The future of Rugby League is in China

[adamkungl]

Touch footy is by far the safest and easiest way to get into RL. If you were selling RL to the Chinese Govt to get on the schools programs then Touch Footy is the product you would use. Its suitable for all ages, carries little physical risk, is appealing to females as much as males, needs few players per team, needs little infrastructure costs etc etc

All true.

But - Rugby League's income is in fans paying to watch, and its resources are footballers developing for levels where fans will pay.
Will touch football ever translate into income (paying fans) or resources (developing professional footballers) ? I'm not convinced. Even at it's highest level, there's no one paying to watch touch footy. I'm not convinced that it has much value.

 

[Perth Red]

All true.

But - Rugby League's income is in fans paying to watch, and its resources are footballers developing for levels where fans will pay.
Will touch football ever translate into income (paying fans) or resources (developing professional footballers) ? I'm not convinced. Even at it's highest level, there's no one paying to watch touch footy. I'm not convinced that it has much value.

Good point re being a revenue raiser and it may well be a loss leader in that regards but it is also a massive marketing vehicle. If you can get touch footy players aligning themselves with RL then there will be cross over into support for all of the game. At the moment they dont consider themselves RL players so have no connection or affinity to the NRL and its clubs. I doubt Union Sevens makes anymore for the Union bodies around the world but its a great vehicle for selling their main product to business, new markets and in raising profile through the Olympics etc.

I'll use something local as an example, when they decided they would screw the NRL nines attendance by playing on a Friday on Valentines night they should have sent out an invite to al registered RL and Touch Footy players in WA for $10 tickets for the Friday session. That's 15,000 people to direct market to with some level of connection to the product being sold. Any business worth its salt will tell you the most valuable asset they have is its customer database they hold and the relationship they have with purchasers.

 

[greenBV4]

touch footy definately needs a rebrand to bring it in line with RL - and I think it does have its advantages in junior grassroots

Joey Johns seems to be a big advocate for touch footy and has even said playing it young would improve playmakers' abilities. The argument is also that smaller playmakers/backs wont be scared off of league at a younger age were the weight differences can be huge - then can hone their skills in touch, then when older make the transition to contact were there playmaking skills will shine

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I'll use something local as an example, when they decided they would screw the NRL nines attendance by playing on a Friday on Valentines night they should have sent out an invite to al registered RL and Touch Footy players in WA for $10 tickets for the Friday session. That's 15,000 people to direct market to with some level of connection to the product being sold. Any business worth its salt will tell you the most valuable asset they have is its customer database they hold and the relationship they have with purchasers.

Do you seriously think there was a conspiracy at ARLC HQ to sabotage the event because it was in Perth?

It wouldn't have mattered what time or date it was played. The attendance would have still been low.

 

[MrE_Assassin]

touch footy definately needs a rebrand to bring it in line with RL - and I think it does have its advantages in junior grassroots

It does.... it's called TRL (Touch Rugby League) and has had former players like Darren Lockyer and Scott Prince really push it in QLD. They even market it as the same rules as RL but without the tackles. TRL is pretty big and runs multiple competitions throughout the week.

https://www.trl.com.au/about/about-trl/

 

[MrE_Assassin]

The problem I find is that there are too many different versions of touch footy (Traditional touch, TRL, OzTag/Flag Footy) and therefore the NRL and RLIF for international spread needs to put it's branding behind one of them and stick with it.

I remember during last year's finals series they had a touch "competition" running that played before some of the finals games and the teams were aligned with NRL teams (Cowboys, Titans, Broncos, Tigers, Eels and Roosters I think were the teams).

EDIT:
https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/04/05/expanded-nrl-touch-premiership-ready-for-year-two/

 

[Pippen94]

We should definately be trying to grow the sport in Asia but probably not so much China

How controlling is union in Japan? Could be worth trying to covert a few there. There's also the more "western" city states like Hong Kong and Singapore. Maybe Taiwan to stick it to China if they wouldn't allow funding. Then there's also Indonesia - Imagine a NRL team based in Bali haha

No chance of sport taking off in asia

 

[greenBV4]

No chance of sport taking off in asia

union seems to of done fairly well in Japan

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

No chance of sport taking off in asia

Dunno, Rugby of either code has grown in places like Russia, the Caucasus, Turkey and so on, you never know.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

It does.... it's called TRL (Touch Rugby League) and has had former players like Darren Lockyer and Scott Prince really push it in QLD. They even market it as the same rules as RL but without the tackles. TRL is pretty big and runs multiple competitions throughout the week.

https://www.trl.com.au/about/about-trl/

Wynnum Manly Seagulls promote Touch Rugby League in the Redlands.

 

[MugaB]

Not sure about china, but Japan RL is keen, i recently helped with some inital graphic designing for a team who wish to enter their league there, Abiko Ducks

 

[greenBV4]

Not sure about china, but Japan RL is keen, i recently helped with some inital graphic designing for a team who wish to enter their league there, Abiko Ducks
View attachment 42514

Nice designs
It makes sense that anywhere with a strong RU scene can also have a strong RL scene

 

[MugaB]

Nice designs
It makes sense that anywhere with a strong RU scene can also have a strong RL scene

Yes theres a rugby union team there called "the green shoots" its really interesting how league and union are perceived there, it might be hard to get traction tho, as the union there is called "TOP LEAGUE" how ironic

 

[MugaB]

Also found a rival japan team jersey
Tokyo 13 Warriors

 

[Perth Red]

No chance of sport taking off in asia

such a common myopic rugby league attitude. Union doesn’t seem to be having trouble growing their game there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_in_Asia

 

[Perth Red]

Donkey it wasn’t about deliberately sabotaging but deciding they would acquiesce To tv rather than schedule what was best for attendance, typical nrl really.

play the nines on Saturday and Sunday and it likely draws 30k plus attendance. Starting it at 4pm on a week night that also happened to be valentines night was destined to see a low crowd for day one. Not that overall the crowd was bad, It was only a couple of thou less than the world nines in Sydney and that’s supposed to be the games heartland, and more than the previous nines in Auckland.
I know for a fact a lot of RL fans here went screw you after vlandys came out with his wasting money line a couple of weeks before the event.cracking marketing ploy by Vlad, just pss off your customer base why don’t you. There was nine of us planning to go for both days, I ended up going on my own just for the Saturday as everyone else bailed either due to Vlandys comments or it being Friday night. Even then I had to force myself as I also felt the nrl were just taking the pss.

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

The Fumblers really did well over there didn’t they...taking their minority sport to China... what a coup... Then Victoriana sold themselves to the Chinese for the Belt and Road project, against the Federal Government.

Then kicked an own goal with how they handled the Wuhan Flu..Which the whole country is still paying for...

The future of Fumbleball and the state it came from are now both firmly in the shitter...

Never take advice from self-righteous Victorians...

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Donkey it wasn’t about deliberately sabotaging but deciding they would acquiesce To tv rather than schedule what was best for attendance, typical nrl really.

play the nines on Saturday and Sunday and it likely draws 30k plus attendance. Starting it at 4pm on a week night that also happened to be valentines night was destined to see a low crowd for day one. Not that overall the crowd was bad, It was only a couple of thou less than the world nines in Sydney and that’s supposed to be the games heartland, and more than the previous nines in Auckland.
I know for a fact a lot of RL fans here went screw you after vlandys came out with his wasting money line a couple of weeks before the event.cracking marketing ploy by Vlad, just pss off your customer base why don’t you. There was nine of us planning to go for both days, I ended up going on my own just for the Saturday as everyone else bailed either due to Vlandys comments or it being Friday night. Even then I had to force myself as I also felt the nrl were just taking the pss.

Fair enough. It would probably be better to hold it during the middle of the season.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

The Fumblers really did well over there didn’t they...taking their minority sport to China... what a coup... Then Victoriana sold themselves to the Chinese for the Belt and Road project, against the Federal Government.

Then kicked an own goal with how they handled the Wuhan Flu..Which the whole country is still paying for...

The future of Fumbleball and the state it came from are now both firmly in the shitter...

Never take advice from self-righteous Victorians...

Adelaide Storm has a nice ring to it. Send them to South Australia so our game can be free from the Victorians.