The Below Average League. Great stuff

Did he? Or was it just a different time? There's been a significant centralisation of the national media in London at the same time as local media has been marginalised.

Leeds and Wigan etc were no more relevant to the rest of the country as they are now it's just there were only 3 or 4 TV channels (with more local content), more local newspaper editions and no internet which automatically pigeon-holes content.

I've no doubt Red Hall isn't good, sadly it appears as if we need to move the HQ to London and spent top money on top people, but we'll still struggle to make an impact in the media until we make ourselves relevant to more people in the country. By the existing clubs growing themselves at local level and the RFL expanding the amateur game at national level. And we have to use internationals better. We always get reasonable coverage when England play and people sit up and take note. It has to happen regularly, on a set and consistent schedule and at consistent venues, especially in London.

Leigh getting 6k instead of 3k, or salford getting 4k, or Wakefield getting to 7k will not mean a jot to people outside those areas. It will contribute next to nothing to making us relevant to the rest of the country. Expanding the amateur game at a national level will not only be nigh on impossible, but make very little difference when outside a small enclave, the rest of the country is at best, represented at a level barely above amateur.

The atomisation of media is not a threat, it was an opportunity.

What was the scouse swine with the black book brought in for?

I never said it would.

It will however increase local media attention and enable clubs to further invest in areas such as stadia, facilities, higher qualified and quality backroom staff, youth and junior production and commercial and marketing departments



Youre wrong. The amateur game is an entry point to a sport (When I say the amateur game I am including schools and social rugby in this too) and it's a way of tying people to a sport for, possibly, the rest of their lives. Both RU and football's amateur/schools/social game is a major factor behind their popularity.
This is even more important when you are struggling for a national media profile as this will be the only way many people are exposed to the sport.


It may well be an opportunity in the future as the media market starts to change. It certainly has not been helpful up until this point.
A centralised national media, in an area of the country where the sport is weak, combined with a decline in local news/editions was a huge blow to a reasonably-sized but regional sport that hadn't invested in its infrastructure.

you argue that the declining impact of local media is threat to us. Now you are arguing that local media will be our savior leading to all these benefits.

it makes no sense whatsoever to highlight the increasing irrelevance of the game to the general public, and simultaneously argue for a focus on incremental growth in the areas already best served.

We are, sadly, seeing just how right I am in London right now. the vast vast vast majority of people are introduced to a sport by watching it, not playing it. it is completely ass-backwards to see the amateur game as a recruitment tool for fans rather than the pro game so a recruitment tool for amateur players.

if we want young people to play our game, we need to show them what the he'll it is first, we need to give them some heroes to emulate. we can't just stick some cones down on a muddle field and wonder where they are


its an opportunity now. it's given us an audience. We are just doing the square root of f*ck all to reach, cater for, or expand that audience. Atomisation doesn't make that harder, it makes it much much easier. I will give you an example. this website bills itself as the largest forum for fans of RL. It would cost the RFL absolutely nothing to get a player doing an AMA once a week. Will that bring us millions of new fans? no but it will get more people more contact with the game. That's something that can be done for free and set up in 5 mins. How long would it take us to come up with 25 things you didn't know about rugby league and give it free to buzzfeed? 10minutes? why wouldn't they publish free content. it costs them nothing, any eyeball is profit.

is there no documentation or innovative production company who could create some content to reach new people will free unfettered access to our game? are you telling me there isn't an hour or two's content for the BBC in following Keegan Hirst as he makes the step-up from part time to full time as an openly gay player?

there are millions of outlets crying out for content. we are crying out for eyeballs. they have eyeballs. Let's give them content.