I think RL in the UK has always been roughly the same. It may have morphed a little here and there, but the general underlying existence is about a sport that has always struggled against and with the game it pulled away from. RU has the benefits of being a more 'educated', wealthier and influencial sport on the general public, media, politicians, business people and culture. A better demographic some would say. RL tries to grasp the same, but sadly is either prejuduced, opressed, ignored or defamed by some.

I wonder if RL will ever become bigger than it is. Yes, it has progressed at some levels in Britain and on the continent, but as a professional entity, it has not (bar the NRL).

I don't take issue with anything you've written and yes, opportunities have been missed. But for me the biggest thing that's held our game back is that, largely, it's remained regional. Since the OP's article was written the world's effectively got smaller: more travel, improved communications, huge advances in visual media and the internet etc. Sports that were national have extended globally whereas our regional one is struggling to expand nationally. On that basis, it's not surprising that grants, media coverage and all the other things you mention are hard to come by. And although you accuse the sport of a lack of vision there are many others accusing it of having too much.

To me vision is building from strength, anticipating the market, the opportunities it may bring and having a strategy of how to maximise those opportunities. That strength must be based on unity, honesty and integrity to succeed.
Strategies will be loose and require strong leadership, we have failed here and show no signs of learning from it imo.

IMHO Richard Lewis did an incredibly good job while in post, and the sport made great strides on his watch, which given that he presided over a recession is a fantastic achievement.

Obviously this is not to deny that the game financially is in a parlous state, there is a huge amount of work to be done, etc etc etc and I also don't think any comparison between RL and RU is valid, as the resources of the two codes are not comparable.

What I do think though is that we can learn plenty of lessons from the way the RU go about their business, as they have seen very much larger increases in revenues, sponsorship, crowds and exposure and the profile of their game has increased exponentially. In short, Lewis deserves nothing but praise for raising the game of our sport from 4th division to Championship mid-table; but it is silly to suggest that we are in any position to be an equal competitor in the market to RU simply because despite the progress we have made, we are at a position where there is no money in the game, and with the disproportionate NRL salary cap and poor rate of exchange it will be hard to maintain levels now let alone make progress.

The true test of the mettle of the present RFL leadership will be what deals they can negotiate for the main sponsorships etc for the forthcoming season and it is not inspiring that to date nothing has been announced. People may say it is all chicken and egg but the fact is, despite clubs' financial struggles, we presently have a highly marketable and decent class product on the pitch, together with the most family friendly image of any of the main sports, and we have huge exposure on Sky, so if the RFL can't use those big pluses to snare decent sponsorships then I would view that as a key failure, and there is never going to be any real significant further progress until significantly more cash is brought into the game.

In this it is the lot of the RFL to lead, and a headline-grabbing lucrative tie-up with a top sponsor would be just the fillip that the game needs to allow us to at least explore moving up to the next level. It would open various doors for individual clubs too so there are indirect benefits as well. If the RFL fails in this key job, then for now there is no doubt that the game will stagnate and fall further behind other sports who can find ways to raise the money one way or another, so I await the much-overdue announcement with more than passing interest and some trepidation.

That is why Magic Weekend is such an important fixture. How many sports can have 14 lots of different supporters sat side by side all enjoying themselves without a hint of trouble. I think Sky ruined last year as the only thing that it will be remembered for is the biff in the Wigan v Saints match.

A side note one of the funniest videos I seen on You tube, I think was taken from the first or second MM, was a bunch of people giving a Warrington fan stick. I think we all know the song. It was funny for two reasons firstly the Warrington fan was dancing in the middle and enjoying himself, the other reason when the camera was panned around virtually every other club shirt was there. Again how many other sports could this haapen without violence.

Although I agree with you, the comment about "how many other sports", really only applies to football.
Which other sports have problems between rival supporters ?