Yakstorm

Queensland structure is more like DR, with the QCup teams being a lot more seperate and the Queensland NRL clubs having arrangements with multiple clubs (ie. Cowboys have Cutters, Blackhawks and Pride) For NSW, it is very much a Reserve Grade. Look at the Roosters - North Sydney arrangement, currently Roosters coach, Jason Taylor, will run the Bears squad, plus still have some roles back at Moore Park. This is the same for Wentworthville (Parramatta), Blacktown (Manly), Mounties (Raiders), Newtown (Cronulla), etc - all have staff which are contracted to the NRL team. It would be like Leeds employing part of the Fev coaching staff.

A few factors contributed to the downfall of the Auckland Nines, these were: - Venue fatigue: Four years at the same venue does limit the number of traveling visitors you will get to a tournament like this. - Costs: The prices for years 2 & 3 were significantly up on the previous years. In short the promoters + NRL got greedy. - Warriors dependence: The event promotion was heavily focused around the Warriors and when they weren't performing that affected crowds. - Star Players: Teams got creative in how they named their sides to still satisfy the 'top 25' criteria, but keep some of the bigger names out. The World Nines is meant to move around, plus won't be played every year, so that minimises the 'fatigue' factor. From a supporter perspective, in at least for the opening tournament, there will most likely be more Tongan, Samoan, Kiwi and even England fans than Kangaroos, so single market dependency will hopefully not be there. There is also the new stadium factor which often contributes a few thousand in the opening year. Cost & star players will be the items that hopefully get sorted in the coming months. If costs are fair and the tournament sells, that will help draw the star players.

But none of those markets put forward a bid or already had sponsors lined up. The RLIF didn't do a great job getting submissions, but only Sydney had Government + Commercial sponsorship lined up. Can't speak for Super Rugby, but for NRL we're only talking ten's of thousands difference between Fridays and Saturdays... Not really lever pushers, and as the likes of BBC or Sky are likely to put forward much cash for the event (regardless of the days played), the timeslots are being driven by 'primetime' for the APAC market. Now just to clarify some unfortunate realities which have influenced the event being what it is. Firstly from a government and Downer, the number of teams has minimal influence on the dollars given. Both were prepared to spend the dollars they put forward for the event, and whilst if there was more or less it may have moved it a little, any increases would have significantly hit the tournament yield. As for Fox Sports, to Fox, the most important rating days are, in order, Saturday, Friday, Thursday, Sunday. As such, this is why the tournament is Friday / Saturday. Fox would have been very clear this was their preference and would have offered their top dollar for this combination. As such this as well would have influenced the number of teams, more teams means either a Sat / Sun event OR, it has to go over three days, which I'm sure Fox would have paid more for, but doubt Downer or the NSW Government would have. Nines games just don't add that much broadcast value, they aren't like a World Cup or Test Match where you can milk 3 hrs worth of content. They provide 20 minutes, and aren't something you can build up, as they are one of many games or at best (if they are say a final) you may get a few hours or overnight to hype. Whilst we would have all liked more teams, etc, the main target for this tournament is to make a few million for the RLIF to use, as such commerical has taken preference over reach.

This is one of those games where it could go honestly set new records that Super League may struggle to ever reach again. Considering Catalans v Warrington got 18K, 10 years ago, drawing 20K+ for this match is definitely achievable as I imagine there will be a large Wigan + Neutral contingent from the UK, plus I would anticipate most of the RL community in France will try and make this one. The Catalans are a lot more popular and known club now than they were 10 years ago. There is then the unknown Catalan interest in Spain + the fact FC Barcelona (unlike a Liverpool FC or other Football teams who host matches) personally inviting the Dragons. This is more than just a commercial arrangement, they want it to be successful. As such it may only add a couple of thousand to the crowd or it could literally fill the stadium. Anyway, whatever we get (hopefully a new crowd record if nothing else), the match should generate plenty of press and conversation for Super League, Wigan and Catalans which is what the sport needs.

Do we really think that many more people will be interested in Rugby League Nines at 9am on Saturday versus 9am Friday? The sad reality is the early time slots are not going to draw for an abbreviated version of any sport. The TV audiences this event is catering for is Australia, New Zealand, Pacific, PNG and South-East Asia. Now whilst it would have been nice to see more teams than 12 men's and 4 women's, at least we have a start. This is an RLIF event, meaning monies, including any profit, go to them. Already we have at least one broadcast partner, a title sponsor and a government sponsor, so it's at least off to a positive start. We want this tournament to be successful, do potentially not only can we have future World Cup Nines, but maybe one day an International Nines Circuit.

For Sheffield, the shadow camouflage pattern is a bit unnecessary, as on TV or from the stand, it will just look like the shirt is a grey, whilst the sleeves are black. Still it's a clean jersey, good level of sponsor integration, whole kit (outside of Championship badge) is black / grey / white / gold. For Widnes, I like the Raiders kit for the Alternative, but as some other posters have said, they should have also commemorated the kit they played in as well (would have made a good main/home kit). The predominately 'White' kit I'm sure would bring a lot of memories of 'happier' times for Widnes, which in a rebuilding year, is sometimes a good approach. Anyway, in some ways, maybe Widnes & Canberra should consider forming a link up. They both have that WCC match from 30 years ago, they both have 'vikings' as their alias even though both cities as landlocked, and both have access to rich junior pools, which might benefit from some exposure on the other side of the world as part of their development.

No that's, just between their Senior, J2, University, Age and School tournaments. Jamaica arguably have the largest RL infrastructure in the Americas, and according to the RLEF are only behind England, France and Wales.

In Australia, we've always had curtain raisers for our major matches. For Origin it is often age representative fixtures or NSW Residents v Qld Residents, for Finals we now have the NRLW and for the Grand Final it is the NRLW GF plus the State Championship play off. These matches create additional content which is picked up by Broadcasters plus helps create lead-in audiences (or can be Livestreamed) and helps get crowds in early. It also helps move tickets, both to different sets of fans and to those chasing more 'value' in their ticket. For me, I feel the Challenge Trophy / Shield / Bowl / Plastic Cup approach has a lot of merit. To keep it simple, the RFL just should pick break around in the competition. Ie. The 8 teams knocked out in the 5th Round play for the Challenge Shield. Yes you may get a SL team ending up in the mix occasionally, but if the intention is to draw interest and crowds, that may not be the worse thing either.

Great Britain was changed to Great Britain and Ireland for the 1999 Tri-Series in Auckland, Carney was only running around for Gateshead then, and I'm sure was not even in the mix for the Lions. You will see from the picture below (not the greatest pic), the inclusion of Ireland in crest added to the jersey, and a very thin green line on the collar (which blends in with the navy a bit) Whilst Carney was able to take advantage of this change in 2003, the reality is the Great Britain Lions became the Great Britain & Ireland Lions as part of an RFL strategy to 'build' the home nations profiles in the lead in to the 2000 RLWC. (Wasn't a great strategy), but something they kept even in 2001... as you can see on Barrie McDermott's collar, he has an Ireland logo...

Hopefully whoever made that mistake at the club gets a promotion... that old logo is so much better than the more recent iteration of the London Broncos' logo. Also fits their kits a lot better...

The Wolfpack also allowed for a number of Ontario Rugby League club matches this year to be played as curtain raisers at Lamport (I know one or two had to be moved) and as per the opening post allowed the CRLA to have a stand at a number of their matches this year (for free), so to say that they aren't doing anything to assist the CRLA/ORL is painting an unfair picture. It's unfortunate that Canadian Rugby League has stagnated a bit after the early days where the likes of Jamie Lester and Chris Diamond revived the game in Ontario and Paul O'Keefe in British Columbia, and of course it would be great if TWP could do more, but at the same time the current CRLA board don't appear to be putting forward proposals that benefit / justify further investment from the TWP. If a school Rugby League team in Jamaica can get sponsorship from TWP, it shows that they are open to investing in the sport (as they have also done with the Ravens, etc), but what are the CRLA actually putting forward for the TWP to even consider?

TVWan will be broadcasting the games locally, so not sure why their feed (even on a slight delay) are never shown outside of PNG. It is the same with the Digicel Cup, PNG Hunters, PMXIII and plenty of other representative games (like PNG U23s v Country NSW last week). Just like the recent NZ National Premiership, which was broadcasted by Sky NZ, it's crazy why these games are never distributed anywhere else in the world, especially as the largest costs have been covered.

There is nothing wrong with the RFL wanting to test the waters with a subscription service and to grow OurLeague registrations, and honestly well played to them that they now have a service which they are slowly starting to grow. That said, I agree with Tex, that for events like England v France, the aim should be to get as many eyeballs on it as possible and thus Facebook and YouTube are a must. England v France is the perfect style of event to educate people all about OurLeague and why they should register, etc whilst they are still on a platform they use regularly, added to that they can use the event to grow their social audiences / etc, which they can use for future marketing. If more than 20K will ASEAN v Latin Heat at around 2pm on a Tuesday, then England v France would easily comanf a few hundred thousand at least.

Grown revenues and participation in his time in Wales despite funding and staff cuts from the RFL. Has also overseen increase in Junior teams, and increased the number of Wales Rep teams playing year in, year out. For having so little to work with, to achieve growth, is encouraging. That said Danny K had glowing references when he left Lebanon and whilst in my opinion, I felt he did a good overall role, there are plenty who would disagree.

Firstly, I never said these types of brands don't sponsor clubs in the UK or Australia, I said that some of the proposals that some 'professional' teams put together are rather poor and that it is no surprise that some big name brands will ignore these. Secondly, supplier deals are very different than sponsorships, you will find for most of these deals the supplier (ie. Coca-Cola Amatil in the A/NZ market) will not actually part with money, they will usually: Provide more 'affordable' per unit costings Provide facilities like fridges, drink dispensers, etc In the rare case that they will actually provide funds to a 'leagues club' or 'venue', it will be the installation of say lines, which will be tied to the period of exclusivity (so they make their money back). It is worth noting that NO League's Club or Junior League deals include the NRL team or vice-versa. They are seperate legal entities, it's why Parramatta Eels have a alcohol agreement with Fosters / CUB, whilst ParraLeagues actually has an agreement with Lion Nathan at the moment. This changes a bit when you get down to say QCup or NSW Cup, where the two are the same legal entity, however some of these clubs actually put forward more professional and attractive proposals to potential partners. Thirdly, that Manly example only highlights how as a sport we haven't kept up. The Sea Eagles previous Major Sponsor, CocoJoy, only paid $1m per year, whilst URM, currently Front of Jersey, is around the $800K mark.... Shows negative growth after 32 years...