NRL scheduling

[Matabele]

So much for their code of conduct that games are to be scheduled 5 weeks in advance.  We're only 4 weeks out from the final round and it has yet to be announced (Rd 25 just came out and we have the 2pm Sunday slot).

Every other major sports competition in the world can announce a full season in advance, but we get 3 weeks notice so the bloody TV networks can decide which games are most likely to decide finals spots. 

Incredibly frustrating for both out-of-town supporters and season ticket holders.  People lead busy lives, is it too much to ask to have something more than 2-3 weeks notice of when we might exercise our privilege to attend a game?

 

[The Wheel]

Totally agree but what else can you expect when the governing body is at the behest of News LTD and Channel 9 by way of either ownership and poorly negoiated TV contractual arrangements.

 

[Canteen Worker]

I have complained about this for years and I live in Sydney. It is a joke!!!  People have busy lives and would like to plan them!!

 

[Guest]

Gee you are asking a bit much for Gallop and the NRL and TV stations to care about supporters.  

The head honchos who run the game are too busy worrying about whose private box they are going to watch the game in and how many free sandwiches and glasses of wine they can scoff during an afternoon to worry about the paying public.

If they were concerned about supporters we they would help us obtain the funds to improve Brookie oval instead of doing SFA.

 

[ManlyBacker]

We are stuck with it until negotiations commence for the 2013 season. Let us hope that Gallop is long gone by then.

 

[Fluffy]

So much for their code of conduct that games are to be scheduled 5 weeks in advance.  We're only 4 weeks out from the final round and it has yet to be announced (Rd 25 just came out and we have the 2pm Sunday slot).

Every other major sports competition in the world can announce a full season in advance, but we get 3 weeks notice so the bloody TV networks can decide which games are most likely to decide finals spots. 

Incredibly frustrating for both out-of-town supporters and season ticket holders.  People lead busy lives, is it too much to ask to have something more than 2-3 weeks notice of when we might exercise our privilege to attend a game?

Cheers mate. been after that time slot for weeks now so i can plan around

 

[Matabele]

If the Titans game ends up on a Monday night I will not be a happy camper.  Friday night wouldn't be much better.

Sunday afternoon - perfect!

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

DON'T start me on this....oh buggar you have!!

Can you imagine what it's like trying to run a supporters trip when you don't know the freaking date until TWO weeks before.

MIND BOGGLING to say the least!!

I was unable to start the Melbourne package proceedings until Tuesday LAST week, just 3 weeks away from the game.

Not able to book accommodation, not able to book flights, not able to secure a venue for the function, these are things I am faced with each and every NRL trip I do.

And then we get a date and it's absolute chaos working our arses off getting it together and then we have impossible cut off periods for us and for you guys as well...oh no. no planning 9 months in advance, being able to get great deals on hotels and advance opurchase airfares...just leave it until the last moment and make it nigh on impossible for all concerned.

It's a joke....a dead set joke.....I have been doing sporting travel my entire life and have travelled the world taking groups away and NOTHING I have ever done compares to this situation.

I do what I do for Manly more out of the "love of the game"....in comparison to everything else I do I sometimes wonder why I do it. as it's more pain and for less money.

Better not say any more as there's steam coming out of my ears already.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

If the Titans game ends up on a Monday night I will not be a happy camper.  Friday night wouldn't be much better.

Sunday afternoon - perfect!

they dont have MNF in the last round, that game become Sunday nite

 

[Corso_Pete]

I understand why they do it, ie for 9 to get the best games on a Friday night, but that at best is hit & miss by Ch 9, sometimes they get it right others they don't. All fans clearly want and need the full draw with times and venues announced prior to the commencement of the season and every other major code in the world manage to do that.

I hope and pray that Gallop exerts some pressure on the networks and can change this for 2010. The year 2013 is just too far away to contemplate.

 

[vidmar]

Mata, there are many like you that can only get to a couple of games a season and understandably it is frustrating when you can't plan the logistics for travel and accomodation with any degree of certaintly until just a few weeks out.

I'm fortunate to be able to have a flexible schedule so can get to all of the games but this year was an absolute joke...with 3 games in QLD (!!!!) - Cowboys, Broncos and Titans - in a six week period in and around May/June and looking to travel on a budget as I have to buy 6 flights for me and the kids for each trip it was so frustrating not knowing when we played and being able to book cheap flights, plan work and kids schedules and taking advantage of cheap hotel deals.

Invariably I ended up getting a cheap flight on a Friday "just in case" and as a  result the kids missed 3 days of school when they didn't need to (and as they represent the school at footy and netball they were in the bad books with the sports teacher as they weren't there for games.)

As mine and the kids weekends are planned around going to the game it's a right royal pain to try and plan social events, kids things, work commitments etc until a few weeks before...I even had a friend who held off planning a birthday celebration until they knew when Manly would be playing as she knew if it clashed then the boys would prefer to be at the game.

I've lost so many days of earning potential this year and spent nights in hotels when I could have been home - the same goes for Melbourne in a couple of weeks, I could have flown on the Saturday or even Sunday but grabbed a cheapo flight on the Friday "just in case" so I'm up for 2 extra nights hotel bills and a days lost earnings potential.

Yes, I don't "need" to go but enjoy it as do the kids and make the best of it by planning big aways as a weekend break with the kids but even so the additional cost and last minute planning is a big pain and if the NRL are serious about promoting the game and memebrship the scheduleing of games needs to be a key component

I know the work Mark and Chris from Ambassador put in to planning the tours and the situation for the Titans game and Beavers last game at the end of last season was a complete joke...The Titans supporters had planned one group away trip all year and this was the game - there was about a dozen pages of thread on their web site from around round 5 with people making plans and of course it was binned because of the Monday night game and many couldn't travel due to work commitments/kids at school etc etc.

All the work Mark and Aaron from the club had done "just in case" had to be binned as very few from out of town were able to get to the game to farewell Steve.

My holiday in NZ was booked around a bye weekend at the end of June with a flight out on a Tuesday (Just in case we got a Monday the week before the bye) and then back the next week on a Thursday (7.00am flight as that was the cheapest so very dusty and groggy that morning in AKL airport!!)

We had to have a night in AKL (rather than stay in the mates rates batch in Taupo) so we could meet the early flight so again extra cost.

I booked the Thursday flight on "special" (Just in case we had a Friday against the dogs but lo and behold we got a Monday - I could have stayed an extra few days and got a better flight cheaper..)

I was with Mark at the members forum at the SFS before the season started and one Tigers fan hit the nail right on the head when she asked David Gallop "how can you expect people to become members and season ticket holders when they don't know if they will be able to attend the games as they don't know when they will be?"

A very good point but as he explained the TV pays a lot of money for the privelage..I guess it's a catch 22 you can't expect to have all of the games on TV with a big chunk free to air and not give the business paying the money some return - not agreeing with it of course but Mr Gallop and his management team are very well aware of the feelings of the game going public....

It is very high on their agenda according to Messrs Annersley and Gallop (even Warren Smith of Fox wrote about it in his column in this weeks big league)

There is talk of the full draw being released for 2010 but I've yet to see if that is fact or a "might/maybe" ...

 

[ManlyBacker]

This situation is well and truely beyond a joke. The problems faced by travelling supportahs are crazy and even worse for folks like Mark. Then there are fans like Fluffy who would have organised a wedding around a fixture and when you total up the different parts of people's lives then it is amazing just how many get consistently mucked around.

Even when they pick games 5 weeks out it is funny how often they still got it wrong - team performances can change that quickly. The only solution is to do the season in advance. The AFL attending and tv watching public seem happy to go with that and so should we.

 

[The Wheel]

Vid - in comparision to the AFL rights  and the cash paid for them, Channel 9 & Fox IMO aren't paying enough to have this type of one sided arrangement.  The NRL: & TV should start realising it is the fans who make the game what it is and they should be the priority - everythign will flow on from that including TV ratings, sponsorship, gate receipts merchandise etc etc.

Anyway I will be at the Club at 4:15 tomorrow so I can give you another sermon then....

 

[Canteen Worker]

I will never get over Beaver's last regular season Brookie game being played on a Monday night last season, and the league being gazumped by Fox!!!  How many kids and out of towners/shift workers/family people missed the privilege of sending out a legend due to this debacle of an arrangement.

If the AFL can manage it, surely the NRL can. Hang on, the AFL is not owned and run by a media company and actually tries to look after the game and the clubs!!!!!!!

 

[Corso_Pete]

of an arrangement.

and actually tries to look after the game and the clubs!!!!!!!

and their fans!!!!!!