Except it isn’t, and we know it isn’t. The crowds at yo-yo clubs fall, it does untold damage to them as a business, and it stops them growing. More fans will watch an SL side which loses every game than a championship side which wins every game. It is demonstrable fact that people, in general, are less likely to watch a relegated team, less likely to watch a team get relegate, and even less likely to watch a team get promoted than watch a middling SL side. If you want an acceptance of fact as opposed to wishful thinking, start with this ( all people in traditional RL areas ) the chance to watch a team that is either in the top flight, or with the fans loyal support could get promoted into it will not Expand total crowds

Would be a great idea, and i agree, its acheivable. It is one of many things we as a game could do.

Whilst the game stays in 3 pockets of the north it will gradually die.

On top of that there is a new threat from Australia with the Aus Dollar. Our top players will depart to Sydney thus watering down our product

Forget roots & history etc it stands for nothing- If you stand still you are going backwards and thats what RL is doing

And for those who think Twickers is only used for Internationals 7 times a year keep your ears peeled for the crowd at Harlequins this weekend.

Quote: yeah "Apart from the odd bit of ' handbags ' and verbal abuse RL is relatively tame, unless maybe you just get the pi55 heads on the lash in London at the Stoop, but as you say still much better than mass policing as you see in footy '" so says starbug As I mentioned earlier viewtopic.php?f=21&t=541802&tsmp=1356613060&start=10 But there are only a few- "yeah" of course there is! You want to see the away fans that roll up at the Stoop after 6 hours drinking on a bus and what comes with it.

Quote: yeah "Apart from the odd bit of ' handbags ' and verbal abuse RL is relatively tame, unless maybe you just get the pi55 heads on the lash in London at the Stoop, but as you say still much better than mass policing as you see in footy '" so says starbug As I mentioned earlier viewtopic.php?f=21&t=541802&tsmp=1356613060&start=10 But there are only a few- "yeah" of course there is! You want to see the away fans that roll up at the Stoop after 6 hours drinking on a bus and what comes with it.

Getting rid of "idiots" like you would be a great start

Part of a problem, look at Wembley this year, 30,000 Wire fans, 30,000 Leeds fans
YET
both clubs not getting anywhere near that week on week, granted it's a final but clubs need to attract those fans, then those fans bring in more money to the game, in turn meaning more investment and more people brings in more sponsorship.

Marketing really is the key, even if it is a slow burner, more needs to go in to selling the product, again even if that means drip feeding it in to the public conscience.

P&R is a complex issue, and you might be right, but I can't help but feel that life must be quite dull following a club that has nowhere to go outside the championship.


Anyhow...as for the Magic weekend, etc. I didn't intend to suggest that there's anything wrong the idea for what it is. What I mean is that the biggest attraction to a writer or broadcaster is a game that means a lot in the context of competition. The Magic games have no more or less importance than any other regular season game. That doesn't mean scrap it. I just feel that we need to work hard to make as many games as possible, throughout the season genuinely important games. Obviously trying to qualify for a Champions League would help. To be fair, this was exactly the intention of the playoffs, but attendances this year show we've got it wrong.

I am happy to listen to anyone and dont have issues with any posters on here, after all this is an open forum.
However, people shouldnt deliberately take comments out of context and belittle other posters for the sake of it.
Although the game has to move forward, we should not forget our roots (either in this country or in France) and as said before the game should expand sensibly and not keep opening our sport to ridicule from outside.
Paris, Gateshead and South Wales were "forced" and whilst there is the prospect of a Welsh team entering SL again at some point in the future, the Crusaders situation was rushed and consequently failed.
Building steadily and for the long term should take priority over any quick fix, but as a sport we are too impatient.
Yes, we are all guilty of wanting our own team to prosper but I cant apologise for that

Is life dull as a fan of a club that has nowhere to go outside the Super League?


The magic games arent more important than the regular season games and that is fine, they get the same amount of points and in the context of the competition there is no greater importance placed upon it.

I think you are highlighting one of the issues that has held back the marketing of the game a bit. That is, we seem dismissive, some seem outright hostile, to looking at, selling, and marketing individual games rather than the entire season. It is a fact of life that it is easier for us to sell and event than it is to sell the whole RL experience and we seem to have forgotton that (as a game) There is a huge amount of focus on selling season tickets, and looking at the whole season, but that just makes things harder for ourselves. It is infinitely easier for us to sell 1 game than an entire season.

This is why we get these huge season ticket discounts which do have value and are useful, but can also be a little counter-productive. With our game, there is a huge amount of people looking for wood but being distracted by the trees.

Genuinely important games don’t exist. In any sport, they are figments of our imaginations. They are a wilful suspension of disbelief. RL doesn’t matter, sports don’t matter, at all. If we didn’t have sport the world would go on. We artificially, place importance on games. The world cup final is only an important game because we place importance on it .I don’t care about RU, so the RU world cup final isn’t an important game. What we need to do, is tell the wider world why a game is important. Not just tell them it is, but show them. Leeds V Wigan is an important game to RL fans, it is the two big glamour clubs of the sport, there is a hundred years of history behind them, finals, play-offs, leagues, the former bridesmaids now dominant, the former kings under-achieving. But if you didn’t know this, it doesn’t matter. That’s what the game need to do, it needs to get the narrative out there and explain why these games are important and not just tell people they are. Big events are what do that for us. Having these events and the games played in them are how we write the history of the game and how we get the message across to new people. They are the big massive neon sign that says ‘this is important’. The Magic Weekend, the play-offs, the grand final, all do it.

Take this year for example, the Leeds v Wire grand final, it evokes Warringtons win in the 2006 play-offs, with Joey Johns at the helm, we are reminded that Warrington won the challenge cup for the 2nd time in 3 years against Leeds who have lost it 3 years running, but Leeds have an old guard who can turn it on when its business time, a last minute drop goal from Kevin Sinfield took Leeds to Old Trafford where they won their 4th SL title in 5 years, their 5th in 8. That history is dramatic, that history is the narrative that shows our game and why we love it. People will remember those games and that history and that places the importance on the next game. That’s how history is made, not by the regular season games which are by definition, regular.

So that’s what we need to do, sell the games individually, make them events, show how the games are contributing to the history and tradition of that particular game, so having Leeds face Hull at the start of every season becomes the traditional start to the season, and eventually history is built behind it and people look forward to it and they want to win that one, especially and people will want to be there to see it and that will build a more emotional connection to the club and they will be more likely to attend more games because of it.

The game needs to stop putting the cart before the horse and focussing on getting people to attend every game, lets get them to attend one game first, lets make it something to remember, and it will build from there.

Nope

wrong again...you're on a roll here.

Fully agree, the RFL have failed miserably in the expansion of our sport, the stature of our game will have no value in around 2 to 3 years.
Lack of reputable sponsors, reduced sport england funding, player emigration, club administrations will not be addressed by the RFL.
A bad World Cup might accelerate the demise, the future is looking like semi pro rugby league. McManus called for a total restucture of the game before its too late, yet everything is fine in Woody,s World.

10k average to break

Back to the Op I think a decent RFL CEO wouldn't go amiss. The lack of leadership and a face who is prominent in the media is glaring. Where is the rfl leadership on Salford? Or the loss of ten mill of funding? Or the loss of players to the NRL? Or the inability to organise a decent int programme with NZ last year? The game needs a management shake up and quick.

Oh come on. Big Nigel was a shoe in after the fantastic job he did at Halifax. He's in the perfect position to take he sport forward