Was just reading a VERY interesting topic on Rugby league..and what it (and Union) can do to attract more interest and become a major sport. Not sure they can, but this is what works;
Skills pay the bills...and "the beautiful game" garners most attention because of it. Skill is what leaves folk open mouthed and attracts most interest..this is why when such moments of genius occur and are uploaded they get millions of views...and with football it's a regular occurance. With football requiring more talent with using your feet being a lot harder than the easier task of using your hands, skill is the prime requirement. Your size, how many protein shakes you can down...all irrelevant. A rare moment of skill in Rugby was a dummy pass by O'Driscoll which got over a million hits on YouTube...imagine if Rugby had endless moments such as this it would become a major sport (either code). Running into folk which anyone can do, while having some admirers, doesn't generate much interest.
Breathtaking moments are seen on a regular basis in football from the very best players...Luis Suarez for the whole of last season for example. Wasn't a game I watched that he didn't do something ridiculous with the ball and players like him leave folk on the edge if their seats..bit like when he came on for Liverpool at the MCG in front of 95,000 screaming Aussies last summer. It's about the x factor...Lomu being the last in Union.
Then there's the method of scoring...a goal in football is the most visually pleasing in sport. Running with the ball tucked in your arm and then crossing a line the width of the field...how many vids are there on YouTube of this? Not many. Any those that are on there don't get many views...and It's not because it's a much easier method of scoring, it's because it's visually much less aesthetic pleasing. A quality goal in football gets uploaded and quickly accumulates a huge number of hits. My point again is that if Rugby (either code) was less running into folk and had more moments of skill the interest in the sport would increase.
In terms of image, football is far far worse than Rugby league for example..largely as a result of being so big...primadonna players, huge wages and egos, cheating....biting...but people who watch don't care about all of this. It's trivial..infact if anything more scandal is only a good thing (bad publicity is good publicity). Luis Suarez bites someone and it makes headline news all over the world...and you have the likes of Mike Tyson and Bruce Springsteen chiming in on it. It just makes the story bigger..and this is a celebrity world we are living in. Good behaviour wont make the sport more enticing. Rugby league players come across as down to earth, approachable, there doesnt appear to be much (if any) cheating..the lack of foreign influence helps on this score.
The issue of class....Rugby league, like football, is rooted in the working classes, but unlike football, Rugby league has retained its working class identity to this day (largely because money hasnt exploded as it has in football). This is probably a handicap as middle class folk wont be able to identify with it...similar to working classes and Rugby Union. That there are two codes is the biggest handicap of all...theres an obvious division...us and them. I dont think that can be bridged, certainly in England...unless the two codes combine and become one again (unlikely obviously).
The biggest sports in the world are...football, basketball, golf, tennis, boxing...while motor racing, cycling and athletics are global. None of which are collision based. Each variation of a collision based games are played in their own pockets...American football in America, Aussie Rules in Australia, while the two Rugby codes are almost entirely played within the British commonwealth (save southwest France)...they aren't as appealing for most people. There is a glass ceiling for these sports in terms of growth but they will have their niche following.
