WELL that’s season 2024 done and dusted, and what a year it’s been!
On a personal note, it has seen me travel many hundreds of miles to cover games, write many thousands of words and produce another 12 issues of this magazine.
It all started for me on a cold February night when Wigan pulled out all the stops to put on a superb show as they hosted NRL Champions Penrith Panthers in a simply sensational World Club Challenge match, and ended with England completing a double with wins over Wales for the women and Samoa for Shaun Wane’s charges. Those latter games were not as dramatic as that first live game I witnessed nine months earlier, but it certainly whetted the appetite for the upcoming Ashes series. That we still don’t know when and where those test matches are going to be played is one of rugby league’s biggest problems.
While there has still not been any formal confirmation, it looks almost certain that both our men’s and women’s sides will face Australia on home soil, but until that is known it is impossible to start promoting the event to rugby league fans let alone the wider sporting public: the very people that need to know what this game has to offer.
I know it is perhaps unfair to compare our game to the money-rich sport of soccer, but when it comes to the international game in the round ball game, England come to the end of one tournament – be it a World Cup or a European Championships – and the fans already know when and where the side are next in action again. I have no doubt that after a positive performance on the field that leaves the fans wanting more, and they can already start putting plans in place to continue to support their side.
I fear that any national momentum gained from England’s series win over Samoa is now dwindling, or has already been lost altogether, simply because any casual spectator who was drawn in by those games, now does not know when they can catch the team in action again.
When tickets eventually do go on sale, once the venues and dates are confirmed, they will likely be primarily pitched at existing rugby league fans, who already love the game and probably need very little encouragement to attend, and often these are the people who are offered cheap tickets and special discounts.
I am all for keeping the game affordable for all, but even by doing that we still don’t sell out our showpiece events. We all know how good this game can be and we need to find a way to show others that we have the hottest tickets in town. The NFL can do it when they play at a sold-out Wembley, so what is stopping us doing the same? By cheapening the tickets, we cheapen the product and make it seem less attractive to potential new fans.
I am writing this column while the final of Strictly Come Dancing is on TV and a week after I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here finished, and I admit I am slightly envious of the sports stars that appear on shows like this.
Until we make our game more visible on the national stage, we can’t make our stars visible on it either. We have some great characters and personalities in the game, who would no doubt win over fans of shows like this, but we just don’t showcase them enough.
If they were out there on the big stage regularly our stars might just start becoming household names. Let’s hope that a positive Ashes series can be the first step towards achieving this.
While sports like football are much richer than rugby league in many ways, one way in which I believe our sport vastly outdoes all others is in our strong sense of togetherness and family values.
I think we can all agree that the lowest point of 2024 was the death of Rob Burrow at the age of 41 back in June, but it also led to some moments that the memories of will no doubt raise smiles for many years to come.
The way the game pulled together to pay tribute to one of their own in the days and weeks that followed gained national coverage and highlights one of our biggest strengths. And will anyone ever forget the poignant tribute Leeds and Sky Sports paid to the much-loved half back as the Rhinos hosted Leigh on National MND Awareness Day? There was not a dry eye in Headingley and probably very few in the houses up and down the country who tuned in on the night.
Both codes of rugby then came together months later to show their support for Rob, Doddie Weir, who lost his battle with MND in 2022, and current sufferer Ed Slater in the 745 – another perfect example of rugby league being millionaires when it comes to good honest family values and one of the many reasons I always feel privileged to be involved in this game.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 504 (January 2025)
