Surely it can't do the sport any credit when such a tournament is on Premier Sports.
Its a wonder how IMG somehow rejected the bid from Sky Sports in the first place.
Most fans are glad it's not on sky. Eddie and Stevo comedy double act is way past its sell by date. Premiers coverage a breath of fresh air so far with lead commentator Andrew Voss.
Anybody know who the OB provider is for the Rugby league World Cup, I know Telegenic normally do Sky's stuff but know IMG often uses Visons as their provider.
Surely it can't do the sport any credit when such a tournament is on Premier Sports.
Its a wonder how IMG somehow rejected the bid from Sky Sports in the first place.
I read Sky wanted exclusivity, and the organisers wanted the biggest games available free to air. Makes sense to me that they sell to Premier and the BBC.
sky say that they get more viewers for rugby league in the south than for any other sport bar the football, that was part of the reason for having a franchise in london / southern area.
the world cup was wanted exclusively by sky. the rugby authorities didnt want that - packages were offered and all refused by sky. it was all or nothing
the ticket sales have been not as good as was hoped - even with tickets for £20 some fans are puzzled as to why there hasn't been more sell outs
the BBC coverage on saturday was poor of england - I might have missed it but there was no explanation to the casual fan of why the british home nations no longer play as great britain, this is the first world cup in this country where they are not doing so.
its a shame, i was looking forward to the coverage of a world cup - but the BBC didn't seem too keen.
also to cap it all Ray French is retiring know hes a bit marmite like eddie waring was; but I like him.
sky say that they get more viewers for rugby league in the south than for any other sport bar the football, that was part of the reason for having a franchise in london / southern area.
the world cup was wanted exclusively by sky. the rugby authorities didnt want that - packages were offered and all refused by sky. it was all or nothing
the ticket sales have been not as good as was hoped - even with tickets for £20 some fans are puzzled as to why there hasn't been more sell outs
the BBC coverage on saturday was poor of england - I might have missed it but there was no explanation to the casual fan of why the british home nations no longer play as great britain, this is the first world cup in this country where they are not doing so.
its a shame, i was looking forward to the coverage of a world cup - but the BBC didn't seem too keen.
also to cap it all Ray French is retiring know hes a bit marmite like eddie waring was; but I like him.
They split as GB a few years ago and there have been 3 and 4 Nations events on BBC explaining why.
Ray French isn't retiring, he is stepping down from TV commentary. He is in his 70s now and will still work for BBC Merseyside as a commentator and BBC TV as a pundit.
Plus this year the BBC are showing more RLWC action than they ever have.
i am a big advocate of Sky ,i know they haven't got the coverage of the World Cup , but i am very disappointed that they are not even mentioning it on SSN or very little , i think they've spat their dummy out !
i am a big advocate of Sky ,i know they haven't got the coverage of the World Cup , but i am very disappointed that they are not even mentioning it on SSN or very little , i think they've spat their dummy out !
Judging by the rather modest crowd for what is presumably the biggest first round match in the tournament, I'm not sure that the RLWC is very big sports news these days. Plus if Sky didn't have highlights they'd probably be less inclined to give it much coverage.
Why was a match featuring England and Australia played in Cardiff? I see that both Wembley and Old Trafford hosted other events this weekend, but having it at the Millennium Stadium seems daft.
Judging by the rather modest crowd for what is presumably the biggest first round match in the tournament, I'm not sure that the RLWC is very big sports news these days. Plus if Sky didn't have highlights they'd probably be less inclined to give it much coverage.
Why was a match featuring England and Australia played in Cardiff? I see that both Wembley and Old Trafford hosted other events this weekend, but having it at the Millennium Stadium seems daft.
A rather modest crowd ? Which game were you seeing ? Attendance was good considering it was in Wales.
As for The Millenium Stadium, all I can assume is that it was second choice after Old Trafford to hold a double header.
A rather modest crowd ? Which game were you seeing ? Attendance was good considering it was in Wales.
It's never a good sign when the opening match in a "major" sports tournament has entire sections of seats covered. It was at 60% capacity for the two matches, including Wales at home. Modest seems like a fair enough description to me.
On the bright side, at least they didn't go eight years between world cups this time.
It's never a good sign when the opening match in a "major" sports tournament has entire sections of seats covered. It was at 60% capacity for the two matches, including Wales at home. Modest seems like a fair enough description to me.
On the bright side, at least they didn't go eight years between world cups this time.
45,000 is a good attendance for a match in another country.
Had it being at Old Trafford or Wembley it would have been considerably more, but it wasn't. I for one, am happy with that attendance.
some fans are puzzled as to why there hasn't been more sell outs
The Millennium Stadium was never going to be a sell out. Warrington was. Rochdale tonight it. Craven Park was three quarters full, which is not bad given Hull is hosting the most games in the tournament, including an England one which is close to being sold out.
I might have missed it but there was no explanation to the casual fan of why the british home nations no longer play as great britain, this is the first world cup in this country where they are not doing so.
Really? Fans so casual as to have not taken any interest in rugby league for the last 13 years, so casual as to have not watched the BBC highlights during the 2008 tournament, will probably not even remember that they used to play as Great Britain.
45,000 is a good attendance for a match in another country.
Had it being at Old Trafford or Wembley it would have been considerably more, but it wasn't. I for one, am happy with that attendance.
45,000 was the attendance for the Wales match as well, who knows what it would have been if it was just England v Australia. Which unless I'm mistaken is the biggest match of the first round. Surely the organisers would been disappointed with that figure, otherwise why play it in the Millennium Stadium?
The point is, rugby league isn't a particularly mainstream sport in the UK, so if Sky Sports News chose not to give it much coverage on a weekend full of football, I don't think anyone should be too surprised or disappointed.
the BBC coverage on saturday was poor of england - I might have missed it but there was no explanation to the casual fan of why the british home nations no longer play as great britain, this is the first world cup in this country where they are not doing so.
In 1995 England and Wales played seperately in the World Cup, and in 2000 all the home nations played in the World Cup with both tournaments taking place in this country.
45,000 was the attendance for the Wales match as well, who knows what it would have been if it was just England v Australia. Which unless I'm mistaken is the biggest match of the first round. Surely the organisers would been disappointed with that figure, otherwise why play it in the Millennium Stadium?
The point is, rugby league isn't a particularly mainstream sport in the UK, so if Sky Sports News chose not to give it much coverage on a weekend full of football, I don't think anyone should be too surprised or disappointed.
Are you suggesting it would have been considerably less had Wales not played too ? I think it would have been 45,000.
Sky don't care about it, like Wimbledon at times, if it ain't on Sky it isn't happening in the world of sport.
BBC Coverage of England got a 2.4 million peak and 21% audience share. Even Wales v Italy on BBC Two got 1 million. Good figures. 250k at best had it been on sky.
Poor show by BBC not to have highlights of Ireland vs Fiji or Scotland vs Tonga until next weekend. OK you can view highlights online but there should have been a highlights show tomorrow night.
They split as GB a few years ago and there have been 3 and 4 Nations events on BBC explaining why.
Ray French isn't retiring, he is stepping down from TV commentary. He is in his 70s now and will still work for BBC Merseyside as a commentator and BBC TV as a pundit.
Plus this year the BBC are showing more RLWC action than they ever have.
Are you suggesting it would have been considerably less had Wales not played too ? I think it would have been 45,000.
Sky don't care about it, like Wimbledon at times, if it ain't on Sky it isn't happening in the world of sport.
Don't SSN have an issue with clips as they aren't a proper "news channel" so don't have fair use rights to clips a BBC News or Sky News would have, if the broadcaster is not prepared to share them.
Definitely with SSN they only tend to discuss sports their own channels are featuring, or where they have video clips to back up the talking.
Agreed with Sky Sports News a few points more Union than League but still...
No mention of the Aviva Premiership since they lost the rights to BT an ITV just the Autumn internationals as if there was no club season going on.
No mention of the future of the Heineken Cup due to the English, French and now Welsh Unions wanting to form a breakaway competition.
The constant moaning from SSN when a player from Super League decides to go to the NRL, the NRL is THE competition in the Rugby League world, as much I like Super League, the NRL is the better of the two, so if a player from SL gets an offer i.e Sam Tomkins who is off to NZ then of course you are going to accept as League is a national code in Oz.
Barely any mention of the future of Super League as six SL clubs have rebelled against the RFL over commercial ineptitude and constant gimmick restructuring. I personally don't see how the game of RL has grown over here, as there isn't much money about sadly.
The Millennium Stadium was never going to be a sell out. Warrington was. Rochdale tonight it. Craven Park was three quarters full, which is not bad given Hull is hosting the most games in the tournament, including an England one which is close to being sold out.
Really? Fans so casual as to have not taken any interest in rugby league for the last 13 years, so casual as to have not watched the BBC highlights during the 2008 tournament, will probably not even remember that they used to play as Great Britain.
yes ask my dad and uncle and his mates none of them knew why we were not GB anymore. they were looking at going to one of the 'GB' games as they called it - they thought that the event can't be that big if gb were playing as england - i explained it but it was still a surprise that they didn't know
at £15 quid a ticket they can't go wrong - they have QF SF tickets so they'll learn something!
Agreed with Sky Sports News a few points more Union than League but still...
No mention of the Aviva Premiership since they lost the rights to BT an ITV just the Autumn internationals as if there was no club season going on.
No mention of the future of the Heineken Cup due to the English, French and now Welsh Unions wanting to form a breakaway competition.
The constant moaning from SSN when a player from Super League decides to go to the NRL, the NRL is THE competition in the Rugby League world, as much I like Super League, the NRL is the better of the two, so if a player from SL gets an offer i.e Sam Tomkins who is off to NZ then of course you are going to accept as League is a national code in Oz.
Barely any mention of the future of Super League as six SL clubs have rebelled against the RFL over commercial ineptitude and constant gimmick restructuring. I personally don't see how the game of RL has grown over here, as there isn't much money about sadly.
SSN at their '1984' best there 'if we don't show it - it's not happening - or has stopped happening'
they really do need to stop this with minor sports, their attitude to non sky events is shocking. [wimbledon is covered, but thats cos sky would like live coverage at some point so need to keep them 'onside']
Agreed with Sky Sports News a few points more Union than League but still...
No mention of the Aviva Premiership since they lost the rights to BT an ITV just the Autumn internationals as if there was no club season going on.
No mention of the future of the Heineken Cup due to the English, French and now Welsh Unions wanting to form a breakaway competition.
The constant moaning from SSN when a player from Super League decides to go to the NRL, the NRL is THE competition in the Rugby League world, as much I like Super League, the NRL is the better of the two, so if a player from SL gets an offer i.e Sam Tomkins who is off to NZ then of course you are going to accept as League is a national code in Oz.
Barely any mention of the future of Super League as six SL clubs have rebelled against the RFL over commercial ineptitude and constant gimmick restructuring. I personally don't see how the game of RL has grown over here, as there isn't much money about sadly.
Have to disagree with you on the top one, Sky Sports News have consistently referred to the Aviva Premiership this season, they've even shown clips from games shown by BT Sport!
Poor show by BBC not to have highlights of Ireland vs Fiji or Scotland vs Tonga until next weekend. OK you can view highlights online but there should have been a highlights show tomorrow night.
You need to see Tonga V N.Z. One of the best games of either code I have ever seen. The second half was phenomenal, had everything.
yes ask my dad and uncle and his mates none of them knew why we were not GB anymore. they were looking at going to one of the 'GB' games as they called it - they thought that the event can't be that big if gb were playing as england - i explained it but it was still a surprise that they didn't know
at £15 quid a ticket they can't go wrong - they have QF SF tickets so they'll learn something!
Well i am sorry but you cannot blame the RFL or the BBC for their own ignorance. As pointed out above, in the RLWC before they have played many times as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland so it isnt a snap decision.
Comments
I read Sky wanted exclusivity, and the organisers wanted the biggest games available free to air. Makes sense to me that they sell to Premier and the BBC.
sky say that they get more viewers for rugby league in the south than for any other sport bar the football, that was part of the reason for having a franchise in london / southern area.
the world cup was wanted exclusively by sky. the rugby authorities didnt want that - packages were offered and all refused by sky. it was all or nothing
the ticket sales have been not as good as was hoped - even with tickets for £20 some fans are puzzled as to why there hasn't been more sell outs
the BBC coverage on saturday was poor of england - I might have missed it but there was no explanation to the casual fan of why the british home nations no longer play as great britain, this is the first world cup in this country where they are not doing so.
its a shame, i was looking forward to the coverage of a world cup - but the BBC didn't seem too keen.
also to cap it all Ray French is retiring know hes a bit marmite like eddie waring was; but I like him.
They split as GB a few years ago and there have been 3 and 4 Nations events on BBC explaining why.
Ray French isn't retiring, he is stepping down from TV commentary. He is in his 70s now and will still work for BBC Merseyside as a commentator and BBC TV as a pundit.
Plus this year the BBC are showing more RLWC action than they ever have.
Plus I agree with AR1983 about Stevo and Sky
Judging by the rather modest crowd for what is presumably the biggest first round match in the tournament, I'm not sure that the RLWC is very big sports news these days. Plus if Sky didn't have highlights they'd probably be less inclined to give it much coverage.
Why was a match featuring England and Australia played in Cardiff? I see that both Wembley and Old Trafford hosted other events this weekend, but having it at the Millennium Stadium seems daft.
A rather modest crowd ? Which game were you seeing ? Attendance was good considering it was in Wales.
As for The Millenium Stadium, all I can assume is that it was second choice after Old Trafford to hold a double header.
It's never a good sign when the opening match in a "major" sports tournament has entire sections of seats covered. It was at 60% capacity for the two matches, including Wales at home. Modest seems like a fair enough description to me.
On the bright side, at least they didn't go eight years between world cups this time.
45,000 is a good attendance for a match in another country.
Had it being at Old Trafford or Wembley it would have been considerably more, but it wasn't. I for one, am happy with that attendance.
The Millennium Stadium was never going to be a sell out. Warrington was. Rochdale tonight it. Craven Park was three quarters full, which is not bad given Hull is hosting the most games in the tournament, including an England one which is close to being sold out.
Really? Fans so casual as to have not taken any interest in rugby league for the last 13 years, so casual as to have not watched the BBC highlights during the 2008 tournament, will probably not even remember that they used to play as Great Britain.
45,000 was the attendance for the Wales match as well, who knows what it would have been if it was just England v Australia. Which unless I'm mistaken is the biggest match of the first round. Surely the organisers would been disappointed with that figure, otherwise why play it in the Millennium Stadium?
The point is, rugby league isn't a particularly mainstream sport in the UK, so if Sky Sports News chose not to give it much coverage on a weekend full of football, I don't think anyone should be too surprised or disappointed.
In 1995 England and Wales played seperately in the World Cup, and in 2000 all the home nations played in the World Cup with both tournaments taking place in this country.
Are you suggesting it would have been considerably less had Wales not played too ? I think it would have been 45,000.
Sky don't care about it, like Wimbledon at times, if it ain't on Sky it isn't happening in the world of sport.
fair enough.
Don't SSN have an issue with clips as they aren't a proper "news channel" so don't have fair use rights to clips a BBC News or Sky News would have, if the broadcaster is not prepared to share them.
Definitely with SSN they only tend to discuss sports their own channels are featuring, or where they have video clips to back up the talking.
yes ask my dad and uncle and his mates none of them knew why we were not GB anymore. they were looking at going to one of the 'GB' games as they called it - they thought that the event can't be that big if gb were playing as england - i explained it but it was still a surprise that they didn't know
at £15 quid a ticket they can't go wrong - they have QF SF tickets so they'll learn something!
SSN at their '1984' best there 'if we don't show it - it's not happening - or has stopped happening'
they really do need to stop this with minor sports, their attitude to non sky events is shocking. [wimbledon is covered, but thats cos sky would like live coverage at some point so need to keep them 'onside']
Have to disagree with you on the top one, Sky Sports News have consistently referred to the Aviva Premiership this season, they've even shown clips from games shown by BT Sport!
Not deleting that one from the library.
You mean Samoa and the highlights were on BBC1 on Sunday night and BBC2 on Monday afternoon.
Well i am sorry but you cannot blame the RFL or the BBC for their own ignorance. As pointed out above, in the RLWC before they have played many times as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland so it isnt a snap decision.