How big is Rugby League in the UK

[deluded pom?]

Its all a smoke screen with union, kept up by the bias in the media, and until League gets the recognition is deserves then they will always be behind Union, regardless of the figures/facts

Nail on head.

 

[Evil Homer]

From reading this thread it sounds like the ESL has a lot of work in front of them to grow the game in the UK.
Was league more popular in the 80's and early 90's? I remember some of the players from that time were sensational (Hanley, Lydon, Offiah, Gregory..etc). Whenever there was any footage of UK game's shown over here (Aus) there always seemed to be packed staduims.

Nooo, you've got completely the wrong end of the stick.

There are always packed stadiums in Super League. RL is as popular as it has ever been and it still consistently growing, with crowd averages and playing numbers up year on year. Super League averaged over 10,000 this year. The problem is a lack of mainstream media coverage comparitive to the size of the sport(the editors of national newspapers are typical private school Union boys) and the fact that there are large areas of the country that don't know very much about the game. But overall, UK league is very healthy and continuing to grow.

 

[taste2taste]

Nooo, you've got completely the wrong end of the stick.

There are always packed stadiums in Super League. RL is as popular as it has ever been and it still consistently growing, with crowd averages and playing numbers up year on year. Super League averaged over 10,000 this year. The problem is a lack of mainstream media coverage comparitive to the size of the sport(the editors of national newspapers are typical private school Union boys) and the fact that there are large areas of the country that don't know very much about the game. But overall, UK league is very healthy and continuing to grow.

Its good to here that crowds and participation are growing.

I mentioned in a previous post the importance of free to air coverage. Here in Australia the NRL has said, for the good of the game they will never allow it to only be televised on pay tv. If you take the game away from the people the people will slowly leave it. Just look at the slow death of boxing in america, it was once the number 1 sport, since it went to payper view and cable it's really struggling to stay alive. If super league is hidden away on pay tv how can you possibly attract new fans, and if its only accesably to such a small amount of the population how can you possibly expect any media coverage.
Im not saying putting the ESL on free tv will make it the number 1 sport, but it will make a very big difference.

 

[deluded pom?]

The problem was t2t that RL was on the brink of collapse financially and needed to take satellite tv's money. Without it we'd have lost several clubs. None of the other broadcaster can match Sky's money, even though the RFL /ESL always undersell the rights when compared to RU and their viewing figures which are well down on RL. Unfortunately the game here isn't in the right state financially to turn down the Sky money and take a lesser offer from a terrestrial broadcaster. Plus the clubs don't really care who shows the game as long as they get enough money from the tv company to make ends meet. If we were in a siuation like the NRL where we could pick and choose who shows the games then I'd like to think we'd go with what's best for the game overall, not just twelve teams.