Shizzle my nizzle mofo. Don't dis my tach. It put shame in your game.

The switch to Monday night televised SKY games has just been confirmed and I am seriously disgruntled by this. If anything the Saturday evening televised games were perfect in terms of getting to game on time and getting home. Now it looks like it will be a case of the mad struggle to get to Friday night games or sitting in watching at home on a Monday night. There is simply no hope of me getting to a Monday night game when I've got work the following morning.
With my luck they will choose the London Broncos away game (the easiest game of the season for me to get to) to show on a Monday night on TV. This, as well as the loss of the Crusaders and the moving of the Magic games to Manchester just means I will get to even fewer games this season. Its almost as if somebody at RFL HQ doesn't like me. (Either that or my wife has been talking to them).

But as a viewer, the Saturday games were a joke last year with kick off times rangeing from 3:15 to 4pm to 4:45pm, 5pm, 5:15pm, 5:45, 6pm, 6:15pm, 7:30pm - not even exaggerting that. Stability helps the game and being on Sky Sports 1 is important ratings wise. So I can see both sides of the argument. As a fan its a p*sser!

I'd guess the players wouldn't be happy at playing twice in five days. More... www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ja ... day-nights

I'd guess the players wouldn't be happy at playing twice in five days. More... www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ja ... day-nights

I certainly dont think they will choose London home games for a Monday evening,

I would not welcome it as I have already booked hotel for the friday & saturday as well as plenty of others I presume.

All lancs or all yorky games would be the best option

I definatley see the logic money wise and agree Sky keep our game afloat but this has seriously peed me off, going to be so much hassle on a Monday night even a home game, away games are almost out the window

My non-researched gut feel is that we haven't had that many Saturday sky games recently, as we tend to be involved in the more major Friday match. Will Monday be secondary to Friday or will Sky try to make them equal partners?

please forgive me for being flippant as i know i have ideal circumstances ie 9-5 job in Wigan but what would the big problem be for people who manage to get to Friday night games the only downside i see is for young kids with school i personally am not bothered about going on a Monday night

Even away games we still get a good following to Friday night games at Hull, Leeds or whereever it may be if it works and the games coverage growns i dont mind.

As a RL fan i would love see sky broadcast a game Fri Sat Sun and Mon

again i dont mean to cause a massive row just a genuine question to why people cant make it and are getting so annoyed

Leeds v St Helens will be the first game on 21st May - moved from Friday 18th.

I understand the point of view of fans who unfortunately have to travel from far and wide to get to games, and they do have a reason to be annoyed by it. But I still don't think it's a bad move. no matter when games are played there are always going to be some people who can't make it, whether it be due to work commitments, travel or whatever else. It's impossible to please everybody. I can't see us even playing more than 2 games on a Monday night. If it turns out to be a home game It's unfortunate that people who travel from far away won't be able to make it but it is a good oppurtunity to get more people viewing matches on tv and spreading the good game to a wider audience. Understandably an away game in say leeds or Hull would be harder to get too. and it may affect away followings but is it really that big of a deal? We should be happy that sky are trying to be proactive and giving Rugby League a prime time slot on a Monday evening where viewing figures should go up considerably with nothing else to compete against.

10 Monday Games will be shown between 21st May and August 6th featuring 12 of the 14 clubs. Safe assumption the two not being considered are Catalan and London which rules out two of our three away games in that time span.

So at least one Wigan game will be Monday which unless they pick Wakefield Away (not likely) is going to be a home game against either Widnes, Bradford, Cas or Hull.

I'll say again as a viewer its a good move because the Saturday Kick Offs are a joke again this year. First two months of this season they change between 6pm, 5:45pm, 4:45pm, 7:45pm, 5:00pm, 5:15pm - no consistency at all. Like it or not we've been swamped out of Saturdays by Test Match Cricket and now Formula 1. Monday Nights on our own, and crucially on Sky Sports 1, will ensure far, far better ratings than being on Sky Sports 2 or 3 in an irregular Saturday Slot.

Totally see the point about fans point of view but at least they've committed to spreading the range of teams out - lets see how it works.

They bloody best not move London away, we are one of the best attenders to this fixture.



However im not against this idea, and look quite forward to rugby on a monday night!

The only problem I would have is if they sell tickets first and then move the game to Monday - we have a 200 mile round trip to Wigan and work on a Tuesday so it would make attending difficult.

SKY are not botherd if the Monday game crowd is 2000 down on the previous fixture the year before, kids will not be going over to Yorkshire on a school night,what determines this a success is viewing figures, they will be bad in june due to that kickabout in poland and ukraine.

Quote from Richard Lewis "Monday nights are regarded as one of the most desirable spots in sports broadcasting across the globe, and we're excited by the potential extra exposure for the game. We see it as a real positive."

He's definitely got a point there though hasn't he; premiership, NRL, NFL etc all have big Monday night slots. As long as they are sensible with the fixture selections then it might not be such a pain. I mean we took a fair few to Salford last Tuesday and that was only for a friendly. It is annoying for families with school-age kids although a decent chunk of it will be during holiday time. Sky now need to do their bit and get some decent adverts on for it though not like that ridiculous one that's on at the minute!

I'm excited by the Monday games.

Although I go to the majority of games I rarely enjoy the none Friday night ones.

Sundays are my least favorite of all the three days so maybe Mondays can be better?

I've booked time off work to make one game per month whether it be Friday or Saturday or Sunday, however a Monday night game would involve an extra day off and I'm not sure i could stretch to that. When would we find out if Wigan are involved and if so when?

With my shift patterns it wouldn't bother me, but obviously someone who works (or has to be up) at say 6am on a Tuesday may not go to Hull on a Monday. They probably would have on a Friday.

As people have said though, Sky don't care about the crowd size. They only care about the viewing figures. They mess around with football games left right and centre meaning that fans can no longer go to games, but as long as there are still people watching on TV (which you will) they're happy.

At least clubs get money for the inconvenience and drop in crowds when they get their cheque from Sky at the beginning of the season. Championship clubs have games shifted to a Thursday night and receive zero TV money!

My only worry would be the short turn around. Knowing the RFL they'd ask the Monday night team to play on a Monday and then the Friday whilst their opponents get a usual week to prepare.

In a game as physically demanding as rugby league that's a huge disadvantage.

I don't mind too much, as long as it's announced well in advance - it's the games that are switched at short notice that annoy me.

Maybe there is some logic behind the move to more Sunday games to give the team more recovery after a potential Monday game.

Yep definitely, the RFL need to sort out what the remaining 9 games are ASAP and get them announced. The last thing we want is tickets being sold for a Friday night and then it gets switched to a Monday.

We only have Sunday games up until March, after that the are pretty much all Friday apart from the odd Sunday away game.