Paul Youane wrote:
I wonder whether the new website launch might be happening to coincide the club's official season launch next week?
That's the normal sort of thing you'd do.
As for not updating the honours board for the Challenge Cup win last year maybe somebody has took the same view of many on here apparently and decided Challenge Cups count for nothing until we've won a Super League title.
To be honest though I don't need to go on the club's website to check whether we won the Challenge Cup last year. I have my memories from being there on the day to confirm it. Guess if you weren't there on the day you might need the website honours board to remind you.
The purpose of the club website isn't to remind existing fans what they have won, its presenting the club brand to the rest of the world and most importantly to the new audience.
Surely "2019 Challenge Cup Winners" should be a key part of the brand that we should be shouting from the rooftops. It shouldn't just be about whether the bit in the honours section was updated.
I remember back when Bradford Bulls were a thing, they beat Newcastle Knights in the WCC game and they had the whole "follow the World Champions" branding ready to go next day.
For any fan potentially new to rugby league who is browsing about the club website I would want them to pick up some messages pretty quickly:
- we're one of the better teams
- we've won four Challenge Cups in the past decade
- there's a lineage of legends at the club, including the greatest try scorer in history
- we've just signed Gareth Widdop who is a big deal
- Blake Austin has a highlights montage that would make say a general RU or sports fan think, this guy is worth watching
I know you probably think that me and Wires71 have a bee in our bonnet about a petty point and hopefully when the new website is launched it will all go away.
I think what grates with me more than the general sloppiness is that if I was working at the club and had access to updating the website, I'd have gone on and updated the 2019 win to the club honours board on the night of the cup final win. Not because it was my job but because I'd just want to see it when I clicked refresh and it was up there proudly on the page. We haven't won that many trophies since I've watched the club so I want that to be something we make a big deal of.
I'm also a bit disappointed that in general the fanbase seems to have taken a 'meh, it was ok' attitude to winning that cup. It was the best big game performance I've ever seen from a Wire team. We made a far bigger deal over losing at Wembley in 1990 than we did of winning in 2019.