So far this season we've seen some good attendances at the games, most are generally up on averages from last year.

Along with this the Sky Sports audience has been massive. The opening game between Widnes and Wakefield pulled in a big audience, had it been last year would have came second only to the grand final. Not only that, this weeks fixture between Saints and Salford was 80% up on Widnes v Wakefield and had a higher viewing figure than last years grand final.

Are these some promising signs that the popularity of our great game is steadily increasing or just some early season anomalies?

Just to enhance your point, here are the viewing figures for the opening Super League match (in 000's):

[uSky Sports 1[/u
[iw/e 5 Feb 2012[/i

1 LIVE FORD SUPER SUNDAY - MATCH (SUN 1533) 2,848
2 LIVE FORD SUPER SUNDAY - MATCH (SUN 1300) 1,469
=#FF00003 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (FRI 1900) 251
4 OLDHAM V CHESTERFIELD-LIVE (MON 1930) 244
5 LIVE PAK V ENG TEST CRICKET (SAT 0600) 237
6 LIVE NFL SUPER BOWL (SUN 2230) 235
7 GILLETTE SOCCER SPECIAL (TUE 1930) 235
8 GOALS ON SUNDAY (SUN 1100) 189
9 LIVE PAK V ENG TEST CRICKET (FRI 0600) 180
10 SKY SPORTS NEWS - TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY (TUE 2215) 177

Yup,

I think not only the figures that Sky have been released but also the fact that the RFL recently announced the amount of people playing the sport had increased again only suggest a positive future for the sport.

Well done to the RFL.

Go wash your mouth out immediately that kind of talk will only cause bother round these parts

There does seem to have been a boost to the sport so far this season, and I think the good Grand Final and 4 Nations (Final disappointment aside) will be helping the TV audiences.

However the weather will have played a part in the big TV figures (more people stay in and watch TV on cold, dark nights) so we will have to see how the figures hold up later in the year.

That is true, however there has been good crowds attending the matches also. This shows it not just stay at home supporters, we must be hitting some now supporters through advertisement.

Well it's quite obviously the Widnes effect



Joking aside, hopefully this is the signs of TGG being recognised for whay it is.....TGG.

Despite an increase in everything (playing, viewing and attendance figures), people will still bash the RFL. I'd give it until page 2 before an anti-RFL comment comes in

Think it does help wehn we have the likes of Joey Barton & Wayne Rooney tweeting about RL to their millions of fans. It's free advertisment for the game. The viewing figures have gone through the roof, and dispite awful conditions, attendances seem to be on the upwards curve.

With more advterising in the shape of Stobart and extra cash from Heniz and signing up other brands to RL, RL certainly in a very good position.

So change the title to, ' is the popularity of SL growing '

This isn't just about SL, it's about the entire sport. From grass roots through to SL, the examples I used were because they were the ones I had to hand.

Well from looking at the posts, it seems to be about SL to me

Not intended to be, I guess it's just the easiest accessible figures. I think there was a post about RFL publishing figures about people playing at grass roots level?

Yep, cockney kids having a RL lesson at school



Sorry , I shouldn't be so negative about things, but the ' game ' is growing, well some parts are, some aren't

Well, I'd say the fact that Sky are introducing Monday Night SL games after the football season ends shows that they think we're popular enough to fill a large gap on their schedules

I've noticed SL results getting greater prominence on the BBC Sport website also.

I might be wrong, but has every game so far been on Sky Sports 1 as well? That makes a bit of a difference.

Also, there are RL adverts on a lot more than there used to be on Sky, I was watching something the otherday for an hour, and there was the triple header advert every ad break.

I think in general, it probably is.

The saints TV game figure was particularly impressive, no doubt swelled by the fact it was the official opening game of the new stadium (curious onlookers), coupled that it was the only game played on Friday. Still very good though.

If we look at the individual components of the game:

International

The 4 nations I think should be classed as a success. The crowds were pretty good, and there was decent terrestrial coverage on BBC, including a relatively successful return to Wembley. The exiles game could become an excellent additional fixture (or fixtures if expanded to a 2 or 3 game series) to the calendar. This year will be quiet of course, but with a World Cup looming, we have a massive opportunity to sell the International Game.

Super League

Attendances this year should be quite impressive. Saints should increase their average to around 13,000 hopefully, which is a 3000 jump from KR days, and almost double from last year at Widnes. Salford should be getting better crowds with their new stadium too. Wigan, Leeds and Wire should continue to get good crowds, whilst Hull and Bradford are still getting good crowds despite struggling on the pitch. Cas and Wakefields crowds last week were very promising too. Widnes should also get much better crowds than Crusaders did.

Competively speaking, there are 5 teams as I see that have a genuine chance of Silverware (Saints, Wire, Wigan, Leeds and Catalans), with a few others having an outside chance in the cup. This will hopefully fuel interest in the competition, and lead to more "big" games.

TV audience for Super league may be better too - the Monday night slot could get a larger audience than the Saturday slot, but it remains to be seen. Sky continue to give the game excellent coverage - 2 SL games a week, Origin and WCC, and 4 magazine shows (SL Fulltime, NRL Fulltime, SL Super Men, Boots'nAll). BBC's Super League show has had favourable comments regarding content, format and quality - it's just the broadcasting times that remains an issue, but nothing has really changed on that from previous years.

Challenge Cup

BBC's coverage of the cup reduces slightly, with only 1 game shown from the 4th and 5th rounds. The coverage on the BBC has certainly got better over recent years - Dave Woods is probably an improvement on Ray French, and the Red Button forum is pretty good. Claire Balding continues to impress with her enthusiasm and quality of her presentation (including some very good interviews with Richard Lewis). Not sure what the viewing figures were like last year. Attendance wise, the challenge cup seems to struggle still except for the final.

National Leagues / Northern Rail

This is probably the area of most concern. Whilst the competitions are pretty good in their own rights, not having automatic promotion certainly has had an impact. Numerous posters on here are known for their opinions on this, and I think it is a common one (may not be the majority opinion, but a significant number of fans feel dis-illusioned).

The TV coverage on Premier Sports will be interesting too - it's good that this level of the sport will have weekly TV coverage (plus the extensive NRL coverage on the same channel).

Amateur

This is a biggie - with the move to summer, there is a massive potential to attract more people to play the game. We also constantly hear good news about "expansion" areas, with new teams and competitions appearing.


So, overall, I would say the popularity is increasing. There are areas to work on, as always, but at the moment, rugby league is in a pretty good place. The amatuer move to summer, and world cup next year, are massive opportunities to attract a lot more people to the game.

The Tv figures are amazing, considering the first game had a 1hour build up. I'd imagine the match average would have been 350K+.

The thing that always annoys me is the play offs. There needs to be a reduced price ticket deal offered.

People praising the RFL need to think again. The sport is growing in participation, viewing figures and attendances seems to be the conclusion from the do gooders on here.

So why then could the RFL not negotiate a improved TV deal or a competition sponsorship deal worth any money at all?

In the same notion I question as to why you couldn't negotiate arm rests for your seat?

So less likely that any non SL clubs will feature in the clubs oldest competition , and yet the BBC actively look for giant killing ties in the FA cup

Explain to me how , having TV coverage during the week on a channel nobody has access to that earns the clubs nothing is a ' Good ' thing ?

They did. Its worth significantly more than the last deal.

The BBC doesn't have rights to the FA Cup (not even highlights) and hasn't for a few years now.

Is it better than clubs having no TV coverage at all, which was the alternative?