JonM
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Posts posted by JonM
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3 hours ago, lemmy xaan said:
I can remember certain league matches being shown (1970s?), such as the Leeds v Cas Boxing Day game when they'd get 18,000 range crowds. Leeds was a popular fall-back for games as they had the undersoil heating and I can recall going to freezing cold league games at Headingley that were on Grandstand. The infamous Leeds v Halifax match with the dog on the pitch (K9) was also, I feel, a league game (possibly the lowest point of morale ever reached in our game). I think it was in the 80s-90s when they decided to only screen cup, JP/Regal and int
I think this probably will be the first time the BBC has shown live league as opposed to cup fixtures. Obviously in the 1970s when we had Floodlit Trophy, John Player and Challenge Cup games on tv, that covered many weeks of the season.
The Leeds vs Halifax game where K9 came on the pitch was the first round of the Challenge Cup 1977/78. I can't find any instances of the BBC showing league fixtures, or indeed games on Boxing day in the 1970s or 1980s, although regional ITV did once or twice later on.
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24 minutes ago, M j M said:
Sure. But if this is an opportunity to showcase the sport having the first BBC game at a 2/3rds empty John Smith's Stadium is not the opening gambit I'd chose.
Wigan vs Penrith at a sold-out JJB or whatever it's called these days, on the other hand, would be a perfect opener.
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2 hours ago, corvusxiii said:
You might have thought this news would have made the BBC Sports RL page, nowt just now.
Presumably waiting until it's official.
Brilliant news if true. There needs to be a plan to capitalise on this - make sure that the BBC games come across as big events with good crowds and so on. If it's a multi-year deal, that's a great opportunity for clubs selling jersey sponsorships, advertising hoardings and so on.
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1 hour ago, overtheborder said:
I have to say as much as some of the bigger football grounds/clubs get knocked for various aspects, it's something that's done pretty well in my experience. The likes of Bolton/Blackburn/Old Trafford which have hosted clubs who were established Premier League clubs seem to have got their ducks in a row in this sense, no doubt out of necessity. I think some of our grounds could learn a lot from that.
What I would say though is there's no doubt a cost element to implementing more slick matchday catering experiences, and maybe clubs feel like they're just about keeping people happy enough, and for the odd big game like this it isn't worth investing in when for most games your attendance would be about half of it. My experience at Wigan is maybe similar to a lot of people's in SL - pretty quick to get a drink/food at a regular game if you're at the kiosks anything other than at half time, but during a big game I lean towards not bothering due to sheer size of the queue. The queue suggests they've got enough paying customers not to worry about the likes of me though, who it wouldn't necessarily put off longer term for the sake of the odd game.
There was a link to RFU accounts on a thread on cross-code last week. The largest component of their annual revenue was hospitality and catering - pretty much came to the same amount per year as ticket sales + tv deal.
I wonder whether clubs could make money by adopting the US model of having burgers, hot dogs, coke etc, brought to your seat during the game. In principle, the costs shouldn't be too much different - instead of having to staff up for a hectic 10 minute period at half-time, you can have those same staff working for the first hour or so of the game.
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5 hours ago, Mattrhino said:
Similar to boxing. You'd have old granny's watching Eubank, Benn, Bruno. They would be on every prime time tv show. Most of the population today would struggle to name a boxer today.
You could make the same argument about many sports though. Who can name the (British) 1500m World Athletics Championship winner from 2023? Zharnel Hughes profile today vs Linford Christie back in the 1990s?
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On 05/01/2024 at 20:18, Rugbyleaguesupporter said:
Two things id point out.
1. Turnover of pdc (£40m plus) is more than RFL
2. Sky tv deal on Sky (£22m) is double that of PDC darts (£11m)
PDC can sell many more tickets- but undoubtedly do better with non tv income
This point interested me. PDC have quadrupled revenue inside a decade, so you might think there was something interesting happening there. However, it doesn't seem to hold any obvious lessons for RL. They were previously holding events in pubs when they started and only had four things on tv - now they have a proper tour, with events all round the world and use bigger venues, such as the O2. They turned down CVC in 2022, too.
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9 hours ago, Bring back GB said:
1021 at Barrow
That's a good crowd for a friendly. Was that Brad Walker's first game for his home town?
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Widnes 42 Workington T 0 Att: 1011
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Just now, Rene_Artois said:
Fair call. Decent looking squad
For some reason, I thought we'd had quite a high amount of turnover since last season, but if you compare the starting 17 based on the squad list, there's 5 new signings - Sam Brooks, Rhodri Lloyd, Danny Langtree, Nick Gregson and Liam Kirk and 3 outside the 17, Mike Butt, Lloyd Roby and Martyn Reilly.
The players who left at the end of 2023 are Danny Craven (Oldham), Adam Lawton (Oldham), Owen Farnworth (Oldham), Aaron Brown (Keighley), Olly Davies (Halifax), Brad Holroyd, Ryan Millar (Sheffield Eagles), Shane Grady (retired) and Lewis Hatton (Keighley). I think the 2024 squad looks slightly stronger than 2023, but there's not a lot in it.
Probably short on cover at half-back and size in the forwards, and probably Joe Edge is the only one that I might think should be in SL rather than the championship.
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Widnes squad numbers announced as follows:
1 – Jack Owens
2 – Ryan Ince
3 – Matt Fleming
4 – Joe Edge
5 – Kieran Dixon
6 – Joe Lyons
7 – Tom Gilmore
8 – Callum Field
9 – Matty Fozard
10 – Sam Brooks
11 – Rhodri Lloyd
12 – Danny Langtree
13 – Nick Gregson
14 – Jordan Johnstone
15 – Liam Kirk
16 – Max Roberts
17 – Liam Bent
19 – Sam Wilde
20 – Mike Butt
21 – Ollie Brookes
22 – Ant Walker
23 – Will Tilleke
24 – Lloyd Roby
30 – Martyn Reilly
The previously announced season long loan (Harvey Wilson from Wigan) and dual reg (Lucas Green & Tom Whitehead from Warrington) don't appear to have been allocated numbers in the press release, which seems odd.
Mid-table seems realistic, with a chance of making the play-offs in 6th.
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SA v India shortest completed test ever in terms of number of balls.
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On 01/01/2024 at 16:04, Gerrumonside ref said:
I think the biggest thing standing in the way of Luke Littler and the world title might actually be complacency.
You don't think being from Warrington will mean that he goes for the next 70+ years without actually winning it then
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2 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:
Lancashire statement on the
Pretty sensible statement overall. There's very few people in RL administration that I could imagine delivering anything like that.
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16 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:
Special bit of idiocy by Tom Curran there. What on earth could they expect to gain by appealing that?
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Wondered what you were all talking about, but then I remembered that there's only one person I've ever put on ignore on this forum. (And it's not Old Frightful, obviously).
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On 16/12/2023 at 17:17, Harry Stottle said:
There are many amatuer clubs not running the same number of teams they were just a few short years ago because of player numbers dwindling.
Adult male teams definitely on the decline because we've spent decades making the game too hard for most people to play, plus the same trends that have caused declines in all other team sport participation.
On the other hand, the amateur club I played for as a kid in the eighties now has a clubhouse, pitches, several hundred junior playing members and dozens of qualified coaches and volunteers. Massive improvement compared to the past.
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1 hour ago, The 4 of Us said:
OP lost credibility with last entry.
Speaking as a Widnes fan, the one bright spot in RL after the steady stream of bad news over the last four or five seasons has been the now approaching 70 years failure of Warrington to be league champions, so that definitely qualifies in the glass half full category for me
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On 12/12/2023 at 15:24, unapologetic pedant said:
Is one of the touch judges Lucie Peyré?
Saw a livestream game at Villeneuve a while back where my eye kept unaccountably wandering to the touch-line.
Saw an article in La Depeche about her a while back, unusual for them to interview a RL referee, perhaps something to do with the fact that she had won the Miss Lot-et-Garonne beauty contest rather than her two brothers also being referees?
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53 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:
They're advertising for December 2024. And this Wanderers tour has been December 2023.
Have to think a warmer time of year would offer a more fulfilling experience
They presumably tour in December because Australian school children have a long summer holiday, but want to be home for Christmas. The tours currently taking place in other sports are in places as far apart as Fiji, Canada and Ireland. Canada in December isn't particularly warm either. I'm sure a trip to Widnes and Huddersfield will be just as eye opening in both winter and summer
( Actually it seems like they were delighted by the hospitality from Halton Hornets and to be playing a game of RL with snow on the ground.)
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The Wanderers girls team from Australia has been an interesting match-up for a few clubs - Halton Farnworth Hornets, Stanningley and Greetland have also played them I think.
It's a business putting on tours in netball, hockey, soccer etc. https://www.waus.com.au/girls-rugby-league-tour-2024
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2 hours ago, gingerjon said:
Is it tied to a specific anniversary or anything
Not as far as I know, although there is a a certain proportion of the fanbase who have been campaigning for the town crest to be on the jersey for many years, and I suspect those people are also of a vintage to appreciate the nod to the 1980s design. Not sure whether they are the demographic who buy replica jerseys though.
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Widnes one seems to have divided opinions pretty sharply. I really like it, a lot of fans seem to hate it. Unusual to have the home kit without the team name or logo on it.
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Bit premature to be making predictions when there are still plenty of signings to be made - Fev picked up Wellington Albert yesterday, for example.
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On 29/11/2023 at 21:27, zylya said:
hHave been really impressed with the Netherlands recently - lots of good stuff in both men's and women's and now pushing their youth as well.
Yes, Greece v Netherlands Women's international coming up.
The IMG Gradings Thread - Post all your IMG Gradings related questions or comments here
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
Will TV viewership scores be affected by the recent TV developments? FTA on BBC seems likely to get an order of magnitude higher ratings than anything on Sky.