: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:49 pm  

manxviking wrote:

Not true I'm afraid. RU was averaging over 600,000 last season compared to RL's 325,000. Some Heineken Cup matches surpassed football audiences. No SL game comes close. Only the Challenge Cup is well viewed on TV.

My source used to be an insider at SkySports but now works for the BBC.

You are way off the mark here mate, try BARBS official figures for comparison.
6-12th April on Sports 1, RU got 172, 121 and 41k, RL got 270, 230 and 213k
13th -19th April on Sports1, RU got 152k against 198, 154k for RL.

The 6-12th were the big one for RU, Heineken cup.

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:57 pm  

manxviking wrote:

Not true I'm afraid. RU was averaging over 600,000 last season compared to RL's 325,000. Some Heineken Cup matches surpassed football audiences. No SL game comes close. Only the Challenge Cup is well viewed on TV.

My source used to be an insider at SkySports but now works for the BBC.

seems the sky figures show rl is viewed more my child.

all figures in 100,000

.7 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:55) 270
8 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Thu 19:56) 230
9 SUPER SUNDAY - THE LAST WORD (Sun 18:30) 220
10 LIVE EUROPEAN RUGBY (Sat 17:53) 213



.5 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:30) 189
6 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 13:00) 165
7 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 15:27) 144


.Sky Sports 2
w/e 29 Mar 2009
000's
1 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:33) 216
2 LIVE FRIDAY FIGHT NIGHT (Fri 22:00) 159
3 LIVE PRO20 INTERNATIONAL CRICKET (Sun 16:55) 138
4 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Sat 17:55) 107
5 LIVE PRO20 INTERNATIONAL CRICKET (Fri 15:55) 82
6 LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Sat 13:00) 77
7 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 12:00) 75
8 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 14:28) 73
9 LIVE GREYHOUND RACING (Tue 19:30) 62
10 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL LIVE (Sun 21:55) 55



trust in me my child I am the truth

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:32 pm  

Thanks for the numbers.

In general, where is it possible to get these audience numbers?

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:40 pm  

manxviking wrote:

Not sure what you've been watching but as a regular viewer of RU (my wife is a Tigers fan and I follow the Sharks - how do you get Sharks in Sale; I mean Stockport?), and so far this year, I can't recall an SL game to match it for excitement. And that's despite the stupid ELVs which have made the game worse. SL is becoming horribly predictable. Too many injuries, too many bad refereeing decisions, too many dull games. RL will always be my favourite sport, but I think the game is going backwards and with the fear of losing gone in SL, we are seeing too many sides capitulating.

As for this division, be honest, Widnes v Leigh was a terrible game and I don't mean the result. As one of your number said to me after that game with a sardonic smile, "two bad teams".

As someone who watches both codes I've got to agree totally.
RU has slowly been getting its on field act together, whilst RL has continued to change for changes sake (or a minority TV channels sake - depends how cynical you are ).

: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:46 pm  

Its like tryig to compare the Football Championship with The Conference cause thats the difference in money being paid out between top flight RU and Championsip RL, at club level below the RU top flight the play is dire the players are mostly 'ham and eggers' so compare like with like o don't bother.
Anyway its a personal thing most RL supportres wouldn cross the road to watch RL and visa versa. Me I wouldnt waste time on RU at club level nd only just at nternational, bu the super 14's is a god comp.

: Fri May 01, 2009 10:34 am  

jesus-is-coming wrote:

seems the sky figures show rl is viewed more my child.

all figures in 100,000

.7 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:55) 270
8 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Thu 19:56) 230
9 SUPER SUNDAY - THE LAST WORD (Sun 18:30) 220
10 LIVE EUROPEAN RUGBY (Sat 17:53) 213



.5 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:30) 189
6 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 13:00) 165
7 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 15:27) 144


.Sky Sports 2
w/e 29 Mar 2009
000's
1 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Fri 19:33) 216
2 LIVE FRIDAY FIGHT NIGHT (Fri 22:00) 159
3 LIVE PRO20 INTERNATIONAL CRICKET (Sun 16:55) 138
4 LIVE SUPER LEAGUE (Sat 17:55) 107
5 LIVE PRO20 INTERNATIONAL CRICKET (Fri 15:55) 82
6 LIVE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF (Sat 13:00) 77
7 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 12:00) 75
8 LIVE PREMIERSHIP RUGBY UNION (Sun 14:28) 73
9 LIVE GREYHOUND RACING (Tue 19:30) 62
10 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL LIVE (Sun 21:55) 55



trust in me my child I am the truth

That's fair enough. Embarassingly, I apparently had my facts wrong after hearing from my mate - what he actually said is the Heineken Cup Final attracted around 600,000 he thought.

Nevertheless, those viewing figures are much lower for RL than I was expecting and I suspect the CC attracts far greater audiences.

Interestingly you don't quote Premiership football?

: Fri May 01, 2009 11:23 am  

I coach league and union, though I don't like watching union... there are occasionally good games, but the good-to-bad ratio in union is around 1 in 6 at best, while the ratio in league is 9-1 (for my money, anyway).

Union does have one massive advantage though, at both beginners and vets level. It is very scrappy by nature... ball to ground in the tackle so set up around competing for the ball on the floor and in working at the pace of the slowest players; offside mark so close to the play (back foot of the ruck) as denies space; kicking massively rewarded.... which means that the actual skill and fitness levels needed to play the game can be very low indeed...

...but as long as you have two matched teams of equally low ability, it doesn't matter. You get an enjoyable game to play, and the tension that accompanies any sport of a close result.

The women's team I coach would, at times, really struggle to play league at all. Their handling isn't great, their tackling isn't great, their willingness to break the line is questionable.... not for everyone, there are some great players... but for some. At league, it would be a contstant procession of knock-ons and teams going backwards on their own sets of six. But at union, they compete in meaningful and exciting games.

The same goes for vets rugby... I know RL seniors is looking to address this... but Union players often play into their fifties and sixties, in age-banded competitions but under full union rules. When was the last time you saw an amateur RL player over 45? There's usually one or two aged nutters at each club, but certainly not a team's worth.

: Fri May 01, 2009 2:18 pm  

manxviking wrote:

That's fair enough. Embarassingly, I apparently had my facts wrong after hearing from my mate - what he actually said is the Heineken Cup Final attracted around 600,000 he thought.

Nevertheless, those viewing figures are much lower for RL than I was expecting and I suspect the CC attracts far greater audiences.

Interestingly you don't quote Premiership football?

Premiership soccer gets abot 6x our audience, if only we could get 1/6th of their deal

: Fri May 01, 2009 2:29 pm  

people who enjoy watching Union must accept watching crap slow sports as OK. You get the odd Union game OK to watch but most of the time the skills and vision on show are less than in an under 10s League youth game!

Union has got away with lieing about most things it does for over 100 hundred years. It also has the old boys connection which push/force it on to people no matter what-Look at the BBC and media in general despite crowds often being less than League. Union is only strong at the International level and where it makes its money from. Even then theres about 8 Nations who are of similar standard then the standards drop steeply!

Many Union people know very little about the game and how to play it, its history etc yet its a bandwagon which brings in sadly millions to a sport boring as dish water which has a history of lieing, bribery and getting in to bed with dictators and bad regimes. Caucescu (Romania) Apartheid South Africa and Vichy France for example. Even today in Europe Union looks to stop people playing League in places like Greece, Serbia, Czech Republic etc.

: Fri May 01, 2009 3:39 pm  

Der Kaiser 1 wrote:

people who enjoy watching Union must accept watching crap slow sports as OK. You get the odd Union game OK to watch but most of the time the skills and vision on show are less than in an under 10s League youth game!

Union has got away with lieing about most things it does for over 100 hundred years. It also has the old boys connection which push/force it on to people no matter what-Look at the BBC and media in general despite crowds often being less than League. Union is only strong at the International level and where it makes its money from. Even then theres about 8 Nations who are of similar standard then the standards drop steeply!

Many Union people know very little about the game and how to play it, its history etc yet its a bandwagon which brings in sadly millions to a sport boring as dish water which has a history of lieing, bribery and getting in to bed with dictators and bad regimes. Caucescu (Romania) Apartheid South Africa and Vichy France for example. Even today in Europe Union looks to stop people playing League in places like Greece, Serbia, Czech Republic etc.

Once had a conversation with a woman who had gone down to Wales to visit the Union club her dad had come from years ago to find her dads name and photo blacked out of team photo.