Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 8:15 am  

alegend wrote:

Do not agree about two leg cup games .The C C as poor fan base and do not think it you got a score of were one team as a 25 plus lead do not think there will be much of a crowd for return leg .The idea of scrapping Magic Weekend is mad .This is one of the main reasons why Sky pay there money it is a show piece Why they stoped doing all derbys I can not understand .

Yep utterly bizarre that last bit. Maybe it was Davey who had a sulk because Hudds don’t have any mates to play.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 8:24 am  

alegend wrote:

Do not agree about two leg cup games .The C C as poor fan base and do not think it you got a score of were one team as a 25 plus lead do not think there will be much of a crowd for return leg .The idea of scrapping Magic Weekend is mad .This is one of the main reasons why Sky pay there money it is a show piece Why they stoped doing all derbys I can not understand .

Have to agree with you on this.
The whole point of the cup is that its knockout rugby, winner goes through, loser goes home and depending on who is playing, the second game could be awful.
A one sided first game would kill the fixture and neither side and more importantly, the fans, would have any appetite for the second leg.
It's certainly not going to halt the decline in the popularity of the cup.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 8:32 am  

wrencat1873 wrote:

Have to agree with you on this.
The whole point of the cup is that its knockout rugby, winner goes through, loser goes home and depending on who is playing, the second game could be awful.
A one sided first game would kill the fixture and neither side and more importantly, the fans, would have any appetite for the second leg.
It's certainly not going to halt the decline in the popularity of the cup.

That was also my concern. It works in a sport like football where likely 1/2 scores are the difference. Can you imagine York getting pumped 50 nil and having a return fixture…..

I agree with a fair few points of what IMG are trying to do but they really need to look at the competitions in more detail.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 9:24 am  

Agree totally re CC.
Magics another matter, never been never had any kind of interest.
For me it's a fixture when each club should play each other home and away.
Also wasn't the Tragic supposed to encourage a massive upturn in new support.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 10:38 am  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

I wasn't sure about summer rugby, until a game at Oldham in that truncated season, where 26 players slid about in the mud for 80 minutes (if anyone was there, it was the one where the fox ran round the pitch at half-time). That settled the argument in my mind.

I think the Challenge Cup has diminished, but I think that is partly to do with changing lifestyles. Going to London used to be a big deal, the big day out for us simple northern types. As the old Wembley closed, cheap flights came along and hotel booking sites. Going to London is no big deal anymore and hotel stays are often part of a night out. So, the big trip to the smoke lost its allure too.

As for other things, I don't think the lack of Aussie tours has got anything to do with Super League but more to do with the growth of the NRL and Origin as well as full-time professionalism. The increased physicality of rugby league due to full-time professionalism means that teams can't do the tours in the same way as before, playing multiple clubs and then the tests. Now, it's three games and that's it. And the Aussies aren't as bothered anymore because they're too focussed on Origin.

The problem with the game is that it has been run by dinosaurs for too long, who haven't seen beyond its roots and not had the vision of how to make it work beyond the roots.

We should look at the NFL for inspiration. UK NFL fans don't want to watch Manchester Gladiators play American Football. They want to watch the New York Jets, or whoever, and maybe one day see it live. In the same light, someone in Torquay perhaps doesn't want to watch Torquay Rovers play Barrow but would rather see Warrington play Saints, and perhaps even follows Warrington, or whoever, in the same way that UK NFL fans will have their own favourite team unconnected to where they are from.

Perhaps one way is for each club to commit to play one game at a location many miles from their home base, in expansion areas, with some compensation to the club for lost ticket sales. The NRL do it. The Rabbitohs often play a game on the Sunshine Coast, There are commonly games in country towns.

I'm tentatively supportive, provided clubs have a change to access Category A status, and it isn't just a way of persuading the big money clubs not to shrink the league; ie. if you promise to keep it at 12, or maybe 14, we promise you'll never get relegated, but no one else will get the same chance.

I would.
What would be wrong with that?
Joking aside, while I lived in Torquay in the 70's, I got into RL by meeting fans of clubs who were there on holiday. ("Grockles" as we called them/you)
I chose Wakefield as a lad the same age as me had one of the shirts on and I liked it!

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 12:49 pm  

Surprised winter rugby is being talked about, and if we can't make summer work then we really are stuck.Sure, I used to turn up in the depths of winter, and to be fair I have some great memories, but it doesn't hold any appeal to me now.

[PopTart]

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 2:45 pm  

I agree. I love night matches in Winter but I don't love the freezing cold and rain.
Or games being called off for the weather.
Or a trip across the M62 when your windscreen wipers don't even clear your window at full speed.

Of course we start in winter but most gamescare in the sun.....and so it should remain.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 4:00 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I agree. I love night matches in Winter but I don't love the freezing cold and rain.
Or games being called off for the weather.
Or a trip across the M62 when your windscreen wipers don't even clear your window at full speed.

Of course we start in winter but most gamescare in the sun.....and so it should remain.

It’s bad enough going to Leeds and fev December and Jan/February. Lost feeling in my feet half way through. I’m all for starting season a few weeks later than present.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 10:30 pm  

One of the concepts behind moving to summer was the possibility of enhancing the match day experience (IMG refer to this in their piece about product) The Bulls obviously did this exceptionally… however it became stale and eventually stopped

I remember one occasion my kids were desperate to go to the game so they could meet ‘Chico’ … who was the pre match entertainment.

I hope the club have an ear blasting sound system to accompany the new screen.

Re: Full circle. : Sat Oct 01, 2022 10:40 pm  

Spookisback wrote:

One of the concepts behind moving to summer was the possibility of enhancing the match day experience (IMG refer to this in their piece about product) The Bulls obviously did this exceptionally… however it became stale and eventually stopped

I remember one occasion my kids were desperate to go to the game so they could meet ‘Chico’ … who was the pre match entertainment.

I hope the club have an ear blasting sound system to accompany the new screen.

I don’t think it became stale I think as ever clubs stopped trying and it’s bitten them.

It needed to evolve but we British are lazy at entertainment outside of pop music.

I remember Chico and the others and although it wasn’t for me it really attracted people. I remember people on the roof of the old SuperBowl for Diversity??

Yes you’d hope the sound system comes as part of the deal with the screen or it kind of defeats the object.

Just wondering, if we have our own big screen do we get a rebate from SKY as they save money?