Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:38 am  

A great well written article discusses to urgent need for the game to make some serious adaptations and tweeks in order to prosper. https://tidesofhistory.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/seize-the-day-twelve-ways-to-make-rugby-league-great-again/ The new chairman of the RFL, Ralph Rimmer, claims “the game is in a good place”. But that reeks of complacency. Move the Challenge Cup to winter and run it as a pre-season tournament before the Super League begins. Running from January to March – when fixtures are sparse – it would be a reversion to the traditional winter game and could be marketed as a heritage competition.

A great well written article discusses to urgent need for the game to make some serious adaptations and tweeks in order to prosper. https://tidesofhistory.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/seize-the-day-twelve-ways-to-make-rugby-league-great-again/ The new chairman of the RFL, Ralph Rimmer, claims “the game is in a good place”. But that reeks of complacency. Move the Challenge Cup to winter and run it as a pre-season tournament before the Super League begins. Running from January to March – when fixtures are sparse – it would be a reversion to the traditional winter game and could be marketed as a heritage competition.

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:43 am  

The first comment on the blog by Jean, one minute before this thread was started.

Did you log in to the wrong account?

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:49 am  

From that article:

Since 1998 only four teams – Wigan, St Helens, Bradford and Leeds – have won the Super League.

A truly damning statistic.

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:13 am  

The interest in the challenge cup would be even worse if you moved it to a winter competition.

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:16 am  

4 clubs have dominated both finals for 20 years. Warrington have now replaced Bradford but the status quo looks set to continue. Catalan and Hull are threatening to break into the big 4 but too often lack consistency.

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:18 am  

kobashi wrote:

The interest in the challenge cup would be even worse if you moved it to a winter competition.

Agreed, but I do think the final should be earlier in the year, June or July for me, no need for it to be on a bank holiday weekend.

[Karen]

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:22 am  

kobashi wrote:

The interest in the challenge cup would be even worse if you moved it to a winter competition.

Completely agree, especially in the early rounds.

The game is a fast paced, physically demanding game. Our players get a relatively short close season as it is to recover/have surgery etc, especially those in the internationals. The CC in the close season would only serve to shorten that much needed recovery time.

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:38 am  

[quote="Sir Kevin Sinfield"]Agreed, but I do think the final should be earlier in the year, June or July for me, no need for it to be on a bank holiday weekend.[/quote]



Totally agree I think having the final in the middle of the super / middle 8s is ridiculous

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:58 am  

I'd have the CC Final on May bank holiday and still start at the same time. Just play the fixtures fortnightly then three weeks until the final to allow fans a little more planning/build anticipation. I think playing them more regularly would keep continuity and focus on the cup, and having the final far enough away from the Grand Final would stop it being overshadowed, and reduce the likelihood of fans saving money for one or the other.

Something like:

Round 1 (amateurs) - 27/01/18
Round 2 - 10/02/18
Round 3 (League 1 teams introduced) - 24/02/18
Round 4 (Championship teams introduced) - 10/03/18
Round 5 (bottom 4 SL teams introduced) - 24/03/18
Round 6 (top 8 SL teams introduced) - 07/04/18
Quarter Finals - 21/04/18
Semi Finals - 05/05/18
Final - 26/05/18

I get what people are saying about having the first game of the season be a CC game to generate interest, but I can't see that working under the current format. You would end up struggling to get the earlier rounds to go ahead if the weather is bad (starting in late January and leaving a fortnight between fixtures is already a challenge given that some of the amateur teams pitches aren't great).

[Karen]

Re: Twelve Ways To Make Rugby League Great Again : Fri Aug 10, 2018 11:22 am  

Grimmy wrote:

I'd have the CC Final on May bank holiday and still start at the same time. Just play the fixtures fortnightly then three weeks until the final to allow fans a little more planning/build anticipation. I think playing them more regularly would keep continuity and focus on the cup, and having the final far enough away from the Grand Final would stop it being overshadowed, and reduce the likelihood of fans saving money for one or the other.

Something like:

Round 1 (amateurs) - 27/01/18
Round 2 - 10/02/18
Round 3 (League 1 teams introduced) - 24/02/18
Round 4 (Championship teams introduced) - 10/03/18
Round 5 (bottom 4 SL teams introduced) - 24/03/18
Round 6 (top 8 SL teams introduced) - 07/04/18
Quarter Finals - 21/04/18
Semi Finals - 05/05/18
Final - 26/05/18

I get what people are saying about having the first game of the season be a CC game to generate interest, but I can't see that working under the current format. You would end up struggling to get the earlier rounds to go ahead if the weather is bad (starting in late January and leaving a fortnight between fixtures is already a challenge given that some of the amateur teams pitches aren't great).

That weekend is the football play off weekend so Wembley isn't available.