This week the New South Wales Rugby League announced there would be 57 matches of their 2018 Intrust Super Premiership shown on Channel 9 and Fox Sports.
It’s a tremendous coup as they will also have up to two games broadcast on Fox League each weekend providing a good promotion for the competition.ย It’s timely considering the Under 20’s National competition has been axed in favour of going back to state based competitions, promoting the game at a second tier level has never been more important.
The big winners are the New South Wales rugby league public with a wider television audience.ย However the premier rugby league state Queensland is seen to miss out on an opportunity to gain more exposure.
More interesting, the influence of Channel 9 to move their Intrust Super Cup game to Saturday 1pm which is in line with the Intrust Super Premiership new prime time-slot.
It seems the Queensland Rugby League has been influenced by free-to-air television as the Sunday afternoon fixture proved popular among fans.ย If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Why can’t the Intrust Super Cup, widely regarded as the best of the second-tier rugby league competitions miss out on coverage through Fox Sports?
This on top of the reluctance to televise live matches from Port Moresby’s National Football Stadium, even if it means using their passionate commentary team, it feels sometimes the governing body is half-interested in promoting their assets.
Could Foxtel look at influencing the QRL to play an Intrust Super Cup fixture prior to one of their NRL matches on the Gold Coast, at Suncorp Stadium, or in Townsville?ย This option sounds fantastic, but a long way from reality.
What a pity the Intrust Super Cup has been left in the dark because they’res plenty to like about the high standard of their competition.
https://nothingbutleague.com/home/fixtures/
