Quote William Eve="William Eve"The difference between the Summer and Winter season is nothing more than playing part of that season during the months of June & July instead of December & January... that's all. The difference is the opportunity of playing half a dozen meaningless regular season fixtures plus an even more meaningless Exiles fixture during the months of June & July.
Could you remind me what are the benefits of playing in June & July are, what we've gained and why you think it's a good idea?
Do you think playing standards have improved as a result of the switch? Do you think the loss of proper international tours and the devaluation of the Challenge Cup has been a price worth paying? Do you think the sport has increased it's national profile? Do we have more or less high profile games played out on terrestrial TV and watched by millions? Do we have more or less sponsors queueing up for a piece of the action?
Like RL Bandit, I used to be sold on the idea of the switch but not any longer. The positives and negatives of the switch no longer add up. If anything, the negatives of the switch now outweigh the positives.'"
To answer your points:
The difference is - December/January would be right in the middle of the season when the weather is potentially at its very worst - not the same for June/July. There will be more disposable income in June/July too. Clubs play games over the Xmas to generate income - unlikely the same senario in June/July. I can't see how crowds will be enhanced by playing in December and January as opposed to June and July.
International tours are a thing of the past - this is not a SL issue this is a club v country issue and a spectatot apathy issue, clubs are not going to allow their prized assets to be away from the club for 2/3 months. The players in other eras were part time and going on a tour helped fill the off season rather than finding a part time job. The international game is of limited interest to most RL spectators, look at the crowds for tests between Australia and NZ which can be competitive. RL is a club game not an international game such as RU
The challenge cup has suffered in the same way that the FA Cup has suffered in that spectators are more interested in the league - this is also reflected in the higher league attendences now being experienced in SL compared to the league prior to SL. I would suggest higher attendences for 27 games a year is a preferred option to higher attendences for 5 games in a cup competition.
Overall playing standards are much higher now than they were pre SL - the game maybe in a lull right now but it is still light years away from the days of Wigan winning everything.
The lack of sponsors is more about the ineptitude of the RFL than it is about the quality of SL, the likes of Wood, Solly and Rimmer are not exactly high quality administrators - replace them with people who have a bit of acumen in marketing and you would find a decent sponsor. Also it would have been interesting to to see how pre SL they would have got on without tobacco sponsorship.
The game isn't on terrestrial TV but the funds flowing into the game have increased significantly - depends on your view of the benefits of Sky over the BBC - given the coverage the BBC give RL I am not sure what the benefit would be of terrestrial exposure. It certainly didn't have a positive impact on crowds when it was on the BBC?
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