The BBC are presumably bigging it up as part of a post RLWC Union recruitment drive for their WC?

There will be downsides of all the publicity that is coming on stream. An obvious one might be if there is a small crowd at Cardiff - the Press will have a field day. Looking at the ticket sales diagram there are few blocks that have sold out. Not sure how many tickets have been sold? Last WC games there the crowd looked pretty good on paper but I went and the stadium seemed and looked empty.

The stadium plans haven't changed for a while now, other than the Huddersfield game

5 live have had running ads most of the day. I've spent about 5 hours in the car today and every 15 to 30 minutes there is a RLWC ad.

It's getting on my nerves.











[size=10Only kidding, but can't count myself a RL fan without 1 moan[/size

ARRRGH the bbc piece just had me kickin the whippet from infront of the coal fire

Rugby leagues big chance to break out blah blah blah north stronghold hold blah blah....remind me again how many people watch union in the north !!!!!!!

Fooking sale and some Geordie outpost,have leeds folded??? never hear of them these days,lets have a look on the map were the English union teams are you fookin retard


AAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHHH

I take it it was drive time on 5 you were listening to

the KC one was changed today, to 'colour in' the 2 new blocks they have opened.

great piece of publicity on BBC News I thought, I can't knock the BBC for their publicity this time.

Another great article from the Beeb, have they turned over a new leaf? has the move to Salford converted them!?

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/24481185[/url

I quite liked the bbc news article. The guy is spot on, it is huge opportunity or our game.

One thing is for sure, everyone in the country must surely be aware there is a World Cup about to be staged. Adverts on radio, England football Game, x-factor, top sport news story on bbc 6 o'clock News, frequent bbc TV ad played through day. The WC have made sure people are aware this tournament is happening, which hasn't always been the case in the past!

Hmmm...1 Pool game in Bristol (12,000) for 2013 is hardly breaking away. As for the Other lot, we'll find out in 2015 with games in Newcastle(52,000), Leeds(38,000), Manchester(61,000), Leicester (32,000) & Birmingham(43,000) which I believe are all north of Potters Bar......capacity of 475,000 over 11 games at an average of 43,182.

We are all of us lying in the gutter buddy.......it's just some of us are looking at the stars!


Media here in NZ is ramping up now with a feature by the BBC showing all the skippers together, then a statement about SBW being responsible for a further 20,000 ticket sales

.....
[urlhttp://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-league-news/sonny-bill-puts-world-cup-map-5655935[/url

I'm sure even the most blinkered RL fan knows that we are miles behind RU in terms of the international game and world cups. But from small acorns oak trees grow, and we have at least made the general public aware that the World Cup is happening this time, which considering we've had one world cup in 13 years (Down Under, on SKY only with big time difference) is good going IMO.

now it is over to the players themselves to put on a spectacle that means interest builds during the tournament. The aim being that next time we host (likely to be 2019) we aren't starting from such a low point in terms of awareness with the general public.

and a Geordie out post that's it for top flight union up here int north tha knows lad



Read a article recently were sale were moaning as there nearest game was 100+ miles away

So will union world cup be a chance for them to break out from there southern caves????????

Quote ="UllFC" next time we host (likely to be 2019)'" 2021 surely? Maybe even 2025 if SA get the 2017 cup... Good piece in the Telegraph online, anyone know if it made the print edition? www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... guide.html

Quote ="UllFC" next time we host (likely to be 2019)'" 2021 surely? Maybe even 2025 if SA get the 2017 cup... Good piece in the Telegraph online, anyone know if it made the print edition? www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... guide.html

The bbc 10 reasons to watch is a very good piece. As flattering an article on RL as I can remember on the beeb

Quote ="Little Ivor"2021 surely? Maybe even 2025 if SA get the 2017 cup... Good piece in the Telegraph online, anyone know if it made the print edition? www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... guide.html'" of course! and the Telegraph article was in yesterday, good coverage if you can get past the concept that Australia will bow out at the Semi finals and England will win!

Quote ="Little Ivor"2021 surely? Maybe even 2025 if SA get the 2017 cup... Good piece in the Telegraph online, anyone know if it made the print edition? www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... guide.html'" of course! and the Telegraph article was in yesterday, good coverage if you can get past the concept that Australia will bow out at the Semi finals and England will win!

agreed....arrived on my BBC ap overnight...good read indeed!

No point missed here. The M62 in a professional sense is spot on when describing RL in the UK...1,709,505 fans attended regular SL games this year....8% of them watched games in London or France....92% on grounds situated along the M62.
You could compare the M62 to the M4, except for Leicester and Northampton........oh and Exeter....damn, and Worcester...not forgetting the Geordie outpost as well as Sale....who BTW averaged more than London, Salford, Widnes, Castleford and Huddersfield Giants in their last full season.

What this shows is how important the International game is. There is no way that we would get such coverage for anything else.

We need a stable International diary and we need to continue to grow the home nations. We also need an extended World Club Challenge.

Agree 100%.


Needs to be planned 10 years in advance and touring sides from Australia, NZ and GB should also take development squads with them to play the local "minnows". There needs to be a 6 Nations of the Knights, Wales and France, Ireland, Scotland and Italy.



Problem with the WCC is that you need to free up weeks for the Internationals mentioned above......I'd leave it as it is for now but move the venue each year.

Ah its alright for you to label the m62 as a little street

but we can't group everything south of us as together....you should get a job at the bbc



Like I said,apart from sale who will no doubt revert back to the little village id once the owner legs it and the Geordie outpost they have no foot hold in the north of england

The M62 happens to be a 107 mile long road that is within spitting distance of 12 SL clubs. Headingly is, I believe, the SL ground furthest from the M62 other than of course Catalans and wherever my club decides it's playing next year in London (ish)

As for grouping everything south of the M62......That's most of the country and most of the population.....ceding that to Union kind of proves the point the lazy journalists were making...that RL in the UK is incorrectly considered an M62 Hobby.

The M62 corridor has a population in excess of 10million.
The equivalent of NSW and Qland, who also have 13 clubs.

What's the problem with a mainly localised top tier when the catchment is that large?

As said we have two clubs not in our regional heartland, as does RU, as does the NRL.

Point of accuracy: Craven park would be the furthest from the m62. 34km from Preston Road to North cave where the motorway starts.

Please, for the record, state where you believe Unions Regional Heartland is?

Leicester, Northampton, Worcester, Exeter, Gloucester, Bath, Reading, High Wycombe, Twickenham, Barnet are the other venues excluding Sales and Newcastle but I am struggling to figure out exactly what "region" you are attempting to lump them all in?

East Midlands covers 2 of them, Exeter is the West Country, Barnet and Twickenham are in Greater London, the Thames Valley holds Wycombe and Reading, Bath is technically the South West, as is Gloucester and Worcester is technically in the East Midlands.

Unless you're referring to "that there down south" which validates the lazy journalists report about League being am M62 pastime, I fail to see what "REGION" holds this mythical Union Heartland

Really? Geography not your strong point?

To be fair, Union has a much wider spread. More or less every settlement above small village size has a club, including in RL heartlands. The same cannot be said about RL. The debate about professional clubs' locations wholly misses the point. It is that spread of little clubs (and usually much more stable than amateur RL clubs) that ensures the big crowds at internationals. To say there are 10 million people in the North also misses the point, RL clubs are concentrated in tiny pockets within that area.