Big League is back….in a fashion

[Anita Bath]

Big League, which was closed down and all staff released by NRL at pandemic, has returned. A grand final special was on sale at yesterdays GF. Sadly a very poor comparison to previous grand final programmes. The weekly magazine will be returning next season so lets hope it is more like past Big Leagues.

Last nights edition was 68 pages eleven of which were full page adds and many more simply colour photos without any captions. No articles on history of participating teams of player bios. No team pictures. Sold for $15 which was the same price charged for the much more impressive AFL Grand Final record last weekend.

I didnt see it available at local newsstands in Sydney or elsewhere so I suspect it was only available at the merchandise stands at the game.

The folks contributing to the Special Big League final were folks not steeped in sports jounalism and interesting that David Middleton was not included in contributors. Looks like it was another cash grab by Vlandys. There was a page of Grand Final records which had simply been lifted from a previous GF big league because it hadnt been updated since 2019. Most tries in a game shamefully missed off last years effort by ezra mam.

Maybe Vlandys could get his mate Albo to fund a proper big league.

 

 

[Anita Bath]

So the details are out on the return of Big League down under. It is a digital only magazine for regular rounds available by subscription only at $10 per month with hard copy editions for the Vegas games, Magic round, the origin games and the grand final. The combined subscription is $150.

The publicity actually says fans will be able to mark up try and goal scorers as well as scrum and penalty counts like they used to. Not sure how you do that on a digital addition. Maybe Vlandys could get his new friend Musk to come up with a solution.