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[Martyn Sadler]

My reflections on St Helens' success in the World Club Challenge.

[Cw25]

Yes. You predicted the Saints to win the WCC. I am predicting they will win everything this season.

[fighting irish]

26 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

My reflections on St Helens' success in the World Club Challenge.

Great article Martin. I agree with your assessment of the teams performances and Saints deserving the win.

I hope IMG can help us capitalise on their success for the good of the game, here and abroad. 

The responsibility for the poor turnout must fall on the NRL and the Panthers club due to their lack of any real promotional effort and (of course) arrogantly predicting a walkover.

Gus Gould's comments were simply offensive and as a result of his inordinate media exposure, I'm sure he negatively affected the attendance.

Then the final insult, was the ''fans'' abrupt exodus from the stadium (before the speeches and the presentation of the cup) which was, in my opinion, a poor, unsporting, ungentlemanly show of their true colours.

I don't know how to change it, but a presentation (of a World Championship Trophy) in front of an empty stadium, just wasn't a ''good look''.

If we can't persuade our (their) spectators to swap bitter, bilious envy for good old fashioned sportsmanship then let's hope we can find some new ones.

 

[Madrileño]

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Edited February 24, 2023 by Madrileño

[Madrileño]

6 hours ago, fighting irish said:

 

Then the final insult, was the ''fans'' abrupt exodus from the stadium (before the speeches and the presentation of the cup) which was, in my opinion, a poor, unsporting, ungentlemanly show of their true colours.

 

I know what you mean. Have you ever watched it before, when it was played in England? The unsporting, ungentlemanly English fans also were quick to show their true colours. Or... as you say.... "fans".  Couldnt wait to sulk off out of the stadium. They have been a disgrace year on year (I have no doubt you will have been equally quick to call them out... every time) and now the Penrith fans seem to be behaving identically.

[bobbruce]

6 hours ago, Madrileño said:

I know what you mean. Have you ever watched it before, when it was played in England? The unsporting, ungentlemanly English fans also were quick to show their true colours. Or... as you say.... "fans".  Couldnt wait to sulk off out of the stadium. They have been a disgrace year on year (I have no doubt you will have been equally quick to call them out... every time) and now the Penrith fans seem to be behaving identically.

I’m not sure showing a picture of the away end at Saints proves what you think it does. I don’t think the Rossters brought many fans to start with. 

[Sports Prophet]

14 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

My reflections on St Helens' success in the World Club Challenge.

Martyn your remarks at the attendance is seriously overlooking the horrendous weather conditions that blighted the match resulting in an hour late start and half time extended by ten minutes. It was definitely not spectator friendly, let alone family friendly.

Now, had you suggested the match should have been played at Parra Stadium where there is a remarkable difference in weather protection, then you would have an argument. Not necessarily a winning one, but definitely a point deserving of consideration.

It would be great to learn more about the financial commitment and agreement for the WCC. Maybe you can do some digging and report back to us?

[Sports Prophet]

14 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Great article Martin. I agree with your assessment of the teams performances and Saints deserving the win.

I hope IMG can help us capitalise on their success for the good of the game, here and abroad. 

The responsibility for the poor turnout must fall on the NRL and the Panthers club due to their lack of any real promotional effort and (of course) arrogantly predicting a walkover.

Gus Gould's comments were simply offensive and as a result of his inordinate media exposure, I'm sure he negatively affected the attendance.

Then the final insult, was the ''fans'' abrupt exodus from the stadium (before the speeches and the presentation of the cup) which was, in my opinion, a poor, unsporting, ungentlemanly show of their true colours.

I don't know how to change it, but a presentation (of a World Championship Trophy) in front of an empty stadium, just wasn't a ''good look''.

If we can't persuade our (their) spectators to swap bitter, bilious envy for good old fashioned sportsmanship then let's hope we can find some new ones.

 

Unfair comment on the sticking around. In no way would any of the attendees outside of the suites been anything but standing cold and miserable in clothes weighing an extra 10 kilos. When the whistle went, it was time to leave.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

19 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Unfair comment on the sticking around. In no way would any of the attendees outside of the suites been anything but standing cold and miserable in clothes weighing an extra 10 kilos. When the whistle went, it was time to leave.

To be fair I’ve been to a lot of Aussie finals, and f*** me do they drag it out with their interminable, endless speeches before the trophy, all compared by that bloke with the plastic face and Lego haircut who I’ve never seen anywhere else (do they keep him in the NRL HQ basement?).

Only a masochist would wait around after 30 mins of that dull rehash of the same old cliches and “I’d like to thank our sponsors Bob’s Burger Joint…” twaddle in order to watch the trophy eventually get lifted. To be honest I’m amazed the Saints fans stayed for it  

[fighting irish]

I think, in general, people tend to act in ways they believe are reasonable in any situation.

So when the game is billed as a pre-season warm-up, (no biggy) which is going to be such a one sided mis-match that the result will be beyond doubt by half-time, between the invincible representatives of the best and shiniest competition in the world against the tired, old, league leaders from that lack lustre, second rate competition on the other side of the world, we ought not be surprised when the turn-out is poor.

Imagine how the unfortunate spectators felt when their peerless (super) heroes weren't just defeated but humbled for long periods of the game and horror of horrors, lost in the sudden death, golden point finale.

I was disappointed that they were booing throughout and began to wonder why, but I can see now, that they were probably angry and upset to discover that everything they'd been told about the game, it's importance, the likely outcome (and the value of the bar-room bragging rights), the quality of the opposition, and (of course) the invincibility of their own players, was not merely an error of judgement by their so called ''experts'' but a combination of complete indifference to the spectacle and status of the game and smug, oafish arrogance about their own superiority.

Then to add miserable inconvenience, to the embarrassment of being so rudely awakened out of their media induced stupor, it rained.

Poor things. Apart from the weather, I think we/they can thank the NRL media machine for all of this.

None more so than the obnoxious fat-head, Phil Gould.

 

 

 

 

[Madrileño]

4 hours ago, bobbruce said:

I’m not sure showing a picture of the away end at Saints proves what you think it does. I don’t think the Rossters brought many fans to start with. 

"Away end"?? It was the WCC ffs.

Stadium was empty.

 

 

 

[Martyn Sadler]

3 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Martyn your remarks at the attendance is seriously overlooking the horrendous weather conditions that blighted the match resulting in an hour late start and half time extended by ten minutes. It was definitely not spectator friendly, let alone family friendly.

Now, had you suggested the match should have been played at Parra Stadium where there is a remarkable difference in weather protection, then you would have an argument. Not necessarily a winning one, but definitely a point deserving of consideration.

It would be great to learn more about the financial commitment and agreement for the WCC. Maybe you can do some digging and report back to us?

Was the quoted attendance figure based on tickets sold for the game?

I suspect so, but I'm not certain.

The point is that the match had little promotion in relation to what should have been its status as the best versus the best.

It's terribly frustrating to see Rugby League continuing to miss opportunities like this.

The low profile given to the World Club Challenge in Australia, and the poor turnout as a consequence of that, whether it was raining or not, would only happen in our sport.

Anyone who claims that the NRL is a smart marketing organisation is barking up the wrong tree.

[Dunbar]

9 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

Anyone who claims that the NRL is a smart marketing organisation is barking up the wrong tree.

You are mistaking indifference for incompetence. 

The NRL treated Saints like we treat France when we host them for a test match at Leigh Sporting Village in front of 5,000 people on a Wednesday night.

[Martyn Sadler]

13 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

You are mistaking indifference for incompetence. 

The NRL treated Saints like we treat France when we host them for a test match at Leigh Sporting Village in front of 5,000 people on a Wednesday night.

I take your point but indifference is just the other side of the coin.

The essence of being a smart marketing organisation is understanding when you have something big to sell.

The Broncos understood that in 1994 but the collective memory of that event in Australia seems to have faded almost completely.

[Dunbar]

2 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

I take your point but indifference is just the other side of the coin.

The essence of being a smart marketing organisation is understanding when you have something big to sell.

The Broncos understood that in 1994 but the collective memory of that event in Australia seems to have faded almost completely.

Don't get me wrong, I am with you on wanting to see more done.

But the Wigan Broncos game was 29 years ago... that's a hell of a long time between drinks to base a marketing campaign on.

What Saints have done is set the standard that the rest of Super League/the UK game have ro rise to.  If we can send teams over there more often than every 3 decades to turn over their best sides then they will have something to market.

[Martyn Sadler]

30 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Don't get me wrong, I am with you on wanting to see more done.

But the Wigan Broncos game was 29 years ago... that's a hell of a long time between drinks to base a marketing campaign on.

What Saints have done is set the standard that the rest of Super League/the UK game have ro rise to.  If we can send teams over there more often than every 3 decades to turn over their best sides then they will have something to market.

I'm not suggesting they base their marketing campaign on something that happened 29 years ago. I'm just using that example to show how things have changed in the meantime.

If St Helens win Super League this year, they will be very happy to return to Oz next year to take part in the Pre-Season Challenge and the WCC again. Let's see whether the NRL takes a bit more notice of them.

Incidentally, I took a look at the 'Offsiders' programme that goes out every Sunday on ABC in Australia to discuss the sporting stories of the day and this week they completely ignored the WCC.

It's one more symptom of the malaise that affects our sport.

What would happen, for example, if Leicester Tigers went to Australia to play the Waratahs in their version of the WCC? The ARU would promote the hell out of it.

[Dunbar]

5 minutes ago, Martyn Sadler said:

I'm not suggesting they base their marketing campaign on something that happened 29 years ago. I'm just using that example to show how things have changed in the meantime.

If St Helens win Super League this year, they will be very happy to return to Oz next year to take part in the Pre-Season Challenge and the WCC again. Let's see whether the NRL takes a bit more notice of them.

Incidentally, I took a look at the 'Offsiders' programme that goes out every Sunday on ABC in Australia to discuss the sporting stories of the day and this week they completely ignored the WCC.

It's one more symptom of the malaise that affects our sport.

What would happen, for example, if Leicester Tigers went to Australia to play the Waratahs in their version of the WCC? The ARU would promote the hell out of it.

I agree.