Super League Rebrand

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, The Masked Poster said:

It's pretty much impossible to stop the ship once it's sailed.

Not really we have a great opportunity to rebrand in 2025

[The Masked Poster]

39 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Not really we have a great opportunity to rebrand in 2025

As Super League? (That was my argument)

[Chrispmartha]

2 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

As Super League? (That was my argument)

No as something else

[The Masked Poster]

22 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

No as something else

Thus handing over the SL name. 

[Damien]

1 minute ago, The Masked Poster said:

Thus handing over the SL name. 

It's already gone anyway.

[Chrispmartha]

4 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

Thus handing over the SL name. 

Yes

[EastLondonMike]

I quite like Super League. And would keep it and genuinely try and build upon the name. And making it the most visible of any competition that carries the “super” moniker.

I fully expect any change to incorporate the words “Rugby League” though - anything else will just simply bring out more negativity - which the game has been mired in for far too long. Adopting the wording “Rugby League”  is the only option IMO, and the closest thing to being able to please everyone.

Personally I wouldn’t be averse to NRL (National Rugby League) - but such a change absolutely will generate negative comment from many on both sides of the  RL world. 
that being said I see plenty of opportunities with the name, if done right, which of course it wouldn’t be.

[Chrispmartha]

25 minutes ago, EastLondonMike said:

I quite like Super League. And would keep it and genuinely try and build upon the name. And making it the most visible of any competition that carries the “super” moniker.

I fully expect any change to incorporate the words “Rugby League” though - anything else will just simply bring out more negativity - which the game has been mired in for far too long. Adopting the wording “Rugby League”  is the only option IMO, and the closest thing to being able to please everyone.

Personally I wouldn’t be averse to NRL (National Rugby League) - but such a change absolutely will generate negative comment from many on both sides of the  RL world. 
that being said I see plenty of opportunities with the name, if done right, which of course it wouldn’t be.

In fairness its got more chance of working with IMG involved 

[sheddingswasus]

10 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I like using RFL.

I think I first heard it used in that sense by Eric Perez talking about having to go through "the levels of the RFL" with Toronto. 

The specific comps could be: 

RFL Premiership/Super League

RFL Championship

RFL League 1

But I like the idea of referring to the sport and pro Leagues by a similar 3 letter term. Also doesn't have the geographical hangups that NRL would have for us or the, admittedly for most people minor, confusion with European RL.

My thoughts would be 

RFL Premiership 

RFL Championship 1

RFL Championship 2

Just for consistency 

 

[EastLondonMike]

People have a habit of shortening names also, Super League benefits from being two syllables and hard to shorten. 
Not saying it’s a reason to keep it the name, but certainly to be considered if looking to rebrand as an alternative when visibility is one of the reasons to do so.

[Dave T]

10 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

Regardless of whether you liked the name SL or not, in this country Rugby League had that name sewn up in terms of 'ownership' or association by the early to mid 00's/10's.

Leaving it to slide then just saying "well women's football have it now" is just lazy. 

The argument also doesn't work when people then push for Premier to be used in our name. 

[The Masked Poster]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

It's already gone anyway.

Yet it needn't have been the case, because at one point it certainly wasn't gone.

It's only a small case study but I honestly remember being in pubs in the south of England and people referring to "SL being on Sky". 9 times out of 10 they hadn't a clue what that entailed, except that it was something to do with Rugby.

 

 

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

The argument also doesn't work when people then push for Premier to be used in our name. 

I have no argument for that, only that for a brief period the term SL was broadly associated with RL. That's true.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

The argument also doesn't work when people then push for Premier to be used in our name. 

I think it depends on what else is in the name. As it stands, we're just 'Super League' - no reference to rugby league at all, so I can see why people are concerned with the potential confusion with Women's Football. It's difficult to then stick 'Rugby' in there, as some people may assume it's union. 'Rugby League Super League' sounds a bit of a mouthful - for some reason most of the famous sporting comps seem to have 3 words that abbreviate down to 3 letters, so 4 words seems a bit cumbersome! 'Rugby League Premiership' at least has the name of the sport in there, despite 'Premiership' being used by union, and also 'Premier' being linked to soccer.

Also it depends on who we're aiming it at. Current fans know that Super League means rugby league, but presumably they're looking at rebranding to try and help gain recognition from a new audience. I suppose this is the thing that may prompt the rebrand if it happens.

[The Masked Poster]

Did I dream the bit where Super RUGBY League was pushed on advertising campaigns? 

I'm sure I didn't. 

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

5 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

Did I dream the bit where Super RUGBY League was pushed on advertising campaigns? 

I'm sure I didn't. 

It rings a bell. I think there was a version of the SL logo with 'rugby' in it. But it disappeared pretty quickly.

 

Edit:

Edited October 28, 2023 by RugbyLeagueGeek

[The Masked Poster]

AThanks Geek. However, for whatever the cause RL has lost the most important - and cheapest - weapon that any sport (or anything else come to that) can have: confidence. 

It just doesn't believe in itself.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

1 hour ago, The Masked Poster said:

AThanks Geek. However, for whatever the cause RL has lost the most important - and cheapest - weapon that any sport (or anything else come to that) can have: confidence. 

It just doesn't believe in itself.

To be precise, it's the RFL that have lost confidence. The NRL seem pretty confident!

[RP London]

2 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

Yet it needn't have been the case, because at one point it certainly wasn't gone.

It's only a small case study but I honestly remember being in pubs in the south of England and people referring to "SL being on Sky". 9 times out of 10 they hadn't a clue what that entailed, except that it was something to do with Rugby.

 

 

Yep agree I remember times like those.  However that time has gone and the devision has to be "can we get it back?" With the power of football and other sports then probably the answer is no sadly. 

[GUBRATS]

On 27/10/2023 at 18:16, bobbruce said:

NRL Europe 

Bit of a contradiction , National and Europe 

[The Masked Poster]

9 hours ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

To be precise, it's the RFL that have lost confidence. The NRL seem pretty confident!

Well yes but I was just talking about the game in this country, which I possibly should have specified. 

[The Masked Poster]

9 hours ago, RP London said:

Yep agree I remember times like those.  However that time has gone and the devision has to be "can we get it back?" With the power of football and other sports then probably the answer is no sadly. 

Oh I agree, I'm just pointing out what has been let slip.

[Barley Mow]

2 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Bit of a contradiction , National and Europe 

Although the NRL is itself international, having teams from two countries (and a push ongoing to introduce a third).

[PREPOSTEROUS]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

Bit of a contradiction , National and Europe 

Exactly, European Rugby League (ERL). From a sponsor point of view is screams exposure beyond 20 miles either side of the M62. 

[The Masked Poster]

23 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

It is, but its symptomatic of where the sport ranks and how the sport has invested in itself.

If Super League was a serious national brand with kudos and recognition, then the FA and Netball would have gone with something else.

That's correct but if RL had enough confidence, it could have still issued a "hands off" warning. Maybe that would not have resulted in them backing off but it just seems to roll over at every challenge to names etc. Maybe I'm being unduly harsh here, it's just how I see it.