Steve0 wrote:
Watching the England v France game really does make you question the long term future for our sport.
International RL should be the pinnacle of any sport...and this is far from it. The game is being played in a stadium that's less than half full and as a curtain raiser to a championship game later(I think there were only around 5k in Warrington last year for the same fixture so can't just blame the french for poor crowds), it's not on a main broadcaster in the UK, in true rfl style, superleague+ / our league style there were problems with being able to log on...and the production of it is poor.
With the NRL seeming less and less interested in international RL, it feels that France is one of our best options for regular competitive international RL marches, especially as Catalan continue to produce more top quality players and hopefully Toulouse do too in the near future, so I think we should stick with it, but it needs far more promotion and effort put into it to make it a meaningful fixture. The players are only being paid £250 too and had to fly on a delayed Ryanair flight to get there yesterday!
It doesnt help when the BBC is the only terrestrial tv channel
They are not interested in Rugby League anymore and in my opinion only outbid Channel4 in spite rather an any appetite for the game.
Didnt like the KO time with Channel Four but the coverage and presentation was good whereas the BBC coverage is all over the place,BBC 2 BBC 3 red button and the odd game i think on BBC1.
Even worse neither the BBC or the RFL do any pre game advertising.
Its really pathetic
The long term future of the sport i think will rely on some sort of merger with the NRL but that wont be done until they get rid of the speadsheet Charlies IMG.
Its too expensive and clearly not working in promoting or adding value to the game and Super League clubs now are beginning to see the light.
No dount another huge costly mistake by the RFL.
