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JULY 2010 ISSUE 65 THE RUGBY LEAGUE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RFL HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION on the inside… Lion Gavin’s final roar? Oh brother! All around the world What does the Carnegie Challenge Cup mean to you? 16 Heading in the right direction CONTENTS 5 Media matters 8 New York, New York 9 The power of sport 10 Saints alive 14 Building for the future 15 Spreading the game 6 Lion Gavin’s 12 Oh 18 Blackpool rocks final roar? brother! 19 Planning ahead 20 Proving popular 21 Warriors march forward 22 Amazing line up 24 Getting kitted out 26 Getting motivated 30 The youth of today JULY 2010 ISSUE 65 THE RUGBY LEAGUE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE RFL HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION CARNEGIE CHALLENGE CUP FINAL Saturday 28th August, kick off 2.30pm, Wembley on the inside… * TICKETS £21 - £76. SPECIAL FAMILY TICKET OFFER : £55 & £79 Lion Gavin’s final roar? Oh brother! All around the world 28 All around BOOK NOW, Call 0844 8561113 the world or visit www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk For Hospitality call 0844 856 1114. For Disabled enquiries call 0844 856 1113 or e-mail [email protected] *2 adults & 2 children. Offer on £21 & £31 tickets INSIDE THIS ISSUE MEDIA MATTERS .... with Nick Boothroyd Welcome to issue 65 of the Rugby League Bulletin .... One of the things which RL we’ve been focusing on IN NUMBERS With summer now in full swing the latest issue of the Rugby League recently in the Community Bulletin is now with us and yet again features some interesting and Game is improving our informative articles on a host of different topics. direct communication with John Ledger has caught up with new England coach Steve McNamara after his first game in charge against France and finds out what Steve Rugby League supporters has planned ahead of the Four Nations later this year, whilst another via social networking sites exclusive interview sees Neil Barraclough speak with Engage Super such as Facebook .... League referee Phil Bentham and his brother Anthony who has taken the first steps in following his brother into the big time. Other highlights in the magazine include an interview with Great 24,844 Tickets sold in the 2009 Britain Community Lions players Gavin Corfield as he looks ahead to Community Game raffle In the UK alone there are currently 24 the forthcoming tour of South Africa, Mark Ramsdale looks at what a million people on Facebook and 96.4 change in Government could mean for the game and new Wales Rugby per cent of all 13 - 32 year olds have a Facebook account. League General Manager Sash Stosic explains his plans for the game in The official Engage Super League the Principality. Facebook page has been running for a fair Finally, don’t miss an interesting piece on the work that Engage while now and has around 14,000 fans and Super League side St Helens have been doing in their community counting. and see how the recent BARLA tours have gone as Phil Hodgson Clicking “Like” on this page is a great way investigates. for those interested in this elite competition to read previews, reports and stories on their news feed and the page certainly enjoys a lot of discussion and banter between fans of rival clubs. In April we set up the official RFL TOM HOYLE 1,418 Followers on the RFL Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ Editor rugbyfootballleague) to represent the [email protected] Facebook page National Governing Body on the site with the aims of increasing participation in the sport and increasing awareness of Rugby League activity. It’s also proved to be a very useful way of gathering feedback from supporters, after The Magic Weekend for example, as well as gauging opinions amongst those interested in the sport. We’ve recently signed up with Sport England to form part of their Community twitter.com/CommunityRL facebook.com/rugbyfootballleague Sports Hub network which they have formed in conjunction with Facebook and a number of other National Governing Bodies. Essentially this will make it much easier Published by the Community Game Services Department of the RFL. 180 More Wheelchair participants for us to reach more people interested in The RFL, The Zone, St Andrews Road, Huddersfield, HD1 6PT. to be recruited by the end of 2012 Rugby League and link more information Tel - 01484 448000 | Fax - 01484 545582, as part of the Community Strategy between all of our active social network Email - [email protected] | Internet - www.rfl.uk.com channels of which we currently have nine networking sites to organise and promote percent higher than in January 2008, with across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Rugby League activity and Facebook is 5.8 million users. Indeed sports information The idea is for the official RFL Facebook certainly proving to be one of the most is the fourth most popular mobile genre, The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the RFL Board of page to become a central hub for other successful means for us to communicate preceded only by search, social networking Directors. Rugby League sites on Facebook to make directly with people. and news access. it easier to find and receive the exact Talking of “new media” we recently Meanwhile 47 million sport videos were information you’re after. attended a sport and media conference watched in the UK online in January 2010, Contributors - Tom Hoyle, John Ledger, Neil Barraclough, swpix.com, Dave Williams, Nick So, for example if you live in the where we were told that it’s no longer “new an increase of 47 percent in six months, Boothroyd, Phil Hodgson, Alex Ferguson, Gav Wilson, Mark Ramsdale Greg Pennington Castleford area and you’re interested in media”, it’s “now media.” whilst worldwide time spent online on playing Masters Rugby League you will be Whilst I’m sure they were very pleased sports sites is up 34 percent year on year able to quickly find the link on this central with this sound bite, the statistics which (Feb vs. Feb). If you are interested in advertising in the Rugby League Bulletin, please contact - hub to direct you to a relevant page with all [email protected] we were given including the Facebook ones This multitude of different ways that the information on. above certainly seem to prove their point in sports fans are now receiving news beyond Main Cover Photograph - Steve McNamara, England squad announcement (swpix) 3 Players on debut for England You could then see what was on offer, highlighting the changes to how people are the more traditional media outlets mean sign up, invite your mates to sign up, talk to © The Rugby Football League Ltd 2010 v France in the Gillette Fusion accessing information. that it’s important that we stay on our toes other people involved and receive regular We learned that the number of people and utilise all the different communication Designed by - Tom Hoyle International at Leigh updates. accessing sports information on their channels which are available to us. Printed by - Redwood Print Ltd Tel - 01484 711111 There are many benefits of using social mobiles in the UK in January 2010 was 38 - 4 - RUGBY LEAGUE BULLETIN www.tryit.co.uk www.tryit.co.uk RUGBY LEAGUE BULLETIN - 5 - Tour schedule Great Britain’s Community Lions are putting v South Africa A Nigel the finishing touches to the planning and Saturday July 24 LION GAVIN’S Kick off 3.00pm preparation of an historic tour to South v South African Universities & Colleges Africa – and for one well-known figure in Pretoria Wednesday July 28 the amateur game, it could prove to be his Kick off 7.00pm final swansong on the international circuit. FINAL ROAR? v South African Rhinos NEIL BARRACLOUGH explains .... Vanderbijlpark Saturday July 31 Kick off 3.00pm Wigan St Judes centre Gavin Corfield is contemplating retirement in the next 12 months, a decision that could bring to an their players being big and physical, so we’re end an illustrious amateur career. gearing ourselves up for some real battles The 29-year-old is now the most capped and some very tough games. Community Lions player of all time and has “I’ve never been before, but I’m really a string of international honours dating back looking forward to it, especially when I think to the 2001 BARLA U21s tour of America. I’ll be retiring at the end of the season. The Caps at U23 and open age level followed, length of time I’ve played means I probably and for the last five years Corfield has been just need to take a break from things.” an instrumental part of the Community Corfield first joined St Judes as a bright- Lions set up. eyed 10-year-old. Now two decades on “It’s a great honour to represent your and with his career as an electrician to country,” he says. “There’s a lot of people concentrate on, rugby league is potentially in the amateur game, particularly young set to take a back seat in his life. lads – and we’ve got some at St Judes too But not before one special visitor casts – who’ve not signed professional terms at On the attack - Gavin Corfield his eye over Corfield’s farewell appearances 21 or 22 and they think that’s it. in a Community Lions shirt. “I had a couple of chances to go semi-pro, “My dad John is coming over to watch us but I’m now so glad that I didn’t because I’ve in South Africa,” he says.