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Derek Beaumont: 'Ditch Super League and call it Ultimate Rugby!'


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1 hour ago, tuutaisrambo said:

Rugby League is basically British bulldog with a ball........... 

How about SMASH BALL.....SLAMDOWN.......POWERSLAM 😁

Something naff and wrestlemania sounding for the kids.......

There's nothing 'super' about rugby league so I'd leave the superlatives out and 'Rugby' is taken

Bring back the 'Biff' (at least in name)

'Ultimate Rugby League' is a decent positioning statement

BETFRED
SMASHBALL
Ultimate Rugby League

 

LETS GO PLAY ''SMASHBALL'' etc....

 

We could call it skilled rugby and the other code being unskilled. 

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I'm not altogether against it. For all Mr Beaumont's idiosyncrasies, he was right about Leigh and its need for a reboot away from 'a rubbish Wigan', despite all the hilarity (lots of it deserved) at the time.

It's an improvement on SuperLeague, and I can't think of a better name at the moment. Just don't let him near the launch.

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3 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Yes, from its sponsor the New York World.  From that it was the World's Series then ultimately the "World" Series and from there sprung the arrogant US habit of calling their domestic champions world champions.

Further to @gingerjon's post:-

For many years, it was believed that the name came from the fact that the original series was sponsored by the New York World Telegram newspaper, thus becoming known as the ‘World’s Series’. However, popular as this explanation may be, it’s not actually true and although the newspaper did report the results of the games, it had nothing to do with the naming of the competition.

The real reason behind the name is thanks to Barney Dreyfuss who was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1903, he wrote to the owner of the Boston Red Sox challenging them to a ‘World’s Championship Series’. The Pirates were the best team in the National League and the Red Sox were the best in the American League.

The games went ahead and Boston won the series five games to three. Over time, the 'World’s Championship Series' name has been shortened to the World Series and has been played every year apart from 1904 and 1994.

Edited by Harry Stottle
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3 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

Think about it.

It's using a number to differentiate it from 'real rugby' sticking 13 on the end of rugby is just the same, it denotes a variant of Rugby Union not a completely different sport.

Don't agree Chris, In my opinion you are overthinking it.

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its a little conundrum in that our sport is Rugby League. We are not the dominant sport where just having a name such as Premier League is recognised instantly and initially as Soccer top league. Hence why we probably need to have our sports name in the title/brand so that the sport is recognised and we don't have the monies to change perceptions. e,g, Rugby Premier League, Netball Superleague, etc

Personally I think Netball get it right - The Netball Super League is the United Kingdom's top level, elite netball competition featuring ten teams from England, Scotland and Wales.  Their brand name being Netball Superleague (Super League as one word).

Unfortunately its hard to fit Rugby League with another league word, even if we make it one word Superleague. 

Actually the best league title in UK Rugby League is not our premier league - that is the

Rugby League Championship... RLC

Unless less we take the approach of the Aussies and have NRL but unfortunately we are not just a national league.

 

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2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Don't agree Chris, In my opinion you are overthinking it.

When renaming brands you need to overthink it.

We’re currently doing three big renaming and rebranding projects and you have to consider how that name can be perceived very carefully. Especially if you are putting part of the the same name in as a competitor.

 

Rugby 13 also doesn’t signify a competition, were not renaming the sport but the competition.

Edited by Chrispmartha
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1 hour ago, redjonn said:

its a little conundrum in that our sport is Rugby League. We are not the dominant sport where just having a name such as Premier League is recognised instantly and initially as Soccer top league. Hence why we probably need to have our sports name in the title/brand so that the sport is recognised and we don't have the monies to change perceptions. e,g, Rugby Premier League, Netball Superleague, etc

Personally I think Netball get it right - The Netball Super League is the United Kingdom's top level, elite netball competition featuring ten teams from England, Scotland and Wales.  Their brand name being Netball Superleague (Super League as one word).

Unfortunately its hard to fit Rugby League with another league word, even if we make it one word Superleague. 

Actually the best league title in UK Rugby League is not our premier league - that is the

Rugby League Championship... RLC

Unless less we take the approach of the Aussies and have NRL but unfortunately we are not just a national league.

 

The NRL isn’t a national league

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I think the game should rebrand as  'Rugger'. 

That is a word that originated in the late 1880s, a few short years before the northerners broke away because they weren't allowed to play in university teams, or negotiate their own TV deal. It is a real nod to the game's roots in the English public schools. 

Naming the sport 'Rugger' would allow England to form a noisy, drunken fan group along the lines of cricket's Barmy Army. This group would be called the Rugger Buggers.

They could follow the England team down to Australia if they are ever invited for an international match again. 

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2 hours ago, redjonn said:

its a little conundrum in that our sport is Rugby League. We are not the dominant sport where just having a name such as Premier League is recognised instantly and initially as Soccer top league. Hence why we probably need to have our sports name in the title/brand so that the sport is recognised and we don't have the monies to change perceptions. e,g, Rugby Premier League, Netball Superleague, etc

Personally I think Netball get it right - The Netball Super League is the United Kingdom's top level, elite netball competition featuring ten teams from England, Scotland and Wales.  Their brand name being Netball Superleague (Super League as one word).

Unfortunately its hard to fit Rugby League with another league word, even if we make it one word Superleague. 

Actually the best league title in UK Rugby League is not our premier league - that is the

Rugby League Championship... RLC

Unless less we take the approach of the Aussies and have NRL but unfortunately we are not just a national league.

 

Obviously we used to be called the Rugby League Championship. Also said as  Stones Bitter Championship, but it does rather feel like Championship is now known as a 2nd tier comp. IIRC RU, Football and RL all use that for 2nd tier leagues. Its a shame as I think it's a good name. 

It'll be interesting to see if we go bold and go leftfield (Big Bash or similar) or try and go for a solid name like Premiership which does rather work with RL as the sport name unlike some other leagues.

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21 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Obviously we used to be called the Rugby League Championship. Also said as  Stones Bitter Championship, but it does rather feel like Championship is now known as a 2nd tier comp. IIRC RU, Football and RL all use that for 2nd tier leagues. Its a shame as I think it's a good name. 

It'll be interesting to see if we go bold and go leftfield (Big Bash or similar) or try and go for a solid name like Premiership which does rather work with RL as the sport name unlike some other leagues.

Premier or Premiership does give an elite sounding name, plus soccer have further reinforced that as the elite level brand.

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25 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Obviously we used to be called the Rugby League Championship. Also said as  Stones Bitter Championship, but it does rather feel like Championship is now known as a 2nd tier comp. IIRC RU, Football and RL all use that for 2nd tier leagues. Its a shame as I think it's a good name. 

It'll be interesting to see if we go bold and go leftfield (Big Bash or similar) or try and go for a solid name like Premiership which does rather work with RL as the sport name unlike some other leagues.

to add, nothing wrong at keeping to the basics, namely 

Rugby League Premiership, although I'm not sure RLP exactly rolls off the tongue, for some reason it sounds like something that one may medically suffer from. So no shortening...

I'm not for anything left field, 

 

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12 minutes ago, redjonn said:

to add, nothing wrong at keeping to the basics, namely 

Rugby League Premiership, although I'm not sure RLP exactly rolls off the tongue, for some reason it sounds like something that one may medically suffer from. So no shortening...

I'm not for anything left field, 

 

I think the acronym point is a distraction. It's not that common really. 

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15 hours ago, redjonn said:

Premier or does give an elite sounding name, plus have further reinforced that as the elite level brand.

Sounds like we're copying that other rugby. Maybe we should just copy the French instead...

so how about: Elite Rugby League ?

 

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37 minutes ago, mrfranco said:

Sounds like we're copying that other rugby. Maybe we should just copy the French instead...

so how about: Elite Rugby League ?

 

That is a challenge. RU have done a decent job of replicating the English football branding to an extent. Their top division is Premier League-esque. Their Champions Cup is an absolute copy of the Champions league. They have clearly tapped into the familiarity point, so that it is clear that casual fans will understand what these comps represent.

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1 minute ago, Dave T said:

That is a challenge. RU have done a decent job of replicating the English football branding to an extent. Their top division is Premier League-esque. Their Champions Cup is an absolute copy of the Champions league. They have clearly tapped into the familiarity point, so that it is clear that casual fans will understand what these comps represent.

Not to mention they have basically total domination of the name Rugby in the English speaking world.

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If getting new fans to watch our game is the aim, it would be incredibly stupid to market ourselves with a name that produces an image in most people's heads of a completely different sport. We threw away our claim to the word "Rugby" when lawyers approached us 30 years ago with a case against World Rugby naming their comp the "Rugby World Cup" and we decided we couldn't be bothered fighting it. No point doing so now. 

 

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On 15/03/2023 at 09:33, Harry Stottle said:

That's as bad as Baseball playing for The World Series.

The World Series was never the championship of the world.

I thought that myth was well and truly debunked donkeys' years ago.

"We'll sell you a seat .... but you'll only need the edge of it!"

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2 hours ago, Griff said:

The World Series was never the championship of the world.

I thought that myth was well and truly debunked donkeys' years ago.

Yes I know that Griff, I said it because it was about as relevant as the suggestion of  @David Dockhouse Host's suggestion of renaming the competition as the "ERL" the European Rugby League, there are only 12 clubs in our top division  but we have 36 clubs 34 which are British and two guest participants from beyond these shores, essentially its a British competition, keep it named that way.

Edited by Harry Stottle
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Remember the amazingly simple rebranding of the Labour Party, just by adding "New."

Call RL " New Rugby "

Automatically infers RU is" old" yesterday's game. People wouldn't want to miss out on anything " new."

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