Mailbox: All Super League games should be shown live

Mailbox gives you the chance to get your voice heard and start the debate with the rugby league audience.

Want to be featured? Email the editor: james@loverugbyleague.com

Dear James,

I wonder if you can do anything. My name is Jayne Thompson Riley and I support St Helens RLFC. I live 1000yds from the Saints ground, BUT I am disabled and wheelchair bound and suffer with circulation problems, so it would be too cold for me to go to the ground and I have no close family or friends who can take me to the games, so therefore I have to rely on my TV and laptop to watch or listen to the game.

I wrote to Sky Sports last year and didn’t get very far. I requested that the games that were not being shown alongside the main game being shown, could they not be put on the red button on a basis so that the public could choose which game they wanted to watch, as the cameras are there recording the matches as they show all the tries at the end of the TV game or sort out some sort of live stream so that at least I could watch it live, like Wimbledon does with the tennis.

I didn’t get very far with them as they said it would discourage people from going to the game if they where all on TV. I explained to them that I could not get to the game and did they know how frustrating it was that I can watch every NFL game in America via a live stream, but I can’t watch a game that’s five minutes away from my home.

I can even hear the cheers with my window open, I have to rely on Radio Merseyside via live stream on my laptop to listen to the commentary (and have you ever listened to Ray French’s commentary, it’s always, we didn’t play like that in my day bull!! Sorry Ray!!)

Do you know of any live streams to be able to watch the games as they are being played, or have you got any clout when it comes to trying to convince Sky Sports to put them on the red button, I am sure if they do that they would get higher viewing figures from lots of disabled people who are unable to get to watch there team as I would like to do.

There was one Wigan v Saints game that wasn’t on TV and Wigan did a live stream and charged £4.99 it only happened the once I think it was about 18 months ago, whether they were experimenting or not at the time it was Wigan tv and you had to subscribe I think £5 a month. Well you can imagine being a staunch Saints fan, I only watched the Saints v Wigan game and then unsubscribed!

Now, why can’t all the clubs do that?

I know they are concerned over match attendance numbers but if they charged a £5 for the live stream of their own club games, they would still get something from it.

Thank you for reading this,
a very frustrated Saints fan,
Jayne Thompson Riley

Editor comments: Rugby league seems to be treading water with its TV coverage. We have roughly the same live coverage now as we did 10 years ago, however the Sky Sports PR people want to spin it. That is despite the modern technology, the presence of live streaming and the much broader sports market in terms of channels and outlets. With Sky TV games already clashing with other games, aren’t we already taking the risk of stopping people going the games anyway?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.