https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/46763920 Have you guys seen this on the BBC website? Looks like our beloved band of morons at the RFL have put another nail in the coffin of the Challenge Cup

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/46763920 Have you guys seen this on the BBC website? Looks like our beloved band of morons at the RFL have put another nail in the coffin of the Challenge Cup

Just a thought....The winner of the CC last year is on the brink of pulling out in justified protest at a boneheaded decision by the governing body. What would happen if the other finalists from last year were to pull out in sympathy? We would admittedly lose the chance of that silverware and the gate money but would gain with fewer games to play and a lowered risk of injury/burnout the SL comp. It may also start a landslide of SL clubs saying "no, thanks" to the CC, maybe even forcing change of the old guard in the RFL. Risk vs. reward?

Not trying to start a fight here, but would love to hear views.

Very mean spirited of the RFL to come up with the idea considering the whole thinking behind the Catalan project was to get a viable & competitive team into the French RL set up so as to encourage more interest & development in their game.

This is a problem entirely of the RFL's own making. 1 - Failure to attract neutrals and non RL fans to the final. 2 - Failure to secure sponsorship for the most famous Rugby League competition in the world. Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president

This is a problem entirely of the RFL's own making. 1 - Failure to attract neutrals and non RL fans to the final. 2 - Failure to secure sponsorship for the most famous Rugby League competition in the world. Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president

For me Catalan have to be involved. We would be a sporting laughing stock if they are not allowed to defend their trophy. Think again boys.

Last seasons final there was nothing around the stadium to say there was a Rugby League Final there until the day it’s self. I spoke to someone at the stadium regarding this he had no idea why, we stood watching workers putting up banners etc, just utter disgrace by the RFL.

Yep - I live in London and you see a lot of visual advertising on billboards plus in things like the free Evening Standard that all the commuters read. The NFL games at Wembley are hugely well marketed and also the NFL are very good at getting press coverage - pretty much throughout the year you seem to see stories in the local press about the next round of NFL games, the future plans for an NFL team in London and so on.

The football teams are active in visually marketing themselves, West Ham especially, and this morning I saw a big poster about Millwall FC half-season tickets for sale.

London has a big and transient population and a lot of people are "up for stuff" ie trying new things, especially the younger generation in their 20s and 30s. They put up with a lot of downsides in London - expensive rent, shoddy living conditions, cramped commutes to work, for the lifestyle which London offers which is there are always new things going on. So people will be like "oh, a film festival? I'm up for that. New rooftop bar opened? Lets check it out. New fitness challenge? Lets sign up." This is where the NFL has done very well as it is heavily marketing to an audience which wants new things to do, and Surrey cricket have exploited this for their T20 evening fixtures which are always well attended and you get huge groups of people coming from their workplace, you can see how it has happened, someone has seen it, sent an email round their workplace "who is up for the Surrey game" and loads of people sign up.

So I think there is a market here for rugby league especially given that the prices are relatively affordable. When the 2013 world cup was on and they did the double header semi finals at Wembley (Eng-NZ, Aus Fiji), I got a group from work to come and they were amazed how cheap the tickets were for a world cup semi final - a couple of them were rugby union fans who always complained about the difficulties in getting their hands on England RU tickets at Twickenham.

What you really need is a bit of visual marketing presence plus some good media management to make sure the Challenge Cup Final gets talked about in the Evening Standard. The NFL did a good job on George Osborne because he used to talk about the 'economic opportunities of a London NFL franchise' when he was Chancellor and I expect now that is also why the Evening Standard (which he edits) gives them generous coverage. I wonder if the RFL have talked to Sadiq Khan? He likes to talk a lot, and if you sell it to him as a working class sport, the showpiece fixture has a long heritage of being at Wembley, at risk of being taken out of the capital, you might get Sadiq starting to make statements about how important it is for London to preserve this tradition and then there are media stories.

I appreciate that it's hard to get people in London to become regular attendees of London Broncos games, partly because there is so much other stuff going on people don't like to commit to regular things. But for one off big events, there's a fertile target audience. The milennials down here all want new stuff to put on their instagrams, so taking selfies at Wembley with the Challenge Cup going on behind them would be perfect, and also then spreads the marketing on social media through hashtags to their peers #selfie #rugbygame #challengecupfinal #wembley etc

Good post Sally.

The RFL does not know how to market in the 21st century (if they did in the 20th century). Their current genius strategy seems to be emailing all those people who went to the Magic last time, and who will likely go again, with a 10% discount. As if discounting the ticket price will encourage more people.

How on earth they cannot fill Wembley Stadium on 1 day, for a well known event watched all over the world, in a major city with 8.3m population is beyond me.

Quote ="Wires71"This is a problem entirely of the RFL's own making. 1 - Failure to attract neutrals and non RL fans to the final. 2 - Failure to secure sponsorship for the most famous Rugby League competition in the world. Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president'" Agreed and in addition poor scheduled between 1/4 to semi to final. 18 full days between semi and final was utter madness.

Quote ="Wires71"This is a problem entirely of the RFL's own making. 1 - Failure to attract neutrals and non RL fans to the final. 2 - Failure to secure sponsorship for the most famous Rugby League competition in the world. Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president'" Agreed and in addition poor scheduled between 1/4 to semi to final. 18 full days between semi and final was utter madness.

In this day & age it is true that the right marketing will sell anything ,unfortunately our leaders at the RFL seem to be doing their best to consign Rugby League to history.

Quote ="Wires71" Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president'" Thats an astonishingly pathetic board. so two directors with zero rugby league background but plenty of swimming background. and the secretary is currently juggling two jobs . We don't seem to have replaced Sinfield who himself was split between Yorkshire and media city. I know we shouldn't compare ourselves with the FA but they all have a wealth of being CEO of big companies or football clubs and all have some experience of being in football prior to their FA board roles. we have a guy who is CEO of the Jewish council. I mean that will come in handy for nothing...!! on a separate note there was an advert on sky for all the upcoming sports on Sky sports for 2019. everything possible was highlighted on there, except Superleague, absolutely scandalous.... there are a few seconds of coverage on the twitter advert but it's edited out of the TV advert..... not fit for purpose the RFL, and so far the CEO of superleague also look's like he is making no more of a difference than an empty swivel chair.

Quote ="Wires71" Just look at the RFL board though. Are you surprised by the lack of new ideas and dynamism. No wonder the Hearn's thought "no thanks". https://www.rugby-league.com/the_rfl/ab ... _president'" Thats an astonishingly pathetic board. so two directors with zero rugby league background but plenty of swimming background. and the secretary is currently juggling two jobs . We don't seem to have replaced Sinfield who himself was split between Yorkshire and media city. I know we shouldn't compare ourselves with the FA but they all have a wealth of being CEO of big companies or football clubs and all have some experience of being in football prior to their FA board roles. we have a guy who is CEO of the Jewish council. I mean that will come in handy for nothing...!! on a separate note there was an advert on sky for all the upcoming sports on Sky sports for 2019. everything possible was highlighted on there, except Superleague, absolutely scandalous.... there are a few seconds of coverage on the twitter advert but it's edited out of the TV advert..... not fit for purpose the RFL, and so far the CEO of superleague also look's like he is making no more of a difference than an empty swivel chair.

I'd be happy for Warrington to pull out of the competition in solidarity for the clubs expecting to pay to compete in the Challenge Cup.

Hmmm. I like that idea. Put the RFL in a corner.
Reminiscent of the USA and CCCP in the Olympics.

We're hopeless in England in regards to organising a protest. From a football side of things, nothing ever gets done because of the rivalry between supports is too tribal. Look at the things they achieve in Germany where rival fans can come together to protest the issues that effect them.

I'd like to think that the friendly(ish) nature of Rugby League fans could be used to address some (but not all) concerns within the game.

if this saga continues it would be great if all clubs fans could wear yellow vests to a round of matches in support of our French friends.

The HJS would then look like a stadium full of Keith Lards.

I'm not sure the FA is that much of a model of success. There have been some disappointing attendances for England internationals and although last year was a good performance at international level, when you think of the money spent on bringing in Eriksson, Capello we didn't really deliver much. As for the new Wembley...how far behind schedule/over budget was that? The Premier League is probably a better model to aspire towards in terms of running the sport well and attracting interest and investment.

Also I don't think having a rugby league background is essential, as long as they know what they are doing and have transferable skills to bring in that can promote a product. Simon Moran isn't a rugby league man in the way that say Gary Hetherington is, but he brought a lot to the club and not just money.

My real gripe with the RFL board, over many years, is it just seems to be a comfort zone job. It feels like the senior management board of a local authority or a university, where you get people who are just happy to be there, have a position which sounds good, looks good on the CV, and their ambitions are little more than staying there and maintaining a status quo rather than driving the sport as hard as it can to get bigger. Same with Super League: they like to create the impression of being innovative thinkers, with gimmick changes to the format every few years like Club Call and the Super 8s, but these are just superficial changes and mask an inertia in any real ideas for taking the league forward.

It's a Disgrace, So if Catalans won super league this year and the final attendance was down, would they then have to pay a bond to compete in super league next year? What a joke the RFL are, absolute disgrace!!!

That's a very good point

Not associating with those people.

Want to fill Wembley gain neutrals? more rugby on the BBC their viewing figures for rugby league dwarf sky!!