Good post Sally.

The RFL does not know how to market in the 21st century (if they did in the 20th century). Their current genius strategy seems to be emailing all those people who went to the Magic last time, and who will likely go again, with a 10% discount. As if discounting the ticket price will encourage more people.

How on earth they cannot fill Wembley Stadium on 1 day, for a well known event watched all over the world, in a major city with 8.3m population is beyond me.

In this day & age it is true that the right marketing will sell anything ,unfortunately our leaders at the RFL seem to be doing their best to consign Rugby League to history.

I'd be happy for Warrington to pull out of the competition in solidarity for the clubs expecting to pay to compete in the Challenge Cup.

Hmmm. I like that idea. Put the RFL in a corner.
Reminiscent of the USA and CCCP in the Olympics.

We're hopeless in England in regards to organising a protest. From a football side of things, nothing ever gets done because of the rivalry between supports is too tribal. Look at the things they achieve in Germany where rival fans can come together to protest the issues that effect them.

I'd like to think that the friendly(ish) nature of Rugby League fans could be used to address some (but not all) concerns within the game.

if this saga continues it would be great if all clubs fans could wear yellow vests to a round of matches in support of our French friends.

The HJS would then look like a stadium full of Keith Lards.

I'm not sure the FA is that much of a model of success. There have been some disappointing attendances for England internationals and although last year was a good performance at international level, when you think of the money spent on bringing in Eriksson, Capello we didn't really deliver much. As for the new Wembley...how far behind schedule/over budget was that? The Premier League is probably a better model to aspire towards in terms of running the sport well and attracting interest and investment.

Also I don't think having a rugby league background is essential, as long as they know what they are doing and have transferable skills to bring in that can promote a product. Simon Moran isn't a rugby league man in the way that say Gary Hetherington is, but he brought a lot to the club and not just money.

My real gripe with the RFL board, over many years, is it just seems to be a comfort zone job. It feels like the senior management board of a local authority or a university, where you get people who are just happy to be there, have a position which sounds good, looks good on the CV, and their ambitions are little more than staying there and maintaining a status quo rather than driving the sport as hard as it can to get bigger. Same with Super League: they like to create the impression of being innovative thinkers, with gimmick changes to the format every few years like Club Call and the Super 8s, but these are just superficial changes and mask an inertia in any real ideas for taking the league forward.

It's a Disgrace, So if Catalans won super league this year and the final attendance was down, would they then have to pay a bond to compete in super league next year? What a joke the RFL are, absolute disgrace!!!

That's a very good point

Not associating with those people.

Want to fill Wembley gain neutrals? more rugby on the BBC their viewing figures for rugby league dwarf sky!!