Quote: Katie.Smithson "With the exception of Australia, rugby league is on a downward spiral wheras rugby union is on the up and up. I was a guest at the dubai 7s last year. 80,000 people watched the final of the plate comp for the amateur teams. It was a fine spectacle with plenty of celebrities, fine wine, champagne and canapes. I enjoyed it. This is something rugby league can learn from. Forget the 5 forward drives and a kick for a minute, but rugby league needs to take a long hard look at how rugby union markets itself. 80k for a final of an amateur comp. Rugby league hasnt had an 80k crowd for decades.
With persistant rumours that sky want to ditch super league or at least offer a vastly reduced deal (dont believe the spin that richard lewis puts on about it) it seems our sport is dying outside of the east coast of Australia. Its time to do something about it. if it means going cap in hand to rugby union so be it. Didnt harm London Broncos did it, who were on the verge of going belly up until harlequins RU saved them from extinction'"
Wasnt there 80,000 at the Challenge Cup Final last season?
Since when does Sky want to ditch superleague? Like it or not tv ratings show SL is popular and the fact that championship RL games have got more viewers than Aviva prem games suggests RL is going nowhere.
I totally agree RL in the UK that needs to market itself a lot better but to say the sport is dying is a bit of a stretch. If the game was losing that much interest then nobody would watch it and lets not forget the ratings also show that its not just those in the north watching. The demographics is pretty much split between north and south of those who tune into Superleague.
As for the rich going to some RU game in Dubai I am not really sure what that proves. A fine spectacle with plenty of celebrities, fine wine, champagne and canapes is typical Rugby Union isnt it.
Rugby League is never going to be that type of event. Union will always have that sort of crowd as the sport is bred in those circles.
The difference I see between the two is people seem to go to these Union games not as Union fans but just for the 'event'. How many people that watch this games actually know the rules? Full credit for the sport being able to get these casual fans to want to attend the 'events' and its something the RFL need to look at.
