A great PR exercise by Wigan

Wigan Warriors did us all proud in Las Vegas. OK, Warrington might have made more of a game of it, but we all warmed to Wigan's charm, enterprise and brilliant attacking rugby in beating the Wolves 48-24 in the entertainment capital of the world.

The Warriors were fantastic and if their plan was to show the world what Super League, Rugby League, was all about, they did a wonderful job.

We all benefited from what was on show in a city made famous by the likes of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra . . . Americans whom you can bet had never even heard of Matty Peet, Bevan French, Jai Field or Liam Marshall.

Junior Nsemba wasn't even born when all those famous Americans were strutting around Las Vegas. . . But all of us who follow rugby league in 2025 owe a great debt of gratitude to Matt Peet and his cronies for "selling" our sport as they did in what can only be described as a fantastic PR exercise.

Talking of which, I wonder if our media coverage is so good that it is actually having an adverse affect on attendances,

George Riley, young Kasey Smith and Co do a remarkably good job, both on match days and in bringing you all the news and views from behind the scenes every day of the week.

Social media is all the rage these days, to such an extent that IMG give clubs brownie points for the number of 'hits' they get on social media devices.

'Hits', of course, reflect interest, but so do the size of crowds — and at this time of year, when its cold, windy and wet and draughts are causing curtains to sway even on the inside of sitting rooms etc, its bound to be a temptation to stay at home. The big hope is that as the weather gets warmer, so the people will flock to BP to see for themselves what has already caused gates to increase several times over.

For now, patience is the key word as we tread water.

This is especially so when George does such a magnificent job which includes commentary on the day, TV highlights the day afterwards, full TV coverage in midweek and day-to-day reaction from players, officials etc.

There's nothing like being there, of course, and we do all we can to be successful on both counts, but does one adversely affect the other?

For instance, we go to Hull KR in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup on Friday night, March 14, kick-off 8pm and fans would clearly be more tempted to hit the M62 on a busy Friday if the media coverage wasn't so brilliant.

For the record, there are eight cup-ties that weekend—three on the Friday night, three on the Saturday and two on the Sunday.

FRIDAY: Hull KR v OLDHAM; Salford v Bradford Bulls; St Helens v Leeds (televised by The Sportsman).

SATURDAY: Catalans v Featherstone; Widnes v Warrington; Wigan v Hull (televised by BBC Sport,

SUNDAY: Huddersfield v Wakefield; Leigh v Batley.

Super League clubs are used to playing at times other than Sunday for purposes of TV coverage and although there is no suggestion yet of TV coverage in this instance there could well b so in the next few days.

Irrespective of that, however, Rovers usually play home games on a Friday night and they will presumably draw a much bigger crowd that night than they would on the Saturday or Sunday.

Compare the crowds Rovers get on a Friday with the number of people you would expect to travel that far on a Friday, or even take time off work to make life easier, and it has to be a Friday;

The gate money is split two ways in a cup tie so it matters. Just as the board decided, on balance, that the best move for the club was to let George Hirst go to Wigan without a scrap so they concluded it was more beneficial to the club to go along with Hull KR's Friday night request than to dig in their heels and lose out financially.

When running a club, there are times when you've got to let your head rule your heart and take likelihoods and realities into account.

Also, the players themselves were in favour of a Friday night game and a Saturday morning off so they could spend a full weekend with their families — a luxury they rarely enjoy.

THAT WAS ANOTHER CONSIDERATION BY A CLUB THAT HAS ALREADY SHOWN MANY TIMES OVER THAT IT ONLY ACTS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OLDHAM RLFC (1876) LTD.