headhunter wrote:
Blame the fans who don't attend and talk down the game at every opportunity.
I am a realist. I don't talk the game down for giggles....I say it as I see it and the fans are becoming less and less engaged with the game. There are plenty of positives to talk about with regard to the game, but Superleague isn't one of them. The majority of posters on these boards are SL club followers.
You say it's the fans fault...I say it's unfair to expect fans to turn up to games if you don't ask them to come and ask them with bells on...the days of sticking posts in the ground and announcing KO times is long gone! And a few extraordinary cartoons don't cut the mustard either.
I would love to see the governing body take bold and strong decisions, designed to challenge the stereotypical view of the game, but instead they make nothing gestures and cow down to the wishes of the bigger clubs.
Regardless of the fact I am a London Broncos fanatic, if The RFL really wanted to expand the game, then they should have funded the club in the capital all guns blazing, a la Melbourne Storm. Instead, they are prepared to watch the club die slowly and become more of an embarrassment with each turn of the page.....they don't even have the balls to put
us out if its misery.
The howls of Chairmen bemoaning low attendances for London games in the heartlands are a smokescreen. 2,000 fans at 25 a head is 50k maximum.....about 1% of the turn over of a SL club....but still the RFL will manage London out of the top table citing nature taking its course and the game will retreat to the M62.......good luck with the naming rights sponsor then by the way!
headhunter wrote:
This World Cup will still probably be the best ever regardless.
In whose eyes? Certainly not those of the corporates, sponsors or major broadcast partner for the game in the northern hemisphere.
300k in attendance is all it will take to surpass the 2008 version......if that's the only gauge, then yeah 2013 should beat that, but in the real world, there has never been any targets set, bold statements made or clever initiatives put in place....it's all just been very "safe".
Don't get me wrong....I want nothing more than to tune into the opening ceremony and see a packed Cardiff and 2 cracking games of RL......once the cup starts then the RFL don't matter any more.....but if people tune into BBC and see banks and banks of empty seats, it will do the game no favours at all.
