Lack of publicity

[winnyason]

Listening to talking sport where lebanese coach was interviewed by the boys, and there was a geniune wow about first rugby league is really played in lebanon and they crowd of 3 thousand pulled to last years world cup qualifer. Then he went onto say he played canada in front of 4 thousand.

Now the thing i am getting to of this was aussie rules they would be saying they are going to rule the world, seems in traditional rugby league nations australia, england, new zealand we don't publicise how much the game is growing world wide.

I remember growing up it was only the big 3 and france + png. Now we have all the pacific nations, plus, usa, canada, jamacia, lebanon, serbia, russia, malta, denmark, ukraine, italy and norway.
Plus the other british nations. On top of this game is being established thailand, phillipines, singapore and indoenesia.

Now sure there are some negatives no doubt, the infighting in the usa where the clearly superior usarl model that seems to have better crowds the only thing for the amnrl is the tomahawks that are full of pacific islanders and union players. While the italians have the same problem.

But let's look at it in canada crowds v jamacia, lebanon and usa all around 4 to 5 thousand plus tv coverage, norway getting 3 thousand to there national final have live rugby league on tv, the game continues to grow in jamacia with 10 clubs crowds on the increase, have the genetics to be big players in league. The jax axeman crowds averaging 3 thousand in the usarl, plus the regular matches between european development nations.

This type of stuff is not reported and need to be in mainstream the game is growing.

 

[clarency]

That's because the majority of RL fans in Aus are stuck in a conservative approach.

Go on the NRL sub forum and you will find nearly all of them want to keep RL played at small grounds, and limit expansion into non heartland areas. Some of them have even suggested removing the newer teams in favour of returning to the "good ole' days" of the NSWRL.

AFL on the other hand are much more liberal and are very actively promoting the game to new areas.

The AFL type management system would do wonders for RL (mind you I think they took it a bit far with their recent actions).

The incompetence of the RLIF is telling in itself.

 

[winnyason]

It just amazes me, imagine the foaming at the mouth from sheedy with this growth in AFL.

 

[DC_fan]

That's because the majority of RL fans in Aus are stuck in a conservative approach.

Go on the NRL sub forum and you will find nearly all of them want to keep RL played at small grounds, and limit expansion into non heartland areas. Some of them have even suggested removing the newer teams in favour of returning to the "good ole' days" of the NSWRL.

AFL on the other hand are much more liberal and are very actively promoting the game to new areas.

The AFL type management system would do wonders for RL (mind you I think they took it a bit far with their recent actions).

The incompetence of the RLIF is telling in itself.

Conservatism to its finest degree.

Most league fans, either can't or don't want to see the bigger picture. To them, just as long as they have their team to support each weekend they don't care about the rest of the word. If the game dies around the rest of the world thats fine. They are very insular in their thoughts about the game and where it should go.

I have been pushing for China to have the 2017 World Cup. Recently their has been speculation that Manly will play Canberra next year in China. It would be great if it happened and it should happen.

If we want rugby league to not only survive, but also to thrive in the years to come then we need to take it to the world. Look, their is no guarantee that it would work. But we have to give it a chance.

Sitting our asses, be it fans or administrators and doing nothing will just lead to the demise of the game.

 

[winnyason]

money is the issue to some degree, i have just read the rlif Annual report, have 2 million in the bank not alot when considering the amount of nations now playing game.

 

[Sam_the_man]

It was insular Australian club CEO's that almost killed off the international game in the 70's and it was about this time that we lost touch with our punt and grunt cousins.
It's a relief to know that a lot of aussie fans have switched onto how inportant it is to grow our game. We need to embrace what we have globally too. AFL would sacrifice their souls to have an international presence like ours and we need to remember that the game is no longer England, NZ, Australia, PNG and France.

 

[Gambass]

I have been pushing for China to have the 2017 World Cup. Recently their has been speculation that Manly will play Canberra next year in China. It would be great if it happened and it should happen.

A couple of years ago, the world women's handball championship was held in China. Except for the finals, pretty much every game was played in front of less than 200 spectators..

 

[clarency]

And how many go to women's handball otherwise? Genuinely curious.

I think RLIF events should be located conservatively in heartlands to ensure profit, only to spread geographically outwards.

We are very lucky that we have heartlands in both hemispheres. Very lucky.

 

[Knownothing]

Thailand?


There's your problem, mate, too much bulldust gets spread around.

 

[clarency]

I was thinking New Zealand, South Africa when it gets up on its feet.

But if you're looking at SE Asia, Singapore would be the best option. Where did you get Thailand from?

 

[Sam_the_man]

Thailand?


There's your problem, mate, too much bulldust gets spread around.

Your user name says it all.

 

[nzwarriorskuz]

Conservatism to its finest degree.

Most league fans, either can't or don't want to see the bigger picture. To them, just as long as they have their team to support each weekend they don't care about the rest of the word. If the game dies around the rest of the world thats fine. They are very insular in their thoughts about the game and where it should go.

I have been pushing for China to have the 2017 World Cup. Recently their has been speculation that Manly will play Canberra next year in China. It would be great if it happened and it should happen.

If we want rugby league to not only survive, but also to thrive in the years to come then we need to take it to the world. Look, their is no guarantee that it would work. But we have to give it a chance.

Sitting our asses, be it fans or administrators and doing nothing will just lead to the demise of the game.

Rather play the match in the saraha desert than take it to China who's going to show up to a RL match there?

 

[DC_fan]

Rather play the match in the saraha desert than take it to China who's going to show up to a RL match there?

China would not be about instant success. It would be more about the start of something that in the future could become very special.

In everything we do their has to be a beginning. A World Cup played in Chine in 2017 could be the beginning of the expansion of the game in to Asia.

In the last 100 years since the game started here in Australia where has the game expanded to outside us and NZ? Outside of PNG and to some extent smaller Pacific Islands it has gone no where. The people running the game have sat on their asses and did nothing. The way things are nothing will probably change in the next 100 years either. If it doesn't the game will be dead.

 

[Springs]

That's because the majority of RL fans in Aus are stuck in a conservative approach.

Go on the NRL sub forum and you will find nearly all of them want to keep RL played at small grounds, and limit expansion into non heartland areas. Some of them have even suggested removing the newer teams in favour of returning to the "good ole' days" of the NSWRL.

AFL on the other hand are much more liberal and are very actively promoting the game to new areas.

The AFL type management system would do wonders for RL (mind you I think they took it a bit far with their recent actions).

The incompetence of the RLIF is telling in itself.

And it doesn't help when fans of the game they supposedly love relentlessly deride the International game.
"I love rugby league but I'm not going to watch any tests because the International game is a farce. So instead of supporting efforts to improve it I'm just going to complain about how they are wasting time because it is such a farce."