Rugby League's Road to Nowhere

Approximate reading time: 10 minutes

'The game is dying'. If you have been following our sport for even a short period of time, you will have heard this expression a lot. If you listened to our supporters, you may believe that the game has been on life support since its inception.

We have never been and probably never will be a rich sport, or a sport that demands many column inches but is it fair to paint the sport as permanently being at death's door? Whilst its running has substantial flaws, you would imagine that if we were in the catastrophe that some would have you believe, the sport would have fallen from its perch a long time ago. The expression that things are never as bad or as good as you may think. The real problem with the sport are warped priorities, misdirection and a lack of courage.  

Many followers refer to rugby league as 'the greatest game of all'. To us, it is. Nothing compares to it. But the same is true for football to its fans. Or basketball to its fans. Or curling to its fans. Or any other sport or pastime which can be brought to mind. To its aficionados, it is the best, even if outsiders do not see it that way.

'The greatest game' is symbolic of a sport that feels unloved. A sport that cannot understand why the love that small communities have it for it, is not shared more widely. So how do react to this discomfort in our own skin? We change things. We tell ourselves (or, anyone who will listen) that we are never afraid to innovate. We then shrug our shoulders when our ill-though through innovations blow up in our face. It is an almost sad or desperate attempt to be loved.

Innovators?

Since Super League arrived in 1996, the winners have been decided by a first past the post system, a top five play off, a top six play off, a top 8 play off, a top 4 play off, a top five play off (again) and a different version of the top six play off. The method of determining the champions of Super League changes once every 3 to 4 years, on average.

We have had a Super League with 12 teams, 14 teams and 11 teams. We have had a 'one up, one down' relegation system, no relegation, back to one up, one down, two sides relegated, back to no relegation, back to two sides relegated, a relegation play off, back to one up, one down, back to no relegation again in 2020. In 2021, well, who knows?

We 'innovate' our rules. We changed the ball stripping law this year, so that players can drop off a tackle allowing a one on one ball steal. It has led to an unholy mess and a situation where players dare not to carry the ball in one hand. This law has inadvertently killed the offload.

We have some laws in the game, such as the deliberate knock on, that we simply ignore. We have other interpretations, such as players surrendering to the floor to prevent an obstruction penalty, that have no basis in the laws of the game and referees bizarrely yelling "drop" at players in such circumstances. And when players do drop? That's a voluntary tackle. But we ignore that law too and just play on. What kind of serious sport or game ignores its own laws?

We 'innovate' our governance. Super League was firstly an entity in its own right. Then the RFL took over. Then, in 2018, clubs expressed outrage at the RFL's management and forced a coup. Super League was its own entity again. And those same people who told us that they had to run the league because the RFL were so bad, made no demonstrable difference at all (and if anything took us backwards). They then ran back with their tail between their legs.

We 'innovate' our disciplinary system. We see club chairmen, such as Wakefield's Michael Carter, launching a barely literate broadside at the RFL's disciplinary procedure. This is despite the fact that he personally (along with others) headed a detailed review to improve the disciplinary system just three years earlier. It probably will come as no surprise that he did omitted this from his statement.

So, where has all our innovation got us? Nowhere. We are in the exact same position as we would otherwise have been. Innovation is waste of time unless you have a specific purpose. A scattergun approach of new measures imposed blithely in the faint hope that one will elevate our sport to the mainstream is naive beyond belief.

Marketing

If you listen to many, the biggest problem with the sport is a lack of marketing. But dig a little deeper. What do we mean by marketing? Sticking up a few posters around town? Ticket offers? Players appearing on The One Show?

We could have the an unlimited marketing budget but in the UK, if you live south of Warrington you don't have a full time rugby league near you. The further south you go, the further away you go. No amount of 'marketing' can change that.

Let's take Bristol as an example. On a cold and windy Wednesday night 2013, the Memorial Stadium hosted a World Cup match between USA and the Cook Islands. This was a risky choice and arguably the least marketable match of the tournament.

7,000 curious fans turned up and created a boisterous atmosphere, cheering on the perceived underdogs, the Cook Islands. The match was a thriller, going back and forth before two late tries by the USA gave them their first ever win at a World Cup.

Imagine if you were a Bristolian enthralled by what you saw. This new sport left an impression on you. So you think you want to see this sport again. You go home and google the nearest club to you. Imagine the dismay that you may then feel when you see that the nearest top flight clubs to you are in London and Warrington, both around a six hour return journey from your home city.

What then? You can't realistically see another live match without going to huge expense and effort. You may watch a few matches on TV now and again, but any fans hooked by rugby that night would probably have gone and watched the rugby union side, Bristol Bears, who at the time played at the Memorial Stadium too. 

With a 7,000 crowd in attendance, we far surpassed expectations, you may even say that we 'marketed' the game well. Since October 2013, there has not been 1 professional match of rugby league played in Bristol. There hasn't been one played close to Bristol. There was no follow up on this event and therefore any progress made was largely wasted. If anything, we may have pushed more fans towards rugby union and watching the Bristol Bears.

Who Are Ya?

I am not ashamed of us being a primarily northern sport, even though it does limit the ability to spread the sport.

For anyone who has attended an international match in London, you may already be aware that the crowd has far more locals by comparison to a Challenge Cup Final. The appeal of an England international, a national entity which you can connect to, is far greater than two northern towns that most locals will not even have heard of.

The 2013 World Cup semi final between New Zealand and England was one the finest matches I have ever seen. Any local or new fan who was not gripped by this match would be an unattainable target for the sport. 

67,000 fans attended. As Shaun Johnson broke English hearts with his magic stepping, there was an audible gasp. Fans could not believe they saw. The match took you through every emotion. Despite the heartbreak, so many would want to come back for more.

What did we do to follow up on this success? Well, we haven't held an international match at Wembley since, didn't play an international match in London for 2 years after the semi final and have not played an international in London at all for five years (despite the fact that England matches held in London, traditionally, attract the highest crowds). I cannot think of any reasonable reason that an annual international is not held in the captial.

Our obsession with tinkering around the edges with the intricacies of the laws of the game and structure of our premier competition blinds us to relatively simple steps that we could take to increase the game's footprint. We have a market in London for international rugby league. Yet we ignore it. Why?

What about the heartlands?

Whilst expanding the game is important, it cannot be at the expense of the heartlands. I do not believe that the expansion v heartlands should go head to head and when you prioritise one, the other suffers. Take Cumbria for example, it is still a hotbed of rugby league with untapped potential and fans as passionate as you will see anywhere in the world.

It is a very different market from London. Whilst Londoners would have shrugged or looked puzzled when you said "St Helens and Castleford are playing at Wembley in the Challenge Cup Final", a Cumbrian would not. 

Whilst an international-focused approach is needed for London, the Super League is a known brand in Cumbria. And it is one of the few places in the country that if you said Super League, people wouldn't think of a women's football competition. The county has not seen top flight rugby league in almost 25 years. A generation of fans have known nothing but second or third tier rugby.

We would all love to see a strong Cumbrian presence in the top flight. It can't be manufactured though, especially as the most talented of young players in the region are quickly snapped up by Super League clubs.

What we can do is take Super League to Cumbria. We have probably got too many matches in the top flight anyway. Would there be any harm caused in taking a few games on the road during the summer? Call it the Super League summer roadshow and host 1 match at Barrow, another at Whitehaven and another at Workington.

This would be far more effective that our previous 'on the road' efforts of the early years of Super League, with locations seemingly determined by sticking a pin in the map, and again, doing nothing to follow them up.

The sport in Cumbria has had its struggles recently, especially in the amateur game. We have the tools to give it a much needed boost. And it does not seem to even be something that would require a great deal of effort. Why don't we?

Where praise is due...

This piece has been quite critical so far but when we do things correctly, then we should offer praise too. That brings us nicely onto the subject of Newcastle. This is what expansion looks like when it is done correctly. Newcastle have not gone with the naive approach of 'build it and they will come' (because, after all, we are the greatest game). Instead, they have put in place building blocks, which allow for a sustainable future.

Let's take the club, firstly, Newcastle Thunder. They play at Kingston Park, a 10,000 capacity stadium slightly outside the city centre. Through community engagement they attracted some of the best crowds in League 1 and, after promotion, healthy and respectable crowds at Championship level. This, combined with sensible rather than kamikaze on field investment sees Newcastle sit mid table in the Championship.

It is about more than what happens on the pitch. In spite of the pandemic which has crippled grassroots sport, Newcastle currently has more registered rugby league players that it did in 2019 (an increase of 20%, to be precise).

Partly because of the disappointing news that Whitehaven's proposed new stadium fell through, Newcastle is due to host four games at the upcoming World Cup. One at St James' Park and three at Kingston Park. The north-east region will also see one match held at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium. Ticket availability is showing as low at three of the four Newcastle-based matches, according to the tournament's website.

If rugby league is to take off in Newcastle, it won't be overnight. The Thunder will never  surpass the city's love for football. Growth of the sport in the north east will be gradual. Newcastle may not even reach the top flight. However, their sustainable and patient approach to expansion gives us the best possible chance of establishing a footprint in this non-heartland city.

The Numbers Game

I cannot have been the only one who attention has been caught by cricket's new The Hundred competition. Part of me feels that is a bit gimmicky, that it serves the same purpose of Twenty20 cricket and that coin tosses on a DJ set are a little cringy. Another side of me looks on with envy at how a new competition, which begun on a midweek evening on BBC2 can attract higher viewing figures that our sport's showpiece, the Challenge Cup Final, which kicked off in the prime slot of 3PM on a Saturday afternoon on BBC1.

Your mind also cannot help but be drawn to rugby league 9's. Over recent years, we have made a few very half hearted attempts at 9's in this country and Australia even held the first ever World 9's in 2019.

That form of the sport is not particularly appealing to me, but I do understand how it may draw new audiences to the game. Yet since the 2019 World 9's, there has not been any major competition using this format and there do not seem to be any plans to hold another in the near future.

This raises the question, what the bloody hell was the point is using having a World 9's in the first place? I wrote about this here at the time. (Without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, the line "in rugby league, it is an achievement to get 12 separate nations simply competing in an international tournament" rings uncomfortably true now).

I also wrote "let's hope that we don't make the same mistake that we so often make. Trying something once and not following up on it". Now, at that time, none of us had even heard of Covid-19 and the concept of locking down a country was something thought more applicable to a dictatorship than western democracies, so it is hard to blame the sport for not following up on this tournament yet, in an unexpected era of border closures.

Although, you would have to be a grand optimist to believe that this isn't just going to be another one of those ideas that we try once, forget all about and consign to the dustbin of history (or, perhaps, a rugby league online quiz question).

Lessons Learned

The matters discussed above are mere examples of rugby league's lack of direction. Followers of politics may be aware of an ongoing very public row between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his embittered former chief advisor Dominic Cummings (well, I say row, it is mainly Mr Cummings launching regular, scathing criticisms of his former boss, with Mr Johnson doing all he can to ignore the disclosures).

For those who aren't as sad as me aware of the row, Mr Cummings alleges that Boris Johnson's nickname is 'Trolley' because he, allegedly, veers "like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other". 

This is a metaphor that could equally apply to rugby league. We veer from left to right, backwards and forwards, lurching from one idea to the next. We veer so quickly, that even when we do have a good idea, we seem to have no idea on how to capitalise on it.

That's why I was banging my head against a brick wall (a metaphor, again, fear not!) when I heard news that the RFL and clubs are due to, once again, discuss changing the structure of the professional game in the UK.

We have learned nothing. Despite changing the fundamental structure of the professional game more than once every four years (and that's ignoring more minor changes, which are even more frequent), for some reason, which I cannot fathom the people at the top of the game are still under the mistaken belief that if we tinker around the edges, the sport is going to take off.

The quote, inaccurately attributed to Albert Einstein that "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" springs immediately to mind. 

Semantic tinkering and pointless infighting are the exact reason that rugby league finds itself on the road to nowhere. We are like the driver who finds themselves lost yet refuses to turn on the sat nav, because they claim to know where they are going.

Squandered Opportunities

The 2013 World Cup and the huge success that it brought was a big opportunity for the sport and we wasted it. Instead of having a legacy that we could build on, it simply became a good few weeks to look back on.

Even without Australia and New Zealand, the 2021 tournament provides bigger opportunities. The men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments are aligned, every game from each tournament will be broadcast live by the BBC, we have a record sponsorship deal secured, we are playing at some of the biggest and best stadiums in England, ticket sales are far exceeding expectations and we are benefiting from Government funding for four weeks of action that surpasses the total value of Super League's multi-year broadcast deal with Sky Sports.

Provided that the Pacific Nations remain willing to play in the tournament, the opportunities that the above brings will still be there for us to capitalise on.

The question is, will we do the same as in 2013? Will we 'do a Bristol' or 'do a Wembley? Will we have hugely successful games outside the heartlands and say "wasn't that great" and make precisely zero effort to take games back there?

Or will we think differently? Will the 2021 World Cup act as a catalyst to both strengthen the sport in the heartlands and simultaneously lay foundations to grow the sport further in areas such as the north east?

If we are not willing to simply settle for a memorable few weeks, then maybe rugby league can divert itself off the road to nowhere and onto a path to a better future. If we are not willing to act in a more targeted and strategic manner, then we will be having the same conversations still in years to come.

Comments

  1. One of the best blogs I have read. RL may not in be in this position today if some of the above had been put into place.

    What's needed in the game are forward thinkers, to take the game forward anything else is unacceptable.

    ReplyDelete

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