Quote: DANN "My point is really based on the fact the the problem has not really hit us yet. As players continue to leave our game the quality will dip. Whilst some people (including me) will alway have a season ticket some will lose faith as much as interest. Whilst I take your point about sky currently how long will they want to fund a sport that is becoming weaker, and please dont tell me that its not. As for average crowds they are not virtually on a par with RU. If you add the average of the 14 SL clubs and divide it shows and average of just over 9500. Yawnion averages 3000 more which equates to nearly 25%! I didnt realise that the global credit crisis was restricted to the north of England however you could cancel that out with the fact that the summer months does lead to larger crowds. If things carry on do you really think that crowds will rise?
We might well make a profit on the World Cup but so what? Where will the money go? My point was about the crowds etc and how our players would kill for an international game like they have.
So the attitude of the fans is whats holding the game back? Really?? I dont think any of the players off to pastures new would cite this as the reason that theyre going, whichever club they leave.'"
Don't forget here the Union average is taking into account both the Twickenham double header and the Saracens-Harlequins game, in which about 70,000 of the crowd were there primarily because they either got free tickets or wanted to see McFly perform. I don't think this says anything about the greater popularity of rugby union. Of course the credit crunch isn't restricted to the north, but i'm sure as you know rugby league is most popular in some of the more.. 'deprived' areas of our country, in stark contrast to union! (cliché, but true)
The quality of our league is still far above any of the dog turd i've seen dished up this season in the Aviva Premiership (which is declining just as badly imo). I'm sick to death of our fans complaining about how crap Super League is. If anything I think it's WONDERFUL that we are seeing more and more young players coming through in place of the Australian veterans. It will in the long-term increase the credibility of our competition.
I'm sure we can weather a few years of a dip in intensity. The more young English players experiencing Super League week in week out, the better it will become over a longer period of time.
The profit made from the World Cup will be distributed however the RFL chooses. I don't know, I don't work there! Of course, the number 1 benefit is the increased awareness to our great sport across the globe. Our international game is small of course, but we have to accept this and do whatever we can to send the game to new audiences. Union's world cup is of little interest to me - i'm sure it will have an effect, but will it be long-term? It's already under fire because the games have been all scheduled for soulless football grounds with virtually zero rugby heritage (apart from Gloucester). Do we really want our game to sell its soul like that?
The difference in union is that their fans generally accept their game as it is, and will fight its corner whenever they possibly can. And the RFU is not the most spectacular organization in the world either.
I don't know why I bother myself with some of the whingers on here. Just accept the game and keep smiling, if you love the game enough then watching it week in week out should be enough to put a smile on your face - we are lucky to have what we have.