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Happy Manchester Pride?


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Not wanting to start a row, but a discussion.

Man City have a rainbow background on all their social media accounts ( and rainbow flags flying at the stadium)and had all their LED boards at their last game wishing LGBT fans a fantastic pride.  Sale Sharks RU  have added a rainbow background to their social media accounts.

I may have missed it,  but have any of the numerous RL teams in GTR  Manchester even acknowledged that it was Pride in Manchester today let alone change their social media accounts to support it?  If   Man City with  nearly 5 million followers  can support, why can't  Salford, Wigan, Leigh, or any SL club support the weekend?

RL is ONLY professional team sport in the UK who has an openly gay player, yet we let everyone else celebrate  diversity!

Are we embarrassed ( I am not) to have an openly gay player in the top tier of the sport, or are we really that bad at marketing? 

Not show off the token gay , but celebrate that if you are good enough you will succeed.  I know there are LGBT rugby teams in the parade today, but how difficult would it have been for the professional ones or the  RFL  to show support ( even in a social media account)?

 

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3 hours ago, kiyan said:

Are we embarrassed ( I am not) to have an openly gay player in the top tier of the sport, or are we really that bad at marketing? 

I think your latter question may have hit the nail on the head... as a sport, we are pretty amateur in our approaches to many things with the use of social media being one of them. 

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To many it seems  pointless or why bother but there is a lot of money RL is missing and more importantly  it is the right thing to do.

Sale Sharks received £millions in Sport England Funds  to employ several full time inclusive  community coaches.

Those coaches are in the community, in schools, etc promoting and teaching RU - including LBGT is part ot their remit - all about people who might not engage in team sports ( LGBT, disable, older, woman...)

Sale Sharks have ticked the box this weekend  - yet no professional RL club in the NW has bothered.

Keegan Hirst has been on pride parades but on the Corrie float ( he said he loved it), there is an amateur LGBT club who are always in the parade.

Why oh why do the RFL and the NW clubs not give a few thousand between them  and have a huge float showcasing the local LGBT side, the only professional out player in top tier rugby/football and offering cheap/free tickets ( while capturing details) to the  750k people ( straight and gay) who watched the parade go by to fill empty stadia at the tail end of the season.

Low cost , easy way to promote 5/6 teams and push the sports inclusive attitude.

But no. nothing nada!

A RU/football team would provide millions  for an openly gay player - RL has one and we can't be bothered to give him a wristband, let alone a float!

 

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I think you're reading too much into a narrow area.  Consider it in the wider context that I didn't see a single advert ANYWHERE outside of this site for yesterday's final and you could easily believe rugby league didn't exist in 3/4 of England.  The RFL's marketing talent, or lack of it, has been a long-term problem for the game.  I'd struggle to believe the RFL could arrange a charity whip-round of Red Hall with a bucket without getting it wrong.

My very first post on the old forum back in 2000 was about a RFL marketing disaster and it has neither improved or got worse since then.

It's not that rugby league doesn't care about inclusivity, it's just that we have a sporting voice that's the equivalent of an easily distracted toddler.

"When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt; run in little circles, wave your arms and shout"

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Can't speak for other clubs, but the community work done by Wigan is superb, they provide support staff and academy players for example to local schools to facilitate both weekly PE sessions and the school sports day.

Doesn't matter to the kids that its academy players they were all buzzing to have "Wigan players" there and of course Max the mascot!  In terms of marketing it certainly works a treat for my kids, nagging to go to matches now.

Not sure how much mileage a club like Wigan would get from involvement in Manchester Pride, but they do support the local event in Wigan, Liam Marshall was in attendance last weekend as I'm sure were others and you see them regularly involved on social media in the run up to the event.

The same could be said for the towns football club, also do excellent work in schools and were active in supporting the towns Pride event.

 

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51 minutes ago, shrek said:

Can't speak for other clubs, but the community work done by Wigan is superb, they provide support staff and academy players for example to local schools to facilitate both weekly PE sessions and the school sports day.

Doesn't matter to the kids that its academy players they were all buzzing to have "Wigan players" there and of course Max the mascot!  In terms of marketing it certainly works a treat for my kids, nagging to go to matches now.

Not sure how much mileage a club like Wigan would get from involvement in Manchester Pride, but they do support the local event in Wigan, Liam Marshall was in attendance last weekend as I'm sure were others and you see them regularly involved on social media in the run up to the event.

The same could be said for the towns football club, also do excellent work in schools and were active in supporting the towns Pride event.

 

I think the same can be said of Wire and Saints; seem to come across plenty of that sort of thing on social media from them. A bloke I know used to be employed by Warrington as a community development officer before moving into coaching in the Championship. But like CKN said in his post the RFL are extremely good at hiding RLs light under a bushel to the extent it's near invisible to a lot of people outside the game.

"it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it."

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46 minutes ago, Griff9of13 said:

I think the same can be said of Wire and Saints; seem to come across plenty of that sort of thing on social media from them. A bloke I know used to be employed by Warrington as a community development officer before moving into coaching in the Championship. But like CKN said in his post the RFL are extremely good at hiding RLs light under a bushel to the extent it's near invisible to a lot of people outside the game.

I wrote a fairly long response to Shrek’s but lost the connection due to Waffle Dog on BBC iPlayer... ?

In a nutshell, some clubs are decent in their local areas but do little beyond traditional boundaries. It’s the same with the RFL; the Stobart campaign was a prime example of the game’s small-time mentality: “sport is all about supporting your local team”... how is that going to appeal beyond Wigan, St Helens, Castleford et al. Big events like Manchester Pride should be taken advantage of you, just as Community Clubs should take advantage of local events with a stall or something like that... but there’s no appetite or forward-thinking to get stuck in and push the sport. 

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10 hours ago, kiyan said:

Not wanting to start a row, but a discussion.

Man City have a rainbow background on all their social media accounts ( and rainbow flags flying at the stadium)and had all their LED boards at their last game wishing LGBT fans a fantastic pride.  Sale Sharks RU  have added a rainbow background to their social media accounts.

 

 

I thought that was cos they all loved zippy, George and bungle.

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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5 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

I wrote a fairly long response to Shrek’s but lost the connection due to Waffle Dog on BBC iPlayer... ?

In a nutshell, some clubs are decent in their local areas but do little beyond traditional boundaries. It’s the same with the RFL; the Stobart campaign was a prime example of the game’s small-time mentality: “sport is all about supporting your local team”... how is that going to appeal beyond Wigan, St Helens, Castleford et al. Big events like Manchester Pride should be taken advantage of you, just as Community Clubs should take advantage of local events with a stall or something like that... but there’s no appetite or forward-thinking to get stuck in and push the sport. 

I'd agree broadly speaking.

But in Wigans defence in conjunction with the work they do locally they have played in the Capital Challenge game and Wollonwong in 2018, I'm not sure what marketing benefits these bring to the club/game, but hopefully there's some!

It may be contentious, but I was a big fan of the on the road games in the UK, seem to have met plenty whose first taste of Rugby League came from these games, but not sure if we have the same numbers of development officers now as we had then which I think also brought a lot to the support of these events.

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Was it Tatchell who recently bemoaned the corporate nature of Pride events these days?  I think it was.  And one of the problems when something becomes corporate is that people start to wonder why a particular organisation or company doesn't fall into line.

Rugby league did a lot of work and marketing in this area a few years back.  Personally, being a sport with a small budget I would much rather our marketing money be channelled into areas that will have a real impact on our sport rather than push Pride events that have nothing at all to do with rugby league.  I wonder why we still have Pride events actually given that gay people now have equal rights - after all, the idea behind Pride was to highlight the inequalities experienced by gay people wasn't it?  Does Pride still have relevance given how much has changed or is it just another carnival/festival for people to go to?  Either way, RL has more immediate things for its marketing people to focus on IMO.

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16 hours ago, kiyan said:

Not wanting to start a row, but a discussion.

Man City have a rainbow background on all their social media accounts ( and rainbow flags flying at the stadium)and had all their LED boards at their last game wishing LGBT fans a fantastic pride.  Sale Sharks RU  have added a rainbow background to their social media accounts.

I may have missed it,  but have any of the numerous RL teams in GTR  Manchester even acknowledged that it was Pride in Manchester today let alone change their social media accounts to support it?  If   Man City with  nearly 5 million followers  can support, why can't  Salford, Wigan, Leigh, or any SL club support the weekend?

RL is ONLY professional team sport in the UK who has an openly gay player, yet we let everyone else celebrate  diversity!

Are we embarrassed ( I am not) to have an openly gay player in the top tier of the sport, or are we really that bad at marketing? 

Not show off the token gay , but celebrate that if you are good enough you will succeed.  I know there are LGBT rugby teams in the parade today, but how difficult would it have been for the professional ones or the  RFL  to show support ( even in a social media account)?

 

Why do they/we have to support it or celebrate it ?

Maybe we accept it as being normal.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

http://www.pitchero....hornemarauders/

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27 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Why do they/we have to support it or celebrate it ?

Maybe we accept it as being normal.

we might do, but believe me there are still plenty that dont

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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10 hours ago, Saintslass said:

Was it Tatchell who recently bemoaned the corporate nature of Pride events these days?  I think it was.  And one of the problems when something becomes corporate is that people start to wonder why a particular organisation or company doesn't fall into line.

Rugby league did a lot of work and marketing in this area a few years back.  Personally, being a sport with a small budget I would much rather our marketing money be channelled into areas that will have a real impact on our sport rather than push Pride events that have nothing at all to do with rugby league.  I wonder why we still have Pride events actually given that gay people now have equal rights - after all, the idea behind Pride was to highlight the inequalities experienced by gay people wasn't it?  Does Pride still have relevance given how much has changed or is it just another carnival/festival for people to go to?  Either way, RL has more immediate things for its marketing people to focus on IMO.

I think there is still a purpose to it.  Certainly, those I know who are LGBT (I confess, a small sample) generally view it as a good thing.  I have also heard the complaint that it is too commercial and those who have nothing to do with the cause stick the flags in shop window.

I suspect it is a side-effect of progress.  We do not expect people to be Christian to have Christmas decorations in the shop window.  It is increased acceptance.

"You clearly have never met Bob8 then, he's like a veritable Bryan Ferry of RL." - Johnoco 19 Jul 2014

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1 hour ago, Bleep1673 said:

Nowt to do with M/Cr Pride, but, Hastings Fire Station were displaying the Rainbow flag yesterday.

It was Hastings Pride yesterday.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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These Pride events are positive, happy things, surely that’s justification enough for their existence. I don’t get people complaining about them. 

"When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt; run in little circles, wave your arms and shout"

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12 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

we might do, but believe me there are still plenty that dont

I suppose it's their prerogative but I can't say I've ever been homophobic, I'd sooner look at myself as a live and let live type as long as no one is getting hurt.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

http://www.pitchero....hornemarauders/

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5 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I suppose it's their prerogative but I can't say I've ever been homophobic, I'd sooner look at myself as a live and let live type as long as no one is getting hurt.

A lot of the tolerance towards the LGBT community these days is in the form of "don't ask don't tell". In other words, you can be gay as long as you keep it quiet. There's a reason you rarely see same sex couples holding hands or displaying affection in public the way heterosexual couples do, despite >10% of the population being LGBT.

As I understand it the purpose of Pride is to make the LGBT community visible and hopefully move beyond tolerance towards normalisation.

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24 minutes ago, damp squib said:

A lot of the tolerance towards the LGBT community these days is in the form of "don't ask don't tell". In other words, you can be gay as long as you keep it quiet. There's a reason you rarely see same sex couples holding hands or displaying affection in public the way heterosexual couples do, despite >10% of the population being LGBT.

As I understand it the purpose of Pride is to make the LGBT community visible and hopefully move beyond tolerance towards normalisation.

Originally I'll agree it was, it's now more of a ###### up and get together, my ex sister-in-law is gay and  lives in the Manchester area, we used to often go around Canal Street for a night out, my youngest daughter is also gay.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

http://www.pitchero....hornemarauders/

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4 hours ago, Marauder said:

Originally I'll agree it was, it's now more of a ###### up and get together, my ex sister-in-law is gay and  lives in the Manchester area, we used to often go around Canal Street for a night out, my youngest daughter is also gay.

I think it's both. We'd probably have a lot more people involved in activism if it ended up as a ###### up and get together!

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On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 2:59 PM, graveyard johnny said:

I thought that was cos they all loved zippy, George and bungle.

You and comments like that are why RL teams ( despite their best efforts) are swimming upstream and struggling to convince those in  charge of £millions in sponsorship, refuse to put that money in this sport!

It is not the RFL, it is the supporters!  When people think it is ok to make comments like that - no blue chip company will ever want to be involved let alone stump up a few £million.

 

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