SIX TO GO – Fans, stadiums and TV deals.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       Support your team Salford fans.

How can a club in the supposed heartlands of rugby league attract a crowd of only 2,800 to a top division game in a fully professional sport? This was the crowd at the Salford Red Devils v. Castleford Tigers Super League game last Sunday and, quite frankly, it is pathetic. Do Salford have fans that care about the club? Do the people of Salford and surrounding areas WANT a rugby league club? London Broncos were slammed for their poor attendances last season but at least they had the excuses of playing in a non-traditional area and had a team that was getting hammered every week. The Red Devils are the complete opposite, they are in the north west of England, they are having a decent season and currently lie 7^th in the SL table having risen as high as third at Easter. OK they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Leigh but they have beaten Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants and have ran Leeds Rhinos and the Tigers close. At the least they are competitive and have some outstanding talent that has been brought in by Marwan Koukash. They are suffering from a lot of injuries and suspensions at the moment and requested that this Friday’s fixture at Hull FC be postponed – a request that I have never heard before and one that was unsurprisingly turned down as the black and whites are desperate for 2 points themselves. Even with this injury crisis they are putting up some strong performances. The players deserve bigger crowds to perform in front of and Koukash also deserves support for what he has done for this club – he has done as he has promised and brought in the best bunch of players that the club has had in a generation and now they are starting to gel and put in some decent performances after suffering 18 months of poor returns on their investment. Now is the time that the Red Devils suppporter’s need to gather and support their team and owner and ensure that he has the encouragement to continue his involvement with the Red Devils instead of upping sticks and moving to the Gold Coast of Australia with the Titans.

2.       Aussies looking for new TV deal

The NRL are looking to open up negotiations on a new TV contract with 2 years still left to run on it’s existing deal and the figures they are talking about are enormous and put’s the profile of rugby league in Australia and New Zealand against it’s profile in the UK into true perspective. It is not unusual for State of Origin matches to be amongst the best watched TV broadcasts of the year in Australia and the NRL are looking to take advantage of that popularity – they know that they bring guaranteed TV ratings to a network. The current 5 year NRL TV deal was signed in 2012 and was valued at just over Aus$ 1 billion. Just three years down the line the NRL are looking at a value of Aus$ 2 billion for the next TV deal and are also looking at the possibility of splitting the TV rights into clusters in attempt to garnish as much financial value as possible. This means that the NRL Premiership, State of Origin, Test Matches and the innovative Auckland 9’s season opener could all be sold off separately to different buyers over different formats including free-to-air, satellite and on-line. Aus$2 billion dollars equates to approx. £1 billion, the current UK deal with Sky Sports is worth £182m for EIGHT years and we are totally in bed with Sky and have no options to open up negotiations with BT Sport, Premier Sports or terrestrial TV channels until 2021 when the landscape of TV rights will have changed out of sight. Hopefully, the RFL will have someone in charge with some vision and imagination then who will see the added value of a Magic 9’s tournament for instance in future TV deals. It will be interesting to see who buys the TV rights for this year’s Test Series against New Zealand as it will give a small indication as to who the RFL are willing to negotiate with and which channels are interested in broadcasting top quality rugby league.

Wakefield's Rapid Solicitors Stadium

3.       The Wildcats need a new stadium.

It looks like the new stadium for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats is in danger of not happening and that will be really bad news for the long term future of one of the games founder clubs. The Wildcats still play on the original site that they played their first game of rugby league on after the formation of the game back in 1895 and it has not undergone any significant re-development in that time and is still very much an old style rugby league ground. There is nothing bad about that in my opinion – when it is full it creates a great atmosphere and there are too many grounds now with a sterile atmosphere because they are played in large football stadiums and are only half full – or much less if you are Huddersfield Giants – but the fact is that the Wildcats no longer own the stadium and it is costing them £250,000 per year to play at their ‘home’ and the club, led by Chairman, Michael Carter, are unwilling to spend money on ground improvements when the best thing for them to do is to have a new stadium built for them. The club thought that they had a deal agreed with developers and the local council to have this lifeline built for them but it appears that, whilst the commercial development is in full swing, there is no sign that the commencement of the construction work on the stadium is about to start or is even in the developers thoughts. The Wildcats are struggling in Super League at the moment – they have lost 10 league games on the bounce after winning their opening two fixtures, have had a horrendous injury list and the gates are dwindling with just over 3,000 attending a premier fixture against Wigan Warriors last week. Even with their injuries some of the performances have been well below what their fans expect – 80-0 at Warrington for example – and the pressure is building on their young coach James Webster. I hope they stick with Webster and I hope they get their new stadium because Super League would be a lot poorer without a foundation club like Wakefield.

4.       Send him to Serbia!!

Matty Bowen

I know Shaun Wane isn’t selecting Matty Bowen at the moment and he will be sent packing at the end of his contract this year as Sam Tomkins is lying in wait ready to take the Wigan no. 1 shirt back, but I don’t think they had to send him all the way to Serbia to try to get him a game!! In all seriousness, it is a shame that Bowen is not in the Wigan side at the moment as I think he is a great talent and whilst he may not have shown his best form throughout his time at the Warriors there is no doubting his ability. Wane has been full of praise for the way that Bowen has responded to his time out of the side in favour of young full back Ryan Hampshire. He has been handing on his experience to the young full back and has spent time with him at training sessions giving him useful advice. Bowen loves rugby league and was in Serbia to help promote the game alongside the Australian Embassy in Belgrade. There are a host of new countries who are now playing rugby league and it would be great to get more players involved in their development in the future.

5.       Internationals are the future.

Tonga v. Samoa

It looks like it is going to be a great weekend of international rugby league in Australia this weekend. Despite the torrential downpour in Brisbane this morning meaning Australia have to wait until Sunday to exact revenge for their 4 Nations Final defeat against New Zealand last November just as importantly and maybe more interestingly is the double header clash of the Pacific Nations taking place at the CBUS stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.  The physical powerhouses of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa converge on the Gold Coast for two games that should see the start of regular international fixtures between these great nations. International Rugby League needs to occur on a more regular basis and these nations in particular need to play more international matches. The countries are rugby mad, rugby league is the national sport in PNG, and supporters would flock to their games so I’m just wondering why these games aren’t being held on one of the islands rather than on the coast of Australia?? Maybe it is size of stadiums, finances etc – I’m sure there are valid reasons but it would be great to get these countries involved in regular fixtures against each other and played in their own stadiums in front of their own fans and what about New Zealand or Australia sending a team over to one of the islands for a full Test Match now and again – it would be massive news on any of the islands and the fans would flock to the games and create a great atmosphere and advert for rugby league. It is also a great way to improve the standard and profile of the national teams and attract new players and sponsors. Surely it is worth a shot??

Highlights of the 2013 meeting between Tongs and Samoa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QE-8sdnBE

6.       Good luck Lance.

Lance Hohaia

Everyone was shocked to hear St. Helens star Lance Hohaia announce his immediate retirement from rugby league this week. Hohaia was out of contract at the end of this year and whilst he wouldn’t be staying with St. Helens it was expected that he would continue his career back in the NRL. The fact that he is retiring due to recurring concussion problems caused by the injuries he received in the Grand Final is worrying for him and his family and he has probably made the right decision for his long term health. I am not going to make this piece about the events of the Grand Final as that few minutes should not define what has been an outstanding professional rugby league career. Hohaia played 185 NRL matches for the New Zealand Warriors and was on the bench in the Gran Final loss to Sydney Roosters in his debut season in 2002. He made the first of 28 Test appearances for New Zealand in the same year against Australia and went on to play full back and score two tries in their legendary 2008 World Cup final defeat of the Aussies at Lang Park, Brisbane. Hohaia made the move to Super League with St. Helens in 2012 and has made 80 appearances in the Red Vee. He is a player who is equally effective at full back, half back or hooker and has scored 90 career tries. Good luck to Lance in whatever he chooses to do in the future.

Highlights of the 2008 World Cup Final between New Zealand and Australia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIN27H4mOho

A bit of extra time thinking….

Good news in Hull in the last week that young rugby league player and Hull KR fan Connor Lynes is now home from hospital. Some may recall that Connor suffered a blood clot on his brain after a game for his youth side Lambwath Lions a couple of months ago. He was found unconscious on the floor of his bedroom the next morning and was rushed straight to hospital were the blood clot was diagnosed and emergency surgery took place to remove the clot. The rugby league family responded brilliantly and the Lynes family has been overwhelmed by the messages of support received from around the world. Connor is back home with his family now after spending a few weeks in hospital in Leeds receiving fantastic medical care and we all hope that he returns to full health and that he get’s the opportunity to step back on the pitch again and play the greatest game.

Congratulations to Eorl Crabtree on signing a new 2 year deal with the Giants. The deal takes him to the end of 2017 when he will be 34 years old. That’s young for a prop now as we can still see Jamie Peacock, Kylie Leuluai and Adrian Morley running around and performing well in Super League at a more advanced age. 

The Steve Prescott Garden of Remembrance, opened at St. Helens Langtree Park last week, is a fantastic idea and another fitting tribute to the man himself and gives supporters of the club a place to go to pay respect to their loved ones.

A few rumours flying about this week again:

Newcastle Knights veteran Kurt Gidley is definitely coming to Super League next year – we just don’t know where yet. St. Helens have just re-signed Shannon McDonnel until the end of 2016 so it appears unlikely he will be headed to Langtree Park and a few on social media are mentioning the Rhinos but I don’t know where he would fit in there. I guess he won’t come cheap so it is likely he will head to one of the big boys.

Former New Zealand international prop Sam Rapira is another player definitely coming to Super League and it looks increasingly likely it will be with the Leeds Rhinos.

Former Australian international prop David Shillington has been hawked around both Hull clubs in the last few weeks but it appears he is set to stay in Australia and sign for the Dragons.

Many Sea Eagles want to bring Premiership winning coach and club legend Des Hasler BACK to the club from Canterbury Bulldogs. Hasler left in acrimonious circumstances after the 2011 Grand Final win and his return would see an end to the reign of another club legend Geoff Toovey. The Sea Eagles are currently struggling on the field and with player retention. They have lost star forwards Anthony Watmough (Eels) and Glenn Stewart (Rabbitohs) and have recently announced the departures of star halves Daly Cherry-Evans (Titans) and Kieran Foran (Eels) at the end of the year.  

A few clubs have sounded out New Zealand international Kevin Locke about a return to the NRL. But the fact is that he earns too much money at Salford Red Devils for them to compete.

Could Chris Sandow be on the move? His contract with the Parramatta Eels is up at the end of the year and club legend Brett Kenny is one former player who think’s the club should not renew his contract. The Eels have signed Kieran Foran from Manly for next year and also have former Broncos half Corey Norman on their books, so Sandow’s position could only be as back up if he re-signs. Manly are a possibility as they need halves and there were big rumours last year that Sandow was coming to Super League. Undoubtedly, his style of play would make him a star performer in Super League. Any takers??

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.