George Williams calls for Eddie Hearn

[josie andrews]

The future of rugby league is still said to be up in the air, but now Warrington halfback George Williams had his say following an Instagram post by Eddie Hearn.

The owner of Matchroom Sport, Hearn had been linked – with what would be an incredible move – to invest in Super League earlier in the season as well as last year.

Hearn had posted on his Instagram about upcoming boxing fights, but included Headingley Stadium in the photo – where one of those fights will be held.

Williams – who has only just moved to Warrington following a drawn-out exit from NRL side Canberra Raiders – thought that, at first glance, Hearn was looking to get involved in the sport.

The English halfback posted on his own Instagram story: “Thought this was him saying he wants in on Super League for a minute! IF ONLY he grabbed hold of our sport going forward?? He’s what we need.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/george-w ... arn-42430/

[Caboosegg]

As most of those sports are reliant on sky and paper view no he really isn't.

I very much agree that new ideas are needed but Hearn in full control is not the way to do it as the sport would be left at 1 man's mercy.

They need to follow the route cricket has and look at ways to get the sport to newer audiences, I've always found cricket boring, I could watch.the 20/20 if I had to but this new 100 is exciting, bowl of the ball and every run being important makes it exciting.

[fozzieskem]

Hearn has always been very good at solo sports quite why this qualifies him as the saviour of RL im not sure

[ddtftf]

I honestly think Eddie Hearn would be the saviour of our game with the contacts he has and a new approach of a proven promoter . I also hate to say this but the game has become too sterile all the passion has been taken out of the game & referees are slowing the game down with continuous penalties and players pretending to be injured so the defence can get in place.

[Wigan_forever1985]

There may be a way in if we wanted Hearn - he has essentially done away with sky now and moved to streaming with dazn that could become a potential tv partner? Boxing is quite sporadic in quality so maybe having some other sports on that platform would increase the subscriptions and in turn rugby league coild potentially gain new fans from people paying for the service and wanting to maximise their usage by watching everything

[blindsideprop]

Perhaps Hearn is the answer perhaps he is not.As to being at the mercy of 1 man we are presently at the mercy of Sky, if they pull out of RL we are in dire straights.The sport urgently needs a revamp with new ideas and the people running our game at the moment are failing badly.

[the pieman]

Hearn has always been very good at solo sports quite why this qualifies him as the saviour of RL im not sure

true, but could he do any worse than the current adminstrators of the game?

if he can make some of those games appeal to a wider audience, then why not RL? i'm not knocking darts, snooker or boxing as they all have appeal to certain audiences and i'm sure you can get good / exciting games of darts / snooker, but if RL cant be more attractive and exciting than those two games then surely it is time to pack up

from a fans perspective we all feel that RL doesnt get the right amount of exposure, whether that be TV, radio or newspapers, but surely he has contacts that could increase that on all fronts? Just being isolated on sky(when they want to put a game on) and a 1 hour slot after mid-night on bbc, just isnt doing the game justice, but it seems that our current adminstrators are happy with that, so why not try something different?

[nathan_rugby]

I don't think we have anything to lose, although very different in many ways, what the Hearn's have done for Boxing, Darts and Snooker is remarkable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Darts gets more/close to the number of Sky viewers as some Rugby League games.

My only concern would be him having no experience of Rugby League in terms of being a fan. He doesn't know what the atmosphere used to be like, quality of play, quality of teams etc.

What he would focus on is attendances, viewing figures and sponsorship which we know are a problem. But could he help address low participation at amateur level / school etc?

[Wigan_forever1985]

I don't think we have anything to lose, although very different in many ways, what the Hearn's have done for Boxing, Darts and Snooker is remarkable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Darts gets more/close to the number of Sky viewers as some Rugby League games.

My only concern would be him having no experience of Rugby League in terms of being a fan. He doesn't know what the atmosphere used to be like, quality of play, quality of teams etc.

What he would focus on is attendances, viewing figures and sponsorship which we know are a problem. But could he help address low participation at amateur level / school etc?

I think thats a fair point but i would argue if you increase tv audiences you probably see that correlates to attendances too. I have often watched a bit of darts on tv despite not being a fan and thought - that looks like a good night i fancy going - so i think the 2 premises arent mutually exclusive.

in terms of the grass roots stuff yea i think that is questionable although if you look at what he is doing in boxing with things like fight camp and bringing new talent through he certainly understands the need for the next wave to always be there

[nathan_rugby]

I don't think we have anything to lose, although very different in many ways, what the Hearn's have done for Boxing, Darts and Snooker is remarkable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Darts gets more/close to the number of Sky viewers as some Rugby League games.

My only concern would be him having no experience of Rugby League in terms of being a fan. He doesn't know what the atmosphere used to be like, quality of play, quality of teams etc.

What he would focus on is attendances, viewing figures and sponsorship which we know are a problem. But could he help address low participation at amateur level / school etc?

I think thats a fair point but i would argue if you increase tv audiences you probably see that correlates to attendances too. I have often watched a bit of darts on tv despite not being a fan and thought - that looks like a good night i fancy going - so i think the 2 premises arent mutually exclusive.

in terms of the grass roots stuff yea i think that is questionable although if you look at what he is doing in boxing with things like fight camp and bringing new talent through he certainly understands the need for the next wave to always be there

Good post, fully agree!

All of the darts major competitions sell out year after year throughout the UK now.

My only worry is the drinking aspect associated to it which isn't going to be the case in Rugby League. That being said neither is Boxing so...