What can the RLWC learn from the 2015 RUWC?

[BODISGOD]

Does anyone know if International Rugby League is on Instagram and Twitter? World Rugby's social media team is excellent, borrowing heavily from the likes of the NBA in the last year on IG in particular. IG is fast becoming the key spot for brands to market themselves from.

The IRL Facebook account is decent enough with a decent chunk of followers but I can't find a presence on the other two sites. The RLWC 2013 Twitter account seems to have been left lapse for some reason allowing any new followers during the competition to lapse. The RLIF website is pretty dreadful, it looks like it was designed about 15 years ago and has lots of out of date parts straight off the homepage.

I appreciate there is probably somebody badly underresourced trying to do this job but this just isn't good enough. The NRL have an excellent social media presence for example and it seems to be run from the same office, why the difference?

 

[langpark]

Does anyone know if International Rugby League is on Instagram and Twitter? World Rugby's social media team is excellent, borrowing heavily from the likes of the NBA in the last year on IG in particular. IG is fast becoming the key spot for brands to market themselves from.

The IRL Facebook account is decent enough with a decent chunk of followers but I can't find a presence on the other two sites. The RLWC 2013 Twitter account seems to have been left lapse for some reason allowing any new followers during the competition to lapse. The RLIF website is pretty dreadful, it looks like it was designed about 15 years ago and has lots of out of date parts straight off the homepage.

I appreciate there is probably somebody badly underresourced trying to do this job but this just isn't good enough. The NRL have an excellent social media presence for example and it seems to be run from the same office, why the difference?

The RLIF's twitter account is: https://twitter.com/IntlRL

 

[BODISGOD]

The RLIF's twitter account is: https://twitter.com/IntlRL

Fair enough! But why is it called International RL and not International Rugby League (like the FB)? When I type that into google I get a host of different nations twitters but not the main international body- by contrast World Rugby Twitter pops up straight away. People bagged the rebrand from the IRB but there was a clear logic to it.

I had checked the RLIF site and it was just the FB link pops up.

Is there an IG account? Again I've typed into Instagram "International Rugby League" and I'm getting a handle with 0 followers.

 

[Billythekid]

The main thing we can learn from rugby is that the people running the game need to take it seriously if you want the fans to. They actually treat the international game as if it's the pinnacle of their sport and they talk up international tournaments like they mean something. That plus they actually give the teams plenty of chances to play each other.

League treats the international game as a second rate competition and the people at the top tale every opportunity to mock it. No on gives it the respect it deserves and the fans respond in kind. The game only gets a few token matches in the off season and only the top teams get any coverage.

Until we actually put some real money and effort towards growing the international game it will continue to stagnate. The growth of rugby worldwide actually hurts our attempts as well IMO.

 

[deal.with.it]

I don't know why they didn't just rebrand their pages to RLIF after the world cup.
People know what the irb and world rugby is, but no one knows what the rlif is.

I agree with the above posts.

But, when you talk of building brand awareness, do you think it is detrimental having NRL branded development managers in the Pacific Islands. Rather than having APRLC development managers? I know the nrl is the one paying, so fair enough, and it's great! But it doesn't help building credibility. It just displays the continued nature of the nrl to do their thing on their own.

 

[TheFrog]

Bit harsh saying PNG, France, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are woeful.

No they are not woeful. Samoa (in particular) and Tonga could give the NRL teams who didn't make the finals a decent game. The others are NSW Cup standard.

Much of the problem is that players from these nations who are good enough are snapped up by Australia and NZ.

 

[hutch]

No they are not woeful. Samoa (in particular) and Tonga could give the NRL teams who didn't make the finals a decent game. The others are NSW Cup standard.

Much of the problem is that players from these nations who are good enough are snapped up by Australia and NZ.

The problem is there are no rugby league juniors who are actually from these countries who have gone into play NRL. Until recently we havnt even started developing rugby league in Samoa and Tonga. The reason players switch to NZ and Aus is because that's where they are from and because our ridiculous rules allow players to switch without any consequences. Everything is for the short term fix, there are no thoughts to 5,10, 20 years ahead and actually developing a national team.

 

[RL The greatest game]

- Prestige
- History
- Referees that aren't everyone's mate and are respected
- Neutral referees
- No double headers

World cup awareness.
Match day awareness.
Keep the sporting public informed all the times what happening.
Match venues.
Match KO times.
Admission prices.

 

[Misanthrope]

Increase the value of penalty goals and field goals.

Really helps rugby manufacture the illusion of competitiveness when you combine it with the fact there are too many players on the field.

 

[deluded pom?]

Increase the value of penalty goals and field goals.

Really helps rugby manufacture the illusion of competitiveness when you combine it with the fact there are too many players on the field.

:lol:

 

[miguel de cervantes]

True dat ^

- Seat covering. Sell seating in blocks leaving the possibility to cover unsold blocks of seats. Especially the expensive halway line seats. Yes, union are doing this.

- Self-branding. World Cup signage in stands and sideline rather than nothing at all.


RLWC2017 should go well or at least better with sponsorship considering RLWC2013 actually implented some metric gathering for this purpose.

 

[t-ba]

It's depressing how much we could learn from them organisationally. For instance, it's clear that most South Africans watch Springboks matches exclusively and would have trouble naming the 5/6 local Super Onion franchises, and most young people know sfa about the Currie Cup. But still, they'll watch the Springboks religously and I'll be sat in a bar explaining what a short arm is to these apparent diehards. I'd love for the RLWC to be able to engage the average guy or the girl on the street like that.

About the only misstep they've made is thinking that turning 7s into an Olympic sport will help 15 a side instead of hinder it.

 

[RL The greatest game]

The problem is there are no rugby league juniors who are actually from these countries who have gone into play NRL. Until recently we havnt even started developing rugby league in Samoa and Tonga. The reason players switch to NZ and Aus is because that's where they are from and because our ridiculous rules allow players to switch without any consequences. Everything is for the short term fix, there are no thoughts to 5,10, 20 years ahead and actually developing a national team.

Perhaps countries that enter the world cup should have a minimum of a 10 club comp and x number of players from their domestic comps must be in their world cup squads.
That in itself will encourage junior development.

 

[hutch]

Perhaps countries that enter the world cup should have a minimum of a 10 club comp and x number of players from their domestic comps must be in their world cup squads.
That in itself will encourage junior development.

We were meant to have something similar in 2008 but Tonga threatened to take the rlif to court because they didn't want to pick any domestic players due to 'safety' concerns.

 

[deluded pom?]

Perhaps countries that enter the world cup should have a minimum of a 10 club comp and x number of players from their domestic comps must be in their world cup squads.
That in itself will encourage junior development.

That's NZ out of the WC then.

 

[hutch]

That's NZ out of the WC then.

'Products of the domestic' rugby league competitions is a better system which is what we were meant to have a few years ago.

 

[adamkungl]

We were meant to have something similar in 2008 but Tonga threatened to take the rlif to court because they didn't want to pick any domestic players due to 'safety' concerns.

Ridiculous.

That's NZ out of the WC then.

...in such a way that professional teams that play in an international comp are counted as domestic.

I'm not sure what the correct answer is.

Could go something like:

A Player is eligible for Country if one of
- Born in Country
- Played Junior Rugby League while living in Country
- Has resided in Country for 4 years and played Rugby League
(Above are considered A Eligibility)
- Has a parent or grandparent that was born in Country (Eligibility B)

Rule: A named 25 man squad must have no more than 13 Eligibility B Category players (adjust for whatever amount a squad is for a particular series).

If Tonga doesn't want to play nice then f**k off

 

[roughyedspud]

the thing is in the WCQ's for the 08RLWC it was the tongan domestics that showed the most promise..they did'nt look out of place at all.

 

[adamkungl]

the thing is in the WCQ's for the 08RLWC it was the tongan domestics that showed the most promise..they did'nt look out of place at all.

Another issue with the RLWC is the cheer amount of dud coaches floating around international teams.

Dead set most of them wouldn't get a run above NSW Cup, if that.

 

[SLRBRONCOS]

Lol at one fellow calling France woeful. France are always a threat, particularly in the NH. Kiwi's always struggle against them.