The Las Vegas Thread

[Trifili13]

When you mentioned the stereotypes of where rugby league is popular it’s pretty funny you forgot Auckland and Melb

You would think after having nrl teams for 30 years they would be counted by now lol

I didn't realise I had to mention every city where league is played.

Are you on the NRL payroll looking at all forums and ensuring any negative comments are countered by positivity?

 

[Canard]

You’re the first pom ever who thinks we should stop using the term rugby

Heck In many places around the world when people say rugby they mean rugby league (including hull)

Piggybacking off Union by being the better version of rugby is an easy way for rugby league to grow around the world.

Since modern day rugby league rules began in 1907 when the northern UNION was formed in 1895 what game were they playing for 12 years

In 1882 a club call Kingston amateurs was formed 13 years before the nu was formed and 25 years before most of the rules of rugby league were implemented. Does all that get wiped off ?

There are two versions of rugby. Any league fan who calls union rugby is just doing the work of union which claims to be the only rugby code

f**k you're an imbecile.

And no- one in NZ calls League "Rugby"

 

[Iamback]

I didn't realise I had to mention every city where league is played.

Are you on the NRL payroll looking at all forums and ensuring any negative comments are countered by positivity?

No chance. NRL employees have to attend games, He is just on drugs

 

[Trifili13]

f**k you're an imbecile.

And no- one in NZ calls League "Rugby"

Yes they do, even in the 190 countries in the world that have never heard of rugby league, when they say union they mean league.

 

[Canard]

I think we are at cross purposes here. In Melbourne if they don’t know the difference or care it’s ‘rugby’. They’ll watch either version and call it rugby. I’ve lived in an afl state for 65 years. It’s used generically by people from a that perspective. And it’s usually used in a derogatory sense tbh.

This, they call both codes Rugby and don't really understand the difference between them.

It's exactly what we should be trying to avoid in the US.

 

[Vlad59]

There are probably only 10 countries in the world that have heard of rugby league and most, if not all, would also know of rugby union and when they say "rugby" they mean union. You can count the number that say "rugby" and mean "league" on less than 5 fingers.

And before you call me a non-league lover or an AFL troll, I have been following league for over 50 years. I am just a realist. League is a niche sport played in a few countries with only 2 meaningful competitions in Aust and England.

This

 

[ColdWetPanther]

When I was in Miami for the game last year US clients and colleagues were calling it rugby and I had to explain the difference, including to one guy who did an exchange year in sydney.

Doesn’t this support the theory that the brand of rugby is ‘up for grabs’ in the states? And the fact that people in Florida were talking about a sporting event on the west coast suggests that the marketing was somewhat successful.

 

[Iamback]

Watch out people, NRL is coming to PNG and is going to dominant the global sporting landscape and change dated stereotypes. Going to PNG actually reinforces that the vast majority of countries don't give a f#$k about NRL. If they did they would play it. Even in Australia, half the country watches/plays that other nasty sport called AFL.

Yes, NZ as you say is a tiny nation, so NRL if it ever takes over union will mean bugger all since union is a niche sport in that small country by your theory.

Your last paragraph sums up RL's problem.

PNG and NZ have a decent RL following, If you had those 3 countries in Europe or North America. Then you'd have a decent slab of the World's population to build from.

 

[Canard]

There are probably only 10 countries in the world that have heard of rugby league and most, if not all, would also know of rugby union and when they say "rugby" they mean union. You can count the number that say "rugby" and mean "league" on less than 5 fingers.

And before you call me a non-league lover or an AFL troll, I have been following league for over 50 years. I am just a realist. League is a niche sport played in a few countries with only 2 meaningful competitions in Aust and England.

And the reality is there is nothing wrong with this scenario.

RL is the greatest sport in the world and it doesn't need to be an international just to meet some "cultural cringe' issue.

The Yanks, for example, couldn't give a shit about how popular their sports are internationally

 

[nko11]

well it'll be even more confusing if they watch wigan and warrington and search for superleague and get a womens soccer comp lol
Sure as long as they search for NRL and not anything to do with rugby and league

American Union comps not confusing at all!

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Thats more of an indictment on the way the Super League has been run, that they let their brand be taken over by Football. Possibly time to rebrand as NRL Europe, so they can actually market themselves in the UK effectively.

I wouldn't be too worried about people searching Super League anyway. If a CFL game was played as a warm up to the NFL in Australia, you wouldn't get a whole heap of people searching for CFL. Most people are going to watch the main event. + I think they may realise they weren't watching womens football and add 'Super League Rugby' to their search in that case.

MLR, RFL, NRFL are all very clearly different branding to the NRL, 4 letters or vastly different in spelling. Thats why you hammer the NRL branding. It's NFL, but with one letter difference - easy to remember. After you've built exposure to the existing Rugby market in America - you barely mention that it's Rugby. It's just NRL.

You think the NFL cares that there are 50000 leagues with 'FL' at the end of their name in Australia? Different scales, but you get the point. Get the casual viewer that cares to know, that the NRL is the Premier Rugby competition in the world. That's how sports work in America - 3 letters and they want to see the best in the world - not too different from Australia honestly.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Nah rugby league will be the dominant rugby code around the world down the track

The nrl will just end up crushing the life out of union globally

And parts of nz and Melbourne call league Rugby (probably all fumbler states)

But yeh you don’t include Victorians count as league fans do you ????

lol!

Take Australia for example why should a tiny minority dictate what the dominant sport is called

Early favourite for bestest rugby league fan eva! 2025.

 

[Wb1234]

So rugby league should change its name because it might be confused with a sport people argue here has a much bigger footprint than rugby league

Lol

How did last years event manage to be such a success with this hindrance attached to it

 

[Vlad59]

Thats more of an indictment on the way the Super League has been run, that they let their brand be taken over by Football. Possibly time to rebrand as NRL Europe, so they can actually market themselves in the UK effectively.

I wouldn't be too worried about people searching Super League anyway. If a CFL game was played as a warm up to the NFL in Australia, you wouldn't get a whole heap of people searching for CFL. Most people are going to watch the main event. + I think they may realise they weren't watching womens football and add 'Super League Rugby' to their search in that case.

MLR, RFL, NRFL are all very clearly different branding to the NRL, 4 letters or vastly different in spelling. Thats why you hammer the NRL branding. It's NFL, but with one letter difference - easy to remember. After you've built exposure to the existing Rugby market in America - you barely mention that it's Rugby. It's just NRL.

You think the NFL cares that there are 50000 leagues with 'FL' at the end of their name in Australia? Different scales, but you get the point. Get the casual viewer that cares to know, that the NRL is the Premier Rugby competition in the world. That's how sports work in America - 3 letters and they want to see the best in the world - not too different from Australia honestly.

Great post.

 

[Trifili13]

Your last paragraph sums up RL's problem.

PNG and NZ have a decent RL following, If you had those 3 countries in Europe or North America. Then you'd have a decent slab of the World's population to build from.

Agree, league, while popular in Australia, NZ, PI's and UK (sorry Wb1234 if I left out any country where league is played), is a niche sport.

 

[Canard]

So rugby league should change its name because it might be confused with a sport people argue here has a much bigger footprint than rugby league

Lol

How did last years event manage to be such a success with this hindrance attached to it

It doesn't need to change anything.

It just needs to stop focusing on the Rugby term.

 

[Wb1234]

Agree, league, while popular in Australia, NZ, PI's and UK (sorry Wb1234 if I left out any country where league is played), is a niche sport.

France

 

[Iamback]

Agree, league, while popular in Australia, NZ, PI's and UK (sorry Wb1234 if I left out any country where league is played), is a niche sport.

I commented in the ratings thread. UK has a population of 60m. Yet their GF drew 350k on TV.

NRL max at 4m these days - 1/6th of the population

So in the grand scheme of things very small

 

[Éamonn an Chnoic]

Why can’t league piggyback off all the marketing Union has done ? Why is it a negative ?

So basically position RL as the cheap Chinese knock-off that tricks customers with a name similar to what they actually wanted….

play it forward:
New fans struggle to distinguish between RL and its larger/better funded/better conectes RU.
RL rides the coattales of RU for a few decades
Then, when RL decides it wants to stand on its own, we have to begin from zero witht the branding because those previous decades were selling “rugby”

there is a very clear reason why new competitors pick distinct brands and defend them with their life.
Meanwhile the cheap knock-off piggybacks call themselves “McApple” computers……

 

[Éamonn an Chnoic]

The game has used RL in it's logo for decades. NSWRL, ARL and finally NRL.

It would be pretty dumb to drop it now after building decades of brand recognition. If some newbie is watching the game for the first time they should see NRL on the screen. If they like it they will go the the NRL website.

Everybody promoting the game is calling it rugby league, not rugby. NRL is splashed on every ad. People interested will go to the NRL website.

.

Yes, but everyone listening hears “rugby competition”.

“NRL” is a fantastic brand to the sport. If they commit to that, then grand.

but “Rugby competition” is a dumb name when we are trying to distinguish form another sport called “rugby competition”

 

[Wb1234]

Yes, but everyone listening hears “rugby competition”.

“NRL” is a fantastic brand to the sport. If they commit to that, then grand.

but “Rugby competition” is a dumb name when we are trying to distinguish form another sport called “rugby competition”

Nrl is a fantastic brand ?

As long as we don’t tell people what the r stands for

lol