You've come on here, pontificating that the BBC never dropped RL (when they did, in certain circumstances).

Then you say that they dropped RL cup games to favour the Boat Race....they never have. As far as I can remember, for decades, the Boat Race was always transmitted, 99% of the time, on a Saturday, as were the Challenge Cup semis (they were on at the same time of year, late March/early April). The BBC didn't drop the CC games. They may have had to get round the Boat Race times on the Saturday, as did the Boat Race itself due to tidal times, so they co-operated around each other. Please don't go round making stuff up, just to "big up" your perceived claims of BBC neglecting RL, and then, in a different paragraph, NOT neglecting RL. For God's sake, make your mind up on which side of the argument you're on.

Or better still, give up while you're behind.


...and again, I ask, when have I insulted you

Our clubs are easily on a par in terms of spectators as Union. Look at this from 2009, a while ago, and some League clubs have well upped their attendances since then...(for some reason i cannot find a more recent version of this...?) well indeed.

With an improvement (a huge one needed, granted) in the organisation running our sport there's no reason at all that we should just be falling by the wayside in terms of the way we are covered in the media and perceived by the rest of the country. The product we have on the pitch is better than theirs and if we can just enlighten the world to that then we are onto a winner...it's just how we do that (we need the Aussies on board with our game here for a start and the World Club Series is a great start with that!)/

I think a glaring difference between the 2 codes is as Buckley Street says "how the game is run". Unfortunately ,ruggah has the patronage of world class sponsorship & is run by what is seen as the establishment ,with its heartland right in the middle of England's great & good ,many of whom rub shoulders daily with Britain's captains of industry. The best thing that ever happened to Rugby Union was turning professional because ,at a stroke, it stopped players leaving to join League clubs so it preserved their player base & starved rugby league of its main source of top players. Union is also played in the top universities which also happen to produced most of the previously mentioned great & good so it is hardly surprising at the forward strides the game has made recently. It is going to be a hard slog but marketing may be the key in the long term & attracting world class sponsors to lift the profile of our game....Emirates needs to be just a start.

As for the BBC , we are still only a convenience for sky with it's scheduling slots.

I didn't argue that SL and RU League attendances were broadly similar (Union have the edge by 10% or so). I said that compared to the 6 Nations it is dwarfed in terms of mass appeal and interest in the UK so you cannot blame the BBC for it's limited coverage.

In terms of the product on the pitch being "better" this is subjective. I have some RU mates who criticism Leagues formulaic play, lack of value of possession, lack of ruck, uncontested scrums etc. They honestly prefer RU. It appears to me that the majority of UK citizens prefer RU too. This would explain professional clubs in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the popularity of the 6 Nations (as much as it pains me to say it).

What organisational improvements do you think the RFL could make to improve the way RL is covered in the media and perceived by the rest of the country ?

You can bet your life that if rugby league somehow managed to become the pre-eminent code, with clubs all over the country, and regular 5 figure crowds each week, and loads of media coverage, people would be on here moaning that 'the game is not what it was', 'why the bloody hell are we letting these Southerners and Midlanders get involved?' and 'if you think I'm driving to Hemel Hempstead to watch Warrington you've got another think coming' etc, etc. RL is what it is, Union dominates media coverage. So what? It's always been like that, we think RL is better, it doesn't mean everyone else has to. They can just be 'wrong'

Damn you BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/31098420

Damn you BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/31098420

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/30987066 And again!!!

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/30987066 And again!!!

I didn't realise until I was checking the BBC website from abroad, that the link to Rugby League isn't on their main sports menu. I had to go to All Sports and possibly A-Z sports after that.

I don't know if this is a regional or national thing.

To be fair to the Beeb, in certain circumstances, as Harold McMillan once said, "You've never had it so good"

As I said in counter to duckie's codswallop earlier, yes, the Beeb DID drop the Lancs/Yorks Cup, and they lost the Prem/Tests for years (whether they bidded for them, or were outbidded I don't know), BUT, we now (and have for the last few years) get TWO Challenge Cup games per weekend ,shown FULLY, and live. For those on here under the age of 30, let me tell you JUST how the Beeb treated our game in the mid to late 80's.

Picture the scene.
It's 2:40 on a Saturday afternoon.
Des Lynam would sneer, and say here's Rugby League. The game is already underway, and you get literally 5 mins of highlights of the first half, and then the second half live. As soon as the match was over, the players would just be shaking hands, and it's be straight back to Des sneering at our game again, just in time for the all important footie half times. No interviews, no try recaps, no analysis. Just Des' self love.

But, these WERE the days of the Old School Tie, when the Beeb's hierarchy were all Oxbridge educated, and in their 60-70's (typical Rah-Rah fodder). For the last 20 or so years, the Beeb's been run by middle class lefties, so the Old School Tie brigade are of a bygone generation.


I think Granada's Saturday afternoon games from the autumn of 1989 were a HUGE kick up the Aris for the Beeb. It's hard to believe, but ITV's sports department did a half decent job (for once), and the Beeb really took notice and immediately started showing our game the respect it deserves. It upped the standard of their coverage, even though we had to put up with Steve Sims and Ross Strudwick.

With regard to the 6 Nations, we've just got to admit defeat.
We are a nation of 60 million people. You mention Rugby to someone, and automatically they think 6 (or 5 Nations). Not because it's better, it's just the one thing they subconsciously grab hold of, once a year. That bottom hole Chris Evans has been on about it this week, and will be 'til it ends. After that, he won't mention it again. Similar to Wimbledon. Joe Public doesn't give a stiff one about tennis, 50 weeks a year. Come the last week in June, I'm sick of hearing "Come on Tim/Andy/Fred Perry". After that, the public don't care.

Nah, the Beeb don't particularly like us, but they tolerate us a lot better than the did, a generation ago.......and we get a magazine show, now. "Enjoy your Rugby League.......we do"

BBC just lost The Open. Let's hope they consolidate their assets and look closer at RL!

I think It must have been the Bath game in Which Sam Burgess debuted that I finally realised I have no understanding of Rugby union....

the passage of play was:
a penalty was awarded to one team who kicked for touch (like rugby league I thought),
the kick never went dead and a back caught it, (as happens in Rugby League)
the commentator screamed "that's criminal absolutely criminal" (just like they would in Rugby League).
the back then kicked the ball straight back to the team who had just squandered possession and they went straight on the attack

I thought off this is juvenile and turned off.....

I tell anyone who'll listen that story, as it just sums up the nonsense that is rugby union.

Its like Big brother I watch it out of some morbid curiosity then after about ten minutes I can be heard walking away muttering who watches this .....

apparently millions....... so tip for the RFL make our game crap they'll tune in in their millions

Lefty, don't forget three quarters of the screen being taken over by football results, or having to switch to BBC 2 midway through the game.

Worth noting that the first CC semi final will be broadcast on the Friday night. I know some will have a cry about this but the Friday night FA Cup has been a huge success and being given such a prestigious slot in the schedule shows both respect for our sport and a belief that the game can pull in a large NATIONAL TV audience.

He probably had. Have you ever been to Wakefield?