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The League Media

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Mullos

Stan Wickham (3)
The Yanks like fast-food artificial sports so could see them liking Loig more than proper rugger.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...-nightclub-fight/story-fniabjcr-1227095891712

SEVERAL NRL players have been questioned following a wild night in a Brisbane VIP nightclub booth.
North Queensland Cowboys centre Tautau Moga was arrested while Canterbury Bulldogs veteran Reni Maitua is understood to have been at the nightclub when the incident occurred.
Members of the Samoan rugby league team competing in the Four Nations tournament were brought in for questioning after an incident with police at Hot Gossip nightclub in Fortitude Valley on Sunday morning.

The unsavoury drama casts a shadow over the Four Nations tournament that kicks off this Saturday with a blockbuster double-header at Suncorp Stadium.

Not a lot being said about this. Must be par for the course for teams to behave like this in the great blockbusting international game that is Greco-Roman Rugby.
 

No4918

John Hipwell (52)
Sad that it is hardly in the news after occuring several days ago. Meanwhile an arugment on an airplane threatens to bring the ARU down.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Sydney media was temporarily interested in a blue at the Golden Sheaf that didn't involve a NRL player. #BringBackTheBiff, #WhyWeren'tTheyInvolved?
 

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
How the fuck do you cast a shadow over an event that barely exists?


I wouldn't be too cocky about that with where we sit right now... I wouldn't be surprised if more turned up to the Kangaroos v Kiwis match than they did to the brilliant spectacle we saw on Saturday's Bledisloe and I would also wager it'll rate better on TV too - Bledisloe only got a little over 700k with FOX & C10 combined.
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
More turned up to a recent club grand final in Melbourne, and watched it on FTA. A lot of folk turning up or watching doesn't mean that it is any good.

How many people watch Home and Away and Neighbours?
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
I wouldn't be too cocky about that with where we sit right now. I wouldn't be surprised if more turned up to the Kangaroos v Kiwis match than they did to the brilliant spectacle we saw on Saturday's Bledisloe and I would also wager it'll rate better on TV too - Bledisloe only got a little over 700k with FOX & C10 combined.


Fuck where we sit. I'm cocky about where we can go!

League is a tinpot shit bucket of a sport that is popular almost nowhere.

We sometimes get overwhelmed that we have the arseholes just up the street, and forget the possibilities.

I'm feeling pretty bullish because Cheika is saying the right things. If his attitude filters down at national level like it did at the Tahs, the no-dickheads policy will fall into place as a matter of course.

If we kick some arse at RWC2015, and show those ABs they've hung onto their legends too long, we'll be ready to take back the mantle and fucking keep it. Aussies will support any fucking team that is willing to whip out the cock and have a red hot go.

FUCK league.
 

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
More turned up to a recent club grand final in Melbourne, and watched it on FTA. A lot of folk turning up or watching doesn't mean that it is any good.

How many people watch Home and Away and Neighbours?


I wasn't really talking about whether "it is any good" - which is an entirely subjective point. We're really talking in economic terms surely; we need money to run the game here, and the cash comes from bums on seats and eyes glued to TVs.
 

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
Fuck where we sit. I'm cocky about where we can go!

League is a tinpot shit bucket of a sport that is popular almost nowhere.

We sometimes get overwhelmed that we have the arseholes just up the street, and forget the possibilities.

I'm feeling pretty bullish because Cheika is saying the right things. If his attitude filters down at national level like it did at the Tahs, the no-dickheads policy will fall into place as a matter of course.

If we kick some arse at RWC2015, and show those ABs they've hung onto their legends too long, we'll be ready to take back the mantle and fucking keep it. Aussies will support any fucking team that is willing to whip out the cock and have a red hot go.

FUCK league.

Hahaha love your passion mate! I'm pretty stoked with Cheika too and have plenty of faith in the man and I'm sure he'll run the shop his way too.

Fingers crossed it all works out how you've just predicted.

All the same, I don't hate League - played both forms of rugby - and reckon we could learn a thing or two from the NRL and AFL (who're both really copying the NFL - the world's most successful foobtall comp by a mile).
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
There are certainly bits we can copy. But we can't manipulate the game to our own ends like the NRL and AFL can - that is their major strength.

The real problem AFL is going to have in the next ten years is market saturation. That's why they're hitting western sydney so hard - they need a boost. But what happens once the Giants are established? They're swiftly running out of options. Kind of like NRL already is, and NZ Rugby has.
 

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
There are certainly bits we can copy. But we can't manipulate the game to our own ends like the NRL and AFL can - that is their major strength.

The real problem AFL is going to have in the next ten years is market saturation. That's why they're hitting western sydney so hard - they need a boost. But what happens once the Giants are established? They're swiftly running out of options. Kind of like NRL already is, and NZ Rugby has.


Given League has had all the big TV events this year, I reckon the NRL actually has more options than the AFL because they're still to move into Perth and Adelaide, and long term could put a team a second or third team in NZ.

You're right about the rules being a big advantage, but the other thing they have is accessability with FTA - that's our Achilles heel, and for us Super Rugby is now a real worry.

It's been a brilliant competition and I think it's current incarnation of 3 conferences of 5 teams has been fantastic. But they're about to dick it up massively with this new deal, so I'm not sure what the game will look like when the next TV contract comes around. We needed Super Rugby on FTA this time around and didn't get it, so if this new comp flops, what are our prospects for the future?
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
League has big TV events because its carefully managed - State of ORRRRRjn is one of their huge ones, because they put it up against nothing on a Wednesday night and promote the everloving shit out of it. They put three games on a week otherwise, plus their "Test" matches.

Contrast this to the AFL which has heaps of FTA content spread across three time zones and coverage of a team in every state except Tasmania. The ratings for each product are therefore diluted on a per-event basis, but their numbers shit all over league like it ain't even a thang.

Their TV viewing numbers are lower than NRL's peak numbers because fucking HUGE membership and attendances. Just to put it in scope, compare the numbers:

NRL membership count TOTAL - 240,644 (15,040 per club)
http://membership.nrl.com/membershiprace

NRL total attendance: 3,376,409 (average 16,798)
(http://afltables.com/rl/crowds/2014.html)


AFL membership count TOTAL - 814,657 (45, 259 per club)
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-08-02/club-memberships-rise

AFL total attendance: 6,971,851 (average 33,680)
(http://afltables.com/afl/crowds/2014.html)


Puts us in the shade in either case, but AFL dwarfs NRL, which is why Gould et al are shitting themselves.
 

TahDan

Cyril Towers (30)
The AFL has way bigger crowds than any other code in the country and is definitely the best organised, but in terms of dollars earned, the NRL and AFL are now pretty well on par - both with TV deals in excess of $1bn. The NRL has more "big ticket" events thanks to Origin and the money is made on TV far more than in the stands and League is a game almost made for TV.

That said, Dave Smith is incentivising crowd numbers and clubs like Souths are doing an impressive job of boosting their membership and averages. I support the Roosters, but am quietly pretty envious of how well Souths are run.

League also has the added benefit of having at least a couple international rivals and aren't forced to play a hybrid game to put an Australian team together. So they have two levels of rep footy with genuine competition (albeit poorly organised because England suck) whilst the AFL have none. In my view that gives the NRL more potential over-all.

But we're talking about Rugby. What's your view on the new Super Rugby deal?
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Well, this thread is about league.

Anyway, some factoids:

NRL and AFL are now pretty well on par - both with TV deals in excess of $1bn.

20% of that NRL $1bn isn't actual money. Its advertising with Channel Nine. And therefore, bullshit money, given the parasitic relationship NRL and Channel Nein have.


League <snip> have two levels of rep footy


Origin isn't a level of rep footy in the true sense of the word. While being only available to < 10% of players in the competition, the rules around eligbility are also utter bullshit as proven by "That's In Queensland!" on Youtube.

If they REALLY wanted to make it rep, they should fuck off the concept of "Test Rugby League" and have Origin comprise NSW, QLD, NZL, and Samoa. In the UK they should play England, Ireland, France, Wales and then have a playoff.

In terms of expansion, the whole setup is still muttering about the bullshit the Storm get away with, so no hope of more teams yet.

New Super Rugby deal is one we have to take while gritting our teeth and wishing for more lube. Ultimately the ARU is in no position to dictate terms, and without a winning FTA product you're not going to sell a winning PayTV product.

South Africa are driving this, the Argies and Japan want in, and the Kiwis will do whatever gets them more money, because their rugby market is at its limits unless they start cranking out babies or getting their immigrant population to follow the game hard.
 

p.Tah

John Thornett (49)
from Steve Mascord in the SMH

Since Jarryd Hayne's departure, many Australian rugby league fans have shown exasperation that the Parramatta fullback has been referred to in the United States as "a rugby star".
But that's what he is.

Only in Australia and New Zealand have rugby league fans surrendered the use of the word "rugby" to union. In New Zealand it's even worse – rugby league is mostly just "league".

...........

If rugby union thinks it is "rugby" in Australia and New Zealand, they why can't we be rugby in places where neither code has a history? I can use Jamaica as an example – league is growing there and it is the only rugby many of its participants know.

Why not try to widen the pool of people whom, when they hear the word "rugby", think of rugby league? That should be our aim.

Why change our name to "league football" and start from scratch when millions of people can picture something in their mind when they hear the word "rugby"? Why discard a marketing opportunity like that?

Yes, I am advocating riding rugby union's coat-tails – stealing their IP, even. And I am simultaneously very big on governments recognising us as a separate sport, which is a major battle for rugby league of which most fans remain unaware.

Those two positions may seem contradictory. But they stole half our name in Australia – let's steal some of their IP elsewhere. All's fair in war.

Normally I like Mascords articles, but these are contradictory positions. You can't try and say you are a separate sport and then pretend you're not when it suits you.
 
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