Saw one of those yellow road-sign announcements in Atherton on Tuesday and thought ahead to today's IMG meeting. It read;
"Road closed here, October 13 2022."

At The last one we was ready to move into LSV and they used HP instead to bring in CC so I wouldn’t trust the RFL one bit

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wi ... the-1970s/ Very interesting article, highlighting that Rugby League has been trying to put it's house in order for half a century.

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/wi ... the-1970s/ Very interesting article, highlighting that Rugby League has been trying to put it's house in order for half a century.

One of the key indicators for IMG are going to be use of Social media. Many have argued that the lack of a functioning Website is not important as long as the team is successful. https://www.totalrl.com/the-most-popula ... tatistics/ According to the Social Media league table, we are due for relegation this season. Unless Leigh improve we are always going to be on the "at risk" register.

One of the key indicators for IMG are going to be use of Social media. Many have argued that the lack of a functioning Website is not important as long as the team is successful. https://www.totalrl.com/the-most-popula ... tatistics/ According to the Social Media league table, we are due for relegation this season. Unless Leigh improve we are always going to be on the "at risk" register.

It's a sad state of affairs when it's your presence on social media that will go towards whether you play in the top league or not. Should be the strength of your team on the field.

I keep saying it, but IMG are only interested in big clubs and big city clubs and making a lot of money, hence their push to get London back in the big time. Bradford will be another, and who can blame them with their history and the crowds they used to get. I don't think it will matter what small town teams like Leigh, Fev or Keighley do, they will find themselves pushed out. IMG know exactly which teams and which cities they want targeting for the top league. For now they will let all clubs think they have a chance of being at the top table and that they are trying to improve standards across all clubs but IMG are just licensing and franchising in disguise. Talk of mergers will probably rear its ugly head a few years down the line. They will implement the NRL model, franchises and mergers, because it is the only way for an international company like IMG to make a lot of money. Small town teams will be feeder clubs, if they can survive.

Rugby League is fighting a demographics war. Next time you go to the LSV look around and try to guess the average age of the people around you. I am in my 50's and feel like one of the youngest people there. Sure there are handful of under 11's, but the biggest demographic missing is teenagers and 20 somethings. Social Media is supposedly what they spend their time doing and let's face it The Leopards produce enough content to last less than 1 minute a day. Try comparing that to Man Utd, Man City or Liverpool. Leigh RL don't even have a current functioning website.

It is important and it involves a total package, Derek gets it and the Leopards rebrand is part of that. Being a regular in the top flight is only so good if they cannot reverse the demographic issues. IMG are about Media and creating a buzz, more eyes on content, more people watching games on TV and more people going through the turnstiles. The RL World Cup has finished and Super League has gone into a stupor. Everything is quiet and even the Fans Forums have hibernated.

IMG know the game is based on the M62 corridor, Leigh over Toulouse offers 6 more derbies. Derby games create local interest and rivalry, especially if the games are competitive. Wakefield v London is not what the neutral fan wants to see, but Wigan v St Helens in a feisty competitive game, twice a season is something to get excited about. Super League instead likes to reduce the number of teams and end up like Scottish Football where Celtic v Rangers is a fixture every other week.

Social Media is the key to the growth of the game, but it needs to be the right kind of content to interest all age groups.

But the most successful teams in SL are the most followed on social media, so you can rebrand as much as you like because if the team on the field isn't successful for a good number of years then figures will be low, both on social media and in attendance. Catch 22 scenario. You need to be winning trophies consistently and fielding the most exciting players that people want to watch. Edwin Ipape should boost Leigh's social media hits for example. Jai Field and Bevan French do it for Wiggin. But it still boils down to having the best team.

Explain Warrington Wolves or Hull FC?

In the last seven seasons, Wire have won a League Leaders Shield and a Challenge Cup and have been twice runners up in The Grand Final and once in The CCup. Based in a large town with its nearest SL rival 10 miles away allowing a large catchment area.

In the same time-frame HFC have won two CCups, are based in a largish city that also contains its bitterest rival. Allegiance is tribal and decided by a river boundary and most of the social media activity involves baiting the other side.

For many years (too many), little Leigh has won no major silverware, reached no major finals and has a very noisy (and successful) neighbour. Compare and contrast.

Merely suggestions, Sev.

Just making the point that Warrington finished 11th - maybe it is the principle of receiving bad service, leads to more complaints.

I was just being a little mischievous, but the fact that remains is that Social Media and Team Performance are not a direct correlation, and if there is any correlation it is based on a much longer time period than one season.

The Rhinos are often quoted as the benchmark for Social Media, but the on-field team has yo-yoed up and down the League table, and even flirts with relegation on some occasions.

Well, Septimus, if I was DB I would employ a programmer to write me a script that would add a few thousand bots (fake accounts) on Twitter every week and program them to follow Leigh Leopards. It can easily be done. We would soon be top of the social media league. We could even go the whole hog and have virtual rugby teams playing for virtual trophies in virtual stadiums lol. A successful rugby team with exciting players will get you to the top table not cryptic messages and a photo of DB holding a leopard patterned pen, no doubt wearing his favourite leopard skin budgie smugglers haha. That image has just put me off my tea haha.

i agree that we are at a point of saturating the good games, by overplaying them. As a game we need to focus on bringing up the overall quality, so that the quality / intensity of a Wigan v Saints derby is replicated week in / week out. Whilst i'll admit you cant replace the rivalry of a local derby, you do need to be able to replicate the quality, intensity etc through the weekly rounds and if you can, there is no doubt in my mind that fan numbers would increase.
We have played Saints / Wire 5 or 6 times in a season with 2 league fixtures, 1 loop fixture, 1 CC round and then play off / grand final, and it gets too much, and detracts from the spectacle that it should be. I know you can always avoid it, especially if its a measure of success by making playoff andd finals, but something that needs to be considered.

with regards to social media, i have got both my daughters watching old clips off you-tube, admittedly a lot of it is Biff related , but they love the physical contact and get excited when there is a bit of biff. I feel a good social media presence should be mix of the old and the new. I know there will be sentimental fans, who love nothing better than seeing John Woods, Des Drummond, Alex Murphy, i'll chuck Tim Street in for one of my best mates wearing the club colours, but equally, its good for the new fans to see who has graced the colours previously

another aspect to social media, which also links in with attendance at games etc is something that i attended a work presentation on a couple of years ago
The premier league are working with a 3rd party about their content, but based on real time availability of information etc

they believe that the number of fans across the board is going to fall as the attention span of GEN Z ( i think it was they recognised them as) was very short. they dont like to sit and watch a game for 90 minutes, either physically there or on TV, so the premier league is looking at ways of attracting them with short / catchy footage, that keeps that at or watching the game, but know that they wont be watching (so to speak) as they will be on their phones watching replays / if he had done this, this is the likely scenario, the chances of joe bloggs scoring that was X, but if he has passed to fred smith, it was Y

it was a really strange insight into what the premier league was looking at, and the challenges they face in terms of attracting and retaining younger fans at the games.

so from a RL perspective, pretty sure we have the same challenges, but wont have the same amount of money available to produce that sort of quality of real time analysis / coverage

When it comes to social media I realise there are many platforms, but despite all that has gone on with Twitter recently, it does seem that our page is the only one without a verified tick (of any colour), be it either an inherited legacy, or someone not wanting to pay the £8 (plus VAT) a month, it looks a bit daft when most other teams at non-SL level also have a tick.