I'd be more than satisfied with the RFL if they could secure a sponsor as recognisable as Stobart in the current economic climate.

(The transportation of the fire truck from Carlisle to Southend was particularly noteworthy in last week's TV episode as it managed to feature the port wing of XJ823 and XL426 in it's entirety. Classic)

For once, well done to the RFL.

Stobart is a proper company with good recognition and a damned sight more credible and respectable for RL's brand than the collection of bookmakers and loansharks who sponsor most sporting teams and events nowadays.

Impressive Wheels : www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... nsors.html

Impressive Wheels : www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... nsors.html

Cheers Teev.

Why is it that a majority of RL fans still think that we need a national sponsor and that the image of the game needs to shake off its Northern persona?

Rugby League was, is and always will be a parochial sport and, with the exception of the London club (which has come close to none existence on a couple of occasions) expanding outside its heartlands has failed. So why do we need a national/international blue chip company to sponsor the league?

We don’t.

All we need is someone who’ll put some cash in the pot to keep the RFL wheels turning and to stop thinking that we’re as big as Premiership Football or even Rugby Union and deserve the same sort of exposure.

Let’s just accept that RL in this country is a small Northern sport supported by Northern people in the North of England and stop trying to think that we’re something we’re not.

Does Barclays or Aviva have their own TV programme on terrestrial national television?.....no.

For me sponsorship is more to do with recognised brands.

Do we care if they've heard of Stobarts in France....not particularly and in any case they are widely known as an international haulier across Europe.

.....and lastly, just think of the captive audience we would have with all those "Stobart Spotters"!

Picking up on the international transport theme,thank goodness SL won't be sponsored by Norbert Dentressangle.
Imagine the problems that could cause Eddie & Steve

Indeed... they would cope much better if Willi Betz decided to sponsor SL!

Hugely dissapointing post from a mod.

You may disagree with me, as is your right, but to result to playground insults...

Why would I call Tim Cook? I dont even know him, besides, Stobart are the bet hey, they are gonna propel the sport forward, maybe we can go mobile with our game on the back of their trucks and take it to the masses that way?

Where does this idea that sponsors propel a sport forward come from? Its the other way around. The sponsors want to propel their business forward by being associated with a popular spectator sport, with thousands of supporters exposed to the brand on a weekly basis.

How many people are seriously going to say "I love the Powerade product. Any sport associated with it must be worth watching. I'm going to start watching NASCAR"

I would imagine that the sponsor would have a certain number of strings to pull and I would prefer a northern based company that is clearly interested in the sport to be pulling the strings rather than a company that is just out to advertise itself.

Hopefully a company such as Eddie Stobart that has manufactured an image for itself becoming synonymous with haulage can help the rugby league to manufacture it's own image and increase recognition of the sport.

NASCAR? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love Coke,

Regards, a beady eyed, Gareth Hock.

Exactly. It's just another example of RL fans with an inferiority complex craving attention for the sport. It would be nice to get a bit of national exposure, but it's going to take a bit more than a few SL logo's on the side of Stobart lorries (which almost certainly won't happen) to attract people to the sport. If they don't like it they don't like it.

The Eddie Stobart Super League...... I like it

Wonder if each of the trucks will be named after some of SL's better high profile names: any more than one or two in the fleet though might mean a struggle.