Quote: Clearwing "I find it hard to believe they fear RL. What I can believe is that parts of the organisation, including parts of the sports department, are largely unaware of it. Which is disgustingly complacent but nothing more sinister than that. The BBC's attitude seems, to me at least, a country mile from the likes of Stephen Jones in the Times. Now there's a man who makes no secret of his loathing.'"
This.
Though I believe it is sinister in that it, along with other sectors of the "establishment" including politics and the media, deliberately ignore important events and issues when they don't fit with what they want to portray and further.
The vitriol and lies poured toward Jeremy Corbyn before he'd even entered the leadership contest, the ignoring of non-establishment heartland issues, the furtherance of certain ideas and ideals, the attempted criminalisation and demonisation of large sections of the working class, the plethora of public policy that benefits certain areas and types of people.
The point about the BBC is a valid one. The coverage itself with Chapman is great. The problem is the almost complete lack of build-up or post-game coverage, and I don't mean the immediate time pre or post-match, I mean in the days before and after. With most other major events you have discussions about the game on various BBC outlets, even if it's just a 15 second back & forth between 2 presenters. But that doesn't happen with RL events, despite being as popular and well attended as other events that do get that discussion.
It's that regular drip effect that really boosts a sport or public interest in something and it's something we are continually denied.
Now I don't believe it's some kind of anti-RL conspiracy, I believe it's a deeper issue in all aspects of the "establishment". Because the people running and producing things for the "establishment" be it media, policy etc haven't grown up where RL is important then it's continually ignored as a major sport.
This is partly RL's fault for not spreading the game and because we appeal to a generally relatively poor crowd base but it's still a complete and utter failure of those in the "establishment" to accurately reflect the popularity of a sport like RL and of other issues and events.
Immigration is another good example. Immigration doesn't affect those in the establishment except to provide cheaper cleaning staff. So the actual issues about immigration very rarely get mentioned.
It is sadly a societal issue rather than a direct conspiracy. Though I also refuse to believe it's a coincidence that England RU just happen to be playing in the RU World Cup, in the same city, on the same day just 20 mins after the Grand Final ends.