Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)

[Dave T]

Just bought for Tonga v PNG. 3 live matches over the next 4 days. Looking forward to watching all 6 teams, can't wait! 

[Maximus Decimus]

Surprised I've not seen the media attention today mentioned, although maybe it has it's own thread now I'm thinking.

ITV did a big portion of it on Good Morning Britain during every update this morning. An enthusiastic Scottish woman was at St James' Park talking about it, and mentioned over 40,000 with an emphasis indicating that it's a lot.

Certainly makes a change from a usual sly comment about how it hadn't even sold out yet, with further critiques of heritage players etc.

[GeordieSaint]

All of Upper Leazes West Corner open now - strange they didn’t open those sooner… 

Looks like just 8 sections haven’t been opened. Could be pushing 45k now. 

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

All of Upper Leazes West Corner open now - strange they didn’t open those sooner… 

Looks like just 8 sections haven’t been opened. Could be pushing 45k now. 

That has to be a good sign that they are still opening new sections now! 

[Damien]

11 minutes ago, Dave T said:

That has to be a good sign that they are still opening new sections now! 

I know there was a queue earlier today when I was on the ticketing website.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Damien

[Maximus Decimus]

6 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

No idea if this is true or not:

 

In 2000, we had an England game that was attended by under 6,000.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

[Dave T]

36 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Surprised I've not seen the media attention today mentioned, although maybe it has it's own thread now I'm thinking.

ITV did a big portion of it on Good Morning Britain during every update this morning. An enthusiastic Scottish woman was at St James' Park talking about it, and mentioned over 40,000 with an emphasis indicating that it's a lot.

Certainly makes a change from a usual sly comment about how it hadn't even sold out yet, with further critiques of heritage players etc.

I think there is something about being a more credible tournament than a few years back. I know we get frustrated with lack of internationals, but broadly speaking, we have regular annual test series' on the BBC, and we now have some regularity around the World Cup. 

I think the organisers have done a great job of networking and getting the right people involved. Again, with the Royal connection that hasn't been without problems, but the BBC do appear to more supportive than ever, the likes of Sinfield and Burrow lending their presence to RLWC, as part of the launch Clare Balding and Tanni Grey Thompson will be involved, the women's version looks credible, the wheelchair tournament looks groundbreaking and the PDRL tournament which lower key is a hugely positive move for our sport. 

Whilst there may be criticisms about tournaments not sta ding on their own, I'm excited about the joined up approach this time. Hopeful y it leads to bigger and better next time. 

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

In 2000, we had an England game that was attended by under 6,000.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

Yes, sometimes I see similarities with this tournament and 2000 - that tournament was very positive until kick off when we realised it was horrible. But when you look, we have probably exceeded ticket sales from that tournament by over 50% and we haven't kicked off yet. 

I think sometimes we get frustrated in thinking tomorrow is the finish line and all sales should be complete. Its just the real start line. The biggest advert for RLWC we will ever have will be at 2.30pm tomorrow on BBC One. 

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

30 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

All of Upper Leazes West Corner open now - strange they didn’t open those sooner… 

Looks like just 8 sections haven’t been opened. Could be pushing 45k now. 

The was quite lengthy article about the World Cup on BBC Look North, which cover the North Est and Cumbria, right at the end the reporter said that they were expecting 45,000 at the game

[Tosh]

40k+ for a England RL international against Samoa is imo a fantastic achievement.

40k+ for a England RL international against Samoa in newcastle a non-RL stronghold and football mad city is an even more fantastic achievement.

[WN83]

We do worry about how many seats are empty an awful lot, rather than being positive about how many are full. I’m the worlds worst for it but going back to the Ashes and tri series of the early 2000’s, we were staging games in three stadiums of 25k each and struggling to fill them sometimes. I think the pricing of all the games (pretty much) is off but 40-45,000 at these prices is a really fantastic effort and we can build from it. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by WN83

[Chris22]

Tomorrow is going to look brilliant on TV.  The following week's England fixture at Bolton will be mostly full too.

The women's Euro's had an empty stand at Leigh, 8,000 at a 32,000 capacity St Mary's. It was still a success.

Getting big crowds at England matches and latter stage are essential.

We'll get good publicity for England v Brazil too, which will break records.

I hope sales will pick up as the tournament goes on. Ticket prices are a worry.

We are going in a bit blind in terms of ticket sales for most matches, so hard to judge how we're doing!

 

[saintspete83]

I cannot wait to get up in the morning and set of to Newcastle.

Tonight will be spent watching 24h fox TV NRL channel, It's all WC talk and replays of old internationals.

Only got tickets for 2 games so far but in typical RL style I'll buy last minute and got to 6-10 games. 

Tomorrow is absolutely crucial that England perform, with around 1 million TV viewers, that alone will be the best possible advert the sport and tournament can ask for. 

Come on England !!!!!!!!

[Northern Eel]

I’m pitched up in the caravan within a stone’s throw of Newcastle tonight. Gonna be a long, sleepless night I reckon. Bring it on tomorrow! 

[Damien]

49 minutes ago, Tosh said:

40k+ for a England RL international against Samoa is imo a fantastic achievement.

40k+ for a England RL international against Samoa in newcastle a non-RL stronghold and football mad city is an even more fantastic achievement.

Or maybe it shows what crowds internationals can get when they are treated as big occasions and played in big stadiums in big cities.

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Yes, sometimes I see similarities with this tournament and 2000 - that tournament was very positive until kick off when we realised it was horrible. But when you look, we have probably exceeded ticket sales from that tournament by over 50% and we haven't kicked off yet. 

I think sometimes we get frustrated in thinking tomorrow is the finish line and all sales should be complete. Its just the real start line. The biggest advert for RLWC we will ever have will be at 2.30pm tomorrow on BBC One. 

As you said, it simply can't be as bad as that one. I remember the opening Twickers game had been hoped for a sellout, they were estimating 55,000 on the day and ended up at 33,000. 

Nothing will be as bad as tuning into BBC2 to see Scotland vs NZ Maori to see John Inverdale smirking over the fact there were about 10 people there.

It might get the record overall attendance, but I don't feel it'll be seen as as successful as 2013. I think we'll get patches of success with some real disappointments. The successes will be more than enough for it not to be seen like 2000.

[JonM]

10 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

As you said, it simply can't be as bad as that one. I remember the opening Twickers game had been hoped for a sellout, they were estimating 55,000 on the day and ended up at 33,000. 

Yes, as a reminder of the attendances in 2000. 5736 for an England game at St. Helens. 3044 for an Australia game at Hull. Less than 1500 for a Wales home game. Less than 2000 for Scotland and Ireland home games. 8000 for the Australia v Wales semi-final. England losing 49-6 in the other semi-final.

[OriginalMrC]

Am so excited for this world cup. There's been the usual negativity but overall it feels like there is loads of positivity out there. This is set to be the biggest and best world cup yet. Let's get behind it

[Maximus Decimus]

16 minutes ago, JonM said:

Yes, as a reminder of the attendances in 2000. 5736 for an England game at St. Helens. 3044 for an Australia game at Hull. Less than 1500 for a Wales home game. Less than 2000 for Scotland and Ireland home games. 8000 for the Australia v Wales semi-final. England losing 49-6 in the other semi-final.

Dave's right in that there was a lot of optimism, and false declarations of interest. For instance, they had stated the plan was to sellout from the quarters onwards.

Nowadays, it's harder to get away with bluff like that because so much more information is out in the open. 

[EggFace]

3 hours ago, DoubleD said:

No, only used chip paper

I got mine printed through the local library so are they no good 

[Josef K]

I wonder how much the BBC have paid for the coverage of the RLWC, and also the sponsors ?. 

[EggFace]

3 hours ago, DoubleD said:

No, only used chip paper

like Fish and Chips paper.

Only joking but plain paper is useless...bloody joke this.

Edited October 14, 2022 by EggFace

[ATLANTISMAN]

10 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I wonder how much the BBC have paid for the coverage of the RLWC, and also the sponsors ?. 

TV rights would be very little, Cazoo paid 1 million to be principle sponsor (Lucky the deal was done way back as they are now in the poo) since then ###### all the odd contra deal here and there and a couple of smaller sponsors.

95% of those working on the RLWC will never be involved in the game again, after its all over including the commercial manager whose linked in profile describes her major sporting moment as Jonnys drop goal in Sydney (You could not make it up)

Thank god the players will produce as always:)

 

P 

 

 

10 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I wonder how much the BBC have paid for the coverage of the RLWC, and also the sponsors ?. 

 

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

TV rights would be very little, Cazoo paid 1 million to be principle sponsor (Lucky the deal was done way back as they are now in the poo) since then ###### all the odd contra deal here and there and a couple of smaller sponsors.

95% of those working on the RLWC will never be involved in the game again, after its all over including the commercial manager whose linked in profile describes her major sporting moment as Jonnys drop goal in Sydney (You could not make it up)

Thank god the players will produce as always:)

 

P 

 

 

 

One of the things I find weird is that basically only Dutton appears to speak about the RLWC. I'm not sure if he's an ego maniac or what, but a mature organisation would have a PR person giving interviews, marketing person, commercial managers etc. 

Dutton seems to like being front and centre. 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

Yes, as a reminder of the attendances in 2000. 5736 for an England game at St. Helens. 3044 for an Australia game at Hull. Less than 1500 for a Wales home game. Less than 2000 for Scotland and Ireland home games. 8000 for the Australia v Wales semi-final. England losing 49-6 in the other semi-final.

I remember that semi , got stuck in traffic , missed the kick off , we were 2 scores down and almost game over before we sat down , the final wasn't much better