what has been buggin me ever since i first watched league is why is soccer and union is such are popular sport to watch and play around the world where league izent when i think league is ten times better then both of them sports!

because we could'nt market free sex in a brothel let alone market our game to the world

dogz08:

what has been buggin me ever since i first watched league is why is soccer and union is such are popular sport to watch and play around the world where league izent when i think league is ten times better then both of them sports!

Goes back to the history of the sports. Basically by about the mid 1800's and more closer to the 1870's when Great Britain's merchant fleets were spreading out over the world, you had the officer and upper calsses that travelled play Rugby Union (codified around 1871) and introduced it to the upper eschelons where they went. Soccer (which was codified in 1868 I think) was the shipmates and the working calss sport and so the sailors et. al introduced it to the locals where they landed. By the turn of the century you already had soccer powerhouses like Germany, Brazil and Argentina rivaling the likes of France and England for soccer supremacy.

By the time Rugby league came about i.e. the rules and players being changed it was about 1898-1900. So almost a good 30 years behind the others. Also Rugby League was mainly entrenched in the coal mining cities of great Britain and so it really took Messenger and the All Golds tour in 1907 to start to spread the game outside of England. France took the sport up in 1933 when they were kicked out of the 5 Nations RU series for, you guessed it, paying their players and being professional. So the French decinding to be... well French said Stuff you and said we'll play RL. RL almost killed RU off in France but then we had the very unsavoury events of WW2 happen (I will not get into these) which almost killed RL off in France. About the same time RL took off in PNG with the introduction by Australian servicemen on station in Port Moresby. By the 50's it was a thriving sport there.

RL also had large following in other places, USA, South Africa and Italy all played rugby league from the 30's to the 50's quite competitively, a memorable result was that Italy beat France in the early 50's when France had what is considered to be one of the greatest RL teams ever. Italian crowds were very healthy with some club games and internationals getting upto 10,000 to a game, when Italian RL folded there were close to 30 clubs in Italy, many of them became RU clubs afterwards. The Australians also toured South Africa and USA at some point then. But alas due to bad marketing and what tended to be very insular view of things between the Australasian and UK fans it didn't allow for the sport to grow.

It wasn't until the mid 1980's that the Pacific Islander's discovered the sport and you had players from Tonga and Fiji trickle in and the about 1995 a whole flood of them came through NZ and the islands.

So Basically from the start RL has been fighting an uphill battle to spread the game, but these days there is much more awareness of the game internationally and many more fans want to see a more competitive international scene. Its upto the fans and administrators everywhere to step upto the plate and promote the sport.

Just remember this, many people critisize RL because its full of ex-pat aussies... this comes from the 1995 and 2000 world cups, and then it was largely true. But these days out of the 40 or so countries playing RL, there are only about 4 countries that do not use any local talent. The rest are national teams that use all locally produced players and supplement them by only a few NRL and ESL players.

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The game just requires exposure as that is what it is and has been lacking for a long time. The more people who see it will want to see more and more and maybe be tempted to play themselves. Brian Carney was a classic example of this after watching 'State of Origin' Rugby League in a pub in Ireland he decided that is the game I want to play. More pressure needs to be put on Pay TV providers and there needs to be better marketing in developing countries to have locals come along to watch the game. My view would be to market RL teams as community teams in these countries and to make the locals feel very much a part of their team and have the team entrenched into the local culture and vice versa.

I grew up in West End in Brisbane which was and still is very multicultural. I witnessed first hand the arrival of the new Greek, Turkish, Yugoslavian, Vietnamese kids and the way they all played soccer upon arrival but it did not take too long until they began watching and talking RL. Then usually within 24 months they were playing RL at lunch time and after school and joining the school RL team. They all loved it and still follow the game as fans today. It just takes exposure.

Struth Rowly, i thought i had it tough when we lived at east brisbane, but you come straight outta the slums there buddy, but this is what league has to keep doing, tough it out and hang in there, because we know the reward like you know rowly, west end now is the "hip" or upmarket supburb in brisbane so like everything, it takes time and persistence, before reward>!! cheers.

G'day Oikee

Yeah it was a tough place but I'm now an accountant in Sydney and my true happiness can only be found in a hot dog and a fourex watching the Souths Logan Magpies playing at Davies Park (West End) on a sunny winter afternoon especially now the mighty Magpies are winning. I can't wait to get back to Brisbane someday to soak it all up again.

As a professional I have never had much interest in Rah Rah and didn't even know it existed until I was about 11 when my Dad told me "that's the game doctors and lawyers play". When I finally did watch it and play it a bit at high school I just got no satisfaction out of it, I find it dull and slow, now there aren't too many sports that you can be a participant in and make those comments. I have always loved my rugby league and take every opportunity to be an ambassador for the game. I hope the game continues to grow and develop as it was one of the most important educational institutions I ever attended to learn about leadership, team work, mateship, courage, honour, discipline etc etc. These things are not taught easily anywhere else but they were available in spades in this great game of ours.

Well everyone has said it and it reigns true, exposure is what we need. We need RL played on TV everywhere and anywhere possible, we need former players and coaches etc. pushing the sport overseas and helping out. We need every billionaire and trillionare with an interest for the sport using a small slice of their money to help the game out, much like crowe. We need to show the world that this IS the best sport!!

jim_57:

... We need every billionaire and trillionare with an interest for the sport using a small slice of their money to help the game out ...

Well we did mate in 1997... and it gave us the Super League War.

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I really can not see any problem with the way the game is going now, its growing slowly and gives us the fans lots of enjoyment and i never would substitute another sport for the game.!  And we have world cups and origins and millunium magic and challenge cups, why some people think that the game is dying or going to die is beyond me. What will all the people do who follow the game do if it dies.?

The one thing that has got to be stopped talked about is crowd figures, they dont mean squat because the dollars lie in t/v ratings.? The super league is starting to benifit from this and will continue to grow, so will n.r.l once we get some real dollars from news media.

Someone was talking about the crowds on another blog and mentioned the a.f.l and Gridion getting the 2nd largest crowds , the thing they need to realise is that at the gridion, they pay thousands for the right to be at that final, so to me gridion is the biggest by far, plus the numbers watching on t/v,

now as for n.r.l and a.f.l its pretty close, but the league has the advantage because we already have super league and the game is building nicely elsewhere. We only need to have all the countries with there own league and the game is healthy.

Just thinking Rowly , i am glad you didn't come back at me and say you were a lawyer, otherwise you would have come outta the slums and ended up as a thief.  hehe    ,,,,,,,,, i am going to post a beef now.

Well crowds are very important as that is where the revenue goes straight into the coffers of the clubs and its fans. Remember it costs about 16 million to run a successful NRL club.

The TV deals are done to the NRL and the clubs see only a small portion of that, it probably only makes up about 20% of their yearly earnings to cover costs. I think its about $2million the NRL grant to clubs.

The football clubs make money from the gate takings of the people coming, which should cover up upto about 25% of their spending, say 15,000 people on average to a game, 13 home games (+ money from away games) at $20 a pop, its roughly say $4-4.5 million.

Then leagues clubs get the added benefit of the fans going through their doors before and after the game, the leagues clubs make the money and give handouts to the footy cluns, e.g St george Leagues gives St george footy in the order of $8,million a year. This tends to make up about 30-50% of a clubs earnings.

Now sponsorship deals, merchandising etc... that come in after that make up the rest and hopefully profits after expenses are taken away.

You think the 750 million TV deal AFL got the clubs saw that - No, only a small portion. The huge gate takings is what brings in the revenue for them. AFL averages about 30,000 to a game, they pullin about 8 million a year from home game takings. Its massive.I think news spent way to much on it though.

Plus in countries where RL is not big yet, gate takings is all they can rely on.

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Also in AFL Druzik they rely on club memberships which usually consists of a component of a season ticket and a membership fee or a straight membership fee. Some of those clubs have tens of thousands of members paying a yearly subscription fee and then putting a bum on a seat at a home game. Several clubs are guaranteed home gates of 30,000 + before a ball is even kicked not including those that will buy a ticket on the day and rival fans. This has all stemmed from the AFL culture of it being important to be a member of your club which is something RL needs to push at all levels of the game.

I was a Storm member while residing in Melbourne but now I live in Sydney I see no value in the $70 + package they offer to people who cannot attend home matches. They basically offer a stick pin, a sticker, a newsletter and access to a members only area on their website. In my view not very good value and basically the $70 is a gift as I don't want any of those things but I would pay up again if it included a T-shirt or baseball cap and not the other things. But if a club had 30,000 or more members contributing that sort of money they would have $2.1 million guaranteed in the bank every year. Membership is the key to long term success and unfortunately viability.

Yes your right, but i was not thinking that nobody turn up to the games? i was talking about the big games like grand finals and origins and club and milluium challenges, where they argue over how many fans turn up to the games. As long as we have lots of people watching them, then the t/v deals get bigger. The one problem that is being addressed at the moment is memberships? I have noticed a drive going on at the moment to get members and once you acheive this you get more to the games anyhow,

penrith panthers only got 7 and half thousand to their home game last week, this is *** considering they are suppose to be a growth area, ? Whats going on down their, i think its about time we expanded and put pressure on these clubs to perform. I think the modern stadium and teams are the future. We should threaten the panthers with kicking them out of the comp and see if they like that?

Rowly:

Also in AFL Druzik they rely on club memberships which usually consists of a component of a season ticket and a membership fee or a straight membership fee. Some of those clubs have tens of thousands of members paying a yearly subscription fee and then putting a bum on a seat at a home game. Several clubs are guaranteed home gates of 30,000 + before a ball is even kicked not including those that will buy a ticket on the day and rival fans. This has all stemmed from the AFL culture of it being important to be a member of your club which is something RL needs to push at all levels of the game.

I was a Storm member while residing in Melbourne but now I live in Sydney I see no value in the $70 + package they offer to people who cannot attend home matches. They basically offer a stick pin, a sticker, a newsletter and access to a members only area on their website. In my view not very good value and basically the $70 is a gift as I don't want any of those things but I would pay up again if it included a T-shirt or baseball cap and not the other things. But if a club had 30,000 or more members contributing that sort of money they would have $2.1 million guaranteed in the bank every year. Membership is the key to long term success and unfortunately viability.

Your right... I forgot about membership... yes it is a huge part. Look the $70 package should include also say two tickets to away games of your choice. That would make things a hell of a lot easier. Say if your in East sydney it means you could go and see a St george and roosters away game, or a St george cronulla away game, in QLD (if melnbourne fans exists up there, lol, patriotic lot) you can go see a Broncos and titans away game. That would entice people even more.

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You know how many victorians there are in brisbane region Druzik, 34 thousand, thats how many turned up at the gabba last night to watch the aussie rules,  hehe, my wife's boss went to the gabba ( he's a vic ) while we enjoyed a record crowd at the broncos, great win, very gutsy, i am hoping that we can now knock off melbourne down there, they will come in numbers for this game too, as the vic's dont like us as much as we dont like them. hehe,

What a game this is , love league and next stop origin, i will have to clear my lungs abit for this game. Just a little piece of trivia, we had seats right at the top of the stand, nearly the last row but the veiw from there looking down was sensational. A little bit steep , you feel like a mountain goat up there but the veiw over the game is perfect.

oikee:

You know how many victorians there are in brisbane region Druzik, 34 thousand, thats how many turned up at the gabba last night to watch the aussie rules,  hehe, my wife's boss went to the gabba ( he's a vic ) while we enjoyed a record crowd at the broncos, great win, very gutsy, i am hoping that we can now knock off melbourne down there, they will come in numbers for this game too, as the vic's dont like us as much as we dont like them. hehe,

What a game this is , love league and next stop origin, i will have to clear my lungs abit for this game. Just a little piece of trivia, we had seats right at the top of the stand, nearly the last row but the veiw from there looking down was sensational. A little bit steep , you feel like a mountain goat up there but the veiw over the game is perfect.

Yeh ghreat crowd for the broncos, over 50,000 to a normal round game is great, i was thinking about making the trip down myself but pulled out at the last minute. Suncorp is a great ground, i have been there 4 times, and am going an extra 3 or 4 this year. The ground has a great view from anywhere, i went to a game last year broncos V tigers and was right up in the rafters in the corner of the ground and it was still a great view.

I was thinking, why not upgrade suncorp again? make it 60,000 or 70,000, would be hard seeing as it's a rectangular stadium but if we had a ground of 60,000 or over i don't see any reason why QLD couldn't have a GF every 2 or 3 years.

Whilst I'm talking about stadiums, does anyone know if melbourne have definate plans for a rectangular stadium and when it will be ready by? would be great to see the storm have a good 25,000 seat rectangular stadium, from what i understand olympic park is not all that great for viewing.