50 replies to this topic

[Cherry and White]

i may be wrong but the "house full" sign is 72,000, the other 18,000 tickets were never on sale.

[my missus]

the club wembley seats will be included in the attendance, the other 5000 seats plus the club seats that didn't turn up made it look like a lot of empty seats but hey 80 odd thousand aint bad.

[Wilderspoolmemories]

There were more than enough empty seats in the Leeds end with 20 mins to go. The wire end seemed to stay quite full though!

[Rioman]

Att given out as 85200 odd, maybe there looked a few more than 5k empty seats, but pretty full.
Club Wembley has to be sorted next time the deals are negotiated, empty prime seats, not good if you're stuck up in the rafters if better seats were available.

Agree with you about Club Wembley. Dave Woods was spot on when he described it as "The Ring of Indifference". Empty seats were probably those bought by wendyball fans who wouldn't know a decent sport if it hit them on the head.

Edited by Rioman, 29 August 2010 - 08:54 AM.

[JWAD]

I know, but there seemed to be a few 'blocks' of empty seats. There wasn't a single section that didn't have some empty red seats in it, and to be honest you don't normally see that at events at Wembley like the FA Cup final (apart from segregation purposes of course).

There seemed to be such a demand for this game that it's a shame some couldn't make it on the day when so many wanted to.

The premium level of a large stadium is the hardest to ensure filling.
As for early leavers, they bug me to no end. They're not exclusive to any one sport. Extremely annoying trying to watch a match when there is a bunch walking across you ten minutes from the end. Can't stop them. Not your fault if they are like that. If a match gets in the way of their wanting an early beer or the futility of trying to avoid traffic.

[MidlandsRugbyLeague]

the club wembley seats will be included in the attendance, the other 5000 seats plus the club seats that didn't turn up made it look like a lot of empty seats but hey 80 odd thousand aint bad.

I disagree. The first and second tiers were packed in, only a few small gaps. The bulk of the gaps were on the 2nd level - these were the Club Wembley seats and those seats allocated to the restaurants and other corporate areas. I'd say the majority of those 5,000 seats were in the Club Wembley level.

The other interesting point to note is that a number of the boxes seemed like they had been sold as well - ensuring some of the corporate pound finding its way into the game.

[Trojan]

As a Leeds fan, I just made it to the final hooter, but I was tempted to leave long before then

I left on the hooter too. We were sat in the tier that Dave Woods called "the ring of indifference" courtesy of Carnegie (my lad's mate works there - he was at Watford cheering on LUFC - gave us the tickets)
I'm not a Leeds fan (no! ) but I was cheering for them.
I wasn't keen on the old Wembley, I reckon this one's not much better - it'll be another slum in 20/30 years.

Edited by Trojan, 29 August 2010 - 09:17 AM.

[Bulliac]

I think going on about empty seats near the end is pointless; it's the ones at the start which looked bad, and I don't mean the 'club Wembley' ring, but the many, bright red, seats in the lower tier which stuck out very clearly on TV.

[goldcard]

There are always people who can't make it on the day.

True, hence the half dozen threads with folks with spare tickets on offer, and the only way I got in myself via one of those such threads...

[no13benny]

I think going on about empty seats near the end is pointless; it's the ones at the start which looked bad, and I don't mean the 'club Wembley' ring, but the many, bright red, seats in the lower tier which stuck out very clearly on TV.

It didn't look bad, it looked great, because your average joe doesn't look at and focus on tiny red blobs around the ground, the look at the stadium as a whole, and it looked full as there were no gaps in the top corners.

They also, hopefully, watched whats happening on the pitch, and for a passing watcher, the first 5 mins would have been enough to keep them going for the rest of the game. In football and rugby union you wait for stuff to happen, and hope that it might, and sometimes nothing does. In rugby league, stuff happens when the ball is kicked on minute 0, and ends at minute 80 (with a brief interlude to get your breath back)

[goldcard]

i may be wrong but the "house full" sign is 72,000, the other 18,000 tickets were never on sale.

Correct, every ticket the RFL had available was sold.

Incidentally, the last England football game there had over 10k fewer spectators, and that had a lot of offers trying to get folks in after the World Cup performances, so less than 5k below capacity on the day is a major achievement, not a reason to moan.

[goldcard]

There were more than enough empty seats in the Leeds end with 20 mins to go. The wire end seemed to stay quite full though!

Their version of the Wigan Walk, the Leeds Leg-it.
Also called the Rhinos' Run-off.
I've also witnessed the Bradford ######-off, and (many) years ago the Saints Stroll.

It's a mile off topic, but I felt for the Leeds players, going to salute their fans at the end, to find they were already on the M1....

[Black Country Wire]

Agree with you about Club Wembley. Dave Woods was spot on when he described it as "The Ring of Indifference". Empty seats were probably those bought by wendyball fans who wouldn't know a decent sport if it hit them on the head.

Although 13,000 of them must have turned up.

[audois]

I think the first final between Wire and Leeds was the first ever 50,000 + crowd back in 1936. Is there a time limit by the way when the middle tier 18,000 Club Wembley enclosure expires? The other irritation for me are those prime seats right on half way. The recipients are always slow to back into their places after the break. They owe it to the players.

Sponsors for me are important but not as important as some of them think. For me they should join the parade for sure but really tailing off at the back somewhere. Give the prime seats if necessary to former participants who have graced the finals and the kids who have played in the Championship Schools events.

What was the problem they had with the microphone for the lass who sang AWM?

Have they a problem with the pitch still? I thought it not as good as the old Wembley green.

Thought the clash of shirts spoilt a bit the spectacle.

Edited by audois, 29 August 2010 - 06:58 PM.

[Manx RL]

I think going on about empty seats near the end is pointless; it's the ones at the start which looked bad, and I don't mean the 'club Wembley' ring, but the many, bright red, seats in the lower tier which stuck out very clearly on TV.

Those seats were courtesy of the BBC and its CGI team. A conspiracy to make the game look less popular. They also worked their magic with a CGI Kevin Sinfield but it was switched off 5 minutes after kick off.

[Wendall]

Got told that 85,000 was the official crowd but there was no way 85,000 in there, im sorry but a blind man could see that. Club Wembley was half full at best, plus a few other gaps in the crowd.

And the nice bunch of Leeds fans we spoke to were disgusted at the vast majority of their fans who left 15 mins before the end. If you travel all that way, no matter how much of a beating you take you stay to the end and support your team.

The Wigan Walk is dead long live the Leeds Walk!

[motorface]

Enjoy the glory while it lasts Wendall, it wont last forever, these things tend to go in cycles, so make the most of your moment in the sun but try not to gloat too much!!

[goldcard]

Enjoy the glory while it lasts Wendall, it wont last forever, these things tend to go in cycles, so make the most of your moment in the sun but try not to gloat too much!!

Most of us Wires fans are loving our spotlight time, but the timescale from being "it's nice they won something at last" to being resented has been cut very short, and for only 1 reason, which I fully understand.
The "ignore" button was invented for him.
Or for us other folks, anyway.

[foozler]

Their version of the Wigan Walk, the Leeds Leg-it.
Also called the Rhinos' Run-off.
I've also witnessed the Bradford ######-off, and (many) years ago the Saints Stroll.

It's a mile off topic, but I felt for the Leeds players, going to salute their fans at the end, to find they were already on the M1....

Or the Rhinos Retreat?

[Dave T]

At the start of the game, I thought the stadium looked stunning, it was packed, apart from Club Wembley. Sure there may have been the odd little block, but you may have been talking blocks of 30-40 seats from clubs who hadn't sold their allocation for example.

Also, one point about blocks of red seats, there were a couple of sections at the Leeds end where there were fans of a club in all red shirts, and on TV i thought they looked like empty seats!!!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that people are drinking themselves silly, people are up and down queuing at the bar and toilet, meaning that the actual stadium doesn't stay full for long!