Why does Rugby League endlessly shoot itself in the foot?

[pHyR3]

Nice post.

Is there a sport anywhere in the world that changes its rules year in - year out as much as rugby league? I know the bosses just want to improve things but the constant changes kinda sends a signal that the game just isn't good enough and keeps needing fixes.

i think thats what make rugby league the most exciting sport out there.

the game was BUILT, not on a desire, but a need to continually evolve and refine its rules and product to stave off rugby union.

we should always strive to make the game better and more entertaining. almost all rule changes have been for the better. like taking out the corner post a while back. The shot clock and interchanges should make it faster next year too

 

[magpie_man]

From the game's very outset until now there have been too many people involved looking to make a quick buck for themselves rather than acting in the best interests of the actual game.

 

[Perth Red]

I wonder if it is related to our working class roots and some deep seated psychology about knowing your place, not being too ambitious and being happy with what you've got? All traditional working class traits. Time has moved on and the old working class is pretty much gone but maybe the game still carries some baggage from its historic birth?

 

[miguel de cervantes]

getting warmer...

 

[insert.pause]

I think a lot of the work that has been going on over last 3 years is clearing up the neglect, under funding and mess from the previous 15. Sadly we don't get to see much of this and the outcomes are longer term so no immediacy of impact to the avg fan. If Smith got anything wrong it was in not having some big wins for fans every year that would show us all that the squillions of $'s a year they have is it actually being used for something we will appreciate. In fact some of the obvious changes have put fans offside, raised ticket prices for event games, shoulder charge and biff decisions, same old same old in regards to clubs pleading poverty and impact on expansion decision, player behaviour and unfiar treatment, reefing and in particular the overuse of video ref killing the game. These are the thinsg the fan see and feel. The infrastructure stuff, NSW cup team v Qland cup team, DO in PNg and Fiji are important stuff but have minimal impact on the perception fo how the game is going with your avg fan.

Hopefully the next CEO addresses this and gets a better balance.

One of Smiths biggest problems was he didn't own the agenda, which left a void that all the other voices in the game filled, primarily the telegraph. The next guy has to be more visible & accessible, he has to be the first guy quoted, not the last. You can't blame fans for being ignorant on changes the NRL was doing when the NRL don't even attempt to sell it to them and instead they get information second hand from loudmouth agenda driven twits who have no interest in informing them. The telegraph were allowed to get away with far too much because they were the only ones up on the podium speaking. I can only think the same sort of communication problems existed with clubs as well.

 

[Perth Red]

True, I think one massive failure area under smith has been the NRL media dept. they invested significantly in it but apart from increasing Twitter followers seem to have been ineffective in managing the media and getting information out to fans about good news stories on the games development. Having said that if what has happened in WA is anything to go by over last 3 years I'm not sure there was a lot of stories to put out.

 

[Gina Minehart]

RL is getting the basics wrong. This includes:

- poorly officiated matches. People don't want to see games where decisions are constantly made that make no sense
- we play a lot of games at times people don't want to go to the footy
- we play at a bunch of shit stadiums. Again, people don't want to go
- we haven't been able to weed out the self interested parties from running the game
- we don't have good leadership. John Grant is NOT the answer
- we create stupid rules that nullify the parts of the game that draw a lot of people to it (shoulder charges and fighting).

If you were running a business and you decided to stop doing things that bought people through your doors, what do you think your shareholders would do? They'd shoot you is what they'd do

Fix these things up and then maybe we have a minimum viable product to talk about

 

[BranVan3000]

RL is getting the basics wrong. This includes:

- poorly officiated matches. People don't want to see games where decisions are constantly made that make no sense
- we play a lot of games at times people don't want to go to the footy
- we play at a bunch of shit stadiums. Again, people don't want to go
- we haven't been able to weed out the self interested parties from running the game
- we don't have good leadership. John Grant is NOT the answer
- we create stupid rules that nullify the parts of the game that draw a lot of people to it (shoulder charges and fighting).

If you were running a business and you decided to stop doing things that bought people through your doors, what do you think your shareholders would do? They'd shoot you is what they'd do

Fix these things up and then maybe we have a minimum viable product to talk about

If you think guys throwing punches makes the game more viable as a product then the game is probably better without you watching it

 

[adamkungl]

If you think guys throwing punches makes the game more viable as a product then the game is probably better without you watching it

Every single day large numbers of people wish the game got some of its roughness back but nah, you know best.

 

[DiegoNT]

I guess I'm like a lot of people in that i loved the shoulder charge and didn't mind the odd bit off biff, but like most people i understand why they both had to go. If you think the game has gone soft because of those 2 rule changes you must be watching a different game. The game is still brutal, their are still as many big hits, Adam blair put on quite a few bell ringers in the GF, and the Matagi tackle on Dave Tyrell is close to the biggest hit we've seen in the last decade. The whole 'people are leaving the game because it's gone soft' argument falls apart when you consider we've just had record crowds for origin and final series and television ratings are through the roof

 

[adamkungl]

I guess I'm like a lot of people in that i loved the shoulder charge and didn't mind the odd bit off biff, but like most people i understand why they both had to go. If you think the game has gone soft because of those 2 rule changes you must be watching a different game. The game is still brutal, their are still as many big hits, Adam blair put on quite a few bell ringers in the GF, and the Matagi tackle on Dave Tyrell is close to the biggest hit we've seen in the last decade.

There are not as many big hits. Straight up false.

The reasons they 'had to go' are flimsier than Souffs title defence. People keep citing NFL's concussion case but the situation isn't remotely the same, and most importantly after all of that THE NFL STILL ALLOWS SHOULDER CHARGES.

The whole 'people are leaving the game because it's gone soft' argument falls apart when you consider we've just had record crowds for origin and final series and television ratings are through the roof

Just ignoring the week to week crowds though. Big events attract people by their nature. Television ratings - go back to what someone said earlier. A lot of people 'like' NRL but not enough 'love'. Basically, high television ratings and dropping crowds means that people kinda feel like watching it but don't value it enough to actually pay for the privilege.

Our population is growing and crowds are dropping. Anyone who doesn't see an issue here is delusional. It isn't directly tied to 'biff' but I have no doubt it's a factor.

 

[DiegoNT]

Crowds are down but tv viewerships are up. More people then ever are watching nrl games. Doesn't matter if they like or love the game, more eyes are watching. That equals more sponsorship and bigger tv deals. Nrl competes with itself, those few hundred we lose through the gates are still watching along with many thousands at home.
The reason crowds are down are varied. Their is the effect of tv, scheduling, substandard stadiums, poor match day experience, popular clubs going through rough patches. If you think it's down to no biff (which was already becoming increasingly rare anyway, many rounds would pass between a true 'biff' taking place)

 

[Perth Red]

Depends if your happy for the game to be little more than the latest X factor popular tv series I guess? Tv history is littered with popular shows and popular tv only sports that eventually wane and disappear.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

I guess I'm like a lot of people in that i loved the shoulder charge and didn't mind the odd bit off biff, but like most people i understand why they both had to go. If you think the game has gone soft because of those 2 rule changes you must be watching a different game. The game is still brutal, their are still as many big hits, Adam blair put on quite a few bell ringers in the GF, and the Matagi tackle on Dave Tyrell is close to the biggest hit we've seen in the last decade. The whole 'people are leaving the game because it's gone soft' argument falls apart when you consider we've just had record crowds for origin and final series and television ratings are through the roof

The mongrel aggression of the 50s-70s period has been phased out due to modern community standards and fair enough too. Punches and shoulder charges are now banned to meet current community expectations.

It begs the question, how long until the game is further watered down and to what extent to meet the next generation of community standards?

 

[DiegoNT]

Depends if your happy for the game to be little more than the latest X factor popular tv series I guess? Tv history is littered with popular shows and popular tv only sports that eventually wane and disappear.

If crowds were massively down it would be a problem.
Crowds have always hovered around 16,000.
Those few hundred people not going through the gates are still watching at home.
It's not like the nbl, A-league or union. You could include afl in Brisbane with those examples. When their crowds started dropping so did their tv viewers. They lost their crowds to other sports. We are losing our crowds to ourselves. Those people not going to the game are still watching nrl on tv in bigger numbers. The game is making more money every day. The nrl is has in place strategies to get those people back through the gates because unlike the other 3 sports I mentioned, these people Aren't lost to the game. We have memberships on the rise, we have better stadiums on the way, the whole match day experience is set to be improved. The scheduling of matches is getting a revamp, no more Monday night games and the origin period is getting a clean up as well.

 

[Cloud]

Because the fans will come back no matter what.

 

[Lebbo73]

I went to the Broncos v Roosters Preliminary final and the brutality in the hits was nearly of an Origin type standard. It was no place for boys.

 

[taipan]

The Grand Final was rubbish because there were no shoulder charges or punches.:sarcasm:

We have to accept the requirements of the community now,or go the way of the dodo.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

What a load of bullshit.

"Community standards" are worse now than at any time in rugby league history. Punching and high contact have always been illegal in the game. This is less about society and more about an out of touch group of suits who don't actually like the sport they're running making stupid decisions to "fix" problems that don't exist instead of fixing the multitude of problems that do.

But the same arse lickers will defend them no matter what with the kind of dribble we're seeing here about imaginary "community standards".

 

[elbusto]

What a load of bullshit.

"Community standards" are worse now than at any time in rugby league history. Punching and high contact have always been illegal in the game. This is less about society and more about an out of touch group of suits who don't actually like the sport they're running making stupid decisions to "fix" problems that don't exist instead of fixing the multitude of problems that do.

But the same arse lickers will defend them no matter what with the kind of dribble we're seeing here about imaginary "community standards".

I have had my moments but you are easily the most miserable bastard posting here. You make perth red look like an optimist