL with more entertainment than that, season in, season out. The trouble is, few people know it's out there.

Raise the salary cap. In all honesty, it's not really worked. The same teams are still winning. We MIGHT attract a few decent Aussies, bar the ones who are washed up, at the end of their careers or have committed a massive misdemeanor, if we do.

Oh....and get some marketeers, and flog them to within an inch of their lives.
Get them to tell the public that RL IS the greatest game. Stevo did. But he's hated.

Re: Union. : Sat Nov 04, 2017 8:56 pm  

Agree that our marketing is pretty poor as a sport. Our first marketing drive must be to get rid of the perception it's a northern sport. Toronto catalans at a London Welsh Scottish stadium would raise profile in area visited but that's a small part in a larger plan that would be needed.

I believe that there are a few key factors that are needed firstly a strong international game. What's the point in marketing a gb tour when it's every whenever! The 6 nations gets figures as it's part of the sporting fixtures now along with Wimbledon Silverstone football World Cup euros ashes etc these things take place regularly and figures have generally increased. Or the marketing and spin has retained viewers at least.

I also think that the BBC are actually quite good at packaging and presenting the sport to the neutral or newcommer to the sport as opposed to sky. We need to increase international viewing and support first and foremost, Mrs Smith in Tunbridge Wells will most likely be supporting England and Murray in 6nations and Wimbledon its going to be easier to sell her great Britain v Australia over hull v Salford.

There are more broadcasters now who could enable the rfl to negotiate better but I get the feeling that they just accept the first offer to cover the salary cap excluding exemptions. Then do not give sky exclusivity like the Premier league sell a quantity of games to each broadcaster. Something needs to change were getting less exposure on sky but that has not been replaced in other media channels.

N finally the cap my view on this is it needs to be higher much higher for us to even consider improvement not only to enable us to bring in nrl ayers but to make the sport a more realistic career choice for some who loitering at earning potential in the spirt and for what the players are asked to do its not particularly a well paid sport in comparison to other professional sports.

Re: Union. : Sat Nov 04, 2017 9:08 pm  

Two really good posts. Thanks.