Good post, a large part of the 'failure' of a London team has to be aimed at the games leaders, narrow minded doesn't even cover it and the long term fallout has being apparent for years. We are a minority sport that has all the makings of something bigger & better but is held back by morons.
We've reaped what we sowed, which is bugger all.

An idea worth looking at, though one not helped by the centralised and oligopolistic nature of the UK media and newspaper industry.
70% of the national newspaper market is controlled by 3 companies (News UK, Daily Mail and General Trust, and Trinity Mirror). 90% is held by 5 companies (add in Northern & Shell and Telegraph Media Group) with News UK (Fox/Murdoch) holding 1/3rd of the entire market.

The problem is as bad at regional level.
25% of Local Government Areas have no local newspaper while a further 35% have just 1.
70% of regional newspapers are owned by 5 companies.

It's also an issue with regard to tv and radio news.
83% of both local and national Radio news is produced by 2 companies, the BBC and Sky.
93% of both local and national TV news is produced by 2 companies, the BBC & ITN. 99% when BSkyB is added in.



Unfortunately, even if the RFL did have a journalist in the cities, the decisions on the major stories and are still made in London by a small group of people. Which is why you'll see the same story in several regional papers on the same day, sometimes even with the same spelling mistakes.

They print what they think their audience want to read.....in turn, these readers are then targeted by advertisers and this generates money for the media owner. In general, they do not think that their audience want to read about Wigan v Widnes. This could be because of the "stigma" of RL being a working class sport and their readers either being Middle class or middle class aspirant? It might be that they cover Union in their papers (Tele/Times/Guardian/Inde/Express/Mail) because their readers attended grammar/public schools and Oxbridge Uni's and might have actually played the game. They can't ignore soccer, because it is massive, but cycling, Tennis, Cricket, Athletics, Golf, Union Squash, and even Boxing have higher participation figures than League, and yet you don't hear the LTA whining that other than 2 weeks in June they get little coverage in the Sun!

Rugby League get's coverage that reflects its relevance to advertisers.......a Half page advert opposite Dear Deidre in the sun used to be the most expensive piece of print real estate in Britain.........the Sun know their readers.....they know what their readers want and they deliver it. If their readers wanted RL they'd cover it more.........

Sky sports at all super league clubs through out today

Marwin on 5 live this morning. Spoke very well about the greatest sport.

I know what you mean, but actually they don't. They massively underestimated public opinion when they got involved in the Hillsborough tragedy, the phone tapping scandals, the Iraq War and we could all probably come up with dozens of others. The Sun is run by bigots and chancers who have no clue about their readership.

Everybody likes football despite the fact that it is boring, nothing happens for about 89 minutes in total. I have introduced Football fans to Wigan Warriors and they are amazed at the pace, the athleticism and the honesty of RL players. The product is excellent. It is a family sport that offers value for money. But there is loads of competition for the public to choose from. The public are ill served by the media, as evidenced above by 'Him'. In a way we shouldn't expect to be treated fairly.

On the whole Rugby League is a working class sport, played by and watched by in the main ordinary northern folk. You need to be both skillful and tough to play it though. Skill alone doesn't cut it. It doesn't really chime with today's 'want it now/easy money' society. The sport embodies all that is good about the North of England in a way (I'm generalizing again), and that's hard for the southern media to understand. (That's not to say that it can't be played by anyone at all, but I'm talking about perceptions here).

I do think you are harsh on Blake Solly. He's only just started in the job. It seems to me that in the RL community (for that's what we are) we turn inwards quite a lot and criticize the administrators with no understanding of their roles and the difficulties they have to overcome. Sally Bolton did an amazing job with the World Cup for example. Unfortunately she's moved on. But credit where it's due. The fact that we haven't been able to build on that success isn't really the fault of the RFL.

The big tragedy of last season was the demotion of the Broncos. And the demise of Crusaders hasn't helped expansion either. But Catalans remain a shining example of success, though in a geographical area with some RL history and culture to tap into. I hope that London are able to get back into Super League and maybe a good news story in the capital will get editors to pay some attention. All of the underpinning work in London and the south-east mustn't go to waste.

On radio 4 at about 7:30, speaking about the British Bulldogs.

That statement there is absolute nonsence of the highest order, it isn't that they don't understand the endeavour and skill of the sport, just that the sport isn't on the agenda..period.
And your generalisations are complete bollox too, you think people in areas other than the 'North' think any differently from a working class POV, what about the 'middle classes' of any given area?
The problem isn't the people in the 'South', or should I say outside of the M62 corridor, the problem lies elsewhere far far closer to home

You're quite the charmer aren't you?

The case I made was that the southern based media is overpopulated with Oxbridge educated public schoolboys. Just like the government in fact. It's a useful analogy and helps to explain why neither understand northern working class people in general or Rugby League in particular.

Didn't you get banned on a AFL forum for calling their game an imported game from Ireland and England, which is true, but the truth hurt them?

never received a ban on that site....just dont bother going there any more.

never received a ban on that site....just dont bother going there any more.

Am i right in thinking though you annoyed them with your imported game from Ireland and England comment?

Yep

Back to the BBC... is anyone else not finding the SL Show on their Sky planner?

Am I doing something wrong?

It is on tonight isnt it?

Don't know much about your Sky planner but, it's on tonight at 23.45 up north, don't know about coverage in Union territory.

It's got a permanent Tuesday 1pm lunch time slot on BBC2, about the only thing the BBC got right.

The sport section on BBC Breakfast news covered football (Premier League, ANC final etc) followed by women's rugby union, followed by some funny incident in Dutch football. Annoyingly the lady then says "..and that's all for the sport..." and the programme carries on.

Just shows we are pretty far down the pecking order at the BBC given it was our opening week of the season.

Oi! I resemble that remark!


It's usually Tuesdays 1pm ish, but it's been known to migrate to around midnight down here too. Anyway, I've set it to season record.

I gouing to take a deck chair and watch through Rumbelows window, we cant all afford a TV up north

Anyway, pleased to see the Beeb are at least showing highlights of Saints/Souths after MOTD2 nationwide which should attract a half-decent audience.

So as long as Saints are at least competitive...

British Broadcasting Corperation?
Here's a map of Britain for you.....red dots show why we aren't NATIONAL news.

Ha ha ha ha

I can't believe you wheeled that $hiyte out again.

Cant believe I had to


If we were any more local we'd all drink in the same battle........we certainly ain't national at the top level

Thanks for that GF, most interesting. I really didn't know that