I blame Wigan/Hull/the ball/the RFL/the weather. (delete as per your agenda)

The Independent is aptly named, as it operates as a medium for journalists to write independently of any actual readers; as such, this article will do very little additional damage to RL's already stellar reputation.

I did not think it was too bad actually.

I was expecting a lot worse.

While there may be one or two legitimate points mentioned in the article, it certainly paints a grim picture of the sport and if any wavering supporters were thinking of watching a game of RL, if they read this particular article, they would stay away.
I did however, like the comment about the gimmicks that the game uses, being wasted on its audience.

There's some points that, unfortunately, are true, but when you look at the article as a whole, I just sort of think "why bother"?

Why bother writing it? Why bother reading it?

The difference between now and 10 years ago is that these articles are rare and there are many more positive articles from other sources and a much more positive treatment by national BBC services on TV and radio.

It used to be horrific.

Correct. As others have pointed out, there's no great anti-League conspiracy out there. There's still prejudice, but not all without justification. It's true that our list of sponsors looks very provincial, but its not true (IMO) that there's something written in the laws of nature that League must always be a minor provincial game - which is sometimes an implicit suggestion in these things.

Where the article is wrong IMO is to place so much emphasize on League's big day out being incredibly important for our profile. You get poor (big) games in all sports - the tripe usually served up by England RU for example. We're in a bad place for PR if a poor CCF or GF messes up our profile for the whole season. From a PR perspective our media strategy should adjust the balance somewhat towards spending more of whatever limited PR resources we have ensuring constant news flow, however small the story. You capture fans (armchair especially - but hey, they buy the Sky boxes and watch the ads) by keeping them involved in an ongoing narrative throughout the season. It's this lack of continuing story that's so sad when I speak to friends in the south who are almost surprised to be reminded that League still exists when they see some PR twice a year. They've no idea who's doing what in the League - and let's face it, even League fans don't care that much any more thanks to the daft playoff format. I don't think the split structure does a great deal to fix it.

As for structure, the best thing would be something that unfortunately we can't achieve unless the NRL take pity on us - a proper champions league - not an end of season jamboree, but something like they have in football which throws big interesting fixtures into the season all the way through, creating massive newsflow. You need to finish in the top 4 to qualify, then you get to play in two leagues of 4 against the top 4 sides from down-under. Travel is fine - you play your two overseas away games in one 10 day trip. That's it, one return flight is all that's needed, and given that they're getting two games to see, it would be popular with the richer fans out there. Every couple of weeks almost there'd be a big champions league game coming up from which we could get better media attention for the top of the game.

As for the content of the stories, it's complete myth if you think that it all has to be good news stuff 'talking up the game'. A confident sport is at ease discussing its own problems ( witness Union press re. their scrums ) and should also welcome the kind of gossip, feuds and trash talk, etc. that all sports have. ( e.g. more has probably been written about Stuart Broad edging a catch than about every League game combined this season ). Finally, one of the best ways to convince people that you're a minority sport, is to have the people who share the largest number of words about the sport with the public ( i.e. the Sky commentary team) go on and on and on and on about how brilliant the sport is. It sounds desperate. There's a reason Geoffrey Boycott is so popular and why so many people love to hear him commentate on cricket (along with a few that can't stand him of course, but the balance is massively +ve). Intelligent analysis, not breathless hype, or breathless contrived 'controversy', but still able to add to the viewing experience. Provincial accents aren't a problem, it's what you actually say.

Eddie, Stevo, etc. (and yes, when you see him on TV, Nigel Wood) are all (collectively) contributing to our provincial image. I say 'collectively' because Stevo would be absolutely fine surrounded by better people.

"Wembley way in the rain was a cross between a works outing and an annual reunion of extras from Phoenix nights."

Spot on to be fair.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to see what the aficionados steadfastly refuse to acknowledge.

I'd love it, if just for once, someone would list the number on initiatives the RFL have instigated to make RL a popular sport in London.
I'll start it off....

1. Promote London Broncos to the new summer season Superleague
2, er,,,,,um......er....

I'm disappointed, no mention of flat caps, whippets or closed coal mines. Come on Southern biased media lift your game!

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/3259506/Rugby-League-World-Cup-Englands-match-full-blood-guts-and-skill.htmlA BIT OF BALANCE FROM 2008 AND THE TORYGRAPH[/url

Will people be bombarding this guys twitter account now in sycophantic hysteria?

Quote ="Horatio Yed"Will people be bombarding this guys twitter account now in sycophantic hysteria?'" Plenty already have. Though I'm not sure he'll be winning many friends with comments like this: https://twitter.com/CalvinBook/status/3 ... 1173620736

Quote ="Horatio Yed"Will people be bombarding this guys twitter account now in sycophantic hysteria?'" Plenty already have. Though I'm not sure he'll be winning many friends with comments like this: https://twitter.com/CalvinBook/status/3 ... 1173620736

I meant the Telegraph reporter

Seemed like a good place to drop an advert for the RL world cup

He's spot on with Paul Cullen

"England hit not just a proverbial wall, they hit an actual wall."
Oh Paul, that's up there with "The left winger literally has no right foot."

I do like the article but it comes to something when we need to go to 2008 for a positive article

It is a cracking article though.......I'd have had this guy on the payroll straight away if I were the RFL.

Quote ="Cronus"Plenty already have. Though I'm not sure he'll be winning many friends with comments like this: https://twitter.com/CalvinBook/status/3 ... 1173620736'" He's certainly not coming across well. Wonder who the BBC Radio Alan Partridge is.

Quote ="Cronus"Plenty already have. Though I'm not sure he'll be winning many friends with comments like this: https://twitter.com/CalvinBook/status/3 ... 1173620736'" He's certainly not coming across well. Wonder who the BBC Radio Alan Partridge is.

seems anyone reasonable has been blocked.

The boring man is on Talksport moaning about football now - Thursday evening - and he sounds utterly depressed.

you'd be depressed if you supported Millwall.

I find very little to take issue with there TBH.

I assume it's George Riley as he made a few comments to the journo about the article