[iAmbition and common sense is not allowed.

Yours,

Nigel Wood and chums.[/i

We have MANY of the most recognisible faces in this country watching/tweeting/attending our sport and nothing is being done to coax them into a studio or a microphone on Sky to talk about it. We have the biggest headline maker of the Olympics last year watching one of our biggest teams and the best we can do is an advert which I havent seen in months now.
The RFL are perhaps THE worst networking organisation in the world. From Wiggins and his SkyProCycling team you could get Jaguar, Gatorade and Oakley. From Rooney et al you could get Nike, adidas, Puma, DHL, multiple betting companies, Nokia, Ford, Coke, Pepsi, wine companies and more.

All it needs is one person who can stand up infront of these companies and make a clear, sound succinct point selling our fantastic game. Shame we dont have one.

The Fat Controller would only be interested in Greasy Joe`s all you can eat Breakfast.

A rather simplistic view of how to go about "attracting" attention and the sponsorship that goes with it, but a well meaning sentiment none the less.

I would temper this with the observation that our competition is shown on a few small channels overseas and is not really a global phenom in the model of the Barclays Wendyball comp, but is instead, a domestic competition that attracts between 300k and 400k PAY TV viewers per week across 2 live games and other "highlights" shows, over about 35 weeks of the year. To the likes of Nike, to name one of your targets, spending money on a TV advertising slot 3 times during a premiership soccer match will get them about 1 months Superleague audience.

The reason other sports can attract bigger and more noticeable sponsors/backers is because they have an international standing.....soccer is global, union at least cultivates national pride during the 6 nations/RWC, Tennis is a once a year quest to get a brit winner and is very "middle class" and aspirational (it's live on FTA down here in NZ) Cycling is like F1 in that all that money must be getting a ROI but nobody really has a clue how....League in the UK has a reputation as a local hobby and if the game is to grow at all, then I believe that real investment in expansion, with a real campaign of awareness in non heartland areas needs to be implemented.

As for Rooney and the United blokes at Origin........One Direction were at Origin a couple of years back IIRC.......it's a gimmick that will be forgotten the minute the final whistle blows......remember, 6,500 subscribers in the UK can watch Origin and your average twitter stalker of a wendyballer will only be interested in wendyball.