I was sat here thinking about the pecking order of sports and their profile in the media, tv coverage, crowd support etc. Its not based on anything scientific just an opinion.

Soccer -Domestic and International
Yawnion - International
Cricket - International
League - Domestic
Yawnion - Domestic
Cricket - Domestic
Athletics - International
League- International
Snooker/Darts etc. are not really sports

How does this compare with say Oz where I would assume Aussie Rules probably sits top of the pile, closely followed by League?

I'd probably say union club game gets more coverage than league, they certainly get more national press off the back of their internationals and better demographic.

In oz, I'd argue league as top dog based on better tv ratings and control of Sydney, although afl has greater attendances. Not much between them.

Domestic union is simply a bigger sport than league.

You missed out tennis which gets more coverage in the papers

really, both get bigger viewing figures than league(?)

Compared with Australia. I find Fox Sports goes to their MElbourne studio about every other story to give us some AFL tripe. These networks that put league second despite it being a high or even the highest rating program get on my goat.

I think Horse Racing, Tennis, Golf, Boxing, Formula One are all missing from your list but get more national newspaper coverage than RL in the UK.

Also domestic RU, which is in your list but I reckon gets far more national newspaper coverage than domestic RL. Athletics and domestic cricket are also probably on a par, if not ahead of domestic RL in this respect.

You missed billiards and cycling too which get far more coverage than RL.

Comedy genius!

Why are English people calling football, soccer?

Because it's a nickname for Association Football, one of many codes of football.

Let's face it, Curling is more important to the southern based media than RL is. Until we change that the sport won't grow and flourish. Hopefully the move of BBC Sport up to Salford might help. Personally I think the RFL should be making a big push to get RL played at public schools.

F1... top 4 I reckon

Spot on. Nothing irritates me more than English people thinking "soccer" is an American isation.

Aye and probably Horse Racing too.

Or just more schools, to be honest.

And trust me, just because rugby union gets played at public schools doesn't mean that public schoolboys like it.

Looking at the two main media sites BBC and Sky makes an interesting comparison

The BBC Sports Website lists the sports from top to bottom:
Football
Cricket
Rugby Union
Tennis
Horse Racing
Golf
F1
League
Olympics


Whereas Skysports list reads
Football
Cricket
Onion
League
Golf
Tennis
Boxing
Racing
F1

No it doesn't. It reads Football, F1, Olympics, Cricket, RU, RL and then the others.

People seem to want to play down RL so much, I can't think of a reason for this other than so they can say they follow a minority sport and are being persecuted. Maybe it's the same reason people are so averse to expansion of the game. Really bizarre attitude to have.

I'd agree but I think the RFL are doing pretty well with the schools thing in general to be honest.

You're probably right in that a lot might not enjoy playing it, but it gets it into the mind that rugby union is important if the school they are at plays it and takes it seriously. So that public schoolboy might not enjoy playing it while he's at school, he is then more likely to take an interest in the sport later in life. He's certainly more likely to take an interest in it than in a sport which wasn't played, mentioned, discussed or even knew existed while he was at school.

I would agree with the first bit a lot, and the next part a bit!

I'll be honest- I'm an ex-public schoolboy. I know a fair few others, unsurprisingly! And we had to play union. We hated it. And we hate watching it. One or two of us got into League, and a few of the others then did too.

But I guess that might be an atypical case. Certainly in Manchester, all efforts to get us to enjoy union failed miserably! The usual suspects (i.e. the kids from North Cheshire) loved union, the rest of us watched football or cricket, and a few League (although I didn't get into RL until after uni).

oh dear.....the "it's not fair' thread has popped up again



Media is what you make of it.

Go to the popular video sharing site and search for all blacks summer skills 2.....then after watching it type in waratahs summer skills.


One of these is a polished professional marketing piece......the other is a last minute (still professional) pi55 take......

Media...as in TV, Press, Radio is soon going to be overtaken by the web......the RFL need to get in now..

enough b0llox about public schoolboys running the BBC.....who cares......get on the web, get the content right and then get the "coverage" you think the sport deserves......

I couldn't agree more about using the web. I even mentioned to Paul Kimberley of the RFL that YouTube the second largest search engine in the world, are actively looking to promote sport as a vertical that they are concentrating on. The response I got was that YouTube would have the opportunity to bid like anyone else. I tried to let him know that since YouTube and the sports marketing position is based in the US that they probably haven't even heard of our sport. They just don't seem to get it. I wouldn't be surprised to see the RFU pro actively approach YouTube and get their brand even more widespread.

because they understand their target market......and what they will get audiences for!


because they are the RFL who at best...would have trouble finding their own @rses with both hands.

lol its just so so wrong !! the word 'soccer' makes me cringe, call it what it is FOOTBALL

Im sure I read somewhere that League gets much higher viewing figures on Sky Sports than Union yet as we all know the reverse is true when it comes to actual attendances. So while I doubt we'll be getting the coverage we actually deserve in he national press anytime soon (the World Tiddlywinks Championship gets more column inches) clearly there are people out there who the clubs and the RFL could be doing more to entice through the turnstiles