The Mid-Season Blues

[tiffers]

Does anyone else seem to get the mid-season blues?

The year kicks off with excitement, hope and feelings of good will. Who will live up to expectations, who will be lacking, will "x" team stay up etc. It's all exciting to see the new players coming in after a few months away.

Then about now, we've had the cup final, we've still got a long way to go before the play-offs and were on this merry-go-round of playing the same teams sometimes three or even four times. I find myself consuming less of it, i.e. at the beginning of the year I was watching most games on TV, last weekend I saw just one. I then tend to find myself watching more as the season approaches playoff time. Is anyone else the same?

It got me thinking just how others do this. the NRL has SoO, Cricket has multiple formats to break up the season, Football has numerous cups and international breaks.

So, should RL be considering breaking up the season with 'something else'? The international break didn't seem to offer up much as a single event. The new cup format doesn't fundamentally change the league season from what I can see.

[RBKnight]

9 minutes ago, tiffers said:

Does anyone else seem to get the mid-season blues?

The year kicks off with excitement, hope and feelings of good will. Who will live up to expectations, who will be lacking, will "x" team stay up etc. It's all exciting to see the new players coming in after a few months away.

Then about now, we've had the cup final, we've still got a long way to go before the play-offs and were on this merry-go-round of playing the same teams sometimes three or even four times. I find myself consuming less of it, i.e. at the beginning of the year I was watching most games on TV, last weekend I saw just one. I then tend to find myself watching more as the season approaches playoff time. Is anyone else the same?

It got me thinking just how others do this. the NRL has SoO, Cricket has multiple formats to break up the season, Football has numerous cups and international breaks.

So, should RL be considering breaking up the season with 'something else'? The international break didn't seem to offer up much as a single event. The new cup format doesn't fundamentally change the league season from what I can see.

It's the hope that kills you  

I imagine that supporters of teams performing better than pre-season expectation suffer far less with mid-season blues....

The problem we have is that the "Something Else" options actually seem to attract less support than the regular season grind.

 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, tiffers said:

Does anyone else seem to get the mid-season blues?

The year kicks off with excitement, hope and feelings of good will. Who will live up to expectations, who will be lacking, will "x" team stay up etc. It's all exciting to see the new players coming in after a few months away.

Then about now, we've had the cup final, we've still got a long way to go before the play-offs and were on this merry-go-round of playing the same teams sometimes three or even four times. I find myself consuming less of it, i.e. at the beginning of the year I was watching most games on TV, last weekend I saw just one. I then tend to find myself watching more as the season approaches playoff time. Is anyone else the same?

It got me thinking just how others do this. the NRL has SoO, Cricket has multiple formats to break up the season, Football has numerous cups and international breaks.

So, should RL be considering breaking up the season with 'something else'? The international break didn't seem to offer up much as a single event. The new cup format doesn't fundamentally change the league season from what I can see.

I feel the same, I thought it was the Euros that was distracting me but you’ve hit the nail on the head with the same teams playing eachother multiple times comment, for me anyway.  I know the SL clubs would never vote for it but a 14 or 16 team comp would be so much more interesting. 

[tiffers]

1 hour ago, RBKnight said:

It's the hope that kills you  

I imagine that supporters of teams performing better than pre-season expectation suffer far less with mid-season blues....

The problem we have is that the "Something Else" options actually seem to attract less support than the regular season grind.

 

The hope definitely does kill you!

It's a good point about whoever is top of the league / performing better than expected will probably be engaged more. I suspect thats true for some.

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

I think it's quite simple- at start of the year everyone is fit so higher quality. 

Once injuries and suspensions hit, the quality drops. 

The intensity also falls- pre play offs. I'd be tempted to go to 14 teams (thus hopefully allowing top 6 to rest players so they only play 20 ish matches)- retaining one really high quality match a week 

[tiffers]

53 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I feel the same, I thought it was the Euros that was distracting me but you’ve hit the nail on the head with the same teams playing eachother multiple times comment, for me anyway.  I know the SL clubs would never vote for it but a 14 or 16 team comp would be so much more interesting. 

I think a bigger league would be more interesting. It breaks up the need for loop fixtures which I do wonder if they erode our longer term fan interest with fans saying "not that team again... we only played them 3 weeks ago".

I think there must be something in having another competition / approach that would generate a different angle and discussion point for the sport.

[Bull Mania]

Glad I'm not the only one!  I too watched nearly all the games. But I couldn't even be bothered to watch Wire/Leeds last week.

The loop fixtures are killing the game (especially when you had some teams playing the same team in a matter of weeks, whilst haven't played some of the others yet) 

Whilst it's close I wouldn't say the quality is that high. We desperately need another juggernaut to battle with Wigan. Warrington are heading in that direction but not there yet. Saints are rebuilding. Leeds are just a basket case (we need them challenging at the top) Hull KR are a bit of the media darlings and are good to watch, but I still don't see winning the comp. Just seem to be that little bit short. 

Then at the other end you've 3 or 4 teams who are just absolutely awful, whilst not having anything to play for. Cas beating Saints. It was a bit like "so what" 

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, tiffers said:

Does anyone else seem to get the mid-season blues?

The year kicks off with excitement, hope and feelings of good will. Who will live up to expectations, who will be lacking, will "x" team stay up etc. It's all exciting to see the new players coming in after a few months away.

Then about now, we've had the cup final, we've still got a long way to go before the play-offs and were on this merry-go-round of playing the same teams sometimes three or even four times. I find myself consuming less of it, i.e. at the beginning of the year I was watching most games on TV, last weekend I saw just one. I then tend to find myself watching more as the season approaches playoff time. Is anyone else the same?

It got me thinking just how others do this. the NRL has SoO, Cricket has multiple formats to break up the season, Football has numerous cups and international breaks.

So, should RL be considering breaking up the season with 'something else'? The international break didn't seem to offer up much as a single event. The new cup format doesn't fundamentally change the league season from what I can see.

Totally agree. I think there's 2 issues here, one of which you touched on.

We do not have enough to play for during the year. I've always advocated for a league cup competition and a nines tournament to replace magic, but those seem to be highly controversial topics.

The other issue is the playoffs themselves. Getting in the top 6 is enough to win it all at the end of the season. That often amounts to about 14 wins. At this point in the season, teams can realistically work out that they've almost done enough (or have too much to do) and don't have to exert themselves too much. This coupled with no relegation has worsened that this year.

[Gooleboy]

No mid season blues watching this excellent State of Origin game.

[Just Browny]

I feel it. Always a tough gig in a Euros / Olympics year, buy some of the scheduling we have control over doesn't help. I've got tickets for Magic and, notwithstanding the limitations of the venue, am determined to enjoy myself. But the shine is taken off the two big fixtures (Wigan-Saints and Leeds-Wire) by them having played each other last weekend. Plus the weird thing during the Euros where we gave up on Thursday nights despite no football matches happening at the same time.

[Mumby Magic]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

I feel the same, I thought it was the Euros that was distracting me but you’ve hit the nail on the head with the same teams playing eachother multiple times comment, for me anyway.  I know the SL clubs would never vote for it but a 14 or 16 team comp would be so much more interesting. 

Can't see how it would tbh.

[sheddingswasus]

It is boring watching the same teams playing regularly. Loop fixtures want binning. The solution is so simple. Two leagues of 16,30 matches (they already play 27). Then two up and down. SL Premiership fund with £1m each and SL Championship with equal funding to each team. The clubs need to promote their clubs better and raise the difference in funding. 

[Ainley Top]

Try supporting Fax️

[Dave T]

I think some of it is just life, it's a long season and people will dip in and out. Playing over the summer, we have always had dips in crowds and viewing figures. 

But I think there are plenty of other things that we choose to do that don't help, most have been touched upon.

I think our scheduling is poor, regularity around Thursday, or whether there will be a Sunday game is frustrating and at the moment it is pretty random. Sticking with scheduling, we have the weird thing with multiple games in close succession. In the first 12 rounds of SL, Wire had played Catalans 3 times, both Hull teams twice, and hadn't played Saints or Wigan. 7 of our first 12 games were against 3 teams. That's just uninspiring scheduling. 

We then also have some teams who don't play at home for large parts of this period. I appreciate that logistics make things challenging, but when some clubs don't play at home for 2 months, it can create challenges with engagement and regularity. 

I then do think we have the challenge around the playoffs. I'm a fan of playoffs and grand final, so I'm not sure how to address this, but I just don't think the league table has that much importance. Bill be honest, most weeks you could ask me what position Wire are in, or who is top of the table and I'd often not know. It's just not that important. 

But, we maybe do just need to accept that even without the above, maybe there will always be these lulls in interest as we get to Summer. 

[Spidey]

There's some pretty stiff competition in the sporting world at the moment, before even counting coming into the peak holiday season, Also, now that people are getting used to all games being televised that could be slowly having an impact.

All that being said, RL is doing okay.   This time next year will be interesting as it'll be the first year proper with the new way of it working, there won't be a London in SL, so probably a bit more unpredictability at the bottom at least?

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Mumby Magic said:

Can't see how it would tbh.

Because there would be more variation in fixtures. 

[marklaspalmas]

2 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

No mid season blues watching this excellent State of Origin game.

You also enjoy the privilege of supporting the playoff expert team who you know always peak in September.

[sam4731]

2 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

No mid season blues watching this excellent State of Origin game.

Deliberate pun or happy accident?

[Gooleboy]

30 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Deliberate pun or happy accident?

Happy accident Sam! 

[Hopie]

We had two big crowds for repeat fixtures last week, bet those teams first home game against London, or Catalans or the next hypothetical newly promoted team etc etc were/will be lower. It isn't repeat fixtures for most people.

I think when things are going well you can't wait for the next game. If your team had 10 consecutive wins you'd want to be at game 11, international windows in football are often seen as an inconvenience when the league is at a peak in intensity, so I think we could do the same, have good windows but also decent periods of building momentum between them. 

I'd also say, that Rugby League doesn't need to live and die on those who go to every game, don't just target x thousand season ticket holders, target 10x thousand who will go to a few games a year. The Saturday afternoon crowd, the Sunday crowd, the Friday night crowd will overlap but will also be different. Clubs should also get used to marketing every game (in different ways) how many clubs spend three months marketing the first game, then nothing or at most 2 weeks marketing the next?

[Futtocks]

If you want to be downcast, you can always find a reason.

For me, less than a week ago, I was on the edge of my seat as the men and women of Wigan and St Helens fought out two close, tense Derby thrillers. Both Hull FC and Huddersfield made their conquerors work a damn sight harder than anyone expected. 

There are some good match-ups in the offing this coming weekend too.

[JohnM]

Mid season blues? I'll say! 

With acknowledgement to Sheryl Crowe. and co. 

All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over The Rock Community Stadium 

 

[Archie Gordon]

The SL season seems to be in a processional stage - play-offs all but decided and no interest at the bottom. I say this as someone without a club who just watches RL. I'm not seeing that games have much riding on them. 

I would love for there to be some other comp going on about now.

[johnh1]

10 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

The SL season seems to be in a processional stage - play-offs all but decided and no interest at the bottom. I say this as someone without a club who just watches RL. I'm not seeing that games have much riding on them. 

I would love for there to be some other comp going on about now.

This is the closest competitions for years. Yes, the top six is all but decided, but the positions are definitely not. The difference between finishing 2nd and finishing 6th is huge. So there are going to be some belting fixtures coming up. If the top 2 or 3 teams were well clear, there would then be a justifiable complaint about having nothing to play for. But not this season.

[sam4731]

20 minutes ago, johnh1 said:

This is the closest competitions for years. Yes, the top six is all but decided, but the positions are definitely not. The difference between finishing 2nd and finishing 6th is huge. So there are going to be some belting fixtures coming up. If the top 2 or 3 teams were well clear, there would then be a justifiable complaint about having nothing to play for. But not this season.

The difference between 2nd and 6th is not huge and we need to stop pretending otherwise. You can win the whole comp in either 2 or 3 games. Compare that to the 27 games you have to play to get to that position and it pales into insignificance. The simple fact you shouldn't be able to win the whole competition with a potential 50% regular season record.