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kiggy

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Posts posted by kiggy

    Sat 27th-Sun 28th May: The Betfred Championship Summer Bash Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, Billy King's Boots said:

    Yes and Yes.

    Pros: Decent seats for not a lot of money, fan zone was good (bands, food, drinks, Ice-Cream and a lot of good natured banter), parking was cheap and dead easy, Three ok games and one real contest (London/Toulouse).

    Cons: Poorly supported by participating teams' fans - essentially a York home game, but their fans barely filled half a block / no more that 150 Widnes fans / about half that number from Whitehaven and Swinton / about 100 or so from Barrow / 25 disproportionately noisy fans from London and no more than a dozen from Toulouse. Fev the best supported - probably five or six-hundred.

    When the bash kicked-off there can't have been more than 750 in the ground. Over the day, there can't have been more than 3,500 in/thru' the ground (e.g. All the Widnes fans left after their game). We were sat in a virtually empty West stand all day - and were able to sit anywhere we liked. None of the West stand concessions were open, so if you wanted a brew or a bite, you had to exit into the fan-zone - and go through the rigmarole of showing your ticket and having your bag checked again (which we did three times). Also, we parked about 100m away, but there were no signs/banners/indications that there was an event happening. Having not been to the LNER Stadium before, some event signposting would have helped.

     

    Did we enjoy it? Yes. Four games of RL for £40 - can't complain at that: and we enjoyed sitting in the sun between games in the Fan zone (the band, espacially  were very good). Having done two previous Bashes at Blackpool, this one lacked the big-weekend / big-event gathering feel of Blackpool. And there wasn't much between games for kids TBH.

    Would we do it again? Yes, most probably - a chance to watch four games and eight teams we'd never usually watch is good. Would we do it again in York? That's just a 'maybe' TBH, it's stuck out on a trading estate miles from anywhere and, while I might find a stroll round Decathlon a good way to kill 20 minutes, I appreciate that most people wouldn't.

    Should the RFL do it again? That's the 64 thousand dollar question. They took it to smaller capacity venue this year (presumably to try and 'right-size' the stadium to the anticipated 'crowd') - and interest still fell way short. Which is a shame, because it deserves a bigger audience.

    The Solution? Take it back to Blackpool? Find an even smaller venue somewhere 'interesting'? Or concede that, as a concept, the Championship just doesn't have the critical mass of support to make it credible/viable?

    Fnally: if all those people complaining that 'it looked empty on the telly' had got off their sofas and supported our great sport, then it would have been considerably less empty. Fans have a role to play in supporting/promoting our game too.

    Good résumé of the day...totally wrong on the Toulouse fans though. There were at least 28 of us.

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    Sat 27th-Sun 28th May: The Betfred Championship Summer Bash Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted · Edited by kiggy
    Typo

    41 minutes ago, Szymala said:

    Was it a good day out ? Anyone sit through all 4 games ? Great to see Barrow get up.

    We should have been there for 2 and half matches but with the traffic problems we only saw 1 and a bit, not all York's fault, just the general M62 bank holiday car park.

    Didn't take part in the fan zone so can't comment on that.

    There are good links to the city centre with the park and ride so it didn't matter about where the ground was for us, and there is enough around the ground to keep you fed. Just not enough people for my mind. Fev and York fans made a noise but that was about it.

    Good for us as a family as it gave my 3 boys a rare chance to meet up. Blackpool is still our favourite Bash venue though.

    Sat 27th-Sun 28th May: The Betfred Championship Summer Bash Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Ragingbull said:

    Whats the general view on the bash as a whole on here? 

    The decision. To move it to york hasnt gone down well with our fans at all. (Maybe we are just a grumpy bunch at the min!)

    Personally im treating it like a normal away game and just heading to the ground about 45 mins before kick off like i do every other week.  Ive not bought in to it all all this year .

    Just wondered if other clubs fans we going for their own game or making a full day of it?

    I prefer Blackpool as a neutral venue, as my mum still lives in St Annes so a win-win for me. We are in Blackpool today funnily enough but heading for York early tomorrow for the full day.

    • Like 1

    Sat 27th-Sun 28th May: The Betfred Championship Summer Bash Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    8 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

    To be fair Kiggy was correct in that all 4 are fringe players at Catalans, and clearly wouldn't make the French 17 if everyone was available, but they are good players to be bringing in as replacements.

    I would much rather they field a team of their own Elite players, even if they are lesser players. I'm not a fan of duel registration as I think it weakens the team, unless they have a loan period of a month and actually train with the team. Scimone is a case in point, he played last time but never trained with the team before.  

    • Like 2

    Sat 13th-Sun 14th May: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    On 13/05/2023 at 21:51, distantdog said:

    Both teams really good this afternoon. Batley dug in deep after playing Widnes on Monday but defended like demons against a good, physical side. Woods proving the value of a drop goal yet again.

    Batley played well, although TO didn't... apparently. Missed Shorrocks who pulled out on the Saturday morning.

    Interesting stat I was told today. Batley didn't give away a single penalty, knock on or six-again in the whole 80 minutes. Isn't that some sort of record?

    Sat 6th-Sun 7th May: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    30 minutes ago, JonM said:

    The punch in the first tackle almost has an air of premeditated tactic about it.

    Could be a tactic to see if the opposition is up for a fight. A few more niggly digs, early enough for the ref to let go, and hope for a reaction later which could get an opposition player binned. It's not in the spirit of the game for me, but players will use everything at their disposal to try and get an edge. 

    Sat 6th-Sun 7th May: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    41 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

    Tremendous win for Swinton. Toulouse really don't seem to be travelling well at all, to be fair they're still missing quite a few players but that wasn't a bad team they put out today on paper.

    That was a good TO team. Swinton must have played very well. They do have form against TO as they beat them at Blagnac in 2019.  I will get some feedback about the performance from No1 son...but not today, he will be spitting feathers tonight.

    Sat 6th-Sun 7th May: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, audois said:

    TO will have 2 Dragons on board at Swinton. Centre  Laguerre and hooker Tison. Both played for France last weekend. Laguerre has played 29 Super League games for the Dragons

    Calum Gahan should get his first run out, I assume Tison is brought in because Calum won't manage the 80 minutes.

    On paper TO should be comfortable winners, however I was there at Blagnac in 2019 when Swinton beat TO 18-20

    2023 Summer Bash is going to be...

    in The General Rugby League Forum

    Posted · Edited by kiggy
    Fat finger typo

    On 28/04/2023 at 13:09, Ragingbull said:

    .....the worst attended bash evet to date. 

    Not many tickets left to be honest. I bought two yesterday and a lot of the stadium is sold out. Not a very big stadium though, but if it can be almost full for some games it would be good.

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