25 replies to this topic

[Keith T]

The other day there was an article in the N & S about the RFL looking to have a series of Nines games around the country for a competition. I know our Chairman was stated to be in favour of this type of event saying that it could do for rugby league what Twenty Twenty has done for cricket!!!

I am not so sure and I wondered what everyone else thinks. The Super League clubs would only use the competition to give their Under 20's some serious competition and I can't see Championship clubs taking such a competition that seriously in the middle of the league programme.

I think the Championship and Championship 1 clubs need more meaningful fixtures not gimmicky competitions to bring in extra finance. We have the Nines at the Northern Rail Cup Final weekend and I don't think it has generated much enthusiasm amongst Championship club fans.

What you all think?

[Town Army]

Waste of time!
Surely it's only gonna cost clubs like ourselves money and would prob lead to injuries to players and even if your club won the thing . . . Then so what?? Who is really gonna care? Doesn't even compare to crickets T20, completely different scenario.

But it seems just the type of thing the RFL will try to push through.

Prove me wrong!

[one mickey mouse cup]

Typical of the clowns who are running the game. This will not put a penny into the coffers of any of the majority of clubs struggling to make ends meet through lack of gate revenue. Head in the sand time again and choosing to ignore the feelings of supporters who have certainly told them what they thought in the recent survey.

[homeandawayer]

What a nonsense. Twenty Twenty isn't real cricket same as Nines isn't real rugby.

[dkw]

What a nonsense. Twenty Twenty isn't real cricket same as Nines isn't real rugby.

Yet 20/20 is currently watched by many more people than test cricket, and makes a hell of a lot more money. Its also more in tune with the kind of thing people want to watch nowadays. I actually think this cuold be a good idea and could grab more spectators and tv viewers if done correctly. RL has never been afraid to innovate and this could end up a very interesting tournament. Also, I would prefer something like this to the ridiculous waste of time that is the National choo choo trophy or whatever the hell its called now.

Edited by dkw, 14 January 2011 - 12:23 PM.

[Keith T]

In all honesty I cannot see Nines gripping fans the same way as 20/20 cricket does. 20/20 is two teams playing each other over a period of 3 to 4 hours not a number of different teams playing several games over a similar period and therefore fans wont be seeing a great deal of the team they have gone to support.

Once again this is not a competition that Championship 1 clubs need as it will not (in my humble opinion) generate enough money to cover expenses. Say we had a round at DP with Town, Haven, Barrow and Wigan competing. First of all the SL side would not be sending any of their first team players and probably the same with Barrow, who would only send fringe players to give them a run out. I could not see that scenario bringing in large crowds especially when we can only muster 1200 for a full blown derby match against Haven.

The RFL need to have a serious re-think if this is the best idea they can come up with or clubs in the Championship will be going to the wall in numbers. The NR Cup is geared up for the top 5 or 6 Championship clubs and all the rest are bit part players. Very rarely does a Championship 1 club get past the first round of the knock-out stage having played to poor attendances in the groups stages.

I understand the RFL are to disclose their views on the Championship(s) in March after going through all the results of their survey and they must surely realise that people dont want gimmicks, they want full blooded meaningful fixtures and certainly more than 10 home matches per season.

[town88]

Personally i am with DKW on this i think it could benefit the game. Im all for the it!
If the NRC only benefits the top 5 or 6 teams why did batley win it? also if the NRC only benefits the top 5 or 6 clubs then why do we bother to compete in the challenge cup surely thats a waste of time isnt it?

Edited by town88, 14 January 2011 - 02:01 PM.

[Keith T]

Personally i am with DKW on this i think it could benefit the game. Im all for the it!
If the NRC only benefits the top 5 or 6 teams why did batley win it? also if the NRC only benefits the top 5 or 6 clubs then why do we bother to compete in the challenge cup surely thats a waste of time isnt it?

Obviously you will get exceptions like which soccer club will be in the top four with Arsenal. Chelsea and Man Utd but in general it only favours the top 5 or 6 clubs in the Championship. Likewise, the only reason we play in the Challenge Cup is the hope that we will win our first game and get in to the draw with the SL clubs and hopefully get a good money spinning draw. However, the way the SL clubs now look on the Challenge Cup matches against lower league clubs, those big pay days are getting lesser and fewer each year as their fans wont attend the matches if they have to pay ( i.e. not included their season tickets). After Batley, how many teams, outside the top 5 or 6 Championship teams, can you mention that have reached the semi-finals of the NR Cup?

[homeandawayer]

How many people watch kick and clap ... bloody thousands . It doesn't mean it's good , in most of those areas there's little else to watch and it's well marketed. I've seen RU nines on the telly and it's like watching them messing about at training playing touch.

I'm not interested , and i won't be the only one. It's a gimmick , how does that get people rushing through the turnstiles?

[Piggy's mate]

Hav none of you been to Blackpool to watch the 9's comp there run before the NR cup final?

[dkw]

Going from unlimited tackles was a gimmick, offside from 5 to 10 was a gimmick, summer rugby was a gimmick, more subs was a gimmick. Maybe people should give it a chance and support it and see where it can go. Or will we see the same old doom and gloom should the first tournament not have a million people watching it. If our game wants to get more people watching it then we need to try something different at times, get in the headlines and try and grab peoples attention.

[BUZZYBEE]

Been to both of these events did think that the first
which ran over 2days was far better than the format they did 2010
which turned out that by 2ish most teams knew they had been knocked out
and some left thus a lot of the fans went too
Thought when it ran over the 2days gave all teams a much better chance ,but left it tight
to get back into blackpool for the game

[Keith T]

dkw, you and I usually end up agreeing more or less but on this topic I just can't see it happening. In days gone by these sort of things have been tried and tested and failed. In 1958 Town won the National Sevens title and in 1978 Town again won the Wigan Sevens title but there was no interest for those type of competitions in rugby league.Not like over the border where RU clubs, Melrose, Hawick, Gala, etc, had tremendoous crowds for their sevens competitions.

Those were in the days when people hadn't too many other pursuits to follow and yet here we are now expecting it to succeed against goodness knows what else, including crickets 20/20 matches, Test matches, One day internationals, etc, being played at the same time. Sorry, I would rather see Town putting everything in to being successful in the League without risking players health in another meaningless competition. If it goes ahead then fine but I for one will not be supporting it and to be honest I cannot see it getting live TV time.

[homeandawayer]

Going from unlimited tackles was a gimmick, offside from 5 to 10 was a gimmick, summer rugby was a gimmick, more subs was a gimmick. Maybe people should give it a chance and support it and see where it can go. Or will we see the same old doom and gloom should the first tournament not have a million people watching it. If our game wants to get more people watching it then we need to try something different at times, get in the headlines and try and grab peoples attention.

How many players were on each team?

[dkw]

How many players were on each team?

What does that have to do with anything? As a sport we need to innovate to try and attract new fans to our game, and no-one can see if this will do that or not. But I would prefer we try things rather just accept the situation, if we stand still then we move backwards. The nines tournament in York is growing year on year and is becoming quite a nice little inclusion into the RL calender. I think this boar shows the problem RL has at times, people simply wont accept change and wont back something they arent sure off. I remember when the SL play offs were first mooted, the amount of people saying it would fail (and perhaps even wanting it to fail) was ridiculous, yet it is now the biggest series of games in English RL and the final is the biggest day our game has.

[Keith T]

What does that have to do with anything? As a sport we need to innovate to try and attract new fans to our game, and no-one can see if this will do that or not. But I would prefer we try things rather just accept the situation, if we stand still then we move backwards. The nines tournament in York is growing year on year and is becoming quite a nice little inclusion into the RL calender. I think this boar shows the problem RL has at times, people simply wont accept change and wont back something they arent sure off. I remember when the SL play offs were first mooted, the amount of people saying it would fail (and perhaps even wanting it to fail) was ridiculous, yet it is now the biggest series of games in English RL and the final is the biggest day our game has.

1. Our innovations of licensing and doing away with P & R have chased more people away from the Championship and Championship 1 clubs. Some have gone to SL clubs whilst others have left the game altogether. In other areas of the game the fans have accepted new innovations like bonus points, 40/20 kickes, etc, and who knows they may accept this latest innovation. That doesn't mean no-one has to be critical of it.
2. This competition as I understand it is not just one day it is a series of rounds culminating in a nice little inclusion in the calendar. Other than M62 corridor fans, how many does the Headingley Nines attract? How many Cumbrians went to watch Cumbria play in it?
3. I think it's a bit unfair to criticise this board just because people have disagreed with your view. Maybe that's what is wrong, people in the RFL are thinking like you and disregard what others have to say by insinuating that we wont accept change!!!

As I said if it comes about good luck to it but don't be too surprised if it isn't so well supported as you seem to think it will be. All I know is that for the likes of Town it could prove to be a competition we don't need and prove to be a distraction from what we all want - out of this division before we end up with the Conference clubs in the next new shake up from the RFL.

[dkw]

1. I think the licensing and getting rid of P&R (only between the SL and the rest by the way) was the right thing to do at the time considering the amount of clubs that were almost destroying themselves bringing in over the hill Aussies on ridiculous wages to try and keep them up.

2. fair point.

3. it wasnt a criticism of the board, more a criticism of some of the inward looking RL fans. Maybe I was generalising a bit too much, but there seems to me to be more RL fans entrenched in their way of thinking and simply unable to allow themselves to see past their own clubs next season. RL, as with many sports, is finding itself in a very difficult situation due to the lack of disposable income many people now have. I think its right we try and find new ways of getting people through the turnstyles. My old boss once said something to me about business which I think also applies to sport, If you stand still you go backwards.

[homeandawayer]

What does that have to do with anything? As a sport we need to innovate to try and attract new fans to our game, and no-one can see if this will do that or not. But I would prefer we try things rather just accept the situation, if we stand still then we move backwards. The nines tournament in York is growing year on year and is becoming quite a nice little inclusion into the RL calender. I think this boar shows the problem RL has at times, people simply wont accept change and wont back something they arent sure off. I remember when the SL play offs were first mooted, the amount of people saying it would fail (and perhaps even wanting it to fail) was ridiculous, yet it is now the biggest series of games in English RL and the final is the biggest day our game has.

No need for insults, just because i don't agree with you.

[PLD]

No need for insults, just because i don't agree with you.

HomeandAwayer

Please change your forum picture.

It's taking me back to a dark, dark, dark time

[town88]

At the end of the day its all very well people sitting on here saying i wont support it but what would happen if town got to a final or semi final would you all stay at home or would you go and support your team because i know which one i would do! What would you do if DP was to hold a round which maybe included for eg Saints Wigan Town Haven etc? Is it not good to see the RFL actually trying to do something to improve our game and not just SL by including lower league teams in it? Or should we just sit here with our 10 league games 2 nrc and hope for atleast 1 challenge cup home draw or away at a sl club and hope that we can make enough money to survive next season?