Agree with most of what is said on here. AS a Bradford supporter we have had our share of troubles lately and looking at our current position I am not alone in feeling that if we go under then so what. I am just grateful we had our golden time when SL was in it's infancy and also it's hay-day.
I think the first pointer of SL exclusivity was when we were fined our Sky money for going into admin. It could have been put into grass roots rugby but the SL clubs decided to split it amongst themselves.
As some have said if you take Saints out of the equation the competition at top and bottom has never been closer and yet interest has fallen.

It is and it is apposite.

I recently crossed the line from being somebody with some grey hair to somebody with some brown hair, and feel that the last great popular music album was released in 1994.

The ageing fan base is an interesting issue - though that possibly reflects an ageing population and other economic factors.

The communities that birthed and built RL, while never prosperous, have been in relative economic decline for the best part of 40 years. Despite that we now have a full-time sport, mostly played in modern stadia (in the top flight), [ugenerally[/u played in front of bigger crowds (per game) than then. There are problems, and the sport shouldn’t be complacent, but there always have been. There’s a BBC documentary from 50 years ago that is worth a view. It is called The Game That Got Away.

Not going to lie, I had to look up apposite.



Would be interested in stats over time, both generally and by club. I remember the general Framing the Future era and the threat of mergers etc - felt like a moment of reappraisal - threats and opportunities. Better facilities, salary cap and summer rugby are big positives, but we have a dominant group of clubs no one else can break into. I hope Toronto get up and make a fist of it as Catalans have as we need some new angles.

I am a Wire fan & i don't have sky sports or films or anything like ,just sports mix included in my package. When you look at sky's exclusive coverage ,they have actually marginalised rugby league & we could do with at least some free to air coverage ,probably Championship downwards ,to try & spread the game to a wider audience. Rugby Union has about 4 different fta tv companies showing different competitions.
Look at the sponsorship in RU ,they are mostly blue chip companies the heads of which probably went to school with the top RU bods ,whereas we have flat cap sponsorship.

The Championship would be a great comp for free to air TV.
There are some really decent teams in there, and the style of rugby is less rigid and predictable than Super League.

I do think the sport had more skill and flair when it was part time,but having said that I would still much rather watch rl than ru[ an upperclass sport that would be laughed at if it was the working class version of rugby or football which ive never seen a game since the 70s.

Are any of those fta RU deals for competitions below the top tier? That I don’t know is maybe a sign that my awareness hasn’t been raised much.

Covering sports events isn’t cheap for traditional broadcasters, so they would need to know there is an audience, even if the rights were more or less given away. Streaming seems to be the way things are going for niche markets. And as audiences fragment, perhaps nearly all audiences will be niche.

Fta stuff, to create interest has to be big ticket imo. Test Matches, World Cups, finals. Pretty much as it is in fairness.

If we’re blaming poor management and oversight (and goodness knows there has been some of that), how much better a state should RL be in? Realistically and bearing in mind the sport’s history? When was the golden age (if you think it coincides with a glorious era for your own club, or your own youth maybe that is why, btw)?

Who would be the target audience?

Tbh the impression i have always had is that the inter war years & 50s were the big times for RL when big gates were regular features.
As for Union ,since they turned professional & reduced the need for Welshmen to turn pro they have deprived us of what used to be one of our best sources of good talent. Their game suddenly became awash with money & sponsorship to be able to spread far & wide with a European league & worldwide interest in the sport.

At the KCOM we don't seem to have too bad with the aging fan base, i've sat in the same place since it opened and a few around us are sadly no longer with us, but most of their families have brought a younger child along so overall we seem to be replenishing the fanbase. Cup wins in 2005, 2016 & 2017 have helped boost the support. But we do seem to have hit a brick wall of about 8k passes and 1-2k pay on the day fans, when Pearson has stated several times he wanted 10k passes and 14k total crowds.

Scheduling of fixtures haven't helped us this year though, games moved to Thursdays at last minute, playing Wakefield twice at home in a month, and I can't get excited over loop fixtures. I saw Saints trample all over us at the KCOM only the other week, not excited to see it again in a couple of weeks time. Would have rather have seen us play Toronto, Bradford, Widnes, Toulouse etc even if it meant a bit less SKY money.

Agree that a bit of success has helped us, and good that you're seeing younger fans too - the club does a good job in this regard with family days, takeovers etc. Agree on the loop - it does get dull against the same sides.

I don't think that you should worry too much about what some say because from what I hear a lot of folks are cheesed off with the game at present and a not enjoying the game as much any more. I went to direct debit recently just so the pain is spread over 12 months because I wasn't sure whether, with my current feelings I could bring myself to shell out £500 in November as I usually do. I certainly feel disenchanted with it at present but I guess our situation and demeanour as a team doesn't help either.