The most obvious example is Dwain Chambers for Castleford reserves.

Im sure the gate at Wire increased once Andrew Johns put a shirt on also increased.

No sherlock......the Harlem globetrotters of RL don't and will never exist though.

A quick glance at the BBC website as well as say 6 of the major papers across the UK and you had to search for the recent international RL fixtures......you pick up the paper or go on-line last monday, which got more coverage...fiji getting murdered by england or england murdering france?.....the Union team AFAIK is not full of star players, but they still packed 82k into TW2......sub 8k for the RL match...the issue is perception.



Back of a beer mat marketing

......walk down any main shopping area in any major city in the UK and show pictures of sam tomkins and nobody would know who he was....this is potentially the #1 player in our game in the UK.



Personal marketing...ie clothes etc will do little for the national exposure of the game.

What is needed is a major overhaul of the RFL marketing strategy....5% of the SKY TV money earmarked for the clubs needs to be put into a central fund and the GAME ITSELF marketed.......what isn't needed is perceived local solutions to a national problem.

Outside of the heartlands, there is very little interest in RL. To change that, you have to look at what the NRL are attempting.....taking games on the road with major draw cards like the Bunnies.......and regardless of revenue streams, the RFL have to bite the bullet next year and sacrafice TV cash for FTA coverage if needed......BBC coverage, Saturday afternoon KO's......and if the BBC are to get it on the cheap, they do so under the conditions that they market the hell out of it.

Putting Adrian Morley in a Moss Bross suit or a River Island Cardigan isn't going to do anything for the game at all.....

Completely disagree with SBW almost single-handedly won the game for a half strength Bulldogs. His performance that day was one of the finest examples of back row forward play many have ever seen. You ask most what they remember about that game and SBW's performance is pretty high up there.

Player profile is the key

James Grant management now have Sam Tomkins and Josh Charnely on their books

They do loads to get their clients profiles up

Follow Andi Peters on twitter (one time BBC producer with fingers in many pies, such as James Grant, model agency that suppliers cover models for Men Health mag, TV producer, the bloke that put Vernon Kay on tv and many more), you will see how hes been in London with Sam and Josh recently introducing Sam to NIKE, producing short films on Sam that have been sold on and shown by Transword sport etc etc

I used the extreme ' a team full of ' only to make the point that individuals do make a difference. Team full of 'box office', higher attendance than a team without stars. Somewhere in between, attendence somewhere in between. Not complicated. Certain players we respect, other players we hate or adore. The latter two categories are the ones that worth most money to the game. I 'hated' Shaun Long and Tommy Martin ( only in the pantomine villian sense for 80 minutes, for all I know they're perfectly nice people ) but you wouldn't guess that from how often I payed to watch my team play against them.

What does that have to do with what I said? Did SBW playing in that game attract attendees to it? I do not think so. He was making his reputation then and that game helped but the people of West Yorkshire did not attend because SBW was playing.

I've spent a lot of time in the past sponsoring some of those banks and building societies. Yorkshire Building Society has possibly got the most RL-passionate workforce of any company I've ever had involvement with, the place is full of League fans (granted it's a 5 minute walk to Odsal). And Halifax used to sponsor...well, Halifax.

When I worked for Lloyds Banking Group up in Halifax, they used to have frequent events with Fax where you could get cheap tickets- I'd imagine that they'd be receptive if the effort were to be put in.

On another note, I'd scrap Magic Weekend and get some matches on the road., ideally double-headers. I'm sure people would still travel, and the sight of thousands of people in unfamilar tops would surely create a buzz. Especially in smaller towns where there is not likely to be much in the way of competition in summer, and especially if there can be a double-header with a local team or two from a lower tier.

Leeds-Bradford and Sheffield-Doncaster at Bramall Lane, for example. Or some such.

Already involved with Salford and the new stadium.

There are about 160,000 fans who REGULARLY attend RL games in the UK....the trick isn't to market to these people...the trick is to grow their numbers.......because although those 160,000 are club loyal, they patently aren't "game"loyal, as the recent international attendances would point to.

SBW and his like, are all well and good, but they aren't going to convince a Bradford City or Leeds United fan to come and watch RL.....

Reality is RL fans aren't stupid and not band wagoners. They will pay and give up to time to watch a decent game that is a contest. Only stupid people are going to pay good money to watch one sided hammerings. Until int RL becomes legitimate games you can't expect tens of thousands to turn up.

Have an ashes series where gb are a genuine chance of winning and you would pack out stadiums.

Please name the scottish, Irish and Welsh players who would join the England team to make it GB and then explain how this mythical team would be any more competative than England?