I held season tickets at both Harlequins RU and RL



The "events" are worlds apart-



RU- Game is dull played in wet cold conditions.



RL- Fast exciting games played in the sun



Difference- The RU fans are less knowledgeable about the game but go for the occasion with there drinking chums. A far wealthier group(av salary of fans at Quins RU is £45k) who follow it as a consequence I suspect of going through (and playing the game) in public school and uni.



RL- Attended by lower/working class. The away crowds can be poorly behaved, unsavoury with bad language (after 6 hours on the bus drinking). You would never get that at RU



There is very little cross over between the sports at the Stoop. The crowds inclusive of the home fans at the Quins/Broncos are worlds apart in the social ladder. I know of RU fans who don't recognise RL as a game!!!



The RL product ie the game on the field is a far better product. The social differences are the barriers.



Its still the game played by northerners. The games branding needs to continue to change if the games wants to move forward. Thats not very palatable I accept but its worked for union

The thing is RL has never had its moment for instance



Cricket - 2005 Ashes

RU - 2003 World Cup

Cycling - 2012 Tour de France/Olympics



Many people who couldn't give a monkeys before got gripped by it and thats what we need but playing Wales at Wrexham at the end of the season in front of 2000 fans isn't going to get us that, only an Ashes 3rd test (1 a piece)against Australia at Wembley on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon and go on to win would do that.



Does anybody think since we went to Summer rugby International RL has declined?



For instance you can't beat International RL in the early 90's. 1990, 1992 tour of Aus and the Aus tour of GB in 1994 were awesome, since then it's took a nose dive apart from 2001,2003 and 2004 when we were GB and almost beat the Aussies

Totally spot on. That's the real crux of the matter. It is a day out.



I can see where you are coming from with your other comments but would argue against the fact that most people who watch RU are "Middle Class". This might be true of the South East, but if you go to the South West of England or Wales, RU is as much a working class sport as it is anything else. In fact it, unlike the perceived image of RL, RU is a "classless" sport, which gives is a much much broader base of "acceptance".



Internationally it is simply played by more countries (and more importantly entrenched as the de facto code of Rugby). A country like Japan for example simply does not have enough interest in Rugby to support more than one code. This holds for the vast majority of countries.

I agree absolutely.



I said in an earlier post that RL is poor now even compared to the game of 10 years ago, let alone the game of the 90s.



Have a look at our squad for the 2002 season and tell me that the one we have now is better, because it ain`t. The 2002 squad was skilful and had flair and characters in the team and with a few notable exceptions the 2012 squad didn`t. And that goes for most of the teams in Super League.



The RFL have lowered the standards of the game in their quest to make the game more competitive and have succeeded in making it for the most part boring and uncompetitive.

In the seasons before Super League our Boxing day home match would draw around 30,000. Whatever the rights and wrongs are of summer rugby, we've certainly missed a trick in abandoning the competitive fixtures around Christmas.

Saracens get about 6000 to vicarage lane. The RFU play to its strengths, giving freebies to the CoL sponsors for Twickers and Wembley events - makes a great story to sell sponsors/broadcasters.

It's called being sensible.

I agree, RL doesn't play to its - thats why the game is ripped apart and will not reach its potential. Our market is Soccer not RU fans. I would love to see Quins playing in East London for example.

The whole RL "package" needs freshening up and improving.



The salary cap needs a substantial increase - I`ll bet the wages of the staff at RL HQ have not remained at the same level for several years!



And why shouldn`t we import players from the NRL and RU if it improves the game as a spectacle - it`s that which will get people who are not going to the game interested again and it`s that which will interest new players and spectators.



And look at the SKY presentation of RL - it`s the same old, same old tired programme season after season with Wiggy and Baldy trotting out the same old platitudes. Boots n All - what an embarrassment that is. Barry and Terry - is that the best we can do? And Stevo and Studd - what`s all that about?



The whole business needs modernising - out with the old and in with the new. And sooner rather than later. Please.

Sky has brought in some superb changes with SL but the next stage needs to be more radical. With just 3 x 10 mile hotbeds ie Wigan, Leeds and Hull the game will go backwards. As much as expansion hasnt worked to date it has to going forward.



Darts has revolutionised itself, so has cricket(with more one dayers even against the traditionalists view), RU is growing both internationally and domestically (both at home and internationally). League crowds are creeping up domestically whereas internationally we seem to be standing still



Whilst the game stays northern we will never get massive sponsorship like union gets

Completely agree with this . Personally I would love to see the salary cap scrapped completely, let the clubs that can afford the best players in the world sign them. I remember watching wally Lewis and peter sterling playing against each other at belle vue, at the time arguably the two best players in the world.



sL at the moment can only be described as very average by comparison ,it's a strange kind of progress that we have made.

The RFL have plenty to do, but so do the broadcasters of RL.



BBC - The Challenge Cup coverage is decent, and Clair Balding presents it very well (although I believe shes going to C4?). The problem with the coverage is the commentators, French & Davies. Despite playing league to a very high level, Davies is a voice associated with RU & I don't find him that knowledgable about the sport. French is getting on, and again, I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about anymore. A poor commentator and his voice gives off the stereotypical Northern image.



BBC - The Superleague Show looks cheap, they spend waaay too long chatting in crap jumpers and it's on at a daft time throughout the rest of the country. Follow the MOTD model, highlights of each game followed by some expert analysis. Also, don't air it on a Sunday afternoon when half of the round's games are still to play and therefore we never get to see the trys.



SKY - Eddie & Stevo are unfortunately the face of RL, and do brilliantly to enhance that Northern stereotype. Time for a change.