The SIG Column – 6 November
Drew Barrand, head of media at Sport Industry Group, sizes up the impact the GB rugby league team’s victory over Australia could have on the sport’s popularity…
‘It’s not often that rugby league can claim to have trumped its union counterpart but last weekend’s Tri-Nations victory for the British Lions against the previously unconquerable Australians marked a stark contrast against England’s record defeat against the All Blacks in the other code.
The TV ratings may not show it – the combination of a comparatively early morning kick-off and being screened on Sky as opposed to terrestrial television won’t have done it any favours – but last Saturday was undoubtedly a watershed moment for rugby league.
Like most sports, success breeds interest and it’s been fourteen long years since the international representatives of Great Britain managed to defeat Australia away from home in a game of rugby league. Such a long wait for the taste of victory tends to leave fans cold and its been no surprise that neither TV audiences nor the national press have been unduly drawn to international rugby league in that period.
Attendances for the domestic Super League may be rising year-on-year but you can make a valid argument for the fact that the sport has never truly broken through into the mainstream from its pockets of fanatical support in the north.
Many moves to take rugby league to the wider sporting community have tried and failed. The introduction of the Sir Richard Branson-backed London Broncos followed by an inaugural Rugby League World Cup in the UK briefly threatened to do the trick in the 90s but in the end fans just couldn’t get behind a sport whether the national team gave them nothing to cheer.
Outside of the freak that is club football, every other British sport relies heavily on the success of the national team for exposure. Witness the surge in interest in cricket last summer when Michael Vaughan’s men finally put the Ashes hoodoo to rest.
Great Britain’s rugby league victory at the weekend has suddenly brought the sport back in vogue, particularly when compared with the current woes of its union counterpart. While no-one is saying that rugby league and rugby union will suddenly swap places in terms of their comparative popularity, the former’s performance has finally given sport fans something to shout about.
As more eyeballs turn to this weekend’s Tri-Nations game against New Zealand than have been focused on the sport in some time, it makes you wonder how big the response might have been had the victory come on home soil. Rugby league still clearly has a lot of work to do but beating the Australians in their own backyard is never a bad place to start.’
