Write this one down as case number 3,254,478 as to why the Rugby Football League are so utterly stupid!
There is talk that the RFL may look to get rid of the name “Super League” and go with another name when it changes from the current licencing system and switches back to the competition killing system that is promotion and relegation.
After using the Super League name and investing so many millions in marketing it over the course of more than a decade, the Rugby Football League is ready to scrap it. Why? Well…why not!
After selling off the naming rights to Super League for NOTHING, a move that has since made it impossible to sell the naming rights to any other company since, why wouldn’t the Rugby Football League go a step further and just trash the games brand completely?
Even if most of Great Britain doesn’t watch Rugby League, they are aware of the Super League brand. They know that Super League is a Rugby League competition. More importantly, they know that it is not Rugby Union. When you mention Super League to someone in Great Britain, they know what you are talking about.
Money can’t buy you that sort of unique brand recognition. For a game that ignores the vast majority of Great Britain it is pretty amazing that the Super League name is so well known. I can’t think of a single reason why you would get rid of it. I can only imagine that scrapping “Super League” for any alternative at this point would simply lead to confusing over what the competition actually was.
I can’t see anything positive that comes out of scrapping the “Super League name at all.
The thing that is being completely lost is that when you rebrand a product, you don’t just change a name and that is that. You need to spend money to rebrand an entire sporting competition. Money that Rugby League in Great Britain doesn’t have to spend.
Some of the idea’s the Rugby Football League tosses up at times are just mind boggling. I don’t pretend to be some sort of marketing guru, but that is the problem. If a bloke in Sydney can explain why rebranding is such a terrible idea, why can’t professional administrators work it out for themselves.
The ironic thing is that as players miss out of payments, we have never heard a Rugby Football League official that has failed to get paid on time…
“When you mention Super League to someone in Great Britain, they know what you are talking about.”
Are you sure about this ?? I think there are very many people in the United Kingdom who know nothing at all about Rugby League. It gets very little mainstream media. There are, I reckon, lots of people for whom the name Super League is meaningless.
“For a game that ignores the vast majority of Great Britain……” That’s like saying that Test Cricket ignores South America. No – the people of South America ignore Test Cricket. The Rugby Football League cannot tell people what to watch. The failure of RL is down to people’s lack of interest. Simple.
You describe yourself as a bloke in Sydney. Maybe you have never been to London. If you did go there you would understand the scale of the problem.
I have told you before: the concept of ‘Expansion’ doesn’t really exist in England. We are not Australia. The sports remain popular in areas where they’ve always been popular. The clubs that exist today ( football / RU / RL ) were founded long ago. Things don’t change.
In England ( as in the rest of Europe ), FOOTBALL is King.
You must use your feet !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frank Spinetti