Our bbc

[Poower Lad]

Fingers crossed they decriminalise non payment of the licence fee soon . 

[bar red]

For me the only downside of today was the commentary. There is no doubting Dave Woods love for RL but for me he's too interested in little anecdotes than concentrating on what is happening on the pitch. He should take a minute to study Andrew Voss, every play is described, every player involved is mentioned and he doesn't go off at different tangents. It makes it sound so much more professional.

[Futtocks]

24 minutes ago, bar red said:

For me the only downside of today was the commentary. There is no doubting Dave Woods love for RL but for me he's too interested in little anecdotes than concentrating on what is happening on the pitch. He should take a minute to study Andrew Voss, every play is described, every player involved is mentioned and he doesn't go off at different tangents. It makes it sound so much more professional.

Cross-reference this with the posts whingeing about Voss' approach to commentary. Then file both under "bin". Voss and Woods are different characters, and both bring many good things to the coverage of RL.

[EastLondonMike]

Just watching the BBC news channel and there's only one sport headline on the news ticker. It's Rugby related, but not Rugby League. 

The BBC sport report did however feature the challenge cup after all the other sports features.

[Sports Prophet]

On 17/10/2020 at 04:38, HawkMan said:

Fans of Ice Hockey or Basketball have a far greater case in complaining about BBC coverage because these sports are bigger globally than RL , and coverage of British Basketball or British Ice Hockey could be a real winner , particularly with the the young black viewers in the case of basketball.

Why would it be particularly popular with black viewers?

[Oxford]

It's alway fascinating when people bring in other sports for comparison because they're never the positiive ones and completely useless and lots of times inaccurate.

They're pointless because it does not matter how others are doing with Aunty if TGG is on the recieving end of its own poor treatment, that's what we have to deal with.

Angling is the most under valued in the world but apart from to anglers televisually not that appealing, but using them as a measure would be Totally useless as an argument.

 

 

[Hopping Mad]

22 hours ago, PhilCarrington said:

A positive reference to league in the News Quiz when an Aussie referred to "rugby" (thanks to Andrew Maxwell for getting that comment in).

Tuning into the Radio 4 repeat, I heard that yesterday. Alice Fraser, the Sydney-born (!) female comedian, gave the impression union is Australia biggest 'rugby' concern. Mind you, Fraser has an Oxbridge background.

[Oxford]

5 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Tuning into the Radio 4 repeat, I heard that yesterday. Alice Fraser, the Sydney-born (!) female comedian, gave the impression union is Australia biggest 'rugby' concern. Mind you, Fraser has an Oxbridge background.

There is a lot of talk about fake news or lies as my gran called them; And our relationship with Grandad Yawn is a history of lies and hidden and overt bad behaviour so it's hardly surprising that lies live on and travel the world.

[weloveyouwakefield2]

1.6 million peak viewers highest rating programme on tv at that time, despite the lack of advertising!! 

 

[Damien]

Just watching BBC News on BBC1 and in the sports section they gave the result and showed a try from the Australia v New Zealand RU match this morning. Its not like this was a World Cup final and I simply don't see how they can justify that on the UK news when other sports struggle to even get a mention.

[JohnM]

Sports and news is tiered. 

Top tier tends to be international stuff. 

Then follows national competeitions

 

 

[Damien]

55 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Sports and news is tiered. 

Top tier tends to be international stuff. 

Then follows national competeitions

 

 

Not international stuff that is nothing to do with the UK. You never see Australia v New Zealand in Cricket, Football or Rugby League mentioned. Similarly you never see coverage for a Football match such as Brazil v Argentina or Italy v Germany. Sometimes the BBC don't even mention England RL games.

[The Rocket]

10 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Tuning into the Radio 4 repeat, I heard that yesterday. Alice Fraser, the Sydney-born (!) female comedian, gave the impression union is Australia biggest 'rugby' concern. Mind you, Fraser has an Oxbridge background.

Who is Alice Fraser ?  Union actually ranks lower than the A-League soccer in Oz for media coverage now, about 6-8% as a percent of total media coverage including both on-line and print, League is about 30-35%, soccer about 10%. Maybe she should call her next show Alice in Wonderland as she is clearly delusional.

[RigbyLuger]

47 minutes ago, Damien said:

Not international stuff that is nothing to do with the UK. You never see Australia v New Zealand in Cricket, Football or Rugby League mentioned. Similarly you never see coverage for a Football match such as Brazil v Argentina or Italy v Germany. Sometimes the BBC don't even mention England RL games.

Good point. More viewers in this country would probably be interested in an India vs. Pakistan cricket match, do they get on the BBC News?

[JohnM]

If you are not happy with the BBC coverage of our sport, or the representation of it, then let them know. In addition, if you feel that for example e it misrepresents the position of union in Australia compared with NRL,, let them know. There are a number of ways of doing this, but all require facts to be presented in a clear logical and polite fashion. 

[unapologetic pedant]

7 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Who is Alice Fraser ?  Union actually ranks lower than the A-League soccer in Oz for media coverage now, about 6-8% as a percent of total media coverage including both on-line and print, League is about 30-35%, soccer about 10%. Maybe she should call her next show Alice in Wonderland as she is clearly delusional.

With the shining exception of Adam Hills, we tend to get the wrong type of Aussies coming over here. They play up to what the London media expects. 

Hard for you to appreciate the extent to which perceptions of overseas RL here are filtered through RU. It would be no surprise if most people at an Adam Hills gig thought that South Sydney were an RU team. At best, they would be a "Rugby" team.

[The Rocket]

5 hours ago, JohnM said:

If you are not happy with the BBC coverage of our sport, or the representation of it, then let them know. In addition, if you feel that for example e it misrepresents the position of union in Australia compared with NRL,, let them know. There are a number of ways of doing this, but all require facts to be presented in a clear logical and polite fashion. 

About 30 years ago I saw an ad in `The Australian` newspaper calling for people to be part of, what was then very new at the time, but ubiquitous now, a `focus group`. You know the deal $50 and morning tea. I was a student with nothing better to do so I rang up and they told me to be in the city at a certain address at a specified time.

The morning came and I found myself in a room in the city with about thirty stuffy North Shore types and assorted suit and ties types from the city. They went round the table asking why each person read the The Oz and one after another it was `Oh, I like this or that conservative commentator or the business section is very good.` Any way it got to me and I said two words for dramatic effect:" Rugby League", then I proceeded to make it very clear that the only reason I bought their paper was because it had very good RL coverage. I enjoyed their articles but I would not buy a paper if it did not have good RL coverage. That was essential for me. It caused a bit of a stir in the room and I remember one union try-hard piping up saying same for him but union, I said `no prizes for second place mate`.

Any way you know how focus groups work, they work on the principle that every person in that room is representative of a certain proportion of their readers. Well I made it very clear what the Rugby League loving portion think. The Oz for me ,for a national paper, that goes into many diehard afl states and union strongholds has still got arguably the best League coverage of any news paper.

Fighting the good fight.

[gingerjon]

13 hours ago, Damien said:

Just watching BBC News on BBC1 and in the sports section they gave the result and showed a try from the Australia v New Zealand RU match this morning. Its not like this was a World Cup final and I simply don't see how they can justify that on the UK news when other sports struggle to even get a mention.

Right now, on the BBC Sport page (UK edition), there are 14 main stories. The sports covered are football, cricket, darts and NFL.

Under those there are four links to "More of the weekend's best video". The sports covered are football and rugby league.

Under those there are "more top stories". Football, cycling, snooker and rugby league.

[gingerjon]

Another lengthy interview with Leeds Rhinos players and Rob Burrow footage on BBC Breakfast, immediately mirrored by the BBC social media accounts.

[Damien]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Right now, on the BBC Sport page (UK edition), there are 14 main stories. The sports covered are football, cricket, darts and NFL.

Under those there are four links to "More of the weekend's best video". The sports covered are football and rugby league.

Under those there are "more top stories". Football, cycling, snooker and rugby league.

Very well and good but absolutely no relevance to the BBC news sports segment. 

[Damien]

7 hours ago, JohnM said:

If you are not happy with the BBC coverage of our sport, or the representation of it, then let them know. In addition, if you feel that for example e it misrepresents the position of union in Australia compared with NRL,, let them know. There are a number of ways of doing this, but all require facts to be presented in a clear logical and polite fashion. 

After which you get a scripted copy and paste answer. I know because I have done as you say a number of times.

[gingerjon]

12 minutes ago, Damien said:

Very well and good but absolutely no relevance to the BBC news sports segment. 

This year, the BBC have been excellent across multiple platforms including TV for rugby league.
We’re always going to want more. But, honestly, for the level we’re at and the poor effort the game makes at promotion, we’re doing well and a lot better than we were a few years ago.

[gingerjon]

Now do the same for ITV ...

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Now do the same for ITV ...

ITV is normally extraordinarily bad for RL but as they have no rights, and haven't had for decades, I expect it. Similarly with Channel 4. It always stands out when RL is mentioned on those channels.

I do expect more from the platforms that hold the rights to our sport and for them to promote the sports they show. I certainly expect them to do so before events that they don't hold the rights for, as ITV and Sky do to some extent. I also include Sky Sports, and particularly Sky Sports News in this, whose coverage and promotion of RL is shocking when Sky pays so much for the sport.

[whatmichaelsays]

On 16/10/2020 at 20:10, Oxford said:

As unsurprising as all this is it will be surpassed by the people who will claim it's the sport's fault.

 

Those people would have a point though. 

The RFL, as well as both Leeds Rhinos and Salford Red Devils, employ PR and media relations staff.

The job of those employees is to put rugby league (or their respective clubs) into the news agenda, ensure that there is a public demand for RL content and make it easy for the media to talk about RL and cater to that content demand. That is literally what PR and media relations is. 

Complaining about a perceived "bias" at the BBC, or whatever else you think this is, is complaining about things that the sport cannot control - and it's a waste of time. The much more effective solution is to put the microscope on things that the game can control.