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A fight we can win with the right weapons (60 minutes)

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheezel
Just watched 60 minutes in what was a very biased report in favour of AFL. Well I say if AFL want war lets give them war!!!! I am going to boycott anything to do with the AFL and death ride to the game to any body that wants to hear.

If they want war they got one:x


______________

They must: consolidate sydney, focus on the individual fan and not the cumulative fan base. And stick with it against constant flak from super traditionalists and afl media types. The game itself will actually do the rest - draw people in - if we give it the right environment.

thats true for me too....at some points i thought i was watching an afl plug. But I have added more insight here for our fight, and I hope you'd like to read it too, cheezel.

Despite what was said though, none of it was not true - I think rather it was just made to look a more dire fight for rugby league by leaving plenty of cannon flak from league's side out. This just happened to make it a better story for most people. except us.

- I will say this about rugby leagues fight. On image, it will lose with the current set up. And image is a massive thing that can dominate perceptions. Its the first thing us humans look at when sizing something up.

RL does not consider the individual when it comes to image. Whats better for a person in terms of game-day experience? Sitting in a crowd at a modern facility with some 40,000 people adding to the atmosphere? Or sitting in a ground thats fairly old with between 10,000 and 17,000 people?

The former. Its much more exciting and inspiring. Thats AFL's image. Its more impressive and attractive. 12k at manly at an old feild is not impressive and does nothing to make the game attractive - sorry - to people. It serves only to steer people away, apart from the very core, more die-hard fans.

It doesnt matter that 9 sydney teams get 80,000 people over 4 games against afl's 35,000 at one...because people forget that its the individual's experience not the cumulative experience that matters....let me explain further: its a case of "I attended a match with 40,000 other people today." against "I attended a match with 14,000 people today." Everyone on this forum points to the cumulative today as the strength of the game....but when you forget that its individuals that matter, and the individual only thinks like above and is impressed by such....he does not think "I attended a match with 14,000 other people, and thats great, but the greatest thing is the cumulative attendance of rl in this town, it was 76,492 across 5 games." You see, he only takes that 14,000 other people experience, and thats his reality, thats what he sells to other people, thats what he feels....he doesnt feel the other 76,491 people as well. He can only be at one game at once.

He does not think like that. What happens at other games is not his concern when he is at a game with a bad atmosphere/poor facilities/lower crowd and less than what would be experienced elsewhere in another game (if he were comparing both over time and deciding which one he would rather attend more).

thats league's problem with image in general. It can't win at the moment with that. It needs to have games with 30-40,000 people attending. No matter the argument you present, you can't get past that, because otherwise league ISN'T winning or is not effective enough.

Also, the perception that league is more tough on bodies and junior football. Maybe league has a harder sell in this part, but thats all it needs to be: a tougher sell. Its easier for afl to sell its junior footy (and soccer too), as they seem less violent. I dont know if figures were doctored in a recent survey that showed league juniors had less injuries than afl juniors, with afl shoulder and knee injuries being rampant at senior level and all the way down the code.

That is a battle that is harder to win, but is harder not impossible.

In many ways what people fail to appreciate along with all the love for 9 sydney teams, is that too many teams for sydney is too much for the game to take. Image is a huge motivator for parents and people.

What of the person who goes to a game with 40k in a modern facility versus a person who goes to a a game with 12k in the older facility? Who goes away praising the night more? What people fail to see is that word of mouth is a HUGE (and free) advert for a game, an experience, a product. Forget excitement levels just for now, as any game on a one-to-one basis can be unexpectedly exciting or particularly boring (no one knows which before the fact)...and focus on the game-day experience. The better the atmosphere and facilities and ease of attendance and cost, the better the time, and the more recommendations it will get....nothing hits home better in marketing than a personal recommendation from someone you know and trust.

This is a cumulative effect over years that takes place.

I dont care who has the bigger sport, this is more about potentials being reached, and per capita attendance; so at this stage one would have to say AFL has the better game to attend (whether you think afl is good or not) and league the second best (which lets face it, 2nd best at the moment, is losing completely).

So in some regards the 60 minutes story is a perfect reflection over the 20 mins it was on, of the landscape of nrl and afl in sydney.

I know it sounded like an AFL plug, thats because its hard not to plug the AFL at the moment.

***RL could more than ever benefit from a greater match day experience including better facilities, increased praise from word of mouth, more support for juniors in selling the game to the young.***

AFL is not going away. They may try and fail largely with the older generation, but every child they get to play for them is a win in the younger generation, and if its a scale of 100 million dollars for 10,000 kids, that seems ok by them, its something to grow on. Those kids will grow and use word of mouth and actions to grow and establish traditions of afl in sydney.

To me, RL is diminishing, and AFL growing, and the 60 minutes story reflected that strongly. And its just and fair. No probs for me to accept.

Now I have accepted it, i realize more and more that rl needs to get all the things i listed between the *** asterix *** above in full swing. To achieve that end it needs to somehow: reduce teams to ensure greater resources and a wider reach in nsw/other states, move to vastly improved facilities either by building or upgrading or simply moving, and sell the game once more to children with a harder more effective sell. Teams need to average 30k within 10 years just to survive and increase sponsors and members; sponsors by about 2 fold at least and members 10 fold in many cases, and this coupled with a sydney team reduction may well starve off the effects of AFL.

They need to move on this now. As the leagues club funding dries up, the position becomes weaker and weaker for the nrl.

In a nutshell, consolidate sydney, focus on the individual not the cumulative fan base.
 

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,968
Agreed, what this week has proven is that perception is a huge weapon, and on that scale we are losing.

For all we know the stories of the last week could well have been orchestrated ie. league dying in Sydney, the might of AFL power can buy the ANZ stadium, then the 60mins propaganda story to top it off.


Hopefully the saying "necessity being the mother of invention" gets league heads together and we start the climb back.
 
Messages
42,632
Wwe need our journos, the blokes who are supposed to be on our side like Gould, Masters etc to fight back in the public arena instead of whinging and moaning in every article.

Nothing is what we've got from these dickless wonders so far. This is the f**king game that made you!

Fight back you merkins!
 

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
Agreed, what this week has proven is that perception is a huge weapon, and on that scale we are losing.

For all we know the stories of the last week could well have been orchestrated ie. league dying in Sydney, the might of AFL power can buy the ANZ stadium, then the 60mins propaganda story to top it off.


Hopefully the saying "necessity being the mother of invention" gets league heads together and we start the climb back.

i totally agree with you. This is what league needed but hated.

If you hold a head under water for long enough, it will FIGHT like a god to be free.

This also sounds to me like afl bought a lot of favours recently. I wonder when this story was filmed or planned, to be unleashed on league during origin time, or if it were coincidence.
 

Blind Freddy

Juniors
Messages
830
Agreed, what this week has proven is that perception is a huge weapon, and on that scale we are losing.

For all we know the stories of the last week could well have been orchestrated ie. league dying in Sydney, the might of AFL power can buy the ANZ stadium, then the 60mins propaganda story to top it off.


Hopefully the saying "necessity being the mother of invention" gets league heads together and we start the climb back.

Awesome post!! Very much agreed.

The foul stench of negativity has somehow clouded us, even more so than usual. Whether or not this is an orchestrated bombardment or not we need our genuine friends in the media to write about and flood the masses with the positives. (ratings, centenary etc)

What on earth are the NRL's Public Relations team doing??? What the hell are they getting paid to do??
 

Once Dead

Bench
Messages
3,140
We need to talk about our game positively......but also be rational about what needs to be improved.

For example, 2SM's Talkin' Sport programme in the afternoons is a great source of ideas but does nothing except exist as a negative pool of emotions.

Talk up the crowds, talk up the youngster come good, talk up the players who have overcome the odds, talk up the atmosphere, talk up the spirit and history of rugby league......and last but not least, talk up the fact that RUGBY LEAGUE IS THE GREATEST GAME OF ALL.
 

taipan

Referee
Messages
22,443
For starters the NRL/ARL can spell out the latest participation rates for the game throughout Australia,which are supposedly up.We get the odd snippet of info,thats it.Like a marketing assault with a feather.
You show the public via the print or elctronic media the game is in fact growing.All we are reading and hearing is doom and gloom.
i read somewhere that rugby league is getting into the AFL stronghold of the Tiwi Islands off the NT to be played in the dry season.
The bleeding NRL should be pumping this up,ch9 should do a story on it,but it won't happen due to a reactive rather than a proactive rl regime.
 

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
i totally wish we were more proactive.

all the innitiatives i would bring into the game over time, are proactive ones.


people go to me: "where's the money coming from, mark? for the stadia, etc...." they think i am bonkers (my wife does).

But you see, if you wait around for it, it won't come, you go get it, you take action, you save up and scrimp, to get better....

being proactive is hard work but it pays off, being positive and remaining that way is harder than being negative, but it pays off too
 

In-goal

Bench
Messages
3,523
The NRL needs to take full control of the game without debate, an umbrella organisation involving the ARL, NRL, QRL, NSWRL, CRL is required.

The AFL has one governing body why does RL need 5?
 

flamin

Juniors
Messages
2,046
I'd like to hear if someone has any ideas of how to use News Ltd as an advantage instead of a huge liability. We already there not going to leave the game for another decade at the earliest. So how can the ARL work with them?
 

griff

Bench
Messages
3,322
can't quite work out your argument. I agree that the match day experience makes people want to go back. But are you trying to say that the match day experience at a packed Leichardt is worse than a cavernous ANZ?
 

Misty Bee

First Grade
Messages
7,082
People need to realise that what makes AFL work doesn't necessarily make League work, and vice versa.

We could just as easily be responding to a 60 minutes story on the Storm's increasing foothold in AFL heartlend, who will surely die because it can't get a rep series or test matches happening, and struggles in TV ratings against the NRL.

Playing at 2 stadiums is stupid in Sydney, because unlike Melbourne, the transport nucleus doesn't coincide with the demographic centre of the population.

League is a TV sport. It has been since Rex Mossop's days. Threfore, a packed Leichhardt, with 2 teams dishing up quality Rugby League, is the exact product we want. Sure, you could fret over getting another 20k to the game. Or you could provide a bloody great package like the Tigers and Titans did, and add 200k to the national audience.

Therefore I repeat. If the income streams that League earns NOW was fairly distributed, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

As for Waldron - nothing more than a reply to Fitzy's jibes about moving the storm to Gosford. Two years too late.
 

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
can't quite work out your argument. I agree that the match day experience makes people want to go back. But are you trying to say that the match day experience at a packed Leichardt is worse than a cavernous ANZ?

sorry, allow me to explain further.

i think the match day experience at Leichardt is fantastic. High quality.

And that it needs to be replicated as much as possible in a modern stadium.

Its only that Leichardt cannot offer the financial rewards of a larger stadium. Plus in Leichardt's favour perhaps is the few times they play there now...its hard to imaging any benefits of playing games there all season, the facilities are not geared toward that in this day and age. They only make 5,000 bucks per match by the time you pay rent and match-day expenses.

Also, the match day experience at anz is of low quality. View for one, and feel for two. Getting there for some people proves difficult. Low crowds make it feel cavernous and empty....and these all detract from the experience.
 

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
People need to realise that what makes AFL work doesn't necessarily make League work, and vice versa.

We could just as easily be responding to a 60 minutes story on the Storm's increasing foothold in AFL heartlend, who will surely die because it can't get a rep series or test matches happening, and struggles in TV ratings against the NRL.

Playing at 2 stadiums is stupid in Sydney, because unlike Melbourne, the transport nucleus doesn't coincide with the demographic centre of the population.

League is a TV sport. It has been since Rex Mossop's days. Threfore, a packed Leichhardt, with 2 teams dishing up quality Rugby League, is the exact product we want. Sure, you could fret over getting another 20k to the game. Or you could provide a bloody great package like the Tigers and Titans did, and add 200k to the national audience.

Therefore I repeat. If the income streams that League earns NOW was fairly distributed, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

As for Waldron - nothing more than a reply to Fitzy's jibes about moving the storm to Gosford. Two years too late.


Oh dear, you are not playing by the rules they set out. Let me say something about why waldron said what he did:

This may be hard to read, but....they dish out the money, not you or me. Their financial people set how money is distributed.

And guess what. I agree with them.

They know sydney is a black hole, a vast pit whereby no grant could possibly fill the void of. The only solution is for sydney clubs to be financially well off making high profits. As it stands, the situation is unworkable for the future....everyone in the world, whether its you, or me, or football, HAS to pay its way. We are currently a comp that relies largely on handouts, grants from news and grants from leagues clubs, which work of evil pokies.

ALSO. foxtel, etc, buy the tv rights to show games and the money they make from subscriptions and adverts is NONE OF LEAGUE'S BUSINESS. They and we sign a contract for a sum agreed upon, and it has nothing to do with how much they make from it. You may hate that, but its how it is right now. Even if they were to give us more money, it would be such a waste of resources. Clubs would just continue to be as unprofitable as they are. The easy money would dry up as easy as it came one day, and we would be in this situation again at some other stage, with the same crowds and poor perception continuing throughout. Please get used to it, because its not going to change, and guess what? Its better for league this way.....they know it, and now we know it. Sydney is a vast black hole, and it needs to be a money tree instead.

Clubs must first be independantly profitable. The core component for this to happen is quality stadia. From crowds of 30,000 (avg) these days a club can generate 10million dollars revenue over the course of a year. Thats 10 times what a sydney club gets now.

With memberships, this is even greater.

With less sydney teams, there will be more competition from sponsors, thus adding to leagues value.

Plus from those extra crowds comes intangible things like image, perception, increased talk and feel about the game, less doom and gloom, and a greater rugby league town in general.

It will be a golden age in sydney rugby league. We are not the only sport to face this, and our troubles may be more or less than other sports, but the core components remain the same....the major one is the stadium situation, others are media-talk about the code, and juniors and star players recognizability and behavior (jury is out on this one, can add to a sport).


Here's one for you: how about for the past 20 years, instead of wacking heaps of money into rugby league players pockets, leagues clubs instead saved up and created a great rugby league stadium for sydney, got its money back off it, and handed ownership over to the arl/nrl?

Why wasnt this done? Think of how a lot of sydney's problems could have been avoided if they just did that? A few million per year between all of them, into an account or other investment, then bang, when they had enough, build a stadium that could EARN money.

Pokies are a rot on society. Its dirty money, its easy money, its a problem, and they thought it would always be coming, just like oil, mate....but its going to stop, and no one will have a thing to show for it. How evil is that? How messed-up for league is that??

I agree that much corruption and greed exists in league. It only has itself to blame, and its time to take out the trash. Sydney must make changes.

Now its time for change.
 

Father Jack

Juniors
Messages
59
The first thing that needs to happen is to stop playing games at ANZ. Why would you want to go and sit with 10-15k people in a 80k stadium? If it was at a smaller venue you would get more going to it, as the atmosphere would be heaps better, and if live sport is about anything, it is about atmosphere. The money offered by the stadium management is a short-term fix that is doing nothing for the long term health of the clubs that play out of there. I would've gone to a Rabbitoh's game when I was living in Maroubra, but I wasn't hiking clear across the city to sit on me own to do so.

But I'm guessing that is nothing that you didn't already know.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
67,090
The stadium deal isn't as great as people seem to think. What incentive is there to grow crowds if all the profit from that growth goes to the SMC? 20,000 people paying $20 is a sizeable income compared to the $100K ANZ tennants are currently getting.
 

griff

Bench
Messages
3,322
The only way you can get a good atmosphere and experience at ANZ is for there to be 50k+ plus there, but this is only going to happen a few times a season.

On the other hand we can get good atmosphere at the suburban grounds most weeks, if we promote them properly. We should aim for sell outs at boutique grounds most weeks. Of course we need to improve the amenities at these grounds, but really what we need is to promote the hell out of the matches.

ANZ, like Wembley, should be kept special for the odd blockbuster: Origin, grand final, and a return to the season opening double header.

Clubs feel they have to go to ANZ for the money - but this is short term thinking as they are disillusioning their fan base by doing so, precisely because the match day experience or atmosphere is so poor. The point I would make too is that they only need to take the money on offer from ANZ because they are chronically underfunded due to the underselling of our broadcast rights.
 

mark123

Juniors
Messages
828
The only way you can get a good atmosphere and experience at ANZ is for there to be 50k+ plus there, but this is only going to happen a few times a season.

On the other hand we can get good atmosphere at the suburban grounds most weeks, if we promote them properly. We should aim for sell outs at boutique grounds most weeks. Of course we need to improve the amenities at these grounds, but really what we need is to promote the hell out of the matches.

ANZ, like Wembley, should be kept special for the odd blockbuster: Origin, grand final, and a return to the season opening double header.

Clubs feel they have to go to ANZ for the money - but this is short term thinking as they are disillusioning their fan base by doing so, precisely because the match day experience or atmosphere is so poor. The point I would make too is that they only need to take the money on offer from ANZ because they are chronically underfunded due to the underselling of our broadcast rights.


Oh dear, you are not playing by the rules they set out. Let me say something about why waldron said what he did:

This may be hard to read, but....they dish out the money, not you or me. Their financial people set how money is distributed.

And guess what. I agree with them.

They know sydney is a black hole, a vast pit whereby no grant could possibly fill the void of. The only solution is for sydney clubs to be financially well off making high profits. As it stands, the situation is unworkable for the future....everyone in the world, whether its you, or me, or football, HAS to pay its way. We are currently a comp that relies largely on handouts, grants from news and grants from leagues clubs, which work of evil pokies.

ALSO. foxtel, etc, buy the tv rights to show games and the money they make from subscriptions and adverts is NONE OF LEAGUE'S BUSINESS. They and we sign a contract for a sum agreed upon, and it has nothing to do with how much they make from it. You may hate that, but its how it is right now. Even if they were to give us more money, it would be such a waste of resources. Clubs would just continue to be as unprofitable as they are. The easy money would dry up as easy as it came one day, and we would be in this situation again at some other stage, with the same crowds and poor perception continuing throughout. Please get used to it, because its not going to change, and guess what? Its better for league this way.....they know it, and now we know it. Sydney is a vast black hole, and it needs to be a money tree instead.

Clubs must first be independantly profitable. The core component for this to happen is quality stadia. From crowds of 30,000 (avg) these days a club can generate 10million dollars revenue over the course of a year. Thats 10 times what a sydney club gets now.

With memberships, this is even greater.

With less sydney teams, there will be more competition from sponsors, thus adding to leagues value.

Plus from those extra crowds comes intangible things like image, perception, increased talk and feel about the game, less doom and gloom, and a greater rugby league town in general.

It will be a golden age in sydney rugby league. We are not the only sport to face this, and our troubles may be more or less than other sports, but the core components remain the same....the major one is the stadium situation, others are media-talk about the code, and juniors and star players recognizability and behavior (jury is out on this one, can add to a sport).


Here's one for you: how about for the past 20 years, instead of wacking heaps of money into rugby league players pockets, leagues clubs instead saved up and created a great rugby league stadium for sydney, got its money back off it, and handed ownership over to the arl/nrl?

Why wasnt this done? Think of how a lot of sydney's problems could have been avoided if they just did that? A few million per year between all of them, into an account or other investment, then bang, when they had enough, build a stadium that could EARN money.

Pokies are a rot on society. Its dirty money, its easy money, its a problem, and they thought it would always be coming, just like oil, mate....but its going to stop, and no one will have a thing to show for it. How evil is that? How messed-up for league is that??

I agree that much corruption and greed exists in league. It only has itself to blame, and its time to take out the trash. Sydney must make changes.

Now its time for change.



league needs less short term thinking, i agree with griff 100%.....at the moment it needs to do what waldron said a few days ago, what many people also think and want done: consolidate its stadia (and not use anz maybe just for major games?, but just 2 others, maybe one to be upgraded? Possibly a third, who knows how it would work) and consolidate teams. which would involve moving some, one to gosford for instance.

The only way forward.
 

Misty Bee

First Grade
Messages
7,082
LOL. League players should have been all amatuer so that Leagues clubs could build a stadium to give to the code.

Next time - post BEFORE the LSD.

Before Super league, the ARL was the leading contender to build and own the Olympic Stadium. Super league happened - the lot was drained.

You dpn't also understand that News Ltd plunders $10 million from the game each year, nor that the TV rights deal - whilst being a conflict of interest, also undervalued the product?

Nope. It's all Sydney's fault. Everything is to those paranoid types who live elsewhere.
 
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