Challenge Cup Final Viewing Figures

[Eddie]

17 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

 

All this does show though, that back then the RFL were trying to make internationals the pinnacle of the game. In 1990 GB played 8 tests against Southern Hemisphere opposition.

I’m sure the RFL would love to have at least one SH team over for a game every year, I don’t think it’s them stopping it happening. 

[stevevalerugby]

On 21/10/2020 at 07:45, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A team of genuine Welsh players would be made up of mostly League One players. To suggest England should be playing them regularly is just daft.

Wales head coach John Kear has named a 25-man squad for the European Championship and 2021 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers.17 of the players in this squad are Welsh-born and that’s something we’re very proud of

and it is something to be proud of as it is a young team and the majority of them are Championship and above players.

[stevevalerugby]

On 21/10/2020 at 12:18, Hela Wigmen said:

All four who have qualified for one of the last two World Cups at least and are “big” countries in their respective continents. 

and i think you will find Wales and France have also qualified for the World cup or does this not count,

 

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, stevevalerugby said:

and i think you will find Wales and France have also qualified for the World cup or does this not count,

 

We’ve done this to death. England v Wales or France is utterly pointless. 

[Dunbar]

9 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

We’ve done this to death. England v Wales or France is utterly pointless. 

That conclusion is entirely subjective and a personal opinion.  And from my perspective, a rather depressing one.

International games are singularly the best way to raise the profile and awareness of our sport and we should double or triple down on the investment we make in the international game.  And we should not care one bit that England are likely to inflict a heavy defeat on Wales or France in the same way that Australia should not care that they would be likely to inflict a heavy defeat on their opponents.

The value of international sport is that people can get behind their team in a way that Wigan or Leeds or Melbourne or even New South Wales and Queensland cannot offer.  TV, news media and social media will raise above the norm when nation plays nation. 

We are the only sport that seems to fret about the results rather than delighting at the opportunity provided for teams and players to test themselves against the best in the world.  And when casual viewers see some spectacular tries being run in on the highlights package, they will not spend hours on Google and Wikipedia researching the relative strengths of the playing nations and their domestic competitions... they will simply enjoy the action.

International Rugby League can and should be our most important fixtures.

 

[Hela Wigmen]

8 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

That conclusion is entirely subjective and a personal opinion.  And from my perspective, a rather depressing one.

International games are singularly the best way to raise the profile and awareness of our sport and we should double or triple down on the investment we make in the international game.  And we should not care one bit that England are likely to inflict a heavy defeat on Wales or France in the same way that Australia should not care that they would be likely to inflict a heavy defeat on their opponents.

The value of international sport is that people can get behind their team in a way that Wigan or Leeds or Melbourne or even New South Wales and Queensland cannot offer.  TV, news media and social media will raise above the norm when nation plays nation. 

We are the only sport that seems to fret about the results rather than delighting at the opportunity provided for teams and players to test themselves against the best in the world.  And when casual viewers see some spectacular tries being run in on the highlights package, they will not spend hours on Google and Wikipedia researching the relative strengths of the playing nations and their domestic competitions... they will simply enjoy the action.

International Rugby League can and should be our most important fixtures.

 

I guarantee that within two years, fans are bored of England, at worst, putting 40 on France or probably 50 on Wales, resulting in poor TV figures and poor attendances and it’ll fall by the wayside as the previous mid-season Internationals have.

Even Shaun Wane doesn’t want to play these two. He said as much himself. He wanted the Exiles back for a game this winter. That’s the level of prestige and ability these nations hold. And no, Wane isn’t here to grow the game. Wayne Bennett wasn’t either, despite our dense journalists getting the hump when he said exactly that. Wane is here to win a World Cup, in his own words, and it appears that he doesn’t particularly think he’ll get much from a game against either. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

39 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

We’ve done this to death. England v Wales or France is utterly pointless. 

France are worthy opposition. They can produce a squad of full time professionals, Wales can’t and are not worthy opposition.

[Hela Wigmen]

4 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

France are worthy opposition. They can produce a squad of full time professionals, Wales can’t and are not worthy opposition.

France are a joke. They rarely get a full side out due to infighting at the Federation and manage to put up a game for a half and then England walk away with it. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

15 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

France are a joke. They rarely get a full side out due to infighting at the Federation and manage to put up a game for a half and then England walk away with it. 

In the World Cup England beat France 36-6. England regularly lose to Australia by similar margins but we expect them to continue to play games against us.

France also went unbeaten to win the last European Championship in 2018. They have the most potential in Europe with their own semi professional leagues and full time professional sides in Super League and the Championship.

France deserve at least an annual fixture against England or England Knights.

[Damien]

1 hour ago, stevevalerugby said:

Wales head coach John Kear has named a 25-man squad for the European Championship and 2021 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers.17 of the players in this squad are Welsh-born and that’s something we’re very proud of

and it is something to be proud of as it is a young team and the majority of them are Championship and above players.

Its great to see so many Welsh born players in the squad.

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

In the World Cup England beat France 36-6.

England regularly lose to Australia by similar margins but we expect them to continue to play games against us.

So...thirty points. A hammering. We then followed that up in 2018 with a 44-6 win over them.

The last six winning margins against France: 38, 30, 34, 80, 28, 44. That’s an average of 42.33.

The last six winning margins for Australia against England: 6, 14, 18, 4, 8, 22. That’s an average of 12. 

I don’t think anyone expects to play Australia and nor should they. Two of the four Tier One nations are Southern Hemisphere and the better Tier Two sides are Southern Hemisphere too, so they have more than worthy opponents on their doorstep. We only seem to play New Zealand when many would now rather we played any or the other Southern Hemisphere nations and we can’t have a mid-season break because the opposition is too poor and it’s a wasted exercise. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

5 minutes ago, Damien said:

Its great to see so many Welsh born players in the squad.

I agree it’s great, but they should be playing Ireland, Scotland even Serbia, but not England 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

So...thirty points. A hammering. We then followed that up in 2018 with a 44-6 win over them.

The last six winning margins against France: 38, 30, 34, 80, 28, 44. That’s an average of 42.33.

The last six winning margins for Australia against England: 6, 14, 18, 4, 8, 22. That’s an average of 12. 

I don’t think anyone expects to play Australia and nor should they. Two of the four Tier One nations are Southern Hemisphere and the better Tier Two sides are Southern Hemisphere too, so they have more than worthy opponents on their doorstep. We only seem to play New Zealand when many would now rather we played any or the other Southern Hemisphere nations and we can’t have a mid-season break because the opposition is too poor and it’s a wasted exercise. 

The 80 point margin is clearly an outlier and shouldn’t be included in these statistics 

[Hela Wigmen]

Just now, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The 80 point margin is clearly an outlier and shouldn’t be included in these statistics 

Drags it down to a paltry 34.8 average margin. So still a pointless game. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

1 minute ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Drags it down to a paltry 34.8 average margin. So still a pointless game. 

I’d be happy for France to play an annual game against England Knights, but France certainly need to play a decent standard of opposition to improve as well as to grow the game in France.

[Hela Wigmen]

Just now, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I’d be happy for France to play an annual game against England Knights, but France certainly need to play a decent standard of opposition to improve as well as to grow the game in France.

England Knights would be a closer game, I agree. 

I cannot see how an annual flogging off England grows the game in France. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

4 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

England Knights would be a closer game, I agree. 

I cannot see how an annual flogging off England grows the game in France. 

In a similar way to England regularly losing to Australia helps grow the game over here. International Rugby League is vital.

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

In a similar way to England regularly losing to Australia helps grow the game over here. International Rugby League is vital.

There’s a difference in losing by an average of 12 and losing by an average of other 40+ points over the last six games. 

[DoubleD]

5 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

I guarantee that within two years, fans are bored of England, at worst, putting 40 on France or probably 50 on Wales, resulting in poor TV figures and poor attendances and it’ll fall by the wayside as the previous mid-season Internationals have.

You seem to be very much in a minority with this view. 

There are plenty of places crying out for hosting international matches. I have no concern on tv figures or attendances

[Hela Wigmen]

1 minute ago, DoubleD said:

You seem to be very much in a minority with this view. 

There are plenty of places crying out for hosting international matches. I have no concern on tv figures or attendances

I’m not. The attendances for the games against France and Exiles in mid-season back it up. 

[DoubleD]

Just now, Hela Wigmen said:

I’m not. The attendances for the games against France and Exiles in mid-season back it up. 

Because they're held in heartland areas, sometimes mid week in uninspiring locations. Go small and that is what you get.

I bet if they held it somewhere like Coventry/Bristol it would be better attended. Anyway, going around in circles and your view is very much a minority so we'll just leave it there

[Hela Wigmen]

Just now, DoubleD said:

Because they're held in heartland areas, sometimes mid week in uninspiring locations. Go small and that is what you get.

I bet if they held it somewhere like Coventry/Bristol it would be better attended. Anyway, going around in circles and your view is very much a minority so we'll just leave it there

That’s the worst excuse I’ve read on here for some time. Playing the game in towns and cities where the game is played and attendances hold up for domestic rugby is “small” but taking a friendly hundreds of miles to a city where there is no rugby team at all is the future. If that’s your view, I’m sorry. 

[DoubleD]

4 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

That’s the worst excuse I’ve read on here for some time. Playing the game in towns and cities where the game is played and attendances hold up for domestic rugby is “small” but taking a friendly hundreds of miles to a city where there is no rugby team at all is the future. If that’s your view, I’m sorry. 

Don't be sorry Oliver, no need to apologise, we all get things wrong at times 

[Hela Wigmen]

Just now, DoubleD said:

Don't be sorry Oliver, no need to apologise, we all get things wrong at times 

Were you behind “On the Road” games in glamorous locations like Barnsley in the 90s by any chance? 

 

[RP London]

20 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I’d be happy for France to play an annual game against England Knights, but France certainly need to play a decent standard of opposition to improve as well as to grow the game in France.

Mid season in France and dont bother flying the NRL players over. We get to try new players in spots and we shouldnt be afraid of that (other sports do it all the time) and it helps the french build up the game in france. Build it up.. perhaps becomes a 2-3 game series over time but I cannot see anything bad coming from a one off game, mid season, in france every year without the NRL players.

The RFL need to help build up the other countries and this would 100% help that at very little extra expense to the RFL as it will be of benefit to the England team in the long run to have a run out together and try and help bring the French team back to where it once was and to have a competitive side on our door step.

I also think we could do more for Wales too but if this was the first step with a view to doing the same with Wales down the line as the game builds there then i can live with that too.