Is it to have a strategic review of their marketing operation such that they do not keep relying on advertising to fans who already go? Have they invited the NRL marketing team in to share ideas on how to market one-off games to people who would not otherwise go? A drains up review to address the deficiencies in the game which cause lack of interest? No. Instead it's to invent the 1895 Cup to be played by the lower leagues and hold the game on the same day hoping to boost the crowd by a bit. A poor mans Magic Weekend for the Challenge Cup Final. What's more there is the revolutionary tactic of offering 10% off if you buy now. They really don't get it. Furthermore the CC Final day for the 2 clubs is diminshed and the heritage lost. www.rugby-league.com/article/539 ... ey-stadium

Is it to have a strategic review of their marketing operation such that they do not keep relying on advertising to fans who already go? Have they invited the NRL marketing team in to share ideas on how to market one-off games to people who would not otherwise go? A drains up review to address the deficiencies in the game which cause lack of interest? No. Instead it's to invent the 1895 Cup to be played by the lower leagues and hold the game on the same day hoping to boost the crowd by a bit. A poor mans Magic Weekend for the Challenge Cup Final. What's more there is the revolutionary tactic of offering 10% off if you buy now. They really don't get it. Furthermore the CC Final day for the 2 clubs is diminshed and the heritage lost. www.rugby-league.com/article/539 ... ey-stadium

It is not only the Challenge Cup that needs re-energising, the whole game needs a boost. There was a low crowd at the GF as well and a number of club attendances are on the slide.
Regarding the Challenge Cup, the scheduling of rounds in recent times has been problematical with large gaps between certain rounds and then a mad panic 2 weeks between semi and final. I would prefer a larger gap between semi and final to give the marketeers more opportunity to sell the game Also, moving it further away from the GF has to be a step in the right direction.

Lets hope our team of professional administrators call on the relevant expertise and take the game forward. A lot of other sports seem to be moving forwards so there is a lot more competition for sponsors cash. With a new regime in place it is an opportunity to move on from the alleged mis-management and much criticised regime under Nigel Woods.

Perhaps if the talked about takeover of Wembley by Americans comes to pass their expertise at marketing will do the job of the RFL ,FA & whoever else becomes their customers at Wembley.

It was the Fulham owner, Shahid Khan (Pakistani-American billionaire), but that deal is off now.

Amen to that, the game needs intensive care. I'm not convinced that the cure for low game attendances is to play more games on the same day at the same venue though to bump the numbers up though.

Yes Nigel Woods has left and has to make do with a £300K severence package and to kick his heels as CEO of the Rugby League International Federation. This way he can apply his magic touch on a global scale.

I wonder what Private Fraser would say to that ?

Maybe moving the date of the final to when the railways are not out of action will help to get people back to Wembley.On the other hand ,road access to the stadium is getting worse due to all the building work taking place.

I don't have an issue with adding a game to the Challenge Cup Final day.

It isn't the event it was, the RFL can market the hell out of it (I'm sure they can do better), the fact is as an event it now competes with the SL Grand Final, within striking distance for 90% of SL fans, and the Magic Weekend - an event that involves every SL club. 30 years ago there was no such competition.

30 years ago a Wembley final attracted an avg of mid to late 70k fans. Take away the anomaly of a Wire v Cats final and not much has changed. SInce the final came back to Wembley it has achieved similar crowds. A Widnes v Bradford 1895 final could well add 10k to the Wembley crowd. Why wouldn't we do that?

Wembley CC attendances are down if you look over the last 20 years there is no doubt about that.

I think it's the mindset of the RFL. The strategy seems to have changed from getting new people to watch and marketing the game with showcases in non RL areas. The strategy now seems to be "get more of the existing fans into one stadium at the same time by multi-game events"

I don't think that your's and Alffi's post are mutually exclusive, they are both correct and raise problems that the sport needs to address IMO.

Get Harry and Meghan to present the cup and use them to raise RL's profile. Harry's patron of the RFL after all, so why isn't he doing his bit?

They are doing extra royal duties as the Queen and Prince Phillip are having to scale back theirs.

The Queen (who was patron of the RFL) has managed to present the cup, and Prince Phillip too. That was when they were in civic heyday, but a long long time ago. Time for Harry or William to do there bit as
they're seen often enough at Twickenham.

Seriously? I genuinely couldn't care if Harry or Meghan presented the CC - it certainly isn't going to make me buy a ticket and I wouldn't have thought it is going to be a big deal for many fans...

They could raise the profile of the game by just attending. RL needs all the marketing opportunities it can get.