Upfront: The League Express Opinion – Mon 1st March 2021
Today is the first day of March.
It’s a significant date, because it means that winter is largely behind us and that the weather is slowly improving, while the mornings and evenings are getting lighter.
The dark days are largely behind us.
And let’s hope that is true not just of the weather, bur also for Rugby League.
In today’s issue of League Express, we have four pages in the centre of this edition devoted to Super League’s 2021 fixture list, both on a round-by-round basis and on a club-by-club basis.
As always when the fixture list comes out, there is an upsurge in optimism among all Rugby League supporters and readers of League Express.
Whichever club we support, at this stage of the season our favourite team hasn’t lost a match. We can all feel as though this could be our year.
And it’s an important year for Rugby League in so many ways, with a new Sky TV contract from 2022 still to be confirmed.
Some Rugby League supporters have questioned Sky’s commitment to the game and it would be good to see the broadcaster making an offer to cover Super League that will allow the competition to not suffer any decline in quality.
Having said that, it’s good to see that Sky Sports is to launch pop-up Rugby League channel ahead of the new season, with Sky Sports Arena becoming a dedicated Rugby League channel for five days leading up to the opening matches of the season on March 26. Sky has promised a mixture of classic and live matches, as well as documentaries about Rugby League from Monday, March 22 to Friday, March 26.
It’s good to see Sky devoting some time to promoting the new season and we hope this won’t be a one-off and that there will be plenty of positive promotions for the game throughout the season.
And it will be even better is Sky offer a deal that Super League feels able to accept.
Meanwhile, March 1st is also St David’s Day, the Welsh national day.
We would like to send our best wishes to all our Welsh readers and all the Welsh clubs and players who play Rugby League.
It’s a World Cup year and we hope it will be a year to remember, not just for Wales, but for all the home nations.
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