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Not a major sport according to Talksport


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Listening to the Hawksby and Jacobs this afternoon on Talksport,Andy Jacobs came out with a statement that 2 of the major England teams were coached by Aussies.

He was corrected by the chap in the studio they were interviewing (an Aussie) who said 3 because of RL.Jacobs then said he did not class League as a major sport like "rugby" and cricket.

One could reply by saying that Talksport is not a major radio station and as 90% of its coverage is about soccer it is wrongly named.

When their presenters have to talk about anything other than soccer (even then they struggle out of their comfort zone) they are clueless.

Whilst I would argue about this statement till the cows come home, it shows how a full Anfield last Sunday would greatly help our cause.

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We've always filled that awkward space between a major and a minor sport which means to some people we are a major sport and to some people we're not.  I find it hard to argue with tbh.  The vast majority of towns and villages in the UK do NOT have an RL team.  But you can guarantee there's a soccer, cricket and ru team within a few miles of everyone. 

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There's no right or wrong answer to this. It all depends on what criteria Andy Jacobs is using to determine what is and what isn't a major sport. Unless he explains how he's arrived at that conclusion, it's impossible to agree or disagree with him.

It's no different to the tiresome debate in football as to whether a player is world class or not. Since there isn't an accepted definition of what being world class is, the whole discussion is meaningless.

If people are basing their opinions on different criteria, then a comparison is going to be impossible. I haven't checked, so maybe someone can find an accepted definition of what it is to be a "major sport in England". Once we have that, we can see if we think rugby league fits the criteria or not.

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15 minutes ago, bamfordsbeans said:

Listening to the Hawksby and Jacobs this afternoon on Talksport,Andy Jacobs came out with a statement that 2 of the major England teams were coached by Aussies.

He was corrected by the chap in the studio they were interviewing (an Aussie) who said 3 because of RL.Jacobs then said he did not class League as a major sport like "rugby" and cricket.

One could reply by saying that Talksport is not a major radio station and as 90% of its coverage is about soccer it is wrongly named.

When their presenters have to talk about anything other than soccer (even then they struggle out of their comfort zone) they are clueless.

Whilst I would argue about this statement till the cows come home, it shows how a full Anfield last Sunday would greatly help our cause.

When I listen it seems 90% is adverts 

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2 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Radio presenter in being controversial shocker!

In fairness to both Andy Jacobs and Paul Hawksbee, they're not actually like that. They're very sensible and balanced with their views. Andy Jacobs wouldn't have meant any offense by it, nor would he have said it to be controversial. As I said, he's obviously got his own criteria for how he's judging sport, and without knowing what that criteria is, it's impossible to say whether you agree with him or not.

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30 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

 

Aside from Football, RU, horse racing, cricket and occasional boxing matches, do any other UK sports generate the crowd numbers RL does?

It's been obviously presented in a different format but Motorsport at the higher levels generates big crowds. F1 and Moto GP being the obvious ones.

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Rugby of both codes, soccer, horse racing, greyhound racing, yachting, rowing, basketball, motor racing, athletics, cricket, snooker, darts are all minority sports in Belgium....

 

the major sport is pigeon racing!!! Wahay!

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1 minute ago, East of the Moon said:

Rugby of both codes, soccer, horse racing, greyhound racing, yachting, rowing, basketball, motor racing, athletics, cricket, snooker, darts are all minority sports in Belgium....

 

the major sport is pigeon racing!!! Wahay!

With very tiny jockeys 

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17 minutes ago, Mattrhino said:

If we are comparing to soccer RU is not a major sport in this cointry other than once a year in the 6 nations.

There are what 12-14 full time clubs that get an average of what 12k attendance hardly grounbreaking stuff.

According to World Rugby there are 1900 RU clubs in England, 239 in Wales and 241 in Scotland. If there's an average of 1.5 sides per club there's over 50,000 playing it every week. It's hardly minor. 

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nothing can be as bad as lbc- wife falls asleep with it on - that bitchy gay guy- steve allen at 4am has me reaching over her to hit the off button on a regular basis

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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1 hour ago, Monkey Lover said:

Rugby League is not a major sport in the eyes of a huge portion of the population. Certainly not in the sense of numbers watching in comparison to Football, Rugby Union Horse Racing and Cricket. 

That does not mean it is not a good sport for the small number of people who enjoy watching it.

I think when so-called 'Professional' clubs can field 17 players in a competitive game there may be scope for them to challenge the 4 sports mentioned above in terms of status!

Not only in the sense of numbers watching in comparison to other sports, but also in the sense of its geographic footprint, player numbers and everything else about it.

If RL was a major sport, the management of pro clubs at the top level of the game wouldn't worry about something so trivial as how many visiting fans will visit their stadium every season and buy their tickets, programs, food and/or drink, Menzie Yeres wouldn't be faced with possible deportation because his status would have been sorted out years ago already, World Cup qualifiers wouldn't be announced only 2 months beforehand, etc., etc. etc.

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8 minutes ago, Shadow said:

According to World Rugby there are 1900 RU clubs in England, 239 in Wales and 241 in Scotland. If there's an average of 1.5 sides per club there's over 50,000 playing it every week. It's hardly minor. 

I think the weasel words there are "according to world rugby." There's around 1400 teams in the league structure this season and certainly round here, a significant number of those are 2nd and 3rd XVs. I struggle to believe that there are  a further ~1000 RU clubs playing outside of the league pyramid. The SRU currently claims 150 clubs playing regularly, plus universities. All team sports have been in a steady decline for 20+ years in terms of numbers, but rugby (both codes) is shrinking much faster than cricket & football.

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25 minutes ago, JonM said:

I think the weasel words there are "according to world rugby." There's around 1400 teams in the league structure this season and certainly round here, a significant number of those are 2nd and 3rd XVs. I struggle to believe that there are  a further ~1000 RU clubs playing outside of the league pyramid. The SRU currently claims 150 clubs playing regularly, plus universities. All team sports have been in a steady decline for 20+ years in terms of numbers, but rugby (both codes) is shrinking much faster than cricket & football.

I belong to 2 RU clubs (I play at one that doesn't really do girls so daughter plays at another), 1 has 4 male and 1 female, plus 2 colts (u17/18) and a min of 2 teams at every age grade down to U6 plus a new U13 girls embryonic team the other 5 male 1 female adult teams, 1 colts, 1 Girls U18, min 1  team down the ages to U6 plus U15 & U13 girls.  Those 2 teams alone regularly put out over 200 adults in a weekend and there is another similar sized team in the 10 mile gap between them plus others locally - in the same area there is a single team RL club whose players are largely drawn form the local RU clubs. It has no mini/juniors whilst those 2 RU clubs are putting out well over 500 kids each week between them

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I've been meaning to save this for later, and do some pretty graphics, but I'll share some early. 

For what it's worth, YouGov have done some quite good research on sports teams in the UK. Excluding the Olympic sports you get the following National teams (only 33%+ teams listed):

Team | Favourable % | Heard of % | Millennial popularity %

England Football | 59 | 97 | 64

England RU | 53 | 93 | 52

England Women RU | 42 | 86 | 47

England RL | 42 | 89 | 41

England Cricket | 42 | 94 | 38

England Women Cricket | 38 | 80 | 32

NZ RU | 37 | 77 | 35

B&I Lions | 35 | 70 | 21 (52% in Baby boomers)

Great Britain RL | 33 | 78 | 24 (42% in Baby boomers)

England 7s RU | 33 | 76 | 32

Wales RU | 33 | 86 | 28

 

So basically, football is incredibly narrow at international level, Scotland and Wales football are less popular than their RU counterparts (Wales: 33 RU, 27 RL, 25 football, 24 RU 7s, 21 Women's RU. Scotland: 26 RU, 20 RL, 24 football), while RU is relatively deep. 'British' teams are absolutely tanking in both RL and RU.

In club terms (only clubs 15%+, no football): 

Yorkshire Cricket | 23 | 73 | 15

Saracens RU | 20 | 67 | 16

Harlequins RU | 20 | 67 | 15

Lancashire Cricket | 19 | 70 | 13

Wasps RU | 17 | 62 | 14

Somerset Cricket | 16 | 63 | 15

Leicester RU | 16 | 56 | 15

Leeds Rhinos | 16 | 57 | 13

Middlesex Cricket | 16 | 63 | 11

Durham Cricket | 15 | 63 | 13

Bath RU | 15 | 59 | 13

Essex Cricket | 15 | 69 | 12

London Irish RU | 15 | 63 | 12

St Helens | 15 | 58 | 12

The big three sports in terms of awareness are football, RU and cricket. However in terms of millennial popularity it's Eng Football, Eng RU, Eng Women's RU, then RL. Cricket is tanking. Either way only four sports have any significant presence in the above list, but one of them is somewhat more regional.

Have a browse through yourself.

8f3Umu3.png

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The reality is at the top club level IN much of the UK the codes of Rugby look relatively similar. Games ranging from 4k to 20k being played each week. 

A game of Union in Exeter or Northampton looks similar to Warrington or St Helens. A big game in Leicester similar to a big game in Leeds. An Edinburgh game can look like a Salford game. A Scarlets game like a Hudds one etc. These games are behind a paywall like SL, with highlights on terrestrial like SL.

But, RU then delivers 25+ huge events in the UK each year, with 60k to 80k crowds at each.

We deliver 2, maybe 3 if you are going to be generous and count Magic. 

This is why internationals are so important. They are a major vehicle for being perceived as a major sport and some of the financial benefits that come with that.

 

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