“An inevitable consequence if every game is televised live is that the best seat in the house is exactly that, your lounge armchair...”


I xxx n the words of that well-known


Rugby League correspondent Oscar Wilde, when writing his portrait of stylish would- be centre Dorian Gray: “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.” Debate near raged regarding the viability of the Magic Weekend and, while from this vantage point the cons still outweigh the pros, what the unwieldy exercise did prove is that opening the season with a perceived ‘event’ does garner greater interest. Whether the location and format as it stands best promotes has been extensively discussed elsewhere, which is healthy and enhancing in itself, but media outlets did appear to be more pre-disposed to the season opening when delivered as a branded package. Even the BBC national news after the Sunday night of games in the Welsh capital featured a mention and action which would not have happened in recent fractured round one starts to the campaign. Sunday newspaper supplements, an uplifting BBC national radio live programme and even national commercial radio coverage allied to an extended, if hackneyed, Boots ‘n’ All offering, served at least to give the impression that the whiff of Super League was back in the air. Expectations were heightened, awareness raised and predictions levied although therein lies a Millennium bug; showcasing the first round will, by its very definition, bring matches of understandably lesser quality. The playing field – an area of consternation itself – may be at its most level but the product akin to a super model prior to visiting a make-up artist; intriguing but hardly showing the best face. The other major concern was the panorama of a stadium devoid of atmosphere and, more significantly, looking bedraggled with empty areas. That, however, is an inevitable consequence if every game is televised live, meaning that the best seat in the house is exactly that, your lounge armchair. The equilibrium between incentive to go or avidly follow from afar, a dilemma affecting the majority of televised sports, is out of kilter. In all such relationships, the broadcast pound is king but the impact of their efforts are undermined and distilled if the coverage is lessened by swathes of vacant sections and little crowd noise, leaving the referees exhortations echoing uppermost like those of a preacher in a cathedral.


46  APRIL 2011 - RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD


should be justifiably proud of and exploiting. Nor are the concerns restricted to over


Super image? Image, in an entertainment business


particularly, needs continually revisiting and making contemporary. How the game allows itself to be perceived has never been more pertinent especially as, in this part of the world, it is no longer either northern nor, in the strictest of definitions, solely working class - the traditional industries that spawned it having largely disappeared. There is growing dissatisfaction with the second-fiddle nature that we play in terms of greater awareness, which is in reverse proportion to the efforts the players put in, and there are signs that the patience of club owners, especially, is beginning to wear thin. With his Vikings deemed by most observers to be the most likely Super League suitors, Widnes chairman Steve O’Connor who counts among his business credits the furthering of the Eddie Stobart brand, has issued a rallying cry to the game’s governing body. “The sport undersells itself,” he said. “I'm a Widnes lad who grew up watching football and supporting Liverpool but I've been seduced by the game since I got involved. It's got great integrity and family values.” Both are hugely marketable assets in the cynical world of sport or so you would think. Warrington head coach Tony Smith was


recently asked to address football managers renewing or upgrading their pro licences and again was besieged with requests from the much admiring dominant code as to how a sport so physical and committed as ours retained its respect and discipline for officials. Further areas we


here. Even in Australia, where League ‘footy’ commands the column inches, there is growing disquiet. Gold Coast Titans supremo, the highly regarded Michael Searle, has issued a broadside saying League did itself few favours by not selling itself as a, “brash, dynamic and vibrant sport” because such an image not only grated on the Australian character but went against the League ethos. “Unfortunately some of the core values we have as a sport hamstring our game,” he continued. “The humility and the need not to be seen as arrogant, sometimes stops our code from really promoting itself. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, the game should be confident in what it is and the content it provides television. We've got the greatest product.” Part of that starts with thinking big and making, for example, the Challenge Cup semi-finals – which have traditionally been slow sellers – a double header at an imaginative venue. Announcing before the competition kicks off that Notts County’s ground or Villa Park, say, is to host a day of top-class Rugby League with Wembley at stake would not only attract greater media coverage as an event but would entice locals and neutrals to be part of it as well as the fans of the competing teams. Even the BBC would surely see the logic of making the semi-finals a captivating day of edge-of-the-seat action with a saving to them regarding setting up costs. As added value, and tying in with the RFL aim of encouraging clubs from within now fertile playing areas to look at entering sides for Championship One as part of that competition’s review, there are people on the ground who would actively support and sell the occasion given the right lead-in time. Moreover, it would leave a legacy in terms of perception. It is fine to wish for expansion at that level but there has to a will and creativity to back it up or it is again merely paying lip service. If we want to best dress our window we might as well go for a double-fronted one in a prime location rather than a dormer at the rear of a suburban bungalow. Mind you, if certain Super League clubs cannot provide the media with an unhindered view, power, an ISDN line and workable broadband, is it any wonder that we do not receive the coverage we deserve?





Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84