I live in Victoria and I might just do the same thing!

Now that I would love to see

I'm quite flattered

You won't be an embarrassment to the game, but I doubt you’ll change anything. RL is becoming more and more marginalized in Britain. We used to have a very good national profile, before the Super League era. I think, with the advent of Professional RU, the media have decided there is only room for coverage of one pro-Rugby code. That was always going to be a code with a better national and international footprint.

I think, at some point, our top RL clubs may end up having to make a very unpleasant decision – whether to stay in RL at all at a pro level and jump in bed with RU instead. If RL's status and profile drops any more, I cannot see BSkyB broadcasting it for much longer.

That is why I hope you’re successful.

What time does the picket start?

Being seen in possession of Hunslet and Widnes flags only increases your embarrassment.

One of Rugby League's biggest problems is that its fans have no belief in their sport. Super League represents one of Sky's biggest rating sports, picked up fairly cheap. Why on earth would they stop broadcasting it? Why on earth would RL clubs move to RU when their fans, who still represent the vast majority of their income streams, would be almost uniformally against it?

Crazy talk - and dangerous if it reflects the misbeliefs of more than a tiny sliver of RL fans, which I fear it does.

So, all RL fans have to do is say [i'I believe, I believe'[/i and the sport will take off, just like that? Just like wishing for fairies?

Err...'kaaay




Because, in one stroke, they can ditch 60%/70% of pro RL clubs, amalgamate the rest into RU with a massive one-off payment to the top 4 or 5 RL clubs and the RFU, and save a fecking fortune in the long run.

Alan Tait predicted such an outcome, in his book. I dismissed it as nonsense at the time, but now I'm not so sure.


Because of the massive national exposure being part of the RFU would bring, and all the money that would bring with it. I hate to admit it, but RU has us licked on this. The massive crowds, media exposure and sponsorships RU clubs receive, just blow us away. The top clubs would have much to gain from swapping, should our sports profile suffer much more. Yes, they'd lose some supporters, but they'd probably gain some as well. The massive sponsorships and TV monies they'd pick up would make up for this - and then some.

These clubs may have their hands forced, in such circumstances. '[iThe Aviva Premiership or oblivion' [/i. What do you think these clubs would choose?


Do you know what?

I hope you're right.

Because I know that my club won't have the option of choosing whether to bail out of the sinking ship. We are likely to be left behind, without TV money and, thus, finished as a pro club. (not that I really want my club turned into an RU club)

If it does happen, it won't be right away, but in a decade or two. As our sports national profile decreases, so does it's appeal to sponsors and TV companies. Its bargaining power is limited and it is harder to get a deal that is sustainable and allows the top clubs to keep their star players.

At some point the TV execs may decide that it is no longer worth it and offer the top RL clubs a way out - and a lucrative one at that. Moving to the dark side may seem preferable to them, to becoming semi-pro clubs again, without a TV deal. They may start to see the lesser clubs as a major stumbling block to their prosperity - clubs that are struggling to spend up to a poultry £1.6Million salary cap. This is a cap that is making it very difficult for the top clubs to keep their best home-grown players from being tempted away to RU and the NRL. The RFL have managed to stem that tide a little, with it's new salary cap ruling, but that may not be enough in the long run.

Sam Tomkins' appearance in a barbarians shirt may well be a glimpse of what is to come. The difference between the two codes are slowly and subtly, becoming blared. Top RL players are already eyeing up RU with a certain amount of envy and are openly speaking of their willingness to change codes. The national profile and fame, that comes from being an RU player, gives them opportunities to make money off the field as well as on it - even after retirement. Jason Robinson now has his own range of clothing. that would not have been an option, had he remained an RL player.

We need national coverage. Without it we are screwed. Chemicz knows this full-well. He's right to be worried by the total lack of interest by newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph. This is why, instead of snearing at him, I wish him well. It may be too little too late, but at least he is willing to get off his and do something about it, even if it does seem a little quixotic.

See this just isn't borne out by reality. As a fan of a club which has spent the past decade hosting and supporting a top flight RU club, all that has been seen are tiny crowds and huge losses. It has cost Leeds, Leeds Met and Paul Caddick the best part of £15m to prop up Leeds Carnegie. And whilst they are an extreme example, the average Aviva Premiership club loses more money than the average SL one.

I just don't see how the process would work. The '95 Super League protests would be nothing compared to this - no matter how much the fans love their clubs, do you really think they are suddenly all going to start paying to watch the kind of entertainment that game on Saturday produced? You suppose that the club owners are financial mercenaries which makes little sense given their decision to invest in RL in the first place. The reality is they are almost all drawn from the same hardcore fan base in the first place, whose love is Rugby League.

National media coverage is important, and I would not disagree with anyone who protests against the current dismal efforts of many newspapers. But it is of declining importance as people find out their own news which matches their own interests rather than relying on one central or national source. The key to RL is its local strength - and it would require a complete collapse at the local level level rather than continuing national ignorance for any decisions to shift to RU to become even remotely likely. It would require a collapse of the local playing base, TV viewing figures, local media coverage and attendances. Anything is possible I suppose but at present it looks anything but likely.

Sadly its all to do with cuts. most papers now take everything apart from Football from the PA. Some of the broadsheets have even ditch cricket & union jorno's.

If you look at the indi and Guardian who still employ RL staff the coverage is good not but not great.

There is a couple of RL mad jorno's at the torygraph sadly neither work in the sport section. They know your coming.

That’s right. RU struggles in the north, and only has two clubs in the Falcons and the Sharks in the Aviva Premiership. Neither of these clubs are particularly strong. Leeds Carnegie struggled badly and are vastly overshadowed by the Rhinos. If the Rhinos brand were moved to RU, then there’d be no-one to overshadow them. It would suit RU perfectly, to amalgamate such a club into their code. They may even be willing, at some point, to make rule changes that could encourage this. They already have, to a certain extent. Obviously, further movement would be required.



Like I said, there would have to be a process involving both codes for this to happen. I agree that the skill level of RU players is poor compared to RL, but more and more RL coaches are getting involved and the levels of fitness and skills in that game are steadily improving. Even the kicking mindset is changing, and they are trying to throw the ball about a bit more. Not all of the RU games are as poor as they produced on Saturday.


Unfortunately, that is the problem. This isn’t about whether, or not, there is enough RL news out there, it is about the national coverage the game receives. It is about RL still being part of the national consciousness. It must have this in order to grow otherwise what media coverage there is, is only being preached to the wise.

I don’t like football. I find it more than a little pathetic these days. But I have a large bank of passive knowledge about it, that allows me to discuss it with an acolyte of that sport. It is this passive knowledge which generates the interest in the sport for many. If I didn’t have RL as a distraction I may have found myself going to watch football. That is what national coverage can do. Where I work is full of football fans(I do not work in Widnes or an RL area). None of them have an interest in RU or RL but, when the recent Rugby World cup was on, most watched it and had discussions about it. Despite my constant input about RL only one person bothered to watch the final of the RL four nations. That is what national media coverage and hype can do for a sport.


I have already said that, at present, it won’t be happening. But if the sport becomes more and more marginalized and ignored by the national press, it’s importance and interest outside of its heartlands will suffer. Slowly and surely, we seem to be heading in that direction. If other newspapers follow the DT’s lead, we will become totally insignificant outside of the M62 corridor. TV viewing figures could fall, as a result. TV deals may end up being ditched and Professional RL would cease to exist. RL would still exist at a Semi-Pro level, as well as our amateur clubs but, if the players want to become full-time professionals, they would only have RU to turn to. RL could not realistically sustain itself at Pro level without a TV deal. There is no cast iron guarantee that the sport will be offered one in 20/30 years. Some RL club chairmen may have tough decisions to make if that happens. It is possible, by that time, that a Hybrid form of rugby may be on offer, with massive financial incentives from TV companies to form.

If RL wants to avoid this fate, it desperately needs national coverage and a national footprint. It is important that the likes of the London Broncos are a successes and that the RFL continue with a sustainable process of expansion. For that to be effective we need to be getting column inches in newspapers such as the DT and regular match reports on national TV. We don’t get anything like enough of that and, what little we do get, seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate.