Quote: bramleyrhino "I absolutely agree with that. But where I think I'm at odds with some is that I think it is up to each and every club to make an equal contribution to that solution, rather than looking to the RFL to do it, or expecting bigger clubs to run at the pace of the slowest man.
The clubs should be investing in media training, they should be engaging with their communities and community clubs in their area better and they should be thinking much more carefully about whether a player who sticks his appendage into a dog's mouth is the sort of player who should be representing them.
The launch of Super League was all about the word you used - hype. It was about the event, the experience and something that people couldn't get elsewhere. But since then, we've stood still. We haven't progressed, we haven't developed that experience and we haven't tried anything new, because it has been cheaper not to and because it was easier to just let the RFL be the lighting rod. As a result, other sports have overtaken us.
That's the 'race to the bottom' that I talk about, and it's disapointing that some people want to take that observation and see it as an attack on their club. In truth, it's a commentary on any club that has failed to move on from the mid-late 90s, because that's ultimately why the sport is still struggling.'"
Whilst the clubs do hold individual responsibility, I dont agree with the race to the bottom and blaming the smaller clubs.
The round ball game seems to cope well enough with having unfashionable clubs in the top flight
When you compare Man U at the top averaging 75000 to Bournemouth 11182 or Burnley 20558
and in RL Leeds with 14418, with Salford 3842 and Widnes 5592 and yet, nobody calls out the smaller Football clubs for "holding the sport back" or a "race to the bottom".
In Football, they embrace the diversity of clubs with their different grounds and history.
Of course, they dont have the salary cap and this is probably where the biggest gripe is from supporters of Wigan and Leeds etc
As I said in a previous post, when you look at some of the crap that people become interested in, it boils down to clever publicity and marketing.
If we doubled the salary cap overnight and jettisoned the clubs with lower attendances, do you really think it would change ANYONE'S perception of the game, would it hell.
Time to stop looking for excuses and focus on the positives of the sport, a game played by the toughest athletes on the planet, a hard fought contact sport, with strength, skill, fitness etc, etc
Dont moan about what we haven't got, promote what we have, it's that simple and stop looking for gimmicks, which rarely last, and have a short, medium and long term plan for the game with some focus on lifting participation numbers at the bottom end 6,7,8 year olds.