Lets see how the newspapers/tv/web treat the sport this week as we head towards the opening ceremony. any decent previews in the Sundays?



i'll start with



1. the mail on sunday (read this in a cafe just to make it clear i didn't buy it

)

in amongst full page articles on head injuries in union and a family of tongan union players, was a semi decent article filling one third of a page on the burgess twins. no startling revelations but at least it was positive. very small piece on the italy game below, and that was your lot

[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/article-2468131/Rugby-League-World-Cup-2013-Burgess-twins-make-England-happy-family.htmlhere[/url is the article which made the printed version. to be fair to the MOS there is quite a bit more league stuff online than there is in print

2. talksport. the england performance won the weston super mare award on the mick quinn and georgy bingham breakfast show, for the biggest nightmare performance of the week. well at least it was publicity

3. i had a quick click through gazetta della sport online but no mention at all of the italian league result. surprised it didnt even make it in as a quirky news item. oh well, always tomorrow



as a slight aside, does anyone think that the defeat to italy may have generated a bit more publicity about the world cup than a one sided hammering would have? as an example i couldn't have seen league even getting a mention on talksport today if that had been the case. is the bad publicity better than no publicity?

I get the Sunday Times every week and opened it today expecting to se the usual 2 lines. I was amazed to see a whole page devoted to the World Cup (the first time I can remember a full page of RL in all my years of reading this publication).



There was the usual stuff on the Burgess brothers, a report on yesterday's match and a summary of the groups. However, when I read the main article my heart sank - within the first few paragraphs I had read about how small the RLWC is, the lack of awareness of the tournament, the antipathy of league supporters, the thousands of empty seats expected at the opener, the £2 million loss from the last home World Cup, the farcical Stobart deal and the rebellion against the RFL.



Now, I'm not debating whether they were factually correct, but after reading the article I was convinced it must have been the work of Stephen Jones, but no -it was our very own Chris Irvine.



So the one time in living memory we get a full page spread in the ST and the journo uses it to have a moan instead of picking out the many exciting and positive things we have to look forward to in the coming weeks - unbelievable!

Full page in the Sunday Telegraph too, and the article was quite positive I felt. Saying it was RL's big chance to sell itself to the South...all very good, until you glance over to the match report of yesterday's game and the headline is 'England Embarrassed by Italy' but what else could they write!?

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/ There is reference to ferrets and s but otherwise reasonable.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/ There is reference to ferrets and s but otherwise reasonable.

the sunday people's [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/andy-farrell-says-england-can-2472519exclusive[/url remember this bloke?

Typical Irvine sadly. No-one says lie and be a cheerleader, but jeez, why be so negative? What about the thousands of tickets sold rather than empty seats? Is he William Eve?

both of 'em are 'stadium half empty' rather than 'stadium half full'

Despite the great on field sport RL, it is simply not capturing the imagination of the British public. Sooner the RFL and people associated with the game realise this the better and then the removal of the dead wood can begin.



The NRL proves it can be done. Perhaps it is now time to follow their model at how to capture the imaginations? The NRL, like RU in several countries has a great media machine and some excellent blue-chip/middle class sponsors behind it.



Perhaps it is time for RL to rid of it's lower class chip on the shoulder Benidorm image?

Sinfield is on BBC breakfast at 7.35

The England vs Ireland game at Huddersfield has sold out

[url=http://www.johnsmithsstadium.com/news/post/the-rlwc-england-v-ireland-game-is-a-sellout-news from the Johns Smith's stadium website[/url



England vs IRELAND for Chirst's sake! Ireland are a team that have no professional competition and have produce 1 genuine Irish professional player in as long as I can remember. Nearly 25,000 people have, in advance, bought tickets to watch this England play.

That's more than were turning up to watch the playoff rounds.



You don't have to look that far for a positive. Will we see TV footage of a packed house, filled with supporters of all clubs mixing and having fun and embodying our "Family Sport" image? Will the attandence figure for this match get rammed down the throat of our detractor and potential future sponsors? Who knows.



If we can achieve the holy grail and not only have a well attended WC, but also one that England win, it could be used as a stepping stone for RL to really come from the shadows and stamp some authority on potential audiences and the media to which is currenly cowers from.



Given the Italy result, its a long shot, but here's hoping.

i cringe every time i hear the word advertise or sell our selves to the neutrals. its like we over worry about every little aspect, Is the lightening bright enough 'we might look amateurish on telly' so fricken what people who are open minded and have a slight interest will enjoy this world cup and those who don't who cares? Rugby league actually has a good neutral fan base its just the RFL who hasn't capitalized on that it has nothing to do with the world cup.

A full page in the Observer on Sunday.

I don't give a monkeys what a load of people that do not know our sport, and have never seen a game say to me its the best sport in the world and I can not wait for the world cup to start and lets hope for an England win

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/24481185 On front page of bbc sport, 10 reasons to watch.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/24481185 On front page of bbc sport, 10 reasons to watch.