Why bring Union into it at all?

I suppose watching such a turd game might induce drowsiness which might make crowds less hostile.

Because Union have gone from strength to strength and we have gone backwards

we need to accept that as much as we may love it rugby league is (and probably always will be) a minority sport in this country. Lets just enjoy it for what it is rather than trying to make it into something its not

Know what your saying, but we live in a big catchment area. Yorkshire is one of the biggest counties, so combine that with Lancashire and Cheshire we have a lot of scope. Lets stop going further afield and concentrate on promoting the game, try to bring in mew support and stop relying on the old faithfull

I agree the london experiment has failed (as much as the RFL will claim otherwise) and the jury is still out on whether the game has a viable future in wales but id argue the catalans have been a notable success

They are stopping the London Double header according to the Rugby Paper (someone at work reads it) which is a rugby union day which attracts more than Harlequins RL do in a season and they are not going to continue it because of the loutish behaviour of the crowd and the fact that they don't seem to get along to any other game beyond that one fixture.

Surely it is better to have people going to watch the game, rather than saying I've been to an event and the chance to have a good chat, watch the crowd, take a few pics and have a mexican wave all while the 'action' is going on. The RFL is for next season to give out a pot of money for targetting specific fixtures (I would imagine ones on sky) and market the hell out of them on the RFL pound note.

The biggest problem is people want to see big cup games and that is why the only union fixtures that get as many viewers on Sky are the Heineken Cup fixtures. And once again that is the problem; people want to say they've been somewhere interesting, something unexpected, even if it isn't. If you were inclined you could make a better little story over a euro quarter final against Biaritz than the run of the mill fixture against the uninspiring Wakefield, even if the more interesting game is likely to feature the team from the North of England, rather than the South of France.

My solution is not a European Super League, nor a European Champions League, it is what the RFL are doing in 2012 which is not radical but to join the marketing of big games, something that they have been happy to leave with Sky or dip their toes in the water. There are no calls to take games to Bristol or Belfast, but to get more into the Galpharm, the Stoop and the Halton Stadium. Help is more necessary in some places, but the RFL has woken up to the fact that they cannot market an interesting sport to the masses who can be converted but need to shown the way; very few sheep volunteer to be shawn of their wool, and people are no different. We seem to be expecting people to love the sport because it is an interesting sport, but we need to give them that little reason to get along to the games.

Basically we as a sport seem to be going the opposite direction against society in the style over substance route, and in my opinion the better route because the action on the pitch is there, the commitment off it is there too, hopefully we can engage with the right new fans in terms of bums on seats with a happy medium of selling them the 'event' rather than the 'rugby league; it's great' and relatively zero investment in marketing angle that has done us no favours towards a 14 team, and 14 teams who can realistically go into the season going for the play-offs competition that is proud, not just put out there as rugby league it's great.

League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf

League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf

Quote ="JB Down Under"League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf'" An excellent idea, one that I've had, but never floated here. Something that politicians would not mind putting a few quid into, provided that someone put together a presentation that was at least half way intelligent.

Quote ="JB Down Under"League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf'" An excellent idea, one that I've had, but never floated here. Something that politicians would not mind putting a few quid into, provided that someone put together a presentation that was at least half way intelligent.

Quote ="JB Down Under"League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf'" My kids played Union tag up to U8 and it was 6 tags and a handover. It was league. Now they are playing contact at U10 and U14 and its scrums and lineouts.

Quote ="JB Down Under"League tag is the way to go imo, we should be aiming to get the Govt to fund a massive national schools league tag programme to overcome childhood obesity. It introduces boys and girls to our great game in a safe environment (which schools will be happy about) and as long as we link it back to RL and involve clubs and SL etc then it is a great way of getting a heck of alot more kids and future fans involved in the game. arld.net/feature/League%20Tag%20Laws.pdf'" My kids played Union tag up to U8 and it was 6 tags and a handover. It was league. Now they are playing contact at U10 and U14 and its scrums and lineouts.

Which is what the RFU want, get the core footballing skills in at a young age, and then get the union 'skill sets' in when they hit double digits. The RFL is blinkered sometimes when it looks at what it is doing and not looking at what another sport has been getting it to do for a number of years.

Our game is fooked,my lad plays union its a easier sport and I agree about the parents at matches we have had lads leave the union club and come back as the parents were shocked at the abuse from the touch line.

Back to our game its a joke as long as a handful of clubs are bobbng along nicely sod the rest seem to be the policy.

My team leigh play sheffield in a meaningless game tonight to play in a pointless final next week? see I don't even know when the final is.The clubs outside the top flight are playing for nothing,please don't say its means your the champions,champions of what? the pointless league? widnes proved you don't need to win a grand final just win a cup match in blackpool and fudge your figures for 3 seasons,boy can't wait for the next couple of years watching a club that is just sitting around waiting for wakey to get chucked out,great eh?

Who is going to invest in a team in the lower flight for 3 years hoping you get the nod,trying o fund a team on ever smaller fixture list plus building a team only for it to be ripped apart by teams from the top flight as they cherry pick your players you can't blame the players for leaving as they only have a short shelf life.

So well done the rfl on your sterling job with teams beneath the top flight

now wait a minute. 'Fudging figures'? hmmmmm. funny, no 'technical' breaches of the salary cap have been brought to light in widnes. Unlike your own club. Glass houses and all that.


errrrm Steve O'connor?

What have Widnes done to deserve promotion. If you supported any other team would you still be thinking the same way. Been in administration, havnt won the league, been hamered on more than one occasion this season and take away the high profile entourage at the club IE Cullen, O'Conner, Betts and Cassidy they dont really have a lot going for them. Come to think about it they dont have a lot going for them even with them there. Surely Featherstone are more equipped than anyone to go up, champions 2 years running but that counts for nothing bit of a shame really

Halifax were the champions last year and this years haven't been decided yet so as of yet Featherstone haven't been champios once. So thats a load of bull

Jesus wept.

What do I think?

I think you are a cretin.

Not the micky mouse play offs im talking Champions over a season, the most consistant team for 2 years. If Widness are so great tell everyone on here what grounds they have really qualified on. Come on im waiting

FFS

Exactly

Anyway, done to death - nothing to see here.

Too roo.

errm how about all the grounds used to judge these things? which is very much the case. so learn to deal with it. we didnt create this system, we just met the criteria of this system by a country mile, no other team did. Again, deal with it. or take it up with the RFL. this sort of crap was tired several months, if not a couple of years ago. so bye now

What a business plan.

League going nowhere with that fat clown and his cronies in charge. We can say all we want on here, but we have big fat lazy self-congratulating idiots running the game and we're p***ing in the wind until someone finds a way to get rid.

The main point is ....rugby league is an exciting, adrenalin inducing, all action, full on sport..........the other one you mentioned is pants !!

We also have the NRL which is the best rugby competition period and origin which is something Union wish they had.

Personally I want to see the sport grow and expand and have some life outside the M62. Expansion over here and expansion in Australia.

Over the history of our sport the champions have been decided by winning mickey mouse play offs a lot more than by finishing top of the league.

The grounds Widnes have qualified on are the exact grounds every team who wanted to apply for super league were told to meet 3 years ago. It's not the fault of Widnes that nobody else took heed of this and only concentrated on the playing side of things.

Oh yeah one more thing Featherstone never even applied. If you don't ask you don't get.