To Mr Wood and friends. : Sun May 05, 2013 9:32 am  

Watch last nights Football League Show on ITV and take note of what SPORT is all about.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Sun May 05, 2013 9:49 am  

Oh, I thought you were just going to tell them to F-off.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Mon May 06, 2013 5:09 pm  

I really do think that footy, especially the Championship as entertainment is wiping RL'S back sides just a lately. I've renewed my own interest, along with both my sons of getting along to watch the Leeds Utd lot this last couple of seasons & combined with going to see live bands play it leaves little time or disposable income for other interests such as RL. I try & make sure that i get to watch both my lads play RL at their respective clubs which in son No.2's case often means taking time off work due to midweek games & my working shifts as often as possible but who could argue with the cup runs of Leeds Utd & Bradford City even as just a tv armchair spectator in terms of excitement & backing the underdog this season ? Added to that, the last day of the league season this saturday with so much depending on survival against relegation or in Hull City's case promotion to the Premiership in a 3 point game that was billed as worth £120 million. On skysports simultaneously, Hull City V Cardiff City & on the red button Watford v Leeds Utd, it was gripping television even for the neutral.
Rugby league truly is a minority sport nowadays, much as it pains me to admit it. Wembley stadium was due to be used for all of the football league play off deciders, the F.A. cup final and the champions league final all within something like a five week period and rugby league fails almost every year to sell all the tickets for our blue riband event the challenge cup final. Something just has got to be wrong.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Mon May 06, 2013 8:34 pm  

marillion man wrote:

Rugby league truly is a minority sport nowadays, much as it pains me to admit it.

I am not trying to be mischievous but has it ever been anything different?

We all remember the cup finals when Wembley was a sell out and it was on Grandstand from dinnertime right through until well after the final whistle. But at least the sport knew what it was, what its strengths were and played to them. And yeah, it probably didnt have a strong following down south but it was extremely strong up north.

The idiots that have ruined the game have done it by trying to change too many things, too quickly. Common sense has gone out of the window by trying to dress it up as something it isnt. RL is a cracking sport; an honest game; it doesnt need the crap that comes with it.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Mon May 06, 2013 10:21 pm  

Bubba wrote:

I am not trying to be mischievous but has it ever been anything different?

We all remember the cup finals when Wembley was a sell out and it was on Grandstand from dinnertime right through until well after the final whistle. But at least the sport knew what it was, what its strengths were and played to them. And yeah, it probably didnt have a strong following down south but it was extremely strong up north.

The idiots that have ruined the game have done it by trying to change too many things, too quickly. Common sense has gone out of the window by trying to dress it up as something it isnt. RL is a cracking sport; an honest game; it doesnt need the crap that comes with it.

Agree with that Bubba, yer the Challenge Cup Final is nowhere near a sell out these days even with two Leeds v Warrington Finals two of the best supported teams! I go every year its my only non Fax game I go to now as there lies part of the problem the idiots at the RFL have succeeded in alienating genuine RL fans like me in heartland areas as they make it clear we aint wanted so I don't feel like giving them my money for other RL games any more, stuff 'em. One other thing that the RFL no longer publish which they did back in the day when the CC Final was full price and non of this pay half price or get the next ticket price up for the lower price and all that was the receipts, they used to get record receipts many times in the eighties yet why don't they say so today?
The way our game has become dishonest like exaggerating crowds and full of back stabbers who just look after themselves do not do anything for the good of the game, take the example of how Fax and the other clubs trying to set a standard for dual reg players was thrown in our face by some clubs.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Tue May 07, 2013 9:02 am  

Bubba wrote:

I am not trying to be mischievous but has it ever been anything different?

Well, by comparison with three sports to support my arguement, and we'll take the record RL Wembley gate receipts in the 80's as our timescale for comparison versus today's viewing or tv exposure figures.

Cricket: Back then there was only the one type of cricket 5 day test matches & the one day sunday league to access on tv, it's gone BOOOOOM in recent years, more colourful, more variations and certainly more interest.

Rugby union: Crikey, satellite tv is awash with RU with coverage from all over the world nowadays, back in the 80's the domestic league & cup attendances were so poor they weren't even published in the media. Now that their sport is fully professional it's gone mentally popular & is no longer strictly old school tie 'cos the money they throw around can tempt players from all over the world & from other sports.

Tennis: Although hardly any of us will know anyone who actually plays tennis, they seem to be able to attract big sponsorship & prize monies and the tv exposure is greater than RL, most certainly on sky tv, so if nobody really plays at grassroots how can it be so popular as an armchair tv sport ? But it is...

All of the above were not featured on tv as much as RL in the 80's i'm almost certain, they're sucking from the sky tv money just as RL is doing now, they've probably just been wiser with their strategies.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Tue May 07, 2013 3:18 pm  

Darts is a even better example of the above point.

When Halifax played Leigh in the NR final in Blackpool the `other year, more people attended the darts the night before than the RL cup final.

I have mates who dont even like darts, but go to it regular because its a good night out in fancy dress, cheap beer, in popular cities & more to the point its dirt cheap to go, it must be live on Sky sports as much as RL now.

A few years ago, nobody watched the darts. Barry Hearn changed the face of Darts overnight, he revamped it when it was un-popular and made it huge by making it appeal to to the right people.

If Barry Hearn became the chairman of RL it would be a succsess, he knows absolutely nothing about the game, but could he do a worse job than the people in charge now?

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Tue May 07, 2013 5:31 pm  

I don`t think you need to know a great deal about a product to be good at selling it , to me it`s two differant things.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Tue May 07, 2013 5:58 pm  

marillion man wrote:

Well, by comparison with three sports to support my arguement, and we'll take the record RL Wembley gate receipts in the 80's as our timescale for comparison versus today's viewing or tv exposure figures.

Cricket: Back then there was only the one type of cricket 5 day test matches & the one day sunday league to access on tv, it's gone BOOOOOM in recent years, more colourful, more variations and certainly more interest.

Rugby union: Crikey, satellite tv is awash with RU with coverage from all over the world nowadays, back in the 80's the domestic league & cup attendances were so poor they weren't even published in the media. Now that their sport is fully professional it's gone mentally popular & is no longer strictly old school tie 'cos the money they throw around can tempt players from all over the world & from other sports.

Tennis: Although hardly any of us will know anyone who actually plays tennis, they seem to be able to attract big sponsorship & prize monies and the tv exposure is greater than RL, most certainly on sky tv, so if nobody really plays at grassroots how can it be so popular as an armchair tv sport ? But it is...

All of the above were not featured on tv as much as RL in the 80's i'm almost certain, they're sucking from the sky tv money just as RL is doing now, they've probably just been wiser with their strategies.

Col, I wasnt suggesting RL couldnt be anything more than a minority sport. I dont need to convince anyone on here just how good the game is.

Re: To Mr Wood and friends. : Tue May 07, 2013 6:56 pm  

Sorry for going off topic, but, good luck to FC Halifax Town and their supporters for their game for promotion.