It’s our time to explode

TWENTY years ago a coach of mine told me the game in the southern hemisphere was ready to explode – now we have the same opportunity in the north.

The coach was Greg Mackey the former Warrington and Hull half-back, and he said with the amount of Pacific islanders playing the game in Australia, and with TV deals increasing, that rugby league was ready to go onto another level there.

This World Cup is showing how strong the game is in the southern hemisphere and the Pacific nations have been outstanding.

You also get a real feel for how important the game is in Australia.

It’s fantastic that has been achieved. Now the game in England and the northern hemisphere overall is at a tipping point.

I want to present my own vision for 10 years down the line because we could be on the cusp of something exciting if we get two things right. We need strong leadership at the top of the sport, and an understanding of what our unique selling point is.

Fast-forward 10 years to 2027 and we could have Toronto, New York and Boston in Super League alongside a resurgent Bradford Bulls. We’re selling out stadiums along the M62 corridor and have got attractive fixtures for TV companies such as New York versus Leeds Rhinos.

The salary cap is £4.5million thanks to increased TV income from North America, and we have star players from there, England and Australia.

We also understand our strength is we are a sport ingrained in local communities.

You talk about six degrees of separation, but as fans we’re only one or two degrees of separation away from our heroes who play the game. We should be selling that to leading companies.

What would help that growth in the short term is England winning this World Cup.

We’ve seen what happened when England won the Rugby Union World Cup, the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill (above) having success in the Olympics, and the cricket team winning the Ashes. Those sports grew tremendously.

If we can do the same it would provide such a shot in the arm for the game here.