Re: RU will overrun RL : Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:58 pm
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wigan_rlfc wrote: What makes you think this? I would suggest (but I am by no means certain) that there are far many more amature union teams and registered players than League. There was some sort of study and official report done into popular sports. In terms of amateur following, tv audiences and overall attendances, RL is the second most popular sport in the UK, second only to football. The only thing that lets us down is a marginally lower average attendance in week-to-week league matches than Union. We average 7,414 more fans per year for the Super League Grand Final than the Union Premiership's Grand Final. We average 11,100 more fans per year for the Challenge Cup Final than the Heineken Cup Final. A Union fanboy I used to go to school with made fun of League recently, saying Rugby League could never bring 80,000 fans to a match. Presented him with the facts and he went strangely quiet. Our biggest problem is the lack of space devoted to the Greatest Game in the newspapers. With people like Jim Holden (Daily Express writer, one article of his resulted in this book and the movement behind it.) being so ignorant our sport through whatever bias/prejudice they may have, we may be waiting some time to "break the walls". Did anyone hear the report on Radio Manchester, think it was last week, where a long-time Union broadcaster and fan "dragged" himself along "begrudgingly" to watch the Wigan-St George match? His reaction afterwards was that he had never seen such skills and intensity in Rugby before, that the quality and excitement far outweighed anything he had ever seen on a Union field. Final points to be made, things that Union fanboys often don't have an answer to; ask them why ageing RL players who were past their best can literally WALK straight into the England Union team (and a World Cup-winning team at that), why Wendell Sailor left Union (answer: he was too bored) and why they think it's ok to pay over £20 for an 80-minute match consisting of only 37% (30 minutes) of action, whilst we pay £17 for 69% (55 minutes) of action! |
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wigan_rlfc wrote: What makes you think this? I would suggest (but I am by no means certain) that there are far many more amature union teams and registered players than League. There was some sort of study and official report done into popular sports. In terms of amateur following, tv audiences and overall attendances, RL is the second most popular sport in the UK, second only to football. The only thing that lets us down is a marginally lower average attendance in week-to-week league matches than Union. We average 7,414 more fans per year for the Super League Grand Final than the Union Premiership's Grand Final. We average 11,100 more fans per year for the Challenge Cup Final than the Heineken Cup Final. A Union fanboy I used to go to school with made fun of League recently, saying Rugby League could never bring 80,000 fans to a match. Presented him with the facts and he went strangely quiet. Our biggest problem is the lack of space devoted to the Greatest Game in the newspapers. With people like Jim Holden (Daily Express writer, one article of his resulted in this book and the movement behind it.) being so ignorant our sport through whatever bias/prejudice they may have, we may be waiting some time to "break the walls". Did anyone hear the report on Radio Manchester, think it was last week, where a long-time Union broadcaster and fan "dragged" himself along "begrudgingly" to watch the Wigan-St George match? His reaction afterwards was that he had never seen such skills and intensity in Rugby before, that the quality and excitement far outweighed anything he had ever seen on a Union field. Final points to be made, things that Union fanboys often don't have an answer to; ask them why ageing RL players who were past their best can literally WALK straight into the England Union team (and a World Cup-winning team at that), why Wendell Sailor left Union (answer: he was too bored) and why they think it's ok to pay over £20 for an 80-minute match consisting of only 37% (30 minutes) of action, whilst we pay £17 for 69% (55 minutes) of action! |
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