Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:57 pm  

For years now, many fans of "smaller" clubs have been left feeling aggrieved by the RFL for its one sided and often biased disciplinary panel, favouritism within match officiating and unfair, unequal punishments for offences that have previously gone unpunished.

I propose that an independent enquiry is held and should investigate everything the RFL does from officiating to conflicts of interest and outside influences. I would also suggest that the RFL board is made up of representatives of every club, as opposed to a severely obese man (what message does that send out about the sport?) and a man who's only sporting interest is Tennis, and has nothing to do with the game of RL.

I would suggest that an enquiry would show that the RFL are not fit to run a professional sport with the way they unfairly treat the perceived smaller clubs, continually allow the perceived big clubs to constantly get away with pretty much anything they want, the inconsistency within the disciplinary panel, which should be run by independent adjudicators, not members of the RFL, a return of neutral referees, home town refereeing is obviously going to lead to bias in games.

Another thing that should be looked into, is the legality of the franchise system as it currently is, is it legal to eject a club, who was previously deemed good enough to be in the league on the grounds of what their stadium looks like? whereas other franchise based leagues (NRL, NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL) keep the existing teams and expand upon that, whereas the RFL are looking into ejecting teams for reasons not related to finance and on the field performance.

In conclusion, I believe the RFL must have a major shake up because as it stands they are ruining the game, and if they keep it up the game will be on its knees and dying within the next 10 years due to the sheer ridiculousness in which they run the game, this is a vote of no confidence of the people who run the game and it is time they are all replaced with an open, fair and transparent board which is run by the member clubs, not executives who have no interest in the game.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:59 pm  

All that needs a shake up right now is their marketing department. In the age that we live in, if you can't market your good/service you will get nowhere.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:01 pm  

Matt King's Barber wrote:

All that needs a shake up right now is their marketing department. In the age that we live in, if you can't market your good/service you will get nowhere.

This as well, I can't believe I forgot it, the marketing is a complete and utter shambles, we have one of the best, if not the best sporting products on offer and these clowns cannot (or will not) advertise it to the general public? it really is a disgrace.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:05 pm  

I honestly believe that your original post did point to some areas which might need working out, but I think that ultimately any overall advancement in our game needs to be marketing lead.

I nearly cried when I saw the absolutely awful way that the Magic Weekend 2010 was being marketed with those stupid cartoon characters.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:08 pm  

Matt King's Barber wrote:

I nearly cried when I saw the absolutely awful way that the Magic Weekend 2010 was being marketed with those stupid cartoon characters.

That MUST have been a joke on the part of the RFL, look at us! all our games in 1 stadium over 2 days AND LOOK WE HAVE CARTOON CARS!! idiots

They should have marketed by hiring out a screen to put on Princess Street in Edinburgh just showing a collection of the biggest hits and best trys with the prices & date scrolling across the bottom. Get the team captains doing interviews on the local Scottish radio, have the Mascots/Cheerleaders going round the city handing out flyers etc it really isn't hard.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:09 pm  

I don't like to try and simplify our game (it is too complex to do so), but if I was to try and boil it down for a total non leaguer, I would say;

SPEED,
SKILL,
BIG HITS.

Those elements are not hard to market.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:13 pm  

Matt King's Barber wrote:

I don't like to try and simplify our game (it is too complex to do so), but if I was to try and boil it down for a total non leaguer, I would say;

SPEED,
SKILL,
BIG HITS.

Those elements are not hard to market.

Nope it must be easy to market the game and they just try and over complicate it and come out with terrible results, even little facts like every tackle has the same collision effect on the body as a 30mph car crash could be used in advertising.

What is Huddersfield's nickname? Giants! what do Huddersfield have? oh yeah, the tallest player in the league, a 6'7 18stone+ bloke, use Crabtree for some marketing, use the better speakers in the game to do public interviews on the radio etc.

Using SPEED SKILL BIG HITS you could easily make an advert, for speed show highlights of interceptions etc, skill a nice long passing move with some offloads leading to a try in the corner and big hits explains itself.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:15 pm  

Super League gave up their status a few years back and handed control to the lawn tennis association, Will Carling once ststed that yawion was run by 13 old farts, where not quite as bad as that we only have 5

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:18 pm  

I know we are making it sound a lot easier than it is in practice, which I hate to do because their is a great skill in producing a good finished product (when it comes to adverts and websites etc).

What frustrates me is that the RFL aren't even looking in this direction. Anyone remember an advert on their website for the Centenary Test a few years ago with Morley wearing a moustache?! YES it will appeal to RL Fans who know who Morley is, but for an outsider who maybe got forwarded the link to maybe think about getting tickets, it will have had no impact.

Re: Should there be an independent enquiry looking at the RFL? : Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:03 am  

The people running the RFL are incompetent and need replacing.

SL franchise - Change the rules to suit. Crusaders won a franchise to play in south wales not Wrexham.

Foreign Players - should be the same quota for all clubs

Bonus point - good enough for the Championship to make games more entertaining and keep them competitive for longer yet not good enough for SL?

Promotion/Relegation - Blackpool football club.They could lose all 38 games but I bet their fans wouldn't give up the chance to play the top teams even if they do get a hammeringe enough said.

Our game is on its knees and now gates are dropping in SL somebody needs to sit up and take notice otherwise the best game in the world will wither and die.