MattyB wrote:
The game is dying.
Going off topic a bit here but without going into it in detail (will later when I'm less busy) I feel the game in this country needs to completely relaunch. Its time for the bigger clubs in this league to have the shackles taken off, scrap the salary cap and go for it.
Think Wigan RL of the mid 90's x 5 (Wigan, Leeds, Saints, Wire, Hull... etc).
Household name signings, blue-chip sponsorship deals. The lot.
Either that or we are semi-pro in less than five years.
Said this for ages....there needs to be another SL break-away with new branding.
• Super league has been lost to womans footbal, netball and fantasy football leagues, just like the Rugby WC, due to our ineptitude and failure to trademark it!
• The word 'league' also has negative connotations....just listen to how some in the southern based media say the word 'league' is derisory.
• Most of the media make it clear it is the northern game, and perpetuate old stereotypes of whippets, coal mines, deprived northern towns and eddie wearing!
We need to go the same way as france....ditch league and rebrand the whole game as
Rugby XIII, spoken as
Rugby thirteens.It would cause confusion to loads of casual JCL union fans who watch six nations etc to watch our game and realise the product is better, without the negative connotations and the job union has done to it! It would create a new product...imagine a marketing campaign where you went out to buy 1 second slots on national prime time advertising just with a black screen and RUGBY XIII...Its coming! Then expand with occasional adverts showing class snippets of action.
It would do what 'the hundred' is doing for cricket, but would also help us nick those union fans on the fringes, if done correctly.
But, like the hundred, it also needs to be done as part of a brave re brand, appealing to new people and giving people in different regions a team to support- to appeal to wider new fan base but also dispel the myth that we are just run down northern towns that detracts investors...and gives us only Heinz big soup and bachelors peas.
We can be parochial and backward thinking no longer. We need to be brave, and all the clubs need to embrace it.
IMO we need to rebrand most teams, still playing in the usual towns, same grounds and initially to largely the same fanbase, but allowing them to play an odd game in their wider region each year, to create opportunity for growth
Imagine a SL of the following;
Leeds RhinosLiverpool Saints (St Helens rebrand, still based at Langtree park in St Helens etc, but showing presence)
Manchester Fords (Salford rebrand on the same premise as Saints, with Fords being a throw to Salford) If Salford are too parocial and not brave enough then a new Manchester club.
Cheshire Wire (Warrington rebrand- same premise)
Lancashire Warriors or possibly
Wigan Lancs (due to the strength of the Wigan brand)
Hull East YorkshireLondon SW BroncosTyne Thunder Newcastle rebrand, promoted to SL
Wales / Celtic Crusaders Back at Wrexham, where they were successful and actually starting to get crowds.
Catalan DragonsToulouse Olympique who will probably be in next year anyway
Most of those clubs are already in place and ready to go, but with some smart re-brands you are appealing to huge areas of the country, rather than a few hundred thousands in deprived northern towns.
You may add another one or possible 3/4 teams to that on a franchise model and on the basis of appealing to wider areas.
It Toronto can sort themselves and ultimately get Ottawa in, they would get places.
If cas sorted a new ground you could have West Yorkshire Tigers....otherwise if they want to remain parochial in their hovel of a ground they would play in a strong re-formed British Championship
British champions get the opportunity to apply for a SL licence should they wish every 3 years, upon condition of appealing to a wider area. Ie/ if york came in they'd be York North Yorkshire - Sheffield - South Yorkshire etc.
Yes it takes a huge mindshift, yes you need to be brave, but do that and the game can survive.....carry on and we're dead in the water in 10 years, back to semi pro and amateur.
Sadly its a commercial world, and the SL i have put together there would command probably twice the amount of the new deal, plus more as it grows....simply on the basis of population you are appealing to. Same consideration with sponsors. Some say its pie in the sky, it'll never happen because fans would be in arms, but IMO i would be prepared to lose the 20-40/50% who can't see the bigger picture....they can be replaced rather than hold the game back and ultimately kill it!
If you're that childish and parochial you won't go if your team re-brand to represent a wider area, your a massive reason why the game is dying in the first place. Ultimately the game has to lose some of this deadwood to survive IMO.
