Quote ="RLBandit"Really? The RFL got him to say that? Are you sure its not because he lives near Wigan, loves RL, and is mates with Tomkins et al? It's great, but don't credit the RFL with it.
Not finding a sponsor for the first time since whenever counts as a failure to me. Now, there may be endless excuses and not without justification - I don't doubt its very hard to find good sponsors...but, there comes a point when people need to be judged by results, and - whether or not Nigel Wood et al think they've tried as hard as humanly possible - they need to man up and say "We've failed to deliver on a basic requirement. We tried, but maybe others can do better, and so [maybe, post World Cup we're stepping aside to make way for new blood".
Perhaps all the RFL's defenders are right and there's nobody out there willing to take the job(s) that could do better, but its time we took that chance - they're unlikely to do significantly worse - how could they?
I don't understand what, according to your view, the RFL would actually have to do in order for you to say they've failed (or at least not delivered what you'd expect). Do you really believe the best people are in the job?'"
On the sponsorship point - one of the major problems is that we have no idea of the value that we are receiving.
We keep hearing this soundbite that the Commercial Revenue will be higher than ever this year - so whilst it may be disappointing not to have a main sponsor, the simple fact is that if there is more overall money coming in, then maybe that should be deemed as success.
Our sponsor portfolio has looked quite impressive in recent years, with partners like Emirates, Gillette, engage, Stobart, Valvoline, DeWalt etc. - but if the income is better now with the current panel, then ultimately that is a success.
We could probably have sold the title sponsor rights to one of the partners for £200k - this may have looked like success, but in reality that may not have been the case after all.
So whilst you may call for people to be judged on their results - well maybe that is exactly what is happening and the results may not be too bad.
