I think raising the cap (+ the marquee rules) will definitely help the sport, as it keeps the quality of the product up, and existing fans interested. I'm genuinely excited to see Roberts, Sandow was also great for the league, as was the getting back Tomkins (even if his return hasn't been that great so far).

But that of course doesn't solve the wider marketing problem to new fans. Talking to my friends who are generally interested in sport, we can all hold a conversation on Tennis, Cricket, RU, Football, F1, but when I say how excited I am at our capture of Roberts, they don't know him from Adam. We could have signed Inglis, and my friends would have been just as apathetic as when we signed Kev Brown. So us being able to sign a marquee Aussie name has little relevance to a non RL fan.

I think the RFL need to work on marketing *players*. So many passive fans watch sport because of who's playing. If we didn't have Murray, Wimbledon would not be as big. If we didn't have Hamilton, there'd be less interest in F1. I've never had any interest or care for PSG, but since they signed Neymar I've been watching clips on Youtube. I started to have a passive interest in Sale Sharks after they signed Cipriani.

When Tomkins played for the Barbarians, I thought that was fantastic. His profile (and by association that of the sport) went up. But that was just one little drop. We need to do more of that. Our players need to become media darlings, get their faces out there, and become household names. Get em on the circuit. Don't just stick Ashton Sims on Question of Sport, get him on Something for the Weekend, or Loose Women, they'd love him. Throw Jon Wilkin on Strictly, or Albert Kelly on some crap Saturday night hole in the wall type thing. So many non-celebs crop up on all these shows peddling whatever crap autobiography they have out at the moment. Let's throw our guys in and get them into the public conscious.

Great last paragraph

I think in the modern world of social media, the ability to drive a message by top down marketing is diminishing compared to the impact of stuff being shared and talked about on instagram, facebook, twitter, so fans can drive this themselves.

It's already happened in politics. At the last election the Conservatives spent millions on marketing their strong and stable message but they ended up outflanked on the brand awareness score by Corbyn's activists on social media.

I saw Martin offiah on some daytime nonsense a couple of weeks ago. ....
Seriously no one outside rugby league circles must have the slightest clue who this guy is. He has just become a nothing celebrity.

He is not in anyway a face of our sport. ...he's just become famous for appearing on really bad programmes.

The trouble is, we have none marketable to the media.
Burgess is known to the sport watching public, but the way the 3point code have treated him since his dip into their game, he'll be classed by them as a failure. Rob Andrew and a few others have hung him out to dry. Nowadays, he's plying his trade 13,000 miles away

The rest, well you could trip over any of them iin Coventry's Asda, and not have a clue who they are. Counter this to the Oz tour of 94, we had Davies, Robinson, Betts, Connelly, Offiah, Edwards, Farrell and Clarke, all coached by Hanley.......pretty much all household names in the sporting world, and a few of them in any world.

Yes, Sky saved our sport by their cash injection, but the switch to summer. loss of BBC games and touring sides, and lack of quality in the last 5 years of SL, has really hilurt us. We need a few superstars, and quickly.

We need the RFL to change, and actually promote our sport, as RU would theirs

So who are the household names from union that the average casual sports / non-RU fan could name?

Thought you might respond to one of my posts, as I seem to be a bit of a recent obsession for you. Maybe it takes the heat off others.

OK, I'm game.

I've just Wikipediad England's last squad in the 6 Nation's championship. I've heard of TWELVE of them. Now, bear in mind I've not watched a game of RU in DECADES, I'd call them pretty much household names, for the non RU watching sports fans. I've as much interest in a game of Union, as I have in Tennis, Formula One, women's sport and Horse Racing ( since I FINALLY realised how bent it is)........i.e. none.

Bear in mind (again) that was JUST England's squad. Not Scotland, Ireland or Wales.

Hope that helps

Indeed, I was referring only to England in fact, as that is the extent of the RFU’s jurisdiction nowadays. Union in Australia at state/franchise level is having its own crisis

I don't normally look at who posts the comment, for some reason I can't see peoples avatars any more on my web browser, but your comments must be the more interesting ones if I respond so don't take offence.

I've heard of a similar number but I am more of an engaged sports fan. I don't think today's RU squad has got the household names like the past. Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Brian Moore, Rob Andrew, Rory Underwood, Mike Catt, Johnny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson, Matt Dawson were household names in the way that the likes of Davies, Schofield and the Wigan players of the 1990s were. Probably Danny Cipriani is more of a household name than a lot of the players in the current squad.

You could probably say the same thing is happening in football and cricket as well to England teams. England possibly has the best striker in Europe at the moment but his wider profile is still in the shadow of Rooney. In cricket the one real household name is Ben Stokes who is not being taken with the Ashes squad.

without referring to any other website and just trying to right down names

I can name George ford and Owen Farrell, Ben Teo Denny Solomona Josh Charnley and Kyle Eastmond

whether any of them are household names I dont know, all i know is I only know them becasue of their Rugby League links.

The only non League related players I can name are Danny cipriani, maybe Gavin Henson if he's still playing and again David Strettle if he's still playing and that's just because he's from Lymm and he came down to Monday night touch rugby once.

I absolutely hand on Heart couldn't name a single captain from any of the six nations teams.

and I wouldn't want it any other way....

I think the simple answer comes down to terrestrial vs Sky.

The 6 nations, Wimbledon, World Snooker Champs et al are all on terrestrial.

F1 has seen a fall in TV viewers since it went over, even though a handful are still free to air. Cricket exploded in 05 as the Ashes were on terrestrial and accessible to all, and have since also seen a decline in viewing figures since the move to Sky. I could name you a fair few players from that era, but would struggle now to name more than three current England players.

I think a regular Saturday or Sunday afternoon game on terrestrial would help boost our profile considerably. No one but an RL fan would tune in on a Thurs / Fri night on Sky Sports 7

Above:

I'm pretty sure that if you summed up all the hours the BBC showed of RL each year on terrestial TV, with the CC and SL Show and 4 Nations (or whatever the RL international are),it would be more than their years worth of RU coverage, yet the latter still has a more esteemed profile from that broadcaster.

I agree, but they do stick the SL show on at some ungodly hour.

The CC is a good example, I've been unlucky enough to get my face on TV a few times in the crowd. When it happens on sky, my cousin will send a message. When it happened once in a CC quarter on a Saturday afternoon my phone blew up from all manner of random non RL friends who'd spotted me.

I don't watch the sport but from sports sections in the news and the back pages, off the top of my head, I can name:

Farrell (England)
Warburton (Wales)
Sexton (Ireland)
Hartley (England)
Ford (England)
Brown (England)
Youngs (England)
Care (England)
Robshaw (England)
O'Driscoll (Ireland, retired)

How many players could someone who has never watched RL name? Based purely in the way I know those names, through television and newspaper. Any more than 1 and I'd be surprised.

chris ashton