Eddie Hearn delivers brutal ‘dying’ assessment of British rugby league
Eddie Hearn says rugby league in the UK is 'dying'.
Iconic sports promoter Eddie Hearn has insisted that rugby league in the United Kingdom is a ‘dying sport’ in a fresh verdict of the game’s long-term health.
Hearn and Matchroom Sport has helped transform the fortunes of sports including boxing, snooker and darts in the last two decades. That was emphasised recently by the global success of the PDC World Darts Championship: and the fact the PDC has agreed a new five-year deal with Sky that eclipses what the broadcaster pays Super League.
Hearn was approached by the sport several years ago to try and inspire a similar turnaround of rugby league’s fortunes. However, he ultimately walked away when he was informed Matchroom would not be given the freedom to do what they wanted – with the RFL instead only wanting help with flagship events.
Since then, league’s fortunes in the UK have continued to struggle. And Hearn, speaking to the Australian podcast Bloke in a Bar, has doubled down on his belief that the sport is dwindling away.
He said: “I was approached a couple of years ago by the rugby league guys to help the sport, because it’s a dying sport (in the UK). It’s struggling, rugby league in the UK. Bad.”
Hearn insisted that the primary reason for that is that there are no marketable, fresh stars for the sport to capitalise upon: much like darts has done with the rise of Luke Littler.
“And the reason it’s struggling are there is no stars in my opinion,” he continued. “And they’re not being pushed and enhanced in the right way. If you told me to name a rugby league player I’d go Jamie Peacock, Ellery Hanley.. all these guys from the 90s.
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“Because they were on mainstream TV and they were celebrities. They were stars, and now we don’t have any of that. So the game is dying, the TV contracts are whimpering out. The value of those contracts are really dying. Commercially the sport is dying.
“They asked me to get involved in a couple of the bigger events and I said the only way we’d get involved is if we had an overhaul.
“And we were in charge of that, not this event, the Challenge Cup and that kinda stuff. It’s the whole sport needs to be revamped from grass roots to the elite level. It’s a great sport and a brutal sport.. I don’t know, over here (Australia) it’s a different sport. It’s obviously a huge sport over here and globally.”
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