IMG and SL Players

[Dave T]

Noticed in recent weeks that IMG appear to have been putting players out there. 

On twitter I noticed George Williams thanking IMG for a trip to Wimbledon during the tennis. We also saw some of the Wheelchair WC winners in the royal box (although don't think that was down to IMG). 

I also saw that a few Wire players thanked IMG for getting them a trip to the Open, and have just watched Ratchford, Ashton and Matautia appear in a feature on the golf coverage on Sky this morning. It was a decent piece that treated the players like stars, and then promoted next week's games 

Is this them quietly going about their business and getting the game and players into places it maybe wouldn't normally he seen? 

[Dave T]

By the way, Matautia was terrible at the golf challenge for those wondering

[JM2010]

I was thinking about this the other day. One of the best ways to market the game would be to build the players up in the media 

[RP London]

46 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Noticed in recent weeks that IMG appear to have been putting players out there. 

On twitter I noticed George Williams thanking IMG for a trip to Wimbledon during the tennis. We also saw some of the Wheelchair WC winners in the royal box (although don't think that was down to IMG). 

I also saw that a few Wire players thanked IMG for getting them a trip to the Open, and have just watched Ratchford, Ashton and Matautia appear in a feature on the golf coverage on Sky this morning. It was a decent piece that treated the players like stars, and then promoted next week's games 

Is this them quietly going about their business and getting the game and players into places it maybe wouldn't normally he seen? 

But but but it can't be, they are only worried with the grading process and it's the only idea they've had!! 

[Damien]

This is great to hear. It is normal for other sports but something we don't see too often in English RL.

[LeeF]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

By the way, Matautia was terrible at the golf challenge for those wondering

But Powell would still pick him for the Ryder Cup

[GUBRATS]

Maybe they can just get the BBC to mention on the BBC breakfast news that there is a major RL match ON the BBC later that day for a start 

[Chrispmartha]

Oledski and Harry Newman were at the UFC with img this weekend. 
 

Getting selfies with Maya Jama the lucky lads!

[Chrispmartha]

Anyway I’ve always said our players are our best marketing tool and they have been neglected for years in this respect, good to see IMG doing stuff like this

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Anyway I’ve always said our players are our best marketing tool and they have been neglected for years in this respect, good to see IMG doing stuff like this

As I said , just get the BBC to mention that they've got a major match in our sport on their news would be much better 

Edited July 23, 2023 by GUBRATS

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

Noticed in recent weeks that IMG appear to have been putting players out there. 

On twitter I noticed George Williams thanking IMG for a trip to Wimbledon during the tennis. We also saw some of the Wheelchair WC winners in the royal box (although don't think that was down to IMG). 

I also saw that a few Wire players thanked IMG for getting them a trip to the Open, and have just watched Ratchford, Ashton and Matautia appear in a feature on the golf coverage on Sky this morning. It was a decent piece that treated the players like stars, and then promoted next week's games 

Is this them quietly going about their business and getting the game and players into places it maybe wouldn't normally he seen? 

Just to get this board into meltdown, we need to get some RL lads going to see the London Lions in the EuroCup and saying how great it is that IMG have both got them to this game and got RL to adopt the EuroLeague scoring framework.

[Tommygilf]

26 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Should we be getting our players shown at high profile sporting events mixing with celebrities is a better question, and the answer is obvious.

Absolutely. The social media set is a crucial part of brand awareness now and being at high profile events mean you are part of that circle and mix with those people.

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Imagine a sport’s management company wanting to make money, disgraceful.

I know, and doing it by raising the profile of individual players and the sport more broadly

[Tommygilf]

Its like F1 getting celebs on the Grid, hopefully these connections grow to the point that the Challenge Cup and Grand Final become events on that circuit. 

[HawkMan]

Celebs and stars of other sports at F1 are brought to media attention to make F1 more cool, aimed at casual F1 watchers, saying F1 is great ,look who's here. Same with the Open. RL stars are stars to us but no one else,  so perhaps IMG want RL fans to say, "oh look  our players  let's watch the Open." Are IMG involved in The Open? Getting non RL fans to say,  "RL players at the Open, mmm let's watch RL," is unlikely to succeed.

Edited July 23, 2023 by HawkMan

[The Masked Poster]

Just now, HawkMan said:

Celebs and stars of sports at F1 are brought to media attention to make F1 more cool, aimed at casual F1 watchers that F1 is great ,look who's here. Same with the Open. RL stars are stars to us but no one else,  so perhaps IMG want RL fans to say, "oh look  our players  let's watch the Open." Are IMG involved in The Open? Getting non RL fans to say,  "RL players at the Open, mmm let's watch RL," is unlikely to succeed.

There’s more to it than that though. It works like a bit of a “drip drip drip” effect.  First people see these two guys at the Open and chatting with (insert golfer). Then they are seen at Wimbledon…etc etc. 

Ultimately over time, people then know “that RL player Fred Bloggs”. It all has a knock on effect and is not necessarily about overnight fame. 

[Chrispmartha]

4 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Celebs and stars of other sports at F1 are brought to media attention to make F1 more cool, aimed at casual F1 watchers, saying F1 is great ,look who's here. Same with the Open. RL stars are stars to us but no one else,  so perhaps IMG want RL fans to say, "oh look  our players  let's watch the Open." Are IMG involved in The Open? Getting non RL fans to say,  "RL players at the Open, mmm let's watch RL," is unlikely to succeed.

You’re looking at it in simplistic terms, it’s about our players looking like celebrities and mixing in those circles.

Raising the profile of our players can only be a good thing, and long overdue 

[gingerjon]

I think it's really good that IMG are increasing the exposure of rugby league and its players.

Imagine finding ways to make that a bad thing.

[Phil]

Some of the comments on here

Don’t we want our players to be seen at high profile sporting events? I don’t follow any sports apart from RL and Boxing but surely even the most one eyed “traditionalist” can see that exposure to the greater sporting world can only be a good thing?

[HawkMan]

16 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I think it's really good that IMG are increasing the exposure of rugby league and its players.

Imagine finding ways to make that a bad thing.

Of course it's not a bad thing,I wasn't implying it was, but it's just a very very very long term strategy that might or might not  be a help in engaging more people with RL. I must remind people that we're a year or two into IMG's RL tie up, and the first TV deal on their watch might be lower, or it might not be. If it is that is what I'll judge them on, not sending players to the Open or Wimbledon.

[JM2010]

This started off as a decent thread. I’ve lost interest now. I’ll check back in a bit and see if it’s back on topic

[John Drake]

2 hours ago, JM2010 said:

This started off as a decent thread. I’ve lost interest now. I’ll check back in a bit and see if it’s back on topic

I've just binned off three-quarters of it and suspended the person who dragged it up a blind alley for a while, so hopefully it may get back to the original point now...

[JM2010]

4 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I've just binned off three-quarters of it and suspended the person who dragged it up a blind alley for a while, so hopefully it may get back to the original point now...

Thanks. I can go back on it now then

[Ragingbull]

Good to see Mr Grumpy pants has been removed. 

Back on topic, more of our players and more events and on more tv shows and on more podcasts is an absolute must. 

The fact that this hasnt been happening shows what a s * * t show of an organastion we have had running the game. 

[Welshleaguelover]

It's great stuff.

Kruise Leeming was interviewed live at ringside just before the Liam Smith-Chris Eubank Jr fight a few months back too.

It makes our players look like stars to sports fans who don't know much about rugby league.

We need to have a plan to get all over TikTok and YouTube shorts. That's the way the world is going. 30 and under spend half their day scrolling through those short videos.

Get the spectacular finishes in the corner, big hits, try saving tackles etc all over those social media apps in short clips and get the good looking lads front and centre too.

We've gotta make the game seem somewhat glamorous to the younger generation.