You're right - I suppose it's perfectly reasonable to assume that a governing body who gives away the sponsorship rights of the second most watched sport on Sky TV to an international company for the princely sum of nothing, two weeks before the start of the season, would have absolutely no ability to influence the way it's product was advertised by the 'broadcast partner.'

You mean the governing body that was obliged to go the way the clubs voted on a sponsorship?
The same governing body that isn't in charge of making adverts for Sky Sports?

Yeah, perfectly reasonable.

Ta. Saved me a job.

Just seen the advert again.

Even worse. The tagline at the end (Watching Super League makes you tougher, or something to that effect) doesn't even appear. So now you're just left wondering what the entire point of the three clips was?!

No brain, no pain.

I get a feeling you're missing my point, probably on purpose for the sake of generating an argument?

I'm suggesting that whilst it's true that the RFL are not responsible for producing the advert, they should have sufficient clout and marketing nouse to a) influence the quality of it and b) ensure it ties in with their main sponsorship deal in some way. It's a poor effort by Sky, but given the value of the product in relative terms, one would have hoped it's governing body might have been able to raise the bar.

Absolute Rubbish. It looks like a home made knock up ad. Not quite as good as some I have seen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-LIIAY2XE

Absolute Rubbish. It looks like a home made knock up ad. Not quite as good as some I have seen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-LIIAY2XE

It seems to be knocking the whole concept of toughness thereby mocking the toughness of the sport. I'm sure that was not the intention but I'm also sure it wasn't the intention to annoy so many long term fans with an unprofessional, garbage advert with no rugby league on it!

I'm not trying to miss a point at all. I just don't see that you have one.

Why "should" they have "clout"? What makes you think they had a say or even were shown it before airing?
What about all the crap football adverts in the past? Do they FA not have clout?

I think you're being unfairly critical of the governing body for the sake of it. It's a common trait apparently of many keyboard warrior RL fans.

Previous couple of years NRL season opener videos. Not much difference! Some good footage mixed with CGI, which is hardly expensive these days, hardly rocket science! I have a great idea for a launch video with SL stars battling it out against the Devil and his minnions, stadium turns into fiery hell etc and the SL players are victorius vanquishing the devil. The tag line? "Some games claim to be played in heaven, SL is too tough even for Hell!" I always thought Irn-bru sponsoring SL was the way to go so we could really push the tough concept! www.nrl.com/TelstraPremiership/S ... fault.aspx video.news.com.au/1051391484/NRL-season-launch

Previous couple of years NRL season opener videos. Not much difference! Some good footage mixed with CGI, which is hardly expensive these days, hardly rocket science! I have a great idea for a launch video with SL stars battling it out against the Devil and his minnions, stadium turns into fiery hell etc and the SL players are victorius vanquishing the devil. The tag line? "Some games claim to be played in heaven, SL is too tough even for Hell!" I always thought Irn-bru sponsoring SL was the way to go so we could really push the tough concept! www.nrl.com/TelstraPremiership/S ... fault.aspx video.news.com.au/1051391484/NRL-season-launch

Lighten up man are you so insecure about our game that you can't take a bit of light hearted mockery. Do you really think this ad will have any more effect than last years dancing robot thing. I actually detest the usual OTT super macho nonsense we get. Silly OTT mood music, OTT comic hero graphics and animation.

He looks like a typical sports fan, all sports not just RL. Or do you think people only like sports watched by playboy models and California surf dudes. Have we not got passed this northern inferiority complex yet. I'm sure next year will revert to over dramatic shots of players etc - this is a refreshing change.

Chip (oven or deep fried) off shoulder please.

Are you serious? This is their product - it's the second most watched sport on Sky TV; surely it's reasonable to expect that they would be involved in how it's marketed and the image that the broadcaster portrays?

I have high expectations of the governing body, that's quite correct; it mystifies me that so many people are prepared to accept mediocrity.

Its a different sort of advert, its trying to be coy i think. Not Good.

I would of had a few players from each team playing in a night match, knocking 10 bells out of each other, showing some good skills in fromt of a packed out stadium. Referee then blows his whistle "Half Time Lads" as they walk down the tunnel and they come out of a Stobart lorry with a tag line of "Play Times Over"

Or something to that effect.

When Sky pay millions of pounds for broadcasting rights, it is their product to screen how they like. If we don't like it, we can go somewhere else. Oh wait...

You can pretend all you like that the RFL could make a difference here. The FA don't control the adverts on Sky. But if Sky p*ss them off, there are literally tonnes of people ready to take it off their hands. Who's coming in for Super League to make the RFL go "if you don't make a better advert, we'll..." What are they going to do? You tell us.


You have unrealistic, and apparently inaccurate, expectations of the governing body.

And it's not the fact that people are "accepting" mediocrity. It's the fact that we understand why these things are happening and there is little we can do to prevent them. Anyone can sit behind a keyboard and criticise. What would you do differently and how would you go about it? Because "the RFL should have more clout" isn't exactly offering a solution.

So we're lying straight from the off