Quote: Cruncher " With the exception of the over-compensating Sky commentary team, for whom everything is incredibly exciting, and the atmosphere at half-full stadia is the best they've ever experienced, and such-and-such-a-virtually-unknown player is the best in the game at whatever it is he's just done, I feel there's a genuine worry in the air.
The fact we've all been watching so much more of the NRL has also contributed to this, as it's clearly shown us what an RL competition can look like when it reaches its full potential. That's something we've not seen in the UK for decades (if at all) and despite the forthcoming changes (which are obviously only coming because they've been forced upon us), it feels as though it's further away now than ever '"
Quote: Cruncher " The game was at its strongest around the early 00's, Saints & Bradford competing for honours in front of large crowds, with Leeds hit on their heels and us finding a resurgence after a couple of years of no success.
Trying to get the sport back to strength to around that time is what we should be aiming for. Needs strong leadership from management (Rimmer isn't the man in my opinion).
If your Wakeys, Castleford.... etc. Don't want to sign up for it then let them decay further. Better 2-3 clubs with no ambition than restricting 9-10 clubs ultimately forcing them to go semi pro.'"
These quotes sum it up for me and are absolutely spot on the money.
In the early 2000's i rarely missed a game on sky and went to all wigan games....Im what you would call a RL obsessive, to the point that I struggle with other sports because they offer nothing in comparison to our game. But the sad fact is that the product has been in terminal decline in this country for many years. The salary cap has not helped and the standard of the game has diminished to the lowest common denominator. They got what they wanted (competitiveness), but basically most teams now play at a similar level to your salfords and huddersfields, rather than drive the game forward!
These days I watch all wigan games, but don't always go, and struggle to get motivated for anything but the bigger games. In terms of watching other SL on tele, I won't even bother unless its a combination of catalans, wire, saints, leeds, hull, possibly cas playing each other.....even then, i usually check the report at half time and if its looking like a good game i'll watch the second half.
Compare to SL circa early 2000s when i would sit down to every game to watch from the build up, or the NRL, where i can watch 4/5 games a weekend with no club affiliation and I am clamoring for more!
IMO there are THREE huge problems the game has;
i)
Appeal of the game - Still played predominantly in relatively small northern towns, to small amounts of the population. Add the populations of all RL towns together and you're looking at approx 2.6m people (4% of the total population). Never was this more apparent to me than a family holiday two years ago when facing impossible problems to find a pub in Truro with Leeds v Wigan on TV. It occurred to me that to people in the SW, this is as interesting as us watching Truro vs Exeter!!! However good the game it has no appeal.
ii)
Perceptions and Investment - Linked to the above, the impression the game has on sky, blue chip sponsors - that the game is a northern peculiarity and still carries old perceptions. The word 'league' has little but negative connotations....just listen to how some in the southern based media say the word 'league' is derisory. Outside of our game, league is mimicked by many, trotting out eddie wearing / northern stereotypes,coal mines, a deprived northern regional game which is a poor relation to the true code of rugby (union).
This means there is limited appetite for investors, despite being a better product, because of poor image and the demographics & reach of who the game appeals to. Added to this, the Super league brand has been a failure, and lost to womans footbal, netball and fantasy football leagues, just like the Rugby WC, due to our ineptitude and failure to trademark it!
This is why we get Bachelors peas / Heinz big soup and free Papa Johns pizzas etc as some of our main sponsorship partners.
iii)
Standard and quality of product - Inexorably linked to the two above, because of the salary cap, lack of investment, reduced interest in our game, the standard at the top is so poor that you have RL diehards like us, saying we are bored with the UK game.....what chance do we have of bringing in new fans?!
.....So what options to we have, in an increasingly competitive and international sporting landscape, to save the game from becoming an irrelevance in the northern hemisphere in the next 5-10 years? Unless we do something drastic, realistically I can only see the game back as part time in the not too distant future.
My solutions to our biggest problems would be as follows;
1.
We desperately need another re-branding and breakaway. The brands we have are tired, tarnished and either carry negative connotations or are confused with things like womens football! League similarly carries negative connotations. I would rebrand the whole game as
Rugby XIIIs (said as 'Rugby Thirteens') just as in france. Perhaps even restructuring the top division as 13 teams to support this.
2.
As part of rebranding, existing clubs would also re-brand as a condition of their licence application.
Most selected for the top division would remain in current towns / stadiums with the same core fan base and identity, but namings would be tweaked to appeal to wider geographical areas. ie/ Liverpool Saints / Hull East Yorkshire / Wigan Lancs etc. Each team would play 1-2 home games away from their home base each year within their region. For example, Saints playing occasional games in Liverpool, but all but 1 or 2 still in St Helens.
This helps the game in two ways;
i) all teams grow and appeal to a greater amount of individuals, so ultimately attendances and following goes up
ii) but critically it also addresses all of the perception problems we see securing investment in the game....that we are a game played in small northern towns where only approx 4% of the population live.
So almost solves i) and ii) in one go!!
If existing SL teams did this alone, you could increase your catchment areas to cover upwards of 10 million people opposed to 2 million.
If you also introduce new and re-promoted clubs ie/ London SW Broncos and Newcastle or Tyne Thunder you increase that to somewhere in the region of 20-25 million people within the catchment area of a SL club...getting close to half of the population.
If you're an advertiser thats a hell of a lot more attractive.
Yes, it may leave the wakefields behind but they could reform in a vibrant British championship they would have a realistic chance of winning (which they will never have currently), playing against other teams at their level and with similar resources and fan base. They are much better playing at their level than holding those at the top back.
My reformed Super 13s would be;
Leeds Rhinos
Liverpool Saints
Manchester Fords (Salford rebrand on the same premise as Saints, with Fords being a throw to Salford) If Salford are too parochial and not brave enough then a new Manchester club.
Cheshire Wire (Warrington rebrand- same premise)
Lancashire Warriors or possibly Wigan Lancs (due to the strength of the Wigan brand)
Hull East Yorkshire
London SW Broncos
Tyne Thunder
Wales / Celtic Crusaders Back at Wrexham, where they were successful and actually starting to get crowds.
Catalan Dragons
Toulouse Olympique who will probably be in next year anyway
....plus one or two others selected on basis of applications....possibly Toronto or a new club.
Ask Sky and advertisers what they would pay for that.....Probably 2-3 times as much!!
Most of those clubs are already in place and ready to go, but with some smart re-brands you are appealing to huge areas of the country, rather than a few hundred thousands in deprived northern towns.
We then have a proper super league to drive the game forward....IMO the game could be twice as it is currently in 2-5 years.
Yes it takes a huge mindshift, yes you need to be brave, but do that and the game can survive.....carry on and we're dead in the water in 10 years, back to semi pro and amateur.
For me the writing is already on the wall, when our own fan base seems to have dropped to below 10k. Realistically that isn't sustainable and clubs like Wigan should be leading this breakaway with ambitious clubs who want to drive the game forward.
