dealwithit

Agreed. Definitely not the case in the NRL. Means RL fans more likely to casually tune in to watch a game not involving their team.

The RFL just needs the balls to start its own NH 4 Nations with promotion/relegation. Gives an opportunity for the Georgians, Serbs, Dutch, Ukrainians etc to aspire to something.

Evidence = spectators, viewership, broadcast deals, sponsorship dollars. All have dropped away for the Challenge Cup. The Lord Derby used to be much bigger too. Australia no longer has any cup tournaments at professional level.

@ATLANTISMAN there’s no evidence RL fans want a cup style tournament. If anything, the contrary. The thing in FFRXIII’s favour is that Elite 1 is played when the biggest consumer of RL is lacking content. The biggest thing working against FFRXIII is the language. Record the games with English commentary, tell the stories, build the hype and get the games on Kayo Sports. This has never really been attempted. League 1 is not the saviour for the top Elite 1 teams.

York a chance of taking a top 12 grading if they win the comp?

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. With IMG points up for grabs for performance, perhaps we’ll get to a point of no more DR as bottom SL clubs are worried about advancing B grade clubs.

The thing that makes no sense is SL clubs having a reserves team and dual reg.

Elliot Kear should never have left London.

IMG points for stadium ownership?

This is just not true. Grant was the Chairman. A job whereby he’s paid very little to attend board meetings and attend events and influence people. Danny Kazanjian is the Secretary General and employed full time. He was previously the head of the RLEF. The IRL has other employees too, including Remond Safi (Middle East Africa), Romeo Monteith (Americas), Jovan from Serbia (Central & Eastern Europe) and Jeremy from Australia (Asia-Pacific). Typical RL.

It was dependent on local mayoral funding. With covid, local governments were less supportive. As such, the feds took the money away.

Cynicism aside, these are good changes. But when the opening rounds attract 30+ penalties, the RFL needs to have the balls to continue with them.

SL… forever 12+ months behind the NRL.

Grant is influential. Former politician. Worked closely with Vlandys when he had responsibility for Liquor & Gaming portfolio. His reign will be remembered for the covid years. Thing is, we’ve stuffed up and we need to be better. 1) France WC. Grant was instrumental in getting the original support. Then covid and elections led to the gov support evaporating. Whose fault is this? Should the FFRxiii have been better with managing relationships? 2) the 2021 WC. A disaster. And they’re handing out OBEs to the organisers. Seriously? 3) Tonga series. 3 lacklustre venues. Why were they selected? Why no dialogue from RL Commercial/RFL? Why are the fans not good enough to get a response? Why don’t our journalists ask the tough questions?

I’m stuck in work mode. *P&R

I agree with your last paragraph. Begs the question, would it not have been easier to allow P&L between same grading teams, rather than observing of 0.01 points — noting the above mentioned favouritism for SL teams. I’d like to think If Featherstone won the championship and a fellow B grade side like Leigh lost, that there’d be straight P&L. Instead we’ll be left counting who go the most tv viewers and the most likes on facebook, when naturally there’s higher engagement in SL than Championship.

Yeah good point. But the weighting on League position, tv ratings and crowds is substantial and any B grade club in championship will do it tough cracking the bottom SL clubs from ‘25 onwards — even if they produce players, are based in strategically important areas or have huge potential. If you’re not in SL you’re not on tv and you’re not attracting bigger crowds. Hard to compete.

5k seater not max capacity.

Couple quick observations: 1. Regional academies should be run by the RFL 2. Broncos will pick up IMG points for increased crowds, viewing numbers and revenue from their 2024 season. Probably not enough to stay up. 3. Most supported P&L with minimum standards ie. junior pathways, decent stadium, etc. Few thought the IMG gradings would be what they are: a way to nail in the existing SL clubs. 4. 2024 marks another missed opportunity in the narrative of RL.

Looking at ticket map I’d be saying 14k for St Helens match.

I’ve had another look through the scoring and I have Toulouse ahead of Wakey, Cas and Salford.

London need additions. But they won’t lose the likes of Parata just because he needs to be a FT player. He has a successful project management company. The broncos have said they’ll accommodate players as best they can. Living in London, it would be no surprise for some of their squad to earn far more from non-SL income.

They just released a statement detailing their financial strength and that a younger owner with deeper pockets is to take over

If it’s the same 11 plus wakey I’ll book you a flight to aus to get drunk with me

financially? Toulouse have deeper pockets than wakey and cas. They will score higher for non-central finance.