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The Hayne effect.

Messages
226
The benefit is that people live in the real world and understand how human beings operate. If you're hoping for some American posters to come on here and tell you that interest in RL is booming because of Hayne and that the sport is about to take off all over the USA then great, if that's what you want to hear then there it is. RL fever sweeping the nation because some no-name rookie from some minor NFL team used to play a different sport.

The reality is that people 'reading blogs' or hearing mention of RL doesn't mean a thing in terms of RL development. Even if we take it to an absolute extreme everyone in the USA now knows what RL is, it doesn't mean a thing because the sport just isn't there apart from at a very minor, local level. Unless there is a visible local competition then general public awareness is quite frankly irrelevant at this stage. Aside from the NFL themselves deciding to invest in RL as a summer TV alternative, the absolute best possible scenario here is that someone stumbles across RL, likes it, cares enough and is fit and motivated enough to want to take up an involvement the sport, has enough initiative to check online for any RL presence in the USA and happens to live within a reasonable distance of an existing USARL team. A pretty unlikely series of events and not even really worth discussing apart from the absolute zealots who seem to jump on this type of thing.

Evil -

The USARL do believe this can be positive

http://www.usarl.com/2015/03/usa-rugby-league-welcomes-the-arrival-of-jarryd-hayne-in-the-nfl/

But let me guess you live in the real world and would know better.
 
Messages
226
Nationwide boom incoming!!

BTW that article is over 6 months old.

No one has ever suggested a nation wide boom so I am not sure why you are trying to make out this to be the case.

The article is 6 months old but the context does not change. I can not speak on behalf of Peter but I would suggest Jarryd making the cut does not change his view.

The original post was asking for a view on development on the back of Jarryd's achievements. I have simply sited a source that to be fair has a lot more credibility than you.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
No one has ever suggested a nation wide boom so I am not sure why you are trying to make out this to be the case.

The article is 6 months old but the context does not change. I can not speak on behalf of Peter but I would suggest Jarryd making the cut does not change his view.

The original post was asking for a view on development on the back of Jarryd's achievements. I have simply sited a source that to be fair has a lot more credibility than you.
A source saying what? That they welcome Hayne to the USA? I'm sure they do. You would expect the USARL to make a statement, it would be crazy if they didn't. That doesn't mean there is some sort of 'RL development' off the back of this. That's completely absurd.
 

RoosTah

Juniors
Messages
2,257
Yeah. To Australian fans, a non-story about an Aussie playing a different sport is more relevant to international RL development than actual international RL development. And people wonder why the sport is so underdeveloped at international level.

Pretty sure it's not a "non-story" mate - unless you live in some fantasy world where something the newspaper reading public are eager to read about is a "non story". It's not even just here - in the US his jersey is the biggest seller, so let's not try and pretend this is like Burgess going to Bath or something. It is a genuinely impressive feat, and it's resulted in Americans slowly referring to our game as "Rugby League" instead of just "Rugby."

Sure, the progress of the USARL is critical for that grass roots development, but for that to improve in the U.S. a bit of brand awareness in the form of a star Rugby League player making a name for himself in their favourite sport isn't actually a bad thing.

I honestly don't get why you resent it so much - it's a good news story and it's resulted in more Americans than ever realising there are actually two forms of Rugby!
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Pretty sure it's not a "non-story" mate - unless you live in some fantasy world where something the newspaper reading public are eager to read about is a "non story". It's not even just here - in the US his jersey is the biggest seller, so let's not try and pretend this is like Burgess going to Bath or something. It is a genuinely impressive feat, and it's resulted in Americans slowly referring to our game as "Rugby League" instead of just "Rugby."

Sure, the progress of the USARL is critical for that grass roots development, but for that to improve in the U.S. a bit of brand awareness in the form of a star Rugby League player making a name for himself in their favourite sport isn't actually a bad thing.

I honestly don't get why you resent it so much - it's a good news story and it's resulted in more Americans than ever realising there are actually two forms of Rugby!
I 'resent' it because you people live in a f**king fantasy world, you think what is printed in the SMH is reflective of the rest of the world. If you want to believe that Hayne is a NFL megastar based on a handful of preseason appearances and that RL is slowly but surely gripping the American public on the back of that then good for you. I'm pretty certain that the majority of people commenting here have never watched the NFL, and certainly don't know much if anything or even care to know about actual legitimate RL development in the US.
 

ParraEelsNRL

Referee
Messages
27,694
I 'resent' it because you people live in a f**king fantasy world, you think what is printed in the SMH is reflective of the rest of the world. If you want to believe that Hayne is a NFL megastar based on a handful of preseason appearances and that RL is slowly but surely gripping the American public on the back of that then good for you. I'm pretty certain that the majority of people commenting here have never watched the NFL, and certainly don't know much if anything or even care to know about actual legitimate RL development in the US.

Got tonights lotto numbers?
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Got tonights lotto numbers?
No, but I'm pretty certain that large (or even small) amounts of people aren't suddenly going to become invested in some small, obscure foreign sport just because a player who is now playing a different sport happened to play it in the past.
 

strong_latte

Juniors
Messages
1,665
I 'resent' it because you people live in a f**king fantasy world, you think what is printed in the SMH is reflective of the rest of the world. If you want to believe that Hayne is a NFL megastar based on a handful of preseason appearances and that RL is slowly but surely gripping the American public on the back of that then good for you. I'm pretty certain that the majority of people commenting here have never watched the NFL, and certainly don't know much if anything or even care to know about actual legitimate RL development in the US.

Jesus mate, you need to calm down. Don't think anyone is saying Hayne is going to make the Americans nuts over the NRL, but maybe, just maybe, it's doing just a little bit of good to have 49ers fans looking at NRL highlights reels. Sure, it might not amount to a tonne but it's not exactly hurting our cause.

So try to cheer up "cobber" and maybe try not to let this get you too upset befor lunch over there.
 

Joker's Wild

Coach
Messages
17,894
Yeah. To Australian fans, a non-story about an Aussie playing a different sport is more relevant to international RL development than actual international RL development. And people wonder why the sport is so underdeveloped at international level.

Yep, its all Australias fault :crazy:
 

rob749

Juniors
Messages
17
No, but I'm pretty certain that large (or even small) amounts of people aren't suddenly going to become invested in some small, obscure foreign sport just because a player who is now playing a different sport happened to play it in the past.

"But it's rugby League mate, Rugby League! They just need to see it to realise it's the greatest game of all! And because of Jarryd Hayne they'll now watch YouTube clips and fall in love with Rugby League!"

I agree with Evil Homer. The whole thing has been blown way out proportion. But that was always going to happen because Rugby League is such a minor sport on the world stage that it honestly doesn't take much to boost it's almost non-existent profile.
 

deal.with.it

Juniors
Messages
2,086
Perhaps blown out of proportion, but it's impressive for the NFL's official facebook page to be posting highlights of Hayne's time in the NRL and tagging the NRL's official page.
The NFL is doing so much more publicity than they need/should be doing.

I wouldn't say that more people will watch te NRL now. But, if say the Jarryd Hayne now provided some free publicity for the Colonial Cup, i think more people than ever would know firstly what the sport was and secondly would attend the actual match.

I mean the article on the 49ers website interviewing the NRL executive has prpbably exposed more people to the concept of the RLWC than the television rights to RLWC2013 did.
And that in itself is crazy! It again shows how little RL is doing/does to promote itself to existing, not new, markets.
 
Messages
2,364
AFAIK both NRL and ESL are broadcast in the USA, it's just on a very minor, subscription-only channel which I believe mostly shows European soccer. Again, as things stand the chances of getting anything more substantial or accessible in terms of TV coverage are slim, since nobody wants to watch or invest in some little-known international sport with virtually zero profile, it's just not realistic.

Unless you can demonstrate that there is growth potential, which will be a lot easier to do if negotiators can bring to the table stats showing a base interest or curiosity in league - which Hayne being over there helps with. That wasn't there before, it is now.

The /nrl/ forum on reddit gained plenty of American subscribers over the pre-season. No shortage of threads on that site with hundreds, thousands of American sports fans discussing him and the sport of rugby league. Searches for 'Australian rugby' on Google US are higher so far in September than at any time in the past 6 years (and interest will continue to rise and probably be at their highest levels ever by the time September is done with). The same interest can be measured on Twitter, et al. These are all minor as f**k in the grand scheme of things but they're still stats which show that there are growing levels of curiosity regarding NRL, rugby league, australian rugby, however you want to phrase it, which won't hurt. It's better than nothing, which is what we had before. Nothing, which is what the rugby league world cup offered as far as interest piqued. How seriously a broadcaster will take this growing (minor) interest is open for debate but they're tangibles at the end of the day that can be used at the negotiating table. They're better to take into a meeting room than your "muh league international" attitude.

I think you're projecting too much, again. The Americans aren't like you. Sports wise, they're insular. They don't give a f**k if a sport is international or not. No US broadcaster is going to walk away from the negotiating table because rugby league doesn't host enough games between England and Fiji. This can only be good for league coverage and exposure in the United States.

You're sulking again because the NRL is front and centre of the rugby league world, as it always is, and as you always do.
 

miguel de cervantes

First Grade
Messages
7,468
The USARL should definitely invite Hayne to attend some of the Hawks' games or the USARL grand final. Definitely some scope for cross-promotion in that regard. Certainly wouldn't hurt.
 
Messages
2,364
Perhaps blown out of proportion, but it's impressive for the NFL's official facebook page to be posting highlights of Hayne's time in the NRL and tagging the NRL's official page.
The NFL is doing so much more publicity than they need/should be doing.

I wouldn't say that more people will watch te NRL now. But, if say the Jarryd Hayne now provided some free publicity for the Colonial Cup, i think more people than ever would know firstly what the sport was and secondly would attend the actual match.

I mean the article on the 49ers website interviewing the NRL executive has prpbably exposed more people to the concept of the RLWC than the television rights to RLWC2013 did.
And that in itself is crazy! It again shows how little RL is doing/does to promote itself to existing, not new, markets.

Hayne is getting noticed, don't let these negative-nancies tell you differently.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/search?q=hayne&restrict_sr=on&t=month

There's probably more posts discussing Hayne in one month on that NFL site than this subforum has all posts combined over the past 5 years :lol::lol: Hayne right now has a higher profile in the States than rugby league as its own sport does, and people are saying rugby league can't benefit from Jarryd Hayne? You would have to be delusional to think that.

There is real potential for rugby league to have a much better standing in the United States (considering right now its profile is so obscure) post Hayne than pre Hayne and anyone suggesting otherwise is just having a cry. This will be good for rugby league in the long run, if the right people play their cards right and make it count. Will league be anything more than a tiny niche sport after Hayne? No most likely not, but it will be bigger all the same.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Unless you can demonstrate that there is growth potential, which will be a lot easier to do if negotiators can bring to the table stats showing a base interest or curiosity in league - which Hayne being over there helps with. That wasn't there before, it is now.

The /nrl/ forum on reddit gained plenty of American subscribers over the pre-season. No shortage of threads on that site with hundreds, thousands of American sports fans discussing him and the sport of rugby league. Searches for 'Australian rugby' on Google US are higher so far in September than at any time in the past 6 years (and interest will continue to rise and probably be at their highest levels ever by the time September is done with). The same interest can be measured on Twitter, et al. These are all minor as f**k in the grand scheme of things but they're still stats which show that there are growing levels of curiosity regarding NRL, rugby league, australian rugby, however you want to phrase it, which won't hurt. It's better than nothing, which is what we had before. Nothing, which is what the rugby league world cup offered as far as interest piqued. How seriously a broadcaster will take this growing (minor) interest is open for debate but they're tangibles at the end of the day that can be used at the negotiating table. They're better to take into a meeting room than your "muh league international" attitude.
Of course a raised level of awareness, even if just a minor raise, can't be a bad thing for the sport (apart from the fact that we've lost a star player to achieve it). But the fact is that there is nobody acting on that, nobody making moves or negotiation of any kind, and quite honestly I'm not sure what sort of negotiations you're suggesting. I've already stated that the NFL establishing a pro RL competition as a summer TV filler would be the absolute ideal outcome here. But that's pie in the sky at the moment because there is no deal in place, no sign of one ever being put in place and currently no competition for them to even broadcast. The USARL is nowhere near the required standard and they certainly aren't going to take an interest in giving any sort of meaningful coverage to a foreign sports league.

The fact is that Google searches/Twitter comments etc really don't mean a thing in terms of legit development. They don't even mean that people are watching the sport, just that they happened to search for it because it was in the media. We do have actual American RL development happening, and nobody talks about it in favor of this type of fantastical bullshit.
I think you're projecting too much, again. The Americans aren't like you. Sports wise, they're insular. They don't give a f**k if a sport is international or not. No US broadcaster is going to walk away from the negotiating table because rugby league doesn't host enough games between England and Fiji. This can only be good for league coverage and exposure in the United States.
I haven't mentioned international league whatsoever here. I'm fully aware of the American sporting landscape, I've followed American sports for a long time which is part of the reason that I've been so dismissive of the majority of posts on this thread. Again, what league do you think is going to be broadcast? The NRL and ESL are already broadcast on Fox Soccer Plus, and you're kidding yourself if you think they will ever have a much higher broadcast ceiling than that when, as you've said yourself, Americans are insular as f**k. Your argument here seems to be "Americans are insular as hell, let's show them some obscure foreign sport from Australia and they will be hooked!". It's absolute nonsense.
You're sulking again because the NRL is front and centre of the rugby league world, as it always is, and as you always do.
We're talking about a NFL player on the North American RL subforum, what does this remotely have to do with the NRL? :lol:
 
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Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Hayne is getting noticed, don't let these negative-nancies tell you differently.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/search?q=hayne&restrict_sr=on&t=month

There's probably more posts discussing Hayne in one month on that NFL site than this subforum has all posts combined over the past 5 years :lol::lol: Hayne right now has a higher profile in the States than rugby league as its own sport does, and people are saying rugby league can't benefit from Jarryd Hayne? You would have to be delusional to think that.

There is real potential for rugby league to have a much better standing in the United States (considering right now its profile is so obscure) post Hayne than pre Hayne and anyone suggesting otherwise is just having a cry. This will be good for rugby league in the long run, if the right people play their cards right and make it count. Will league be anything more than a tiny niche sport after Hayne? No most likely not, but it will be bigger all the same.
People talking about Hayne are not talking about RL, any more than people talking about Lawrence Okoye are talking about discus. Do you think discus throwing is going to get a huge boost off the back of Okoye being signed to the Cardinals? No, it's stupid to even suggest. Obviously Okoye isn't as big a name as Hayne was/is, but the same principle applies. Hayne generates discussion because he is a curiosity and is doing something that has never been done before. That doesn't mean people have any interest or attachment to the sport he was playing before he joined the NFL. See my earlier analogy, if a top lacrosse player signed to a NRL team nobody would be talking about lacrosse, nobody would be investing in lacrosse or looking to help the sport of lacrosse, it's insignificant apart from being a curiosity. The fact that more people in America now know what RL is shouldn't be a surprise considering virtually nobody knew what it was before, and certainly had never had any reason to talk about it before.
 

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