Twitter
Twitter arguably first came to national attention of Rugby League fans back in August 2010 when Luck Burgess ‘tweeted’ a picture of the injury he suffered against Castleford – this provoked an overwhelmingly positive reaction from his followers and Twitter’s influence on Rugby League has grown rapidly ever since.
Shaun Ainscough (@ainy18), was quick to follow up the emerging interest of RL on Twitter as he declared “I love tweeting,” commenting on how it is an enjoyable way to interact with fans in the lead up to his debut for the Bulls on boxing day 2010.
Whilst many players themselves have joined the Twitter community Sam Tomkins leads the way in the British game, with 17,000 followers as the second oldest Burgess, NRL’s Sam, leads the Rugby League pack having amassed over 30,000 followers on the developing site and union convert Sonny Bill Williams has amassed 77 thousand followers following his star turn during the Union world cup earlier in the year.Trends
News can break immediately and spread across the tweeting public almost instantaneously and news from the world of Rugby League has featured amongst the ‘trends’ in the UK on numerous occasions. Widnes Vikings were the first to prove RL to be a topic of great discussion as they trended worldwide, on the back of gaining a super league licence back in March whilst Ryan Hall’s impressive tries against Australia at Wembley saw him become the 5th most discussed topic in the UK.
The news of Matt Parish’s resignation from Salford after just six games in charge first broke on twitter. This saw his name ‘trend’ for a short time on the Thursday of his departure, whilst on a more positive note, ‘Darren Lockyer’ was a popular tending topic in Britain following his crucial performance in Australia’s triumphant 4 nations winning side, which marked the end of a successful 17 year career.
You may think it is only for the younger generation, but this couldn’t be further from the truth! 45-year-old league legend @matinoffiah is a self-confessed Twitter addict having tweeted over 7,000 times whilst @garryschofield6, one year Offiah’s senior, has amassed just over 5,000 followers by posting his opinionated thoughts on all things RL. While journalists, from George riley of the BBC to are helping to improve the reliability of the sometimes questionable news which appears on the site.
Not just Rugby Players…
England international footballer, Wayne Rooney, who boasts a following of over 1.5 million people, expressed his surprising support of Leeds Rhinos through twitter during the super league grand final, whilst Rio Ferdinand has spoken of his love of RL through the social platform proclaiming to his ever expanding army of over 1.7 million followers, that he is a Wigan supporter, referencing Frano Botica’s ability to kick goals “with his eyes closed” as a reason or his love of the Warriors.
However, the biggest endorsement of RL has come from QPR midfielder, Joey Barton. The controversial one time England international has given his backing of the sport, most notably crediting the use of technology during the grand final, to his following of around 500,000 fans, “all the big decisions, correct…” His comments on the site since have seen his following almost double and as the former schoolboy rugby league player continues to support our sport and win the hearts of Rugby League’s tweeting community – a community which seemingly continues to increase with every passing day.
Facebook
Whilst Twitter is undoubtedly influential in the promotion of our sport, Facebook cannot be overlooked. With over 800 million active users worldwide, it is one of the most lucrative online platforms in the world, however, its influence on rugby league is yet to become pertinent with controversy such as Ryan Baliey’s jokes regarding the tragic earthquake in Japan back in March, overshadowing the positives.
For example Leeds’ bid to host a world cup game was based upon a Facebook campaign as Leeds Rhinos and United teamed up with Leeds City Council to support the proposal. In addition, it offers the chance for more reliable sources of news as official Facebook pages allow news sources to post the latest updates as it becomes a dominant force in the development of new media.
However, Ruby League’s impact stretches further than the relative confines of social networking. Canada Rugby League took to the internet in an attempt to boost their squad and one man to take advantage of this was Harlequins under 20’s player, Louis Robinson.
He was aware of his Canadian ancestry and Rugby League in the country came to his attention through a simple internet search! Whilst browsing the site, he was able to acknowledge the dedication of the small Rugby League community of Canada, and he decided to contact the team which quickly led to Robinson earning his first cap for the Canadian national team. In just his second game, on the back of a 40-10 victory over Jamaica, he played a key role in a closely fought 18-16 defeat of world cup qualifiers, the USA tomahawks.
Facebook is unquestionably popular, however, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on the expansion of our game, but it can be a useful social tool which allows those who are fans already to get a good feed of Rugby League.
So, we must turn to twitter, and as it begins to rise in popularity, further interest can only develop for the sport and with the likes of Ferdinand and Barton on board, there seems to be a genuine opportunity for people to be introduced to Rugby league by simply logging on.
There are also developing attempts to use YouTube to our advantage. A channel was launched in January of 2009 and it has since gained almost 700,000 hits whilst a highlights channel for all games was launched at the start of last season and features all the tries form all rounds and internationals – gaining around a quarter of a million views since its introduction in February.
For rugby league, if the future’s bright - the future’s online.
