Quote ="Him"Why would RL's commercial revenues be similar to major sports? We don't have anywhere near the national profile of other major sports. Football is way ahead on it's own. Union is similar domestically but is way way ahead internationally and so that feeds into domestic commercial revenues. Same goes for cricket. '"
Yep, perfectly reasonable that a sport that achieves higher viewing figures than RU for it's elite club competition can't achieve sponsorship for it. Don't know why I mentioned it.
Quote ="Him"What expansion programme? All the RFL can do is give "new" clubs/areas the opportunity. The success or failure of them is down to the individual clubs. Hence London and Celtic's failures but Catalans success. '"
So the governing body of a sport held back by it's geographical has no responsibility over expansion, it's down to the clubs. Really? No wonder it's not working...
Quote ="Him"The RFL isnt in charge of international fixtures. Blame the RLIF. '"
The RFL has a seat at the table at RLIF and I would have thought, as ther're one of only really 3 serious players, they should have a considerable voice and should use it to force some kind of plan, don't you think? Especially as for RL in the UK this is far more important than in Aus where they seem to do very nicely without an international programme (mostly due to State of Origin and the profile of the sport in general).
Quote ="Him"I agree they should've done more to help London. But that would have drawn severe criticism and objections from plenty of other clubs, especially with relegation back. And would it have been a complete waste of money/time when the leadership at London seem so bent on self-destruction?'"
There's areas of the club that the RFL could have very reasonably justified investment as it would have been for multiple purposes. They've done this in areas of youth development and the amature team and no one is questioning that because it delivers results. Why they're not doing this in the areas of marketing, communications and commercial is beyond me.
Quote ="Him"The point on referees has no evidence or merit to it whatsoever. In my opinion the refs are better than ever. Should they be better? Yes. But I've seen no discernible decline in refereeing, merely far, far more focus on specific decisions in specific games either by the Sky commentary team or paranoid fans. It's amazing how some fans of every club seem to think the RFL/referees is biased against them. '"
Seriously? Better than ever? Oh, wow. OK - yes, I agree that every team thinks referees are biased against them (and I cringe sometimes at fans wailing about decisions that are clearly right). However, you have to admit the disciplinary process is inconsistent and lacks transparency, and for the RFL to recently claim it's the envy of other sports is laughable.
Quote ="Him"Now let's move on to clubs failings shall we:
- an inability to count
- an inability to act in a professional manner
- a shockingly poor attempt at marketing from the vast majority of clubs
- an inability to engage their local communities, especially local amateur clubs
- an introverted, selfish and backward attitude at too many clubs
- a blame anyone but themselves attitude
Solve these issues, get some professionals into clubs rather than some of the amateurs that are masquerading as club officials and board members right now, get clubs to actually go out and market themselves rather than sticking a poster up 100 yards away from the ground and thinking that'll do, and this game would be an awful lot better off. '"
Agree with all the above. Didn't say the clubs operated well. But I would still assert if the RFL led by example and delivered a solid foundation for the sport then the clubs would be starting in a better place.
Quote ="Him"We don't have a big national profile. Partly our own fault as a sport (we're still paying the price for clubs over-reaching in the 80's and 90's and some shocking club management since) partly a consequence of a sea change in UK media from regional to national (and London based and oriented). This means clubs can't adopt a Man Utd approach and just sit back and watch the punters roll in. We have to go out and get them and clubs, in general, are incredibly bad at this, especially in their own communities.
Whilst I don't agree with everything the RFL does, and there's plenty I'd do different, the problems of Salford (pre-Koukash), Celtic, London, Bradford etc are not the fault of the RFL. The blame for their predicaments lie firmly at the door of the people running those clubs at the time.
Unless we want the RFL actively running clubs, and until we get a larger national profile (which can only be done through internationals in my opinion) then the clubs will always be the main drivers behind RL's success or failure.
It'd be like Leeds United blaming the Premier League for Peter Ridsdale & co bankrupting the club.'"
No, it's not. The PL delivers considerable revenue for it's clubs through considerable sponsorship and TV deals. If the clubs mess it up with that solid base then they really only do have themselves to blame.
