NRL Fan Survey

[Porthoz]

For those of you interested, this is an interesting article and survey about the NRL and who it really should be listening to:

http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/03/1...ns-and-it-is-time-to-find-out-what-you-think/

 

[CaptainHook]

Good stuff, @Porthoz

That article brought up a lot of issues that I think about, things that are ruining my enjoyment of Rugby League and questioning whether it's even worth following any more. I'll comment on a few things the article mentioned.

Firstly, I think the NRL are not interested in crowd figures. The bread and butter of the game is now television ratings. Rugby League is no longer a sport. It is a 'product' - filled with artificially close games that make good entertainment but hardly a good sporting contest.

The scheduling of games is unfair but personally it suits me so I am a hypocrite. I no longer have Pay TV as I figured that the Broncos get the lion's share of free to air games and I no longer have interest in the rest of the competition. The television shows are just puff pieces by and large and the ones that offer any sort of serious analysis on the game and the issues its facing are few and far between. I don't regret getting rid of it one bit. Saved heaps.

Having said that, it's a disgrace that only three free to air games are broadcast in this day and age. It shows its about ratings and not about growing the game's fanbase by making it as accessible as possible. Thursday night football is also a joke but it gets good ratings so that's something I guess.

Much and more is made by fans of other teams about us getting a lot of 7 day turnarounds but if it was a genuine leg up we would have at least one more premiership by now. I don't think it has any impact at all.

The refereeing will always get dismissed as sour grapes from the losing side when what it's really about is consistency.

Go back and watch last week's game. Smith could have been penalised about 30 times for flopping into a tackle. Again, I'm a hypocrite because we need that sort of stuff around Origin time but it was a terrible spectacle to watch. Also, I'm not upset that we lost as we dropped far too much ball to complain about being hard done by but fair dinkum - can't they just officiate the game properly?

Seriously, does anyone get a bad feeling when watching NRL these days and you see a team leading at half-time and appear to have the game well in control? Almost like clockwork they start getting heavily penalised for infringements that have been let go all game and they either get run down with their opposition making a 'thrilling comeback' or they just hang on to get a 'miraculous escape.'

You reckon the coach tells his team to just forget their discipline and start making lots of errors. Of course not.

It's nonsense. It belongs in the WWE. Maybe the Broncos and Cowboys need to have 10 golden point games in a row before we start catching on...

I don't see how anything can be done. The NRL would be perfectly content with empty stadiums as long as the TV dollars are there. Once TV viewing numbers and subscriptions take a dive they might take a look at their 'product', realise what a turd it is becoming and take it back to being a sport again.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

On seven day turnarounds, I had a chop at Rothfield on twitter a couple of years ago about how he constantly bags the Broncos on seven day turnarounds. Yet he conveniently never mentions about how the Sydney teams are advantaged by much less travel, sitting in airport lounges etc. The senile old flog tried to argue that it was an advantage to travel so much because it helps to build cameraderie.

 

[Morkel]

Good stuff, @Porthoz

That article brought up a lot of issues that I think about, things that are ruining my enjoyment of Rugby League and questioning whether it's even worth following any more. I'll comment on a few things the article mentioned.

Firstly, I think the NRL are not interested in crowd figures. The bread and butter of the game is now television ratings. Rugby League is no longer a sport. It is a 'product' - filled with artificially close games that make good entertainment but hardly a good sporting contest.

The scheduling of games is unfair but personally it suits me so I am a hypocrite. I no longer have Pay TV as I figured that the Broncos get the lion's share of free to air games and I no longer have interest in the rest of the competition. The television shows are just puff pieces by and large and the ones that offer any sort of serious analysis on the game and the issues its facing are few and far between. I don't regret getting rid of it one bit. Saved heaps.

Having said that, it's a disgrace that only three free to air games are broadcast in this day and age. It shows its about ratings and not about growing the game's fanbase by making it as accessible as possible. Thursday night football is also a joke but it gets good ratings so that's something I guess.

Much and more is made by fans of other teams about us getting a lot of 7 day turnarounds but if it was a genuine leg up we would have at least one more premiership by now. I don't think it has any impact at all.

The refereeing will always get dismissed as sour grapes from the losing side when what it's really about is consistency.

Go back and watch last week's game. Smith could have been penalised about 30 times for flopping into a tackle. Again, I'm a hypocrite because we need that sort of stuff around Origin time but it was a terrible spectacle to watch. Also, I'm not upset that we lost as we dropped far too much ball to complain about being hard done by but fair dinkum - can't they just officiate the game properly?

Seriously, does anyone get a bad feeling when watching NRL these days and you see a team leading at half-time and appear to have the game well in control? Almost like clockwork they start getting heavily penalised for infringements that have been let go all game and they either get run down with their opposition making a 'thrilling comeback' or they just hang on to get a 'miraculous escape.'

You reckon the coach tells his team to just forget their discipline and start making lots of errors. Of course not.

It's nonsense. It belongs in the WWE. Maybe the Broncos and Cowboys need to have 10 golden point games in a row before we start catching on...

I don't see how anything can be done. The NRL would be perfectly content with empty stadiums as long as the TV dollars are there. Once TV viewing numbers and subscriptions take a dive they might take a look at their 'product', realise what a turd it is becoming and take it back to being a sport again.

Agree with all of this. Some comments:

The inconsistent refereeing is deliberate, I have no doubt about that. And there are three very good reasons (in the NRL's eyes) why:

1) Having "fairytale" premierships for certain teams. Since 2012 every premiership winner has had a story behind it. You could even argue that 2010 was manufactured, with Bennett delivering a trophy to the Dragon's faithful. 2012 was "redemption" for the Storm, as if to vindicate why that team, those players, the coach, and the managers got off so lightly (ie "even under the cap they were good enough"). 2013 was blatantly a $BW love-fest. 2014 was a pity premiership. 2015 more so, also to pay the Cows back for one legitimate bad call (and one that way dodgy but had little bearing, and one that was the correct call). 2016 was payback to Buzz for shielding Greenturd from all scrutiny. All very good for ratings.

2) Making games "flow". I've bitched about this enough. Failing to penalise teams for legitimate infringements because the "game needs to flow" is a crock of shit and I blame the dumbfuck media and the NRL equally. If a team is playing dodgy then penalise them out of the contest. It's the only way coaches will learn to clean up their players' behaviour. I don't care if one week the penalty count is 20-2 and the next it's 15-14, as long as the reasons for the penalties were consistent and justified. Ignoring indescretions in order to manage the spectacle is ridiculous for something that purports to be a fair contest. At the moment, teams are being rewarded for bad behaviour, especially early in matches, because the coaches know that the refs will eventually stop blowing the whistle (allowing the bad play to continue), and/or penalise the opposition teams later for absolutely nothing in order to tighten the contest or even up the penalty count.

3) Leg-ups to teams that are behind, in order to make the contest tighter. Like favouring certain teams to win the trophy, this is bordering on match-fixing.

The refereeing is ruining the game. I would happily accept the bad scheduling, the difficulty in attending games live, the disorganised player-transfer system, the ease in which both clubs and players can break contracts, all of that shit, so long as the games were refereed competently, fairly, and consistently.

 

[CaptainHook]

Agree with all of this. Some comments:

The inconsistent refereeing is deliberate, I have no doubt about that. And there are three very good reasons (in the NRL's eyes) why:

1) Having "fairytale" premierships for certain teams. Since 2012 every premiership winner has had a story behind it. You could even argue that 2010 was manufactured, with Bennett delivering a trophy to the Dragon's faithful. 2012 was "redemption" for the Storm, as if to vindicate why that team, those players, the coach, and the managers got off so lightly (ie "even under the cap they were good enough"). 2013 was blatantly a $BW love-fest. 2014 was a pity premiership. 2015 more so, also to pay the Cows back for one legitimate bad call (and one that way dodgy but had little bearing, and one that was the correct call). 2016 was payback to Buzz for shielding Greenturd from all scrutiny. All very good for ratings.

2) Making games "flow". I've bitched about this enough. Failing to penalise teams for legitimate infringements because the "game needs to flow" is a crock of shit and I blame the dumbfuck media and the NRL equally. If a team is playing dodgy then penalise them out of the contest. It's the only way coaches will learn to clean up their players' behaviour. I don't care if one week the penalty count is 20-2 and the next it's 15-14, as long as the reasons for the penalties were consistent and justified. Ignoring indescretions in order to manage the spectacle is ridiculous for something that purports to be a fair contest. At the moment, teams are being rewarded for bad behaviour, especially early in matches, because the coaches know that the refs will eventually stop blowing the whistle (allowing the bad play to continue), and/or penalise the opposition teams later for absolutely nothing in order to tighten the contest or even up the penalty count.

3) Leg-ups to teams that are behind, in order to make the contest tighter. Like favouring certain teams to win the trophy, this is bordering on match-fixing.

The refereeing is ruining the game. I would happily accept the bad scheduling, the difficulty in attending games live, the disorganised player-transfer system, the ease in which both clubs and players can break contracts, all of that shit, so long as the games were refereed competently, fairly, and consistently.

Awesome post, Morkel. You mentioned a lot of stuff I had forgotten about. I've long suspected for years that the NRL is very keen on a theme, a storyline, a 'narrative' and, yes, a fairy tale. The great bonus of that is it's something the NRL can market for the next season forever. We're seeing it again this year with the whole 'who'll make history next' garbage.

I first noticed it when SBW returned. It was so heavily hyped and marketed it couldn't be anything but a success. I'd like to go back and watch the 2013 GF again because I remember when Matai scored Manly looked to have it under control and SBW wasn't playing that well. Couldn't have that could we.

Is that when deliberately giving away penalties on the goal line also became a thing? Did the Roosters pioneer that in order for the fairytale to occur?

Another stinker was the Game 3 of Origin last year. I get that the series was over and it was a dead rubber but the officiating was appalling. I get the fact that the away team won't get the rub of the green and truth be known the Blues cop it even worse up north but to say that Michael Jennings had no active participation in that play was disgraceful.

Interpretations are there to help referees with split hair calls. It's not there to do what it did that night and it looked highly likely that it was pushing for a predetermined result.

I'm convinced we won't see another dead rubber again. The NRL can't afford it. It's the biggest cash cow we've got so they'll force it to a decider and whoever needs the 'fairytale' on either side will get the result.

Luckily for us JT is retiring from rep footy so I guess we can bank this one.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Agree with all of this. Some comments:

The inconsistent refereeing is deliberate, I have no doubt about that. And there are three very good reasons (in the NRL's eyes) why:

1) Having "fairytale" premierships for certain teams. Since 2012 every premiership winner has had a story behind it. You could even argue that 2010 was manufactured, with Bennett delivering a trophy to the Dragon's faithful. 2012 was "redemption" for the Storm, as if to vindicate why that team, those players, the coach, and the managers got off so lightly (ie "even under the cap they were good enough"). 2013 was blatantly a $BW love-fest. 2014 was a pity premiership. 2015 more so, also to pay the Cows back for one legitimate bad call (and one that way dodgy but had little bearing, and one that was the correct call). 2016 was payback to Buzz for shielding Greenturd from all scrutiny. All very good for ratings.

2) Making games "flow". I've bitched about this enough. Failing to penalise teams for legitimate infringements because the "game needs to flow" is a crock of shit and I blame the dumbfuck media and the NRL equally. If a team is playing dodgy then penalise them out of the contest. It's the only way coaches will learn to clean up their players' behaviour. I don't care if one week the penalty count is 20-2 and the next it's 15-14, as long as the reasons for the penalties were consistent and justified. Ignoring indescretions in order to manage the spectacle is ridiculous for something that purports to be a fair contest. At the moment, teams are being rewarded for bad behaviour, especially early in matches, because the coaches know that the refs will eventually stop blowing the whistle (allowing the bad play to continue), and/or penalise the opposition teams later for absolutely nothing in order to tighten the contest or even up the penalty count.

3) Leg-ups to teams that are behind, in order to make the contest tighter. Like favouring certain teams to win the trophy, this is bordering on match-fixing.

The refereeing is ruining the game. I would happily accept the bad scheduling, the difficulty in attending games live, the disorganised player-transfer system, the ease in which both clubs and players can break contracts, all of that shit, so long as the games were refereed competently, fairly, and consistently.

Wow...!!

I'd been simply putting it down to plain ole human incompetence for years.

 

[Morkel]

Wow...!!

I'd been simply putting it down to plain ole human incompetence for years.

Oh no. Pull up a plastic chair, treat yourself to one of our plentiful tin foil hats.