Offloads: Make it a World Club Jamboree!

The World Club Challenge on Friday night was a fantastic stand-alone fixture for everyone concerned.

The Leeds Rhinos had the chance to host and with the ground packed to the rafters their supporters cheered them on to glory over the best side in Australia.

Fantastic performances came from the likes of Kevin Sinfield, Ryan Hall, Rob Burrow, and in patches Brent Webb (when he wasn’t letting his indiscipline spoil it), let an audience spanning two hemispheres know what they are capable of producing on the big occasion.

The question then, is should there be more big occasions like the one we witnessed? This would not only produce quality and intense match-ups like that game and the respective Grand Finals those two sides came from, but would also give players the opportunity to showcase their skills to a larger audience.

While players are weary (quite literally) of adding more fixtures to an already crowded season, especially here in the UK, they are keen to have more big events to play in. One idea I support is limiting players to twenty club games a year.

Not only would this reduce burn out for the top players, but it would encourage clubs to rotate their youngsters giving them first team experience. We’ve already seen this happen when the Exiles played England in the International Origin Match on a fully programmed weekend of Super League last year, and attendances were not affected – as neither was the product on the field with some great contests.

So let’s see some creative thinking from the two hemispheres governing bodies to get this show well and truly on the road. The fans want to see it, the players want to play in it, and as a result, I’m sure it’ll create massive revenue too.

Talking of success, congratulations to Hemel Stags Rugby League Club on being admitted to Championship One for 2013, the second new club to be announced into the competition following Northampton’s announced inclusion last year. The expansion of the second tier of the semi-professional game is really exciting, and bodes well for the World Cup year.

I’m going make this a remarkably positive Offloads column by commenting on the rise in TV audiences so far this year.

I’m not one for talking about stats in depth, and if you’d like to see some more detailed information it’s available elsewhere on the website, but that any rugby league broadcast has surpassed the viewing figures for the 2011 Grand Final so early in the year has got to be great news for the game.

I talk about this with ‘Odds On Rob’ on the latest podcast (audio) episode 16 that will be available for your listening pleasure later today, and from tomorrow for non-subscribers via iTunes.

Finally, on a more sombre note and following Code13′s gesture, I’d like to offer condolences to the Millward family from all involved with the Code13 Rugby League Lock-In podcast. It was tragic news and we can only imagine what Ian and his family must be going through following the sudden death of Robbie on Sunday. Our thoughts are with them, and I’m sure the response from the rugby league family has been as compassionate as ever.