Quote: Prince "You find rolling eyes because you making a sweeping general statement and qualify it as 'the simple truth'. Where are the facts, or even anecdotal evidence to back up your confident opinion?
It is my opinion, based on being a northerner living in London and having worked for several large companies populated by mostly football and RU supporting colleagues, that there is a high level of SOO outside of general RL fans. Many people I know are aware of the legend of that particular game, and I would bargin are more aware of it than international RL outside of the RL World Cup.
It's my opinion that this would build on the WC, and continue the work of building a southern audience which is essential for the game to survive and attract sponsors.
But of course you must be right and it's not worth trying, because you present your factless based opinion as THE TRUTH...'"
OK, here is my anecdotal evidence. I also hail from the North and I have been working in the city of London for nearly 15 years and currently live in West London. I am a Rugby league man and I have colleagues who are also sports fans and I discuss sport with them pretty regularly. When the end of the Super League season comes along they sometimes ask who I fancy for the Grand Final etc and in the same way I discuss the latest round of Premier League games and cricket during the ashes and RU during the six nations
In the last 6 weeks, I have had more conversations about Rugby League with my colleagues than I have in the last 5 years – because of the World Cup. This isn’t me starting the conversations, it is people asking me if I fancy England against the Aussies or Kiwi’s or how the world cup is going in general. It shows what we all should be well aware of, that International sport is the single most important and probably only way in which we can raise the national consciousness of our sport
Not once has anybody mentioned State of Origin to me in this time and, in the same way, I don’t mention an Australian state tournament in cricket or a provincial RU tournament in South Africa. Because it is outside of the sphere of consciousness for most casual sports fans and only relevant to the people who passionately follow that sport
As a Rugby League fan I love the State of Origin games (I think they have become a little sanitised recently but that is another debate) but I also recognise that I love them because I am a Rugby League fan. A game between New South Wales and Queensland only appeals to the Australian public and hard core Rugby league fans
If SOO came to Wembley, I would love it to be a success and I would no doubt be there myself but surely it is clear that the focus should be on International League and not an inter-state Australian game to raise the profile of our sport. Maybe before the world cup we could have had this debate but surely not now – it has got to be Internationals all the way (and again, whether we like it or not, it really is about the International element rather than the quality of the game itself)
I just don’t think it is the right call to carry forward the momentum of the World Cup
