The most obvious example is Dwain Chambers for Castleford reserves.

Im sure the gate at Wire increased once Andrew Johns put a shirt on also increased.

No sherlock......the Harlem globetrotters of RL don't and will never exist though.

A quick glance at the BBC website as well as say 6 of the major papers across the UK and you had to search for the recent international RL fixtures......you pick up the paper or go on-line last monday, which got more coverage...fiji getting murdered by england or england murdering france?.....the Union team AFAIK is not full of star players, but they still packed 82k into TW2......sub 8k for the RL match...the issue is perception.



Back of a beer mat marketing

......walk down any main shopping area in any major city in the UK and show pictures of sam tomkins and nobody would know who he was....this is potentially the #1 player in our game in the UK.



Personal marketing...ie clothes etc will do little for the national exposure of the game.

What is needed is a major overhaul of the RFL marketing strategy....5% of the SKY TV money earmarked for the clubs needs to be put into a central fund and the GAME ITSELF marketed.......what isn't needed is perceived local solutions to a national problem.

Outside of the heartlands, there is very little interest in RL. To change that, you have to look at what the NRL are attempting.....taking games on the road with major draw cards like the Bunnies.......and regardless of revenue streams, the RFL have to bite the bullet next year and sacrafice TV cash for FTA coverage if needed......BBC coverage, Saturday afternoon KO's......and if the BBC are to get it on the cheap, they do so under the conditions that they market the hell out of it.

Putting Adrian Morley in a Moss Bross suit or a River Island Cardigan isn't going to do anything for the game at all.....

Completely disagree with SBW almost single-handedly won the game for a half strength Bulldogs. His performance that day was one of the finest examples of back row forward play many have ever seen. You ask most what they remember about that game and SBW's performance is pretty high up there.

Player profile is the key

James Grant management now have Sam Tomkins and Josh Charnely on their books

They do loads to get their clients profiles up

Follow Andi Peters on twitter (one time BBC producer with fingers in many pies, such as James Grant, model agency that suppliers cover models for Men Health mag, TV producer, the bloke that put Vernon Kay on tv and many more), you will see how hes been in London with Sam and Josh recently introducing Sam to NIKE, producing short films on Sam that have been sold on and shown by Transword sport etc etc

I used the extreme ' a team full of ' only to make the point that individuals do make a difference. Team full of 'box office', higher attendance than a team without stars. Somewhere in between, attendence somewhere in between. Not complicated. Certain players we respect, other players we hate or adore. The latter two categories are the ones that worth most money to the game. I 'hated' Shaun Long and Tommy Martin ( only in the pantomine villian sense for 80 minutes, for all I know they're perfectly nice people ) but you wouldn't guess that from how often I payed to watch my team play against them.

What does that have to do with what I said? Did SBW playing in that game attract attendees to it? I do not think so. He was making his reputation then and that game helped but the people of West Yorkshire did not attend because SBW was playing.

I've spent a lot of time in the past sponsoring some of those banks and building societies. Yorkshire Building Society has possibly got the most RL-passionate workforce of any company I've ever had involvement with, the place is full of League fans (granted it's a 5 minute walk to Odsal). And Halifax used to sponsor...well, Halifax.

When I worked for Lloyds Banking Group up in Halifax, they used to have frequent events with Fax where you could get cheap tickets- I'd imagine that they'd be receptive if the effort were to be put in.

On another note, I'd scrap Magic Weekend and get some matches on the road., ideally double-headers. I'm sure people would still travel, and the sight of thousands of people in unfamilar tops would surely create a buzz. Especially in smaller towns where there is not likely to be much in the way of competition in summer, and especially if there can be a double-header with a local team or two from a lower tier.

Leeds-Bradford and Sheffield-Doncaster at Bramall Lane, for example. Or some such.

Already involved with Salford and the new stadium.

There are about 160,000 fans who REGULARLY attend RL games in the UK....the trick isn't to market to these people...the trick is to grow their numbers.......because although those 160,000 are club loyal, they patently aren't "game"loyal, as the recent international attendances would point to.

SBW and his like, are all well and good, but they aren't going to convince a Bradford City or Leeds United fan to come and watch RL.....

Reality is RL fans aren't stupid and not band wagoners. They will pay and give up to time to watch a decent game that is a contest. Only stupid people are going to pay good money to watch one sided hammerings. Until int RL becomes legitimate games you can't expect tens of thousands to turn up.

Have an ashes series where gb are a genuine chance of winning and you would pack out stadiums.

Please name the scottish, Irish and Welsh players who would join the England team to make it GB and then explain how this mythical team would be any more competative than England?

Which doesn't explain why they don't turn up for England/GB games v Australia or New Zealand.
The reality is RL fans are more bothered about their own little club than the national team.

Its a local game for local people, that is even on the Stobart trucks

I agree with you on GB and the pointlessness of contrived games.

On your other point, a couple of things. Firstly, there aren't many 'stupid bandwagoners' around full stop, so chasing them won't help (although TBH I don't really know what one is - someone who only goes to a limited number of games? That's me if so). More importantly though you talk about 'RL Fans', which is fine, and I'm not being critical of your post, but it reminded me of what frustrates me when the RFL talk about marketing. They surely need to focus on the people that don't turn up, not the ones that do. E.g. They bang on about how fans love the Magic weekend. How do they know? Presumably by asking the ones that went! Wow, so people that watch rugby, er, like watching rugby. Useful info, eh? Save yourselves a ton of marketing cost and start with the assumption that the people who turn up are fine with things. Sure, they might want to tweak things, but if you're tasked with building the sport you've got to be a hard-headed t%#t and not worry so much about them. Let 'em whinge, but bottom line is, if they turn up, job done. Spend all your inbound marketing effort seeking out and questioning those that didn't go to whatever match. And preferably, for quicker results to begin with, start with the low hanging fruit - those that you know *have* watched league before but didnt show up, before worrying about totally new markets.

How I'd love to see a press release from the RFL that instead of self-aggrandising, said something like: "we love the magic weekend and we know a lot a fans do, but we'd like to see it sold out. So, we asked 1000 supporters from each club, who didn't go, to tell us why. Here were the main reasons: (blah, blah) So, we've taken that on board and propose the following changes/initiatives*: (blah, blah). If you missed it last year, try it now!" ( I use Magic weekend just as an example, same applies to England games, playoffs, etc )

Never going to happen, because such a press release would imply the RFL aren't perfect in everything they do. Maybe they fear that any public comment that could be interpreted as self criticism would be bad for the game ( as if constantly banging on about how we're the best sport in the world helps ). It would do the opposite, showing a thoughtful, honest sport, eagerly seeking what works, and would give fans confidence that the RFL was listening, not just thinking up random ideas.

We've got to be totally honest as a sport and NEVER blame the fan who couldn't be @rsed to go...find out why and take them seriously!

*note the difference between changes/initiatives randomly launched after a meeting at the RFL and those based on proper evidence.

You missed the bit about genuine chance of winning?

I've been to Wembley with 60'000+ there to watch gb v Australia. Where there is a will......

Excellent post RL Bandit
For many years now we have had "initiatives" designed to improve the game within the media but, most importantly, the paying public are never considered.
Even the recent meeting in the lakes, where we understand P/R and numbers within the top flight were discussed, was attended by the chairmen of the SL clubs and
these dozen or so people will decide what is best for "the game"- I dont think so, thay will decide what is best for them.
Whether this is positive or detrimental to the game isnt important and at some point in the future, their will is to be imposed on the paying public.

There is no need to find out why people dont attend MM or Internationals, everything is ' rosy ' in the RFL s world , the game just keeps getting better and better

60,000 great...the trick though, is the other 30,000 seats.......as for a genuine chance of winning, the recent hammerings of France have given fans "hope" that 'stralia can be beaten next year....problem is, France aren't 'stralia....England should have toured down here at the end of the season........ARL/NZRL should have been "made" take a test each......the RLIF need to take control of the game.

Take it you have not watched much Rugby League then as the likes of Israel Folau and Greg Ingis are better athletes than Money Bill Williams. And if you look at Williams record when playing for the Doggies he missed many weeks due to injury! When Williams was good he was quality but he also had some very bad games and cost his team games. Having played Union for the past 4 years his League skill will have been weakened and the famous shoulder charge he had/has is more or less out of the NRL now after last season. And while he may be a box office he also has upset many with his big mouth and conduct. A number of players, fans etc dont want him in the NRL and he has hardly spoke highly of the game of Rugby League with him saying he regrets making the agreement etc. I dont think he will make the NZ squad as his heart is not 100% in it. NZ should pick the best squad for them not one that is good for marketing purposes. He also seems more interested in speaking about Boxing and Union than playing for the Roosters let alone NZ.

Spot on. He won't get the same level of time and space he enjoyed in Union.....he will be targetted by many opponents, his injury record in League isn't that good and he is 100% motivated by what's best for him. I hope the Kiwis don't pick him unless he proves most of us wrong and does well for the roosters.....and I also reckon he'll be playing Union in France by the time RLWC13 comes around.

I agree in principle, but are there really 160k who attend games, this including the juniors and lower grades?

If you ignore the sometimes outlandish claims of 4,500 travelling away fans, then I reckon there's between 140,000-160,000 ATTENDING fans in the UK.

Rounds 6 and 7 last year saw 133,000 in attendance....8 and 9 nearer 144,000.....add to this the Championships, amateur games, student/age groups etc and I reckon I'm not that far wrong.......there will be a few Thousand fans based in the London area that only attend 1 game a year...when their hometown play the Broncos as well as 'a few more that are fairweather fans, who only attend marquee games....

Surely that’s a fairly low estimate. I think there will be a hell of a lot more who attend a game in any one season.
If you take Leeds for example, averaging around 14/15k, but will get up to 18/19k for some games but about 11k season ticket holders, plus there will be some churn of those over the season. I wouldn’t be surprised if the number was closer to 250/300k different fans will attend at least one game in a season.

Absolutely spot on - well said.