Why rugby league needs a star like other sports

[Eddie]

37 minutes ago, Dave T said:

We could find loads of photos of UK press conferences with players at a desk in front of banners/posters etc.

But I agree with the principle - it's a point I often make - standards should be maintained at all times, on every little thing we do.

Like a couple of years ago when the release of either Whitehaven or Workington’s kit was a photo of one of their players wearing it in his back garden. It would have been literally zero effort to make it look more professional than that. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 hours ago, DC77 said:

There are two major factors that makes someone follow a sport is (A).they follow a team (thus the entire competition), or (B).they follow an individual. Here is evidence this week of B.

The power of the individual is enormous. RL (in England) desperately needs a star name to be the face (and lightning rod) for the sport. Look at the effect of Freddie Flintoff in cricket, Tiger Woods in golf, Federer in tennis, Lomu (the last RU star), Lewis Hamilton in F1 etc. Players/participants that light up the field/arena, that generate headlines, views etc. and in turn raise the profile of their sport. 

The best way to create a star is to elevate them on the field, which means allowing them to shine to their fullest ala Offiah, Robinson etc. RL’s profile is getting smaller in the UK and the lack of a star is the single major reason imo. There’s more games on terrestrial, there’s more games on satellite, there’s more access to RL news online (I’ve learned far more about RL on here, RL podcasts etc. than I knew previously). But having so many platforms is a waste if there’s no star for the masses to gravitate to. Kevin Sinfield, Phil Caplan called him probably the biggest name in English RL. He’s a great lad who does fantastic charity work. But he’s not a superstar. He was a very solid pro who (by all accounts) rarely had a bad game, but he’s bread and butter. He’s not an Offiah, a Hanley, a Robinson, someone who lit up the game and had kids (and the general public) captivated. 

Caplan on one of his podcasts spoke about how the women’s game reminds him of how the men’s used to be...more open, attacking, little wrestle, less stifling/spoiling tactics. The key then I feel for RL to get back to this which will allow an individual(s) to shine as they could do previously, and in doing so become stars which will captivate the public. Generally you shouldn’t have to be told by the expert on commentary/in the studio who the man of the match was. Individuals should be elevated to the extent that the man of the match should often be obvious to those watching, with eye catching long distance runs, dummies galore, moves that really make it clear to anyone. Players scoring three to four tries (and not the close in variety). You watch highlight reels of old players and they look amazing, rampaging through turnstile defences and all. The game elevated individuals then, which I feel it needs to get back to in order to captivate the general public. 

Sonny Bill Williams could still be a Super League player . . . but clubs voted to ban his club from Super League, and we wonder why the Sky deal has dropped from £40 million to £25 million a year. Super League is desperately short of Superstars.

[Dunbar]

I agree with several others who say that the players are there but in the current age the skill is in selling them.

I work for a company that does remarkable work selling brands across social media (let me stress, it is not my skill set).  If they got hold of Rugby League and some of our star players I bet they would work wonders.

But would anyone in Rugby League commission such a piece of work.

[dhw]

1 hour ago, Mark S said:

The RFL should task a talent agent to pick 4 or 5 current and previous players who have the sport of ‘star quality’ needed and work out getting them exposure. IMHO, that list would include Jon Wilkin, Regan Grace, Oledski and at least one french player.

They tried this with Sam Tomkins, that did not turn out to well. If Oledski had been in this such a position given recent events it would have backfired. Wilkin looks comfortable in front of the camera but on more than one occasion has shown himself in a badlight. Regan Grace looks uncomfortable when being interviewed and that is common with many players. You can get players to become active on social media but that opens up all sorts of problems.

[RigbyLuger]

They just need to be smart on social media and be aware of the consequences. Don't be bland, but don't be a berk either or you'll end up at Doncaster.

[whatmichaelsays]

17 minutes ago, dhw said:

They tried this with Sam Tomkins, that did not turn out to well. If Oledski had been in this such a position given recent events it would have backfired. Wilkin looks comfortable in front of the camera but on more than one occasion has shown himself in a badlight. Regan Grace looks uncomfortable when being interviewed and that is common with many players. You can get players to become active on social media but that opens up all sorts of problems.

All of that stuff is manageable though, and I would suggest that "there's a risk" isn't a reason not to do something. You deal with the risk. 

Media training has been a thing since TV coverage of sports exploded. There's a marked difference in the interview style of Kevin Sinfield pre and post-media training (granted, age and experience also has something to do with it). 

Social media can be managed with decent training, club policies and standards. I seem to remember Leeds played a televised game where the names across the back of the shirts was replaced with their Twitter handles - a smart move that should have been encouraged further. 

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

My own eyes during that period, there were big articles about them in national newspapers, not the one paragraph a week that SL generates. 

 

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

Evidence?

The SBW/Wolfpack story was all over the news here, front and back page, it was probably bigger than Messi`s recent signing with who ever it is. 

It made our game look international, look important, look like we were on the world stage, the other codes had no comeback.

 

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Mark S said:

The RFL should task a talent agent to pick 4 or 5 current and previous players who have the sort of ‘star quality’ needed and work on getting them exposure. IMHO, that list would include Jon Wilkin, Regan Grace, Oledski and at least one french player.

Jon Wilkin has retired. 

[dkw]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

Like a couple of years ago when the release of either Whitehaven or Workington’s kit was a photo of one of their players wearing it in his back garden. It would have been literally zero effort to make it look more professional than that. 

Where did you get that from? I dont remember that at all.

[Eddie]

Just now, dkw said:

Where did you get that from? I dont remember that at all.

I remember it from this forum. 

[dkw]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

I remember it from this forum. 

Can you find it.

[The Rocket]

27 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I remember it from this forum. 

I remember it too Eddie, it was a sunny day and the backyard was rather small, I`ve only been on here for a year so it can`t have been that long ago.

[Eddie]

27 minutes ago, dkw said:

Can you find it.

It’ll be on the new kit thread. 

[Eddie]

37 minutes ago, dkw said:

Where did you get that from? I dont remember that at all.

Found it https://trustinhaven.com/2020/01/13/havens-new-home-shirt-for-2020/

[dkw]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Found it https://trustinhaven.com/2020/01/13/havens-new-home-shirt-for-2020/

Ha ha, I missed that, mans thats pretty embarrassing. 

[Keith989]

40 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Found it https://trustinhaven.com/2020/01/13/havens-new-home-shirt-for-2020/

This can't be real. 

[Hela Wigmen]

5 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

But what if a club could learn to do all of the good things that Toronto did AND still pay players and suppliers on time? Or is 'both-ism' something RL can't comprehend? 

Then THEY should be held up as a bastion of the sport, not Toronto, who failed to pay in excess of six figures to numerous parties. It’s not something you can merely turn a blind eye to. 

 

[whatmichaelsays]

15 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Then THEY should be held up as a bastion of the sport, not Toronto, who failed to pay in excess of six figures to numerous parties. It’s not something you can merely turn a blind eye to. 

 

Nobody is. The only person seemingly talking as if they are a "bastion of the sport" is you. All people are saying is that, in certain areas, there is a lot the sport can learn from what they did well.

[dkw]

20 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Then THEY should be held up as a bastion of the sport, not Toronto, who failed to pay in excess of six figures to numerous parties. It’s not something you can merely turn a blind eye to. 

 

Who held Toronto up as a bastion of the sport?

[northamptoncougar]

 

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

Found it https://trustinhaven.com/2020/01/13/havens-new-home-shirt-for-2020/

That’s amazing, even better is the caption of being at the RL media day.

[The Future is League]

8 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

It would help if rugby league knew how to use the talent and assets that it already has. We have great talent, brilliant stories to tell, but nobody seems to be telling them. 

Facebook has been around for 17 years, Twitter 15 years and Instagram 10 years. It's not acceptable if any professional club hasn't worked out how to build and capitalise on an audience on those platforms by now. 

For some context, Konrad Hurrell has 100,000 more followers on Instagram than Leeds Rhinos - and, without checking, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that Leeds' following is at least in the top two in SL. 

The RFL is useless at social media, or should i say try's very little to sell the game.  The same with match day promoting. They are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

[Eddie]

37 minutes ago, northamptoncougar said:

 

That’s amazing, even better is the caption of being at the RL media day.

Ha ha I hadn’t spotted that. Rimmer was probably telling them to line up against the fence and taking the promo photos on his phone. 

[The Future is League]

4 hours ago, Eddie said:

Jon Wilkin has retired. 

He would be great in a media roll as he's articulate and intelligent

The last i heard he was in partnership with someone with some coffee shops. We need in my opinion to see a lot more of him on TV and hearing from on the radio, and fronting news conferences when we have them.

[DC77]

Google ‘famous rugby league players’. The results (from the UK) are all old players in the first row. The first two names are Hanley and Offiah (the marverick that was Garry Schofield also appears in there). I googled famous footballers (just to see that the first results weren’t just old players) and the results in the opening row were Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Mbappé, Pogba, Beckham, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Pele (so five current players).

It’s imperative for the health of a sport to have current stars. They enhance the profile of a sport as the media feeds off them, and the younger generation especially is inspired by them to play/watch the game. Old names are important, but their role is limited. Releasing merchandise (one example being the cover star on the latest video game), unless the name is relevant to kids today it won’t sell. 

Baseball is a sport that doesn't have a single household name today apparently. It looks more and more like a relic that belongs in a different era. There is nobody to sell shirts or for the media to gravitate to to drive up interest. Maybe baseball is just doomed due to it’s slow gameplay in a faster paced modern society. There’s no issues with the tempo of RL, but there is an issue with not allowing the equivalent of an Offiah, Hanley, Robinson or a maverick like Schofield. 

 

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, The Future is League said:

He would be great in a media roll as he's articulate and intelligent

The last i heard he was in partnership with someone with some coffee shops. We need in my opinion to see a lot more of him on TV and hearing from on the radio, and fronting news conferences when we have them.

I can see what you’re saying (tho on podcasts he’s too opinionated and it can get rather dull), but a commentator can’t be the face of English RL.