Why so little interest in Domestic RL

Tallaght RL

old gregg wrote: »

I'd not be a founder member by any means but your description of how RLI has functioned at times does very much mirror my own personal experience of the organisation as somone who loves the game and who spent a year involved at coaching level with a club here.

My heart truly goes out to clubs around Ireland where everyone, regardless of whether they are players, coaching, admin or support staff are giving it everything and just want to enjoy their footy and hope that those who run the show are going to be as dedicated to Rugby League.

It wrecks my head to see an organisation like RLI destroying the game for everyone :mad: .... and if I hear that they've invested in blazers for themselves I'll go frickin' balistic

I will be asking Niel Wood of RFL at the next Merit League meeting why they gave more than €100K plus of development money to such an inept organisation as the RLI an organisation which is frighteningly now a private limited company! Why the RFL didnt just do it themselves i've no idea.

Robert J.

As i read these posts and as a business man involved with many blue chip company's you would want to be a little mad to invest in a sport which seems to have many underlining issues which are not been resolved or are been ignored for some reason, When i read about "blazers" i just hope that the old school boys club mentality has not creped into RL as it is prevalent in RU and this is a major factor why it will always be a minority sport.
The game of RL in Ireland is small and it cant be hard to identify the problem but if you have the above blazers issue then i'm sorry but the game is never going to survive and will die. I found where only a few years ago there was nearly twice as many teams, where have Cork,Kerry,Waterford,Kildare,Clontarf,Dublin Blues, gone ?
As for investing in a limited company with there problems and track record,,, well as the Dragons Den members say....I'm out.
This seems a big part of why there is a lack of interest in the domestic game. But i still enjoy watching it on TV and that wont change.

toomevara

I'd wind up RLI, and get the RFL involved. One semi-pro rugby league team based in Dublin or limerick competing at C'ship one level, would get the ball rolling. Thats emminently do-able and from that point, who knows. A team playing at a decent level, against decent opposition, in a recognised comp would do wonders for the game and give supporters something to get their teeth into.

Robert J.

As much as the idea is very attractive to a sponsor in that it would give them good TV coverage etc, the problem is not a team playing in Super League, Div 1 or 2 but why is there no basic support for a domestic comp, this is the foundation for all sports to build on, Your idea is perfect if the groundwork indicated that the support was there to get "Bums on seats" but from what i can see the issue is in the way the game is been run, thus resulting in the loss of teams and loss of the core ground workers. This is an area that any big sponsor would be looking at and the history of RLI is very poor in the way they seem to have treated its own, so what would a sponsor think,!!!!!! Well the idea that once the sponsorship deal was done they would be like the male black widow spider after finishing its re production duty, it would be chased away caught then eaten. Looking from the outside in the core issue is the management of the sport, everything is driven from there and filters down. The product (Rugby League) is excellent which is essential but lacking something which is resulting in the current situation, Should you take the 5 teams gone, with in or about 20 players and 5 off field staff thats 125 players(min) lost to the sport, thats alarming to say the least if nothing else. Sponsors never invested in good times on these stats so what chance is there in these times when many other sports are looking at them selves to clean up there act to attract and keep sponsors.???

amacachi

Is it just my imagination or did Sky show relatively few Crusaders games last year? Surely that must be one of the keys for getting money to expansion teams? Also ensuring the matches wouldn't clash with LoI matches in Dublin.

WakeyTyke

It is understandable that Sky didn't broadcast many Crusaders games, they were just not competitive enough.

The Crusaders - Wildcats game was an embarrasment, with Wakey running up over 50 points.

couerdelion

I've been reading this topic with interest but have kept out of it up to now. There seems to be a lot of idealistic dreaming going on about how the sport should have been/ should be developed and a real sense of belief that nobody is doing anything to help to grow the sport in Ireland. I don't believe this to be true at all.

Just one point first of all. I am not and have never been a part of the RLI upper echelons. I play and coach and that's all. Also everything is just my opinion and not that of my club (blah, blah...;)).

We face real problems attracting new clubs. Rugby League is not a recognised sport and there are NO public rugby pitches in the Republic. This means a new club can not just rent a pitch from the council on a match by match basis similar to the UK. It's a case of identifying a suitable existing rugby pitch and then trying to persuade the owner to rent to you at an affordable rate. As most pitches are RU and are reseeded during the summer it's not as easy as it may seem. GAA pitches are in the main the wrong size and don't have the correct posts.

We face real problems attracting players. Players just do not want the commitment after playing 9 months of RU. They want summer holidays, girlfriends want their time and they want to enjoy the bright nights with a beer.

Sponsorship is a nightmare to obtain. We aren't a recognised sport so why would they want to sponsor us? We struggle every year to make ends meet and all the incidental expenses are paid for out of the coaches own pockets.

My club last season probably had 40 players coming training off and on but we were never in a position to field a second team. We've managed that once in two seasons and a couple of players played back to back with the firsts. I'd love to be able to have a second team and ease players in as the standard of the Elite League is getting higher every year and it is difficult to blood players. I regularly try to introduce the game to new players and to get new players to come down training but its hard to keep them interested past a couple of sessions if they are new to the game as they feel lost. No amount of individual coaching and encouragement seems to help with this.

Development wise we have also tried for the last 2-3 years to introduce an under 18's team. The idea being to take them to England on tour if we could get enough. Again we can't get the players. I would love to be able to get school / University players starting to play league but I work full time and am also studying for my masters on an evening. The same goes with all our coaches as regards looking to develop the game. We do not get paid and do what we do for the love of the sport. AFAIK the RLI is also made up of unpaid volunteers except for the recent appointment and its unclear yet to us outsiders what they are planning to do.

The reduction in the number teams is dissapointing, but whilst in the past we have had a lot of teams we have also had a lot of missed fixtures. That has changed for the better. We have also got a few more Ulster teams this year.

It's easy to have a go at the RLI and I've been the first to do it in the past. But they are just volunteers. If some of you want to make a difference volunteer to help out at your local club. We would love some help doing admin or looking for sponsorrs or helping with the media or doing stats during a game or any of the millions of other little things that we know we should be doing but just aren't able to.

One last thing, is it not ironic that the thread starter who is moaning about the lack of interest in domestic rugby league is taking his team to to the UK to play? Whislt this is justified on the teams webpage by stating that the standard of the Elite league is high as it's all RU first grade teams we aren't affiliated to any RU teams (something we are proud of) and don't have any AIB players on our squad. But this does raise another point about the accesibility of the competition for new teams.

OldJay

old gregg wrote: »

Having emailed RTE on a daily basis during the last world cup coerce them into including reports of the Irish team on the sports news I'd hardly see it likely we'll be seeing change any time soon.

If RTE didn't send a crew to cover the World Athletics Championships, they're hardly going to bother compiling reports from a Sky Sports-covered event that Ireland havent a prayer in.

Stev_o

Justind wrote: »

If RTE didn't send a crew to cover the World Athletics Championships, they're hardly going to bother compiling reports from a Sky Sports-covered event that Ireland havent a prayer in.

Funny that i remember us being first in our group :rolleyes:

AdeT

toomevara wrote: »

I'd wind up RLI, and get the RFL involved. One semi-pro rugby league team based in Dublin or limerick competing at C'ship one level, would get the ball rolling. Thats emminently do-able and from that point, who knows. A team playing at a decent level, against decent opposition, in a recognised comp would do wonders for the game and give supporters something to get their teeth into.

It might be worth publicly making a fuss of winding-up RLI and having a major relaunch of an Irish Rugby League brand/franchise.

The creation of a semi-pro CC1 team would at least finish off the development pyramid in Ireland and gives players a level to aspire to. The top of our pyramid would then fit into the greater RL pathway within the game across Europe.

What are the key aims/objectives of the new development officers at RLI? I know their roles are to develop the game...but who are they aiming their efforts at?

toomevara

Justind wrote: »

compiling reports from a Sky Sports-covered event that Ireland havent a prayer in.

I would fundamentally disagree with that characterisation Justin. Ireland had a excellent WC, played some excellent rugby and consistently punched way above our weight, unlike for example the woeful under-performance of our Union team in the 2007 WC. The team garnered many friends and supporters in the world of rugby League on the back of that performance.

Indeed I would go as far as to say that we should be in this years four nations in place of the French but, alas, political concerns appear to have trumped events on the field. However should we win the Euro cup as I'm sure we will, the four nations beckons next year, Would that fill your criteria for any hypothetical "possibility of success" based coverage?

Indeed were RTE to base decisions on the coverage of any particular sport solely in resect of Irelands chances of success, I'd suggest there would be very little international sport of any consequence on TV. For example I wouldn't bother with the olympics and by a similar logic, I wouldn't have covered much the Irish union team did between 86 and 98.

Look its a tiny minority sport. Those of us who support it aren't under any illusions..but there's definitely room for it in the Irish sporting firmament and a little support from the national broadcaster in the form of the odd televised game surely cant be beyond the bounds of possibility.

kellco88

toomevara wrote: »

Look its a tiny minority sport. Those of us who support it aren't under any illusions..but there's definitely room for it in the Irish sporting firmament and a little support from the national broadcaster in the form of the odd televised game surely cant be beyond the bounds of possibility.

This is a possibilty and could be looked at but the only way they'll broadcast a game is if they will make money out of it.

OldJay

toomevara wrote: »

I would fundamentally disagree with that characterisation Justin. Ireland had a excellent WC, played some excellent rugby and consistently punched way above our weight, unlike for example the woeful under-performance of our Union team in the 2007 WC. The team garnered many friends and supporters in the world of rugby League on the back of that performance

I was giving you the more-than-likely attitude of RTE's relevant decision-makers before the comp.
Nobody can predict the future and if there's nothing behind it, there's going to be very little proactive coverage beforehand in a sport at of that standing. The World Athletics Championship being a bigger event and having Irish competitors taking part doesnt ring RTE's bell then the RLWC is hardly going to.
There was bugger all home media activity in the Cricket World Cup until the team shipped Pakistan for example.

Thats what I meant.

OldJay

Stev_o wrote: »

Funny that i remember us being first in our group :rolleyes:

No need for the rolly-eyes. I played a decent level of RL in Country NSW leagues.
See my reply to Toomevara as you seem to think I was knocking the sport.

kellco88

the bottom line is that the game will be shown by sky sports. RTE will have a match report sent to them.

also given that RTE bearly cover league of ireland games its not suprising. I think the most like scenario would be for setanta to show games as they are used to showing small games