TV presentation of Rugby league - new ideas

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

There has been a few suggested recently. 

Can we have a few on this thread?. Who knows ? Maybe a Sky/BBC/Ch4/Premier sports producer may be reading (wow it feels good to rattle off 4 channels covering our game!)

I've got one if no one else. How about midgame comments/interviews from coaches?. Works well on BT sport's union. All the coaches get involved and they really engage well with it, they seem very happy to talk. It's always interesting and inciteful. Not always head coach either 

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

1 minute ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

There has been a few suggested recently. 

Can we have a fe on this thread. Who knows ? Maybe a Sky/BBC/Ch4/Premier may be reading (wow it feels good to rattle off 4 channels covering our game!)

I've got one. How about midgame comments/interviews from coaches. Works well on BT sport's union. All the coaches really engage well with it, they seem very happy to talk. It's always interesting and inciteful

I'd like to see more use of GPS stats. E.g. who were the fastest players in the first half, who had the most air time during a diving try finish - the sorts of things that help to emphasise the qualities of the players. Do they have GPS in the ball these days? Could you look at things like bullet passes or kick height during a bomb? They do all sorts of stuff with cricket around the way the ball is moving. I've previously said calculate G forces to work out who put the biggest hits in, but the way things are going with the concussion/brain injury stuff, maybe that's maybe a bit ill-advised now. It definitely needs some out-of-the-box thinking though to freshen it up a bit, just like Channel 4 did with the cricket.

[Whippet13]

Drones for ariel view analysis, obvious danger someone is going to knock it out of the sky with a high kick sooner or later but that would only add to the entertainment. 

Know Covid has stopped it for now, but I used to enjoy the post match game review John Wells used to do with a player. I think that would improve public perception as to the level of tactical thinking that goes into the game and be a real positive for it's image.

[Man of Kent]

Yes to:

Intelligent analysis eg fine detail of how tries were scored, how the defence was beaten etc. This could incorporate post-game interviews with players and coaches. 

‘Impactful’ use of stats - regular & consistent in-game captions showing top metre-makers, top line-breakers, top tacklers etc. This gives people metrics showing who is playing well and why. 

Making rugby league fan culture accessible on a national stage - who hates who, why it’s always Warrington’s year etc.

No to: lazy stereotypes, try music, 1990s Wigan players. 

 

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I've got one if no one else. How about midgame comments/interviews from coaches?

"We spoke about completing our sets"

"We spoke about building pressure"

"We spoke about composure"

"We spoke about belief"

[GUBRATS]

Just put the game on the screen 

[The Rocket]

I think it is important we bring back the heroes in Rugby League, the players that make the kids want to watch.

So for any particular game on T.V. have a montage of the highlights of any player in that contest that might fit the aforesaid category. Corresponding highlights in Club or Super League websites is where the young`ns will search these things out too and share them with friends. That can be exponential.

 

[Eddie]

Cameron Diaz and Mila Kunis presenting, sorry Brian. 

[DavidM]

I like a pertinent stat and I know stats are important but I feel now sport can become wallowed in them and it’s too much  . The NRL can go that way at times and that obsession played a part in it being so structured for a time 

[Davo5]

Some of the younger players like Ash Goulding were very good last year.

[redjonn]

For me... copy the BBC RL... simples.

The right commentators on the game, the right RL people in the studio with a relaxed presenter asking the questions of someone whom is still learning the nuances game... The focus on the game...

One way to put off new viewers is to obsess over stats and intricacies. 

As I say the BBC get it right... obvious some on here may like particular experts or not but overall they are spot on for me.

 

[Damien]

I'd like to see something completely different and fresh. Out with the old guard and in with the new so to speak. A professional presenter and commentator with young studio guests and pundits. The BBC have really developed and pushed the likes of Alex Scott and Jermaine Jenas across its programs and I'd love to see similar in RL. Give the next generation like Ash Golding and Sam Tomkins a chance. These players come across far better on TV than any of the more established names.

I hate the pally, jokey format that is rife on both Sky and the BBC with O'Connor, McDermott, Wilkins and co. Often they are just not funny, cringey and it just comes across as very amateur compared to other sports.

[cookey]

For me, a segment covering the history of the two clubs playing. If I'm a neutral and I know little or nothing about the clubs playing, I'd have little interest. This happensto me when I occassionally watch American basketball or NFL. If I dont know much about either team, I'm not really bothered who wins.

So some type of history about the club and the town would help me chose who I wanted to support. Do I want the under dog, do I want the little man, do I want to support a team improving,do I recognise any of the old players. Also would much prefer pre game interviews with celebrity fans or the owner/Chief Exec, as opposed to the usual questions to the coach. Just improve on the garbage which SS produce.

[graveyard johnny]

give robbie hunter paul a one way ticket to tazmania

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Bikini-clad women dancing in the end zone when a try is scored. 

[Damien]

Also I'd like to see a complete stop to arguing about rules and if something illegal, such as a high tackle, should be penalty or not. Just call the game to the rules. Also stop feeling the need to justify and explain every rule in case someone new is watching, other sports don't so this. RL has been around a rather long time and has been on TV a long time. Even if people haven't seen it before the rules are easy to pick up.

On the whole I find that much of the existing RL presentation has a very insecure tone with people trying to constantly justify RLs place in the sporting scene. All the best kept secret, greatest game type stuff. Just keep telling people that convinces no one. This is especially so when much of the commentary and discussion focuses on the negative and is completely contradictory to that. Focus on the positives, the tries and talk up the game throughout.

[barnyia]

The Union highlights  on channel 5 was decent to watch, even if I'm not a big fan of union it was well presented, well explained and very positive when talking about the games even if it was a kickathon. 

[CornwallRL]

45 minutes ago, redjonn said:

For me... copy the BBC RL... simples.

The right commentators on the game, the right RL people in the studio with a relaxed presenter asking the questions of someone whom is still learning the nuances game... The focus on the game...

One way to put off new viewers is to obsess over stats and intricacies. 

As I say the BBC get it right... obvious some on here may like particular experts or not but overall they are spot on for me.

 

No they don't, it's dull and boring on the BBC, they have only had 3 main commentary team since coverage began in 1955, Eddie Waring (Saint), Mumbling Ray French, & Dave Wood. Oh, and Jon Davies because he's a union player.

[redjonn]

5 minutes ago, CornwallRL said:

No they don't, it's dull and boring on the BBC, they have only had 3 main commentary team since coverage began in 1955, Eddie Waring (Saint), Mumbling Ray French, & Dave Wood. Oh, and Jon Davies because he's a union player.

Thought was talking about the overall presentational aspects. Of course some may want other personalities but its still the same overall presentational aspects.

I personally don't find the BBC's presentation boring, particularly as most of it is the game itself. I personally like John Kear teamed with Davies but again that's subjective but at least we don't have the jabbering twins of Sky rattling on.

The studio guests are normally good, and most are just retired players.  whom help understand aspects of the game. The studio non RL presenters to-date have been very good as is the current one.

I'll look forward to a different approach from channel 4 but hopefully not gimmickry rubbish.

It will really be tinkering around the edges as its the game itself that has to sell itself...

 

[Man of Kent]

14 minutes ago, CornwallRL said:

No they don't, it's dull and boring on the BBC, they have only had 3 main commentary team since coverage began in 1955, Eddie Waring (Saint), Mumbling Ray French, & Dave Wood. Oh, and Jon Davies because he's a union player.

I agree. The Beeb can still present RL as a quaint Northern pastime instead of the kickass sport it is. 

People want stats and data these days. Facts to back up opinion etc. 

[RigbyLuger]

As much as people moan about the old boys club on Sky, if Noble and Peacock were on every week, we'd feel the same way.

[glemiln]

2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Bikini-clad women dancing in the end zone when a try is scored. 

Couldn’t be how your nomenclature started?!

Poor lasses would be in overcoats, etc ⛈waiting for a score at certain games!

[sweaty craiq]

Get a big list of positive words from a motivational coach and teach them how to use them. Only positivity allowed RU style, even when the pass is 20 yards forward don’t keep going on about it when the decision is made

[EastLondonMike]

A couple of pet hates of mine that i would love to be rid of are Interviews straight after the game, and those awful transparent sponsor boards they stick behind the player being interviewed. The ones that show every single scratch or bit of dirt they happen to pick up, not to mention the presence of the numerous people that always seem to walk behind them.

If we must, then have a dedicated interview area, off-pitch and inside, with decent sponsor boards that actually give the sponsors on them some value and exposure. And do the interviews a bit later. Analysis first.

Though personally I'd do away with the pointless interviews with player and coach. IMO they really serve very little purpose in todays sporting world. You get the same cliche's week in week out. They appear to be there just because they always have been.

I'm sure many of us remember the piece with Trent Robinson and Jon Wells after the last WCC that featured the Roosters. That kind of analysis is IMO of much more interest. 

[JohnM]

How about this as an idea? Promote the games in advance of them being played,  to get people to watch when the game is on. Plenty of people on here may not like Jiffy, Robbie, Brian, Steve,  Terry,  Eddie,  in fact anyone at all (strike out any that apply) but the objective surely is not to please the harsher critics on the forum, but to get more people to watch games. I think the critics on here will be surprised to find out that not everyone dislikes the current presenters.