Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "Nice to see some ambition and confidence in the game from RFL. Of course, we have within RL legions of naysayers, knockers and prophets of doom, and we have plenty of enemies and agents provocateurs too to rubbish and deride the game, though we generally do a good enough job of that ourselves. But you can't have it both ways; you can't whinge and whine at how parochial and narrow the game and its fan base is, yet whinge and moan when some effort is made to expand this. Although as this thread amply demonstrates, that is exactly the standard knee jerk of yer average flatcapper.
Look,if the RFL has such an ambition, then I say good luck to them, and they should get every support. It is their problem to find a way to do it and make it succeed, but they have shown it can be done, with events like the roving Magic weekends, a moveable GF, the astonishing crowds all over the place during the World Cup so don't carp and moan "it can't be done" - get behind the vision and hopefully be a part of its success.
This is completely different from the fact that until now, London has been in SL. They had plenty of RL and SL backing for many years but those running the club couldn't find a way to get people interested. That was their failure. they had support but the RFL couldn't do it for them. I can't believe the whinge that we "can't sell out Wembley" when in fact we regularly get crowds of 70,000 or 80,000 to see a RL game in London ie the CC Final, this should be a source of pride, not moronic knee jerk criticism. Compare with the 40,000 that paid to see the England national football team against Norway, just for instance. Or even 82000 for a World Cup qualifier against Slovenia last month. Only 4% more than were attracted to travel 200 miles for a local derby Leeds v Cas!
I despair of RL fans sometimes. The idea is a challenge, but a good one, and should be applauded and supported.'"
Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "
I don't have an issue with the idea and I applaud the ambition, particularly if the Olympic Stadium, Wembley or the Emirates are chosen but as ever the issue lay with the people implementing the idea. If they're thinking of staging it in 2016 they need to start pushing it now with a concerted effort going into getting the competing teams visiting the schools, youth centres and sports clubs around London.'"
I felt I had to make a contribution as I agree with FA and KK although I do understand where the more negative sentiments are coming from.
The objective has to be to make further progress in getting the game the recognition it deserves. If we think back to the launch of Super League, all the new style razzmatazz that entailed did serve the purpose (and has indeed been copied by the other code and other sports).
We have to think out of the box and avoid being afraid of working on something new. The traditionalists didn't like the Super League changes. And they might not like this. My vision is built on the view that Rugby League and its supporters have more in kind with soccer than the other code.
With regard to this new Super League proposal for a high profile on the road club match in London I really would like to see it at the Olympic Stadium once it is re-configured and become the home of West Ham United. Union is a bit of a West of London thing and we might get a groundswell of support more in the East.
I think the date of the match needs to be announced say 6 months ahead. A match at the Olympic Stadium would be an event in itself. But we need to get into the community early and publicise the event building up to a huge effort in the week before the match.
I would seek to work with West Ham and (say) Arsenal or maybe Spurs. My suggestion would be that it would be announced early that, on match day, let's say Wigan will play in West Ham colours and St Helens will play in Arsenal colours. Even better if we could get Arsene Wenger to lead out Saints along with Eamonn McManus and Sam Allardyce lead out Wigan with Ian Lenaghan. Season ticket holders of West Ham and Arsenal would be offered tickets for a fiver and all kids would be free. It only took 80 minutes of action in 1980 for Fulham soccer supporters at the inaugural Fulham match v Wigan to be won over to adopting their new rugby league heroes. Something similar could happen if West Ham supporters are lined up behind Wigan and Arsenal supporters behind Saints. It would really help a new audience get into the game a lot quicker. Plus this approach would allow targeted marketing rather than the expense of blanket advertising across Greater London.
I'm not saying that it would lead to a soccer club suddenly investing in setting up a rugby league club. But if London based neutrals could be enticed to such a top class match and enjoy getting into the game and supporting 'their' team for the day, there would be more chance of at least a proportion of them attending future RL in London. Whether that be Test matches at Wembley, a Nines or Challenge Cup Semi Final at the Emirates or more regular matches at the Olympic Stadium.
