A refreshing change – people are talking about rugby league

There is a steady rhythm to the news that provides the backdrop to my life as a rugby league fan. Monday mornings brings the trade papers, League Express and League Weekly. Tuesdays is Super League BackChat on Sky, Wednesdays Boots ‘n’ All, on Thursdays I seek out Rugby League Extra on Radio Manchester and then there is West Yorkshire Sport on a Sunday afternoon on Radio Leeds.

On the 13th of each month, the latest 40-20 magazine is downloaded to my i-pad and Rugby League World follows at the month end. The Super League Show on the BBC which I record, usually has a few minutes of debate each week.

And then there’s…. No, there isn’t. That’s about it. There is plenty of live action of course, with Championship, Super League and NRL, there are 11 full games on the TV each weekend to watch, plus the Wakey match that I take in live. But as for debate, dicusssion and opinion on the game, get off the internet forums and there’s diddly-squat.

We’ve got a small band of journalists who earn a crust from rugby league and they beaver away in their own little world and I, the customer, take what I’m given. There’s not much quality or variety and I tend to read, watch or hear the same old stuff over and over again. We operate in our own little rugby league bubble for much of the time and it’s rare to get a different perspective on things. The outside world doesn’t bother us, and we don’t bother them.

Then along comes the World Cup!

All of a sudden there are stories in the national press, by writers and journalists I’ve never heard of. Features in men’s magazines (not that sort) about Sam Tomkins’ fitness regime and a report on the launch of the World Cup on the main BBC News at 6pm by Dan Roan, their Chief Sports Correspondent, where was Tanya Arnold? She does all the Beeb’s league coverage! All this followed a great media turnout at Old Trafford earlier in the day, where Tony Hannan reported seeing several lesser spotted faces in the media pack.

There is a thread on one of the internet forums on media coverage of the World Cup and it currently runs to 24 pages. What’s even more unusual, for a rugby league discussion amongst fans, is that it’s almost all positive. League fans are lapping it up. There are articles on the players, on the history of the game and how tough the sport is. We normally only look at an international tournament through a single lens. How many empty seats will there be in the stadium as England inevitably lose to the Aussies again and prove how weak Super League is?

This time, yep, the Aussies are big favourites. Only three nations have ever won the cup, but hey, aren’t those Fijian blokes a big friendly bunch.

There is a superb ten reasons why you should watch the World Cup piece on the BBC’s website  as well as some really interesting stories on the history of the sport, including an article on how the Vichy Government in wartime France banned rugby league.

All of this is getting people talking about rugby league. At work the other day, I was leading a small team-building event where the people present were getting to know each other. To kick things off, I introduced myself and said my big passion away from work was rugby league. A lass from Worcester then piped up that she was going to the opening ceremony in Cardiff. Her husband apparently plays union, and had given league a go with the Gloucestershire Warriors in the Summer Conference one year and loved it. They’re off to the Millennium Stadium. “Well it’s on the doorstep”, she said.

Then on the way to the Italy fiasco on Saturday, a rather scary looking chap sitting opposite me on the train (how do they get those studs in the top of their head?) said “Is it next week the World Cup starts?” and even today, in town, as I politely declined the advances of a chugger, he called out after me “It’ll be tough against those Aussies next week”.

If they didn’t already sponsor rugby union, Heineken would have been a great partner for this World Cup, because it’s certainly reaching the parts that other tournaments don’t reach.