Dartsifying Rugby League

[tuutaisrambo]

Darts is and individual sport aimed at adults with lots of booze and a handful of showpiece events a year........we can take bits from it but it's not really comparable to regular team sports like Rugby League.

If the RFL or SL rans last nights even they'd be playing the "this is a family game.........." announcement over the top of the drunken singing every 10 minutes 

[M j M]

@Damien touched on it but what really has driven this, and which darts obviously lends itself to, is the focus on the personalities. You can tinker with your brands, mess around with spreadsheets and introduce silly nines tournaments as much as you like but millions of people identifying with an individual can make a massive difference.

Our sport, sadly, almost seeks to wipe out the individualism of those playing our sport through media training and safety-first press conferences and interviews.

[hindle xiii]

Confidence amongst RL fans must be low to be looking towards an individual, indoor, close range sport. (I chose "close range" over pub sport, even though pub sport is meant literally, as in available in a small place required to play.)

[Griff]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

.Both were written off 

There was a reason for that.

Not enough viewers.

If you're going to piggy back on a non-sport, why not Strictly ?  I don't watch that either but it seems popular.  Get the players in Lycra and award artistic impression points for every try scpred.

[EggFace]

A 7's or 9's Cross Codes with Premiership Rugby Union and URC Community shield be good.

[Tommygilf]

We've done a lot of what darts has done in the past, yet now we do it less, if at all. Is it just CBA?

Some people find the Darts garish and vulgar I know. But some people do that with RL evidently too.

Clearly it works and there is always something to learn. TV filming and stage presentation is one. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

I think we need to establish a target audience too before we start marketing and promoting on a fitful basis.

Often I wonder if we’re not putting the cart before the horse.

I have to say the story of a very young underdog from the north west is what has gripped my office in terms of the non sports fans.

The showbiz aspect of drunk adults dressed up as lobsters not the main factor.

 

 

Edited January 4 by Gerrumonside ref

[Damien]

40 minutes ago, Griff said:

There was a reason for that.

Not enough viewers.

If you're going to piggy back on a non-sport, why not Strictly ?  I don't watch that either but it seems popular.  Get the players in Lycra and award artistic impression points for every try scpred.

Yet both could still get viewing figures that RL could only dream of. And still can.

[Griff]

25 minutes ago, Damien said:

Yet both could still get viewing figures that RL could only dream of. And still can.

Once a year.

[Damien]

50 minutes ago, Griff said:

Once a year.

That's simply not true. 

[Damien]

Speaking of which, absolutely incredible viewing figures for the final on Sky:

A record audience of over 4.8m people tuned in to watch the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship final, with a peak audience of 3.71m - the highest ever non-football peak on Sky Sports.

https://www.skysports.com/darts/news/12288/13042165/world-darts-championship-final-record-4-8m-tune-in-to-watch-luke-humphries-win-over-luke-littler

And Sky going to milk Littler for all its worth. Its certainly something RL can learn i.e to strike why the iron is hot and make announcementsl like this when the sport has the medias attention:

 

[graveyard johnny]

everyone turning up dressed like an oompah lumpa , smurf or wheres Wally and singing walking in a winter wonderland (inserting the the name of their fave player) till half time when as soon as the hooter goes all belt out "chelsea dagger" - while holding up a hand written placard - at every game this season - great idea 

Edited January 4 by graveyard johnny

[Just Browny]

7 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The franchised Darts Premier League with players picked behind closed doors?

Imagine the chaos on here if that were replicated.

They'd soon get over it once we started playing Chase the Sun and had a drinks break after every set of six.

[unapologetic pedant]

7 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

 The presentation on screen is cleverly designed, with stats used at the right time, and graphical cues are used well to build anticipation for moments like "9-darters". 

There's still an unlimited-possession/RU tone to RL media coverage. All through a game, the tactics of the tackle count are misinterpreted or ignored. When a team opt to run the ball on last tackle, commentators will typically assume an individual player must have miscounted. When a team kick on tackle 4, they often don't even notice that it was tackle 4. Much of the drama of modern RL is inextricably linked to the risk/reward decision-making of the tackle count, yet our commentators appear to regard it as a minor detail. Opportunities to engage audiences are consequently missed.

Inconceivable that Darts commentators wouldn't be fully across significant facts and figures as a match proceeds. Similarly unthinkable that Gridiron callers would neglect the relevance of Down and territory to the type of play being run.   

[graveyard johnny]

hold on - instead of taking a conversion after a try - why dont teams get the option to  nominate 2 players to gamble the 4 point try in favour of winning a mystery amount of points by hitting 101 or more in 6 darts - of course they must "take their time" and even more importantly "listen to Tony"

[tiffers]

Some very facetious responses

Sometimes you need to sit back acknowledge that Darts is having it's moment in the sun and try and learn what's contributing to it and adapt it for RL.

We in RL are not in a position to be so righteous about how RL is so much more exposed than Darts 90% of the time. That superiority complex and attitude is sheer small mindedness and is not what will drive success for RL. 

 

[hindle xiii]

8 minutes ago, tiffers said:

Some very facetious responses

Sometimes you need to sit back acknowledge that Darts is having it's moment in the sun and try and learn what's contributing to it and adapt it for RL.

We in RL are not in a position to be so righteous about how RL is so much more exposed than Darts 90% of the time. That superiority complex and attitude is sheer small mindedness and is not what will drive success for RL. 

 

The same thing happened after the success of England Lionesses.

[daz39]

The only change Darts has made to make it popular is to make it a peee up for young people, that is all.

From announcements to 'hush and best of order' to basically stand up with your back to the stage, get drunk, wave your arms about and sing, they've not changed the game or the setting just the type of people they want to attract.

I used to love watching the darts but it makes me cringe now seeing the state of the audiences.

[hindle xiii]

2 minutes ago, daz39 said:

The only change Darts has made to make it popular is to make it a peee up for young people, that is all.

From announcements to 'hush and best of order' to basically stand up with your back to the stage, get drunk, wave your arms about and sing, they've not changed the game or the setting just the type of people they want to attract.

I used to love watching the darts but it makes me cringe now seeing the state of the audiences.

As an aside, we here a couple of times a season about drunk RL fans causing problems. Does darts have the same issues? I'd imagine people getting drunk is the same no matter what the occasion.

[daz39]

3 minutes ago, hindle xiii said:

As an aside, we here a couple of times a season about drunk RL fans causing problems. Does darts have the same issues? I'd imagine people getting drunk is the same no matter what the occasion.

I imagine so, RL fans spend what 2 hours together whereas drunk darts 'fans' have an all day/night sesh, i know a few who follow darts and say there's some right scraps at thened of some nights.

[unapologetic pedant]

4 hours ago, hindle xiii said:

Confidence amongst RL fans must be low to be looking towards an individual, indoor, close range sport. (I chose "close range" over pub sport, even though pub sport is meant literally, as in available in a small place required to play.)

Few years ago, a fat bloke stuffing his face on YouTube vids was wearing some Leeds merch. Someone wanted the RFL to "get him involved".

[Damien]

17 minutes ago, daz39 said:

I imagine so, RL fans spend what 2 hours together whereas drunk darts 'fans' have an all day/night sesh, i know a few who follow darts and say there's some right scraps at thened of some nights.

So the type of stuff I've seen many times at RL then. The Grand Final being an obvious example.

Edited January 4 by Damien

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

24 minutes ago, daz39 said:

The only change Darts has made to make it popular is to make it a peee up for young people, that is all.

From announcements to 'hush and best of order' to basically stand up with your back to the stage, get drunk, wave your arms about and sing, they've not changed the game or the setting just the type of people they want to attract.

I used to love watching the darts but it makes me cringe now seeing the state of the audiences.

That explains the live audience, but not the 4.8 million tv audience. The sport is obviously doing something right to capture the imagination of that many people.

[Eddie]

9 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Darts has had a lot of attention over the last few weeks and its profile has been growing.

But have they really implemented lots of change to deliver that success? I don't think so,  and I think they have changed absolutely nothing about the way the game is played.

At the heart of its success is giving people what they want:

- a good stage which looks like a fun place to be

- built stories around good players 

- plenty of booze

All of those things are at RL's fingertips. At the heart of all of it is always a set of stars you can build a buzz around, we have lots of players who could be that.

Darts is not an environment for children though, or the elderly, in fact not many people other than young and middle aged blokes who like getting rat ar5ed. So while for them (and me) it’s great, it would stop a lot of people going. 

[Eddie]

22 minutes ago, daz39 said:

I imagine so, RL fans spend what 2 hours together whereas drunk darts 'fans' have an all day/night sesh, i know a few who follow darts and say there's some right scraps at thened of some nights.

Yes there is, I was at the world quarter finals once and it kicked off big time while a match was on, naturally the TV cameras didn’t show it!