Yes, in fact I heard tell that had the Aussies not toured in 2001 (when they were scared of the Eiffel Tower getting bombed!) then it quite realistically could have been curtains for the RFL. Not sure how true that is but they certainly were not rolling in it then after the 2000 WC.

Like it or not RL is tied to Sky, probably forever. Without Sky most SL teams would be bankrupt almost overnight as they'd have to renege on player contracts they could no longer afford for starters.

The only way to reduce the dependency on Sky is to make more money elsewhere. The only major source to tap into in a bigger way - IMO - is a bigger international competition. Unfortunately England (and France) will need to be genuinely competitive for that to happen, which if it ever does will take years.

There's a lot more RU on Sky, so the rate cards for some RU games might be lower, but rate cards are just guides. What you pay for an ad in a Saturday morning Currie Cup game is going to be less than what you pay for a Saturday evening SL game. All this comes before any negotiated rates, so Martyn Sadler will probably not get the same rates as Tesco for prime slots.

Sadler was comparing advertising rates for the Guiness Premiership games to Engage Super League games.

Shame.

We had the forms filled out and everything...