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


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On 14/03/2023 at 22:00, The Daddy said:

Its not a European League it's a UK league that limits the number of international teams to two and forces one of them pay all travel costs of their opposition 

It is a european league, the actual name is european super league 

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On 15/03/2023 at 14:55, ELBOWSEYE said:

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

Kevin sinfield doing a fine job at unskilling same as he did at Leeds haha

Edited by yipyee
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20 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.

Of course it wasn't, but calling it that reflects the exceptional arrogance of the US.  In essence it's no different from claiming that the winners of the AFL Grand Final, All-Ireland [Gaelic] Football Final and All-Ireland Hurling Final world champions of those sports and no one would ever do that!

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20 hours ago, Jamie_ said:

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.

There wasn't any real money in the game at that time, so maybe they decided they couldn't afford to fight that and that's why they didn't.

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43 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Of course it wasn't, but calling it that reflects the exceptional arrogance of the US. 

I can't spell it out any clearer but it's what you get when you have the champion of the National League and the champion of the American League face off but the words 'American' and 'National' can't feature in the name of the title they're fighting for.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I can't spell it out any clearer but it's what you get when you have the champion of the National League and the champion of the American League face off but the words 'American' and 'National' can't feature in the name of the title they're fighting for.

American couldn't for the reason that the competition didn't cover more than one of the 35 countries in America.  National could though, because it was a national championship.

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Whatever the brand name I'll be glad if someone is smart enough to make it something we own the rights to this time around.

I also think calling it Ultimate Rugby would gain us a load of coverage in the London legacy media if only because they'd produce a several page spread denouncing us for the nerve of it all. Imagine kick & clap headlines and articles full of cloth caps , whippets and brass neck stereotypes!

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Big Picture said:

Of course it wasn't, but calling it that reflects the exceptional arrogance of the US.  

It was sponsored by the World newspaper.  It's not arrogance at all.

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

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16 minutes ago, Griff said:

It was sponsored by the World newspaper.  It's not arrogance at all.

We've covered this a couple of times on this thread (but I do appreciate not every one is as sad as me for the amount of time they spend on here).

It is, sadly, an urban legend that it was anything to do with sponsorship. It really was hyperbole - though not really arrogance. The promoter needed a name for what they were going to call their series between the champions of the American League and the champions of the National League given that both the American and National titles were taken.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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21 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Rugby union living rent free in supporters' heads is a bit of a problem.

Rugby Union being the de facto image that pops into the heads of everyone when they hear "Rugby" except 200,000 people from the North of England is more of a problem when you are tying to sell something called "Rugby" that is entirely different. 

Edited by Jamie_
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2 hours ago, Jamie_ said:

Rugby Union being the de facto image that pops into the heads of everyone when they hear "Rugby" except 200,000 people from the North of England is more of a problem when you are tying to sell something called "Rugby" that is entirely different. 

Which is not quite the same as post after post saying things like "Let's call our sport Rugby Plus and that way rugby union will seem like Rugby Minus".

We surrendered football as a name, we surrendered rugby and league is meaningless as a term so we are a bit stuck but any suggestion that we define ourselves against what rugby union is or isn't will be rightly doomed.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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59 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Which is not quite the same as post after post saying things like "Let's call our sport Rugby Plus and that way rugby union will seem like Rugby Minus".

We surrendered football as a name, we surrendered rugby and league is meaningless as a term so we are a bit stuck but any suggestion that we define ourselves against what rugby union is or isn't will be rightly doomed.

I also think people are overthinking the name tbh. Most names are not trying to make any kind of point, they are just giving their comp a catchy/classy name and a decent logo. 

In reality, it doesn't really matter whether it is called Ultimate League, Brilliant League or Splendid League. Personal opinion will come into it. 

Delivering the quality of rebrand really well is I portant, and that can be done with pretty much any name. 

We see that with the variety of names around the world of sport, Premier League, NFL, NRL (Telstra Premiership), Big Bash League, Elite One, Top 14, The Hundred and so on. 

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14 hours ago, gingerjon said:

both the American and National titles were taken.

So they thought Cosmos. Universe, Galaxy or Solar System and went for the humbler title of World great story that one.

4 hours ago, Jamie_ said:

Rugby Union being the de facto image that pops into the heads of everyone when they hear "Rugby"

Most heads in the market just have a vague  picture that pops into their head for the word rugby. There is plenty of evidence for this on quiz tv alone where people can't answer ru questions any more than they could about real rugby. In spite of all the London media effort K&C is really marginal compared to it's coverage. RL is marginalised by the coverage it has recieved. There are a few reasons why people have a loose image one is ru cleverly muddying the waters and the other is RL's complete failure to create an image that marks it out in the market place. The problem with change as the pages and the statements of chairmen show over the years is attempts to create that image have been thwarted on almost every level mostly by self interest but an awful lot of times by just plain cussedness. (great word that I think I'll always use it from now on)

In fact I'll go as far as to say that if IMG don't create a market image that both makes TGG more marketable and utterly distinct from everything else in the game they will have failed completely.

Edited by Oxford
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2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Which is not quite the same as post after post saying things like "Let's call our sport Rugby Plus and that way rugby union will seem like Rugby Minus".

We surrendered football as a name, we surrendered rugby and league is meaningless as a term so we are a bit stuck but any suggestion that we define ourselves against what rugby union is or isn't will be rightly doomed.

Any title that has the word Rugby in it will for those people not initiated in Rugby League will immediately think of Union and could inadvertently raise the popularity of that game.

In the 70's two very high profile television personalities namely Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins were commissioned by Cinzano Bianco to make 6 very expensive TV commercials to raise the awareness of their product, but what it actually did was raise the profile and sales of the more popular and better known Martini Bianco, people recognised that brand much more and most people when asked actually thought the adverts were for Martini not Cinzano.

In my opinion this scenario could repeat itself by including Rugby in the title, it will boost Union and they would not have to spend one penny, just as Martini didn't they just sat back and reaped the benefits.

Edited by Harry Stottle
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Rugby League (Europe) Premiership

or

European Rugby League (ERL) Premiership.

I prefer the latter. ERL Premiership. We have Catalan in the league as well as hopefully Toulouse. That’s the European element (and scope to grow if we ever wish to do so in future on the continent.

We then call the Championship the British Rugby League (BRL) Championship. 

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22 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Rugby League (Europe) Premiership

or

European Rugby League (ERL) Premiership.

I prefer the latter. ERL Premiership. We have Catalan in the league as well as hopefully Toulouse. That’s the European element (and scope to grow if we ever wish to do so in future on the continent.

We then call the Championship the British Rugby League (BRL) Championship. 

So when Fev go up next year and Toulouse are still in the Championship which by your definition is the British Rugby League (BRL) Championship why should that be? and we still have only one club in the whole of the European Continent in the top division which is still by any any stretch of the imagination the British League, It just looks cheapskate and desperation trying to elevate something way beyond it's station by naming the British game European.

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46 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

So when Fev go up next year and Toulouse are still in the Championship which by your definition is the British Rugby League (BRL) Championship why should that be? and we still have only one club in the whole of the European Continent in the top division which is still by any any stretch of the imagination the British League, It just looks cheapskate and desperation trying to elevate something way beyond it's station by naming the British game European.

It’s a bit presumptuous to think Featherstone are definitely going to be promoted. It’s a long way to the end of September from now… 

And the name change should come when the new system is implemented. I’ll be gobsmacked if TO aren’t in the ERL Premiership then. 

Edited by GeordieSaint
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4 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

It’s a bit presumptuous to think Featherstone are definitely going to be promoted. It’s a long way to the end of September from now… 

And the name change should come when the new system is implemented. I’ll be gobsmacked if TO aren’t in the ERL Premiership then. 

Just my opinion re Fev.

And that is also presumptuous on two counts, I think if Toulouse fail to get promotion this year they could very well implode, secondly your ERL name tag.

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Of course if the NRL don't own the rights to NRL we could use that, or if they do but don't object and then we'd have a World wide name to market the product?

It would also put the "we're all on the same side" to bed if they refused and didn't want to be associated with us or tagged with our side of the product.

 

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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