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Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)


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6 hours ago, Dave T said:

I don't want to be too pessimistic about ticket sales, but I had a survey from organisers today which was heavily focused on whether I'd bought tickets yet and if not why not, and what would make me buy some. 

The survey is fair enough, but I can't help feeling it doesn't bode well. 

Barring the semi in London, the opener in Newcastle and the final I suspect ticket sales are being stubbornly slow. I've received similar surveys/emails as you have.

The decision to swamp the heartlands way beyond the 80% of games required by the government funding is going to haunt us I think, alongside an absurd hike in prices from 9 years ago.

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8 hours ago, Damien said:

Something to bear in mind:

The organisers of the Rugby League World Cup in England have scheduled two potential dates for the final: Saturday, November 19, and Sunday, November 20.

The latter date has been set aside if Queen Elizabeth II dies towards the end of the tournament. Protocol dictates her funeral must be on a Saturday, followed by a week of mourning.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-queen-s-funeral-protocols-could-switch-world-cup-final-date-20220710-p5b0iq.html

Well lets hope we don't get a message from Gibbo in the whatsapp chat.

I was born to run a club like this. Number 1, I do not spook easily, and those who think I do, are wasting their time, with their surprise attacks.

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8 hours ago, Damien said:

Something to bear in mind:

The organisers of the Rugby League World Cup in England have scheduled two potential dates for the final: Saturday, November 19, and Sunday, November 20.

The latter date has been set aside if Queen Elizabeth II dies towards the end of the tournament. Protocol dictates her funeral must be on a Saturday, followed by a week of mourning.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-queen-s-funeral-protocols-could-switch-world-cup-final-date-20220710-p5b0iq.html

Fantastic - and I have my return flights booked for Sunday morning.

 

God Save the Queen...please

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1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Barring the semi in London, the opener in Newcastle and the final I suspect ticket sales are being stubbornly slow. I've received similar surveys/emails as you have.

The decision to swamp the heartlands way beyond the 80% of games required by the government funding is going to haunt us I think, alongside an absurd hike in prices from 9 years ago.

I'm getting a lot of targeted ads on the socials for the London semi final. I'm not reading anything into that beyond my profile showing I live in the south and have an interest in RL. It does indicate an ongoing push to sell tickets specifically for that game.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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8 hours ago, Dave T said:

I don't want to be too pessimistic about ticket sales, but I had a survey from organisers today which was heavily focused on whether I'd bought tickets yet and if not why not, and what would make me buy some. 

The survey is fair enough, but I can't help feeling it doesn't bode well. 

I had that a while back. Ticket sales are not amazing and that is the legacy of the last 10 years unfortunately. It is a stand off between me and the WC Organisers whether I pay full or part price for the opening game and game at Leeds on the opening day.

I fancy my chances.

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I keep checking the ticket availability every so often and a good lot of games have only low availability, largest amount seen to be in medium and then there's a number of games with high availability and those games don't seem to be moving into the medium category, been the same ones for ages. I remember the Middlesbrough, Coventry and all the Doncaster games aren't selling well, can't remember specifically other ones but there was a couple.

Thing with Doncaster is I'd have gone to them but they're all on an evening and I can't get back on the old public transportation despite only been a direct 1 hour train journey away. Another thing that might put a lot of people off buying at the moment if they are using trains/buses/guided buses cos its in winter and we are currently on a summer transport timetable people won't know if they can make evening games or not. 

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36 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I keep checking the ticket availability every so often and a good lot of games have only low availability, largest amount seen to be in medium and then there's a number of games with high availability and those games don't seem to be moving into the medium category, been the same ones for ages. I remember the Middlesbrough, Coventry and all the Doncaster games aren't selling well, can't remember specifically other ones but there was a couple.

Thing with Doncaster is I'd have gone to them but they're all on an evening and I can't get back on the old public transportation despite only been a direct 1 hour train journey away. Another thing that might put a lot of people off buying at the moment if they are using trains/buses/guided buses cos its in winter and we are currently on a summer transport timetable people won't know if they can make evening games or not. 

The low availability is only based on the ticket sections they have released not the capacity.

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11 hours ago, Damien said:

Something to bear in mind:

The organisers of the Rugby League World Cup in England have scheduled two potential dates for the final: Saturday, November 19, and Sunday, November 20.

The latter date has been set aside if Queen Elizabeth II dies towards the end of the tournament. Protocol dictates her funeral must be on a Saturday, followed by a week of mourning.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/why-queen-s-funeral-protocols-could-switch-world-cup-final-date-20220710-p5b0iq.html

to be fair you'd think any event being held in the UK would be starting to look at these types of protocols.... its actually relatively reassuring they are, it wouldn't have surprised me to find out that Rugby League had been warned but thought "nah wont happen to us".. and then get caught out.

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2 hours ago, Scubby said:

I had that a while back. Ticket sales are not amazing and that is the legacy of the last 10 years unfortunately. It is a stand off between me and the WC Organisers whether I pay full or part price for the opening game and game at Leeds on the opening day.

I fancy my chances.

I think we are overstating this cheap knock down price thing. 

They didn't happen for Magic. They didn't happen for the Cup Final (outside of targeted sales that will go down as evidence of this myth). 

They don't generally happen. We've had a few offers here and there, particularly around events involving Catalans. 

I think the ludicrous pricing up front is the biggest issue. 

It's interesting watching the Women's Euros, size wise it's possibly a similar scale tournament, although they have huge funding levels compared to us, but they have very cheap tickets and thousands of empty seats. People just expect full houses, but it isn't the reality. 

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Just now, Dave T said:

It's interesting watching the Women's Euros, size wise it's possibly a similar scale tournament, although they have huge funding levels compared to us, 

500,000 tickets out of c.700,000 available have been sold (for reference).

I know someone worked out how many tickets are available for the RLWC but I can't find the number right now.

It will be an interesting comparison though.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

500,000 tickets out of c.700,000 available have been sold (for reference).

I know someone worked out how many tickets are available for the RLWC but I can't find the number right now.

It will be an interesting comparison though.

Yeah, I think our target is 750k, I'd be surprised if we get there, but fingers crossed. 

Interestingly, the women's euros selections do appear to be all over the place, huge grounds for some, small grounds like City's Academy ground and Leigh for others. From light reading on the subject, I believe they struggled with bidders. 

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14 minutes ago, RP London said:

to be fair you'd think any event being held in the UK would be starting to look at these types of protocols.... its actually relatively reassuring they are, it wouldn't have surprised me to find out that Rugby League had been warned but thought "nah wont happen to us".. and then get caught out.

I posted it more to make people aware when making their plans. I'll be flying, it puts me off a Sunday flight if there is any possibility that the game may be shifted. Its much better for me to plan to come back on Monday and play safe.

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2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I keep checking the ticket availability every so often and a good lot of games have only low availability, largest amount seen to be in medium and then there's a number of games with high availability and those games don't seem to be moving into the medium category, been the same ones for ages. I remember the Middlesbrough, Coventry and all the Doncaster games aren't selling well, can't remember specifically other ones but there was a couple.

Thing with Doncaster is I'd have gone to them but they're all on an evening and I can't get back on the old public transportation despite only been a direct 1 hour train journey away. Another thing that might put a lot of people off buying at the moment if they are using trains/buses/guided buses cos its in winter and we are currently on a summer transport timetable people won't know if they can make evening games or not. 

The availibility point is part of their terrible approach. 

They are blocking out huge sections, I think it is for group sales, sponsors, packages etc. but it basically means you can't get certain tickets, that are clearly not sold out. This is the main reason I've not bought tickets, if I want to sit down with my 6 year old I have to pay £55 for her for Scotland v Italy because they have blanked out cheaper seats. 

Tbh, they are making a bit of a balls up of it, the approach is identical to the approach that saw so many empty seats for the England v Exiles game recently. Apparently all seats sold out, in reality, probably 50% used. 

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14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yeah, I think our target is 750k, I'd be surprised if we get there, but fingers crossed. 

Interestingly, the women's euros selections do appear to be all over the place, huge grounds for some, small grounds like City's Academy ground and Leigh for others. From light reading on the subject, I believe they struggled with bidders. 

yes they did struggle, they had to persuade some grounds to agree.. dont think it helped that this was supposed to be last year and this year the mens football season is starting earlier due to the Qatar world cup so the pitches are being looked after.

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28 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think we are overstating this cheap knock down price thing. 

They didn't happen for Magic. They didn't happen for the Cup Final (outside of targeted sales that will go down as evidence of this myth). 

They don't generally happen. We've had a few offers here and there, particularly around events involving Catalans. 

I think the ludicrous pricing up front is the biggest issue. 

It's interesting watching the Women's Euros, size wise it's possibly a similar scale tournament, although they have huge funding levels compared to us, but they have very cheap tickets and thousands of empty seats. People just expect full houses, but it isn't the reality. 

But ticket offers and cheaper tickets are things they ask in the survey.

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4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

The availibility point is part of their terrible approach. 

They are blocking out huge sections, I think it is for group sales, sponsors, packages etc. but it basically means you can't get certain tickets, that are clearly not sold out. This is the main reason I've not bought tickets, if I want to sit down with my 6 year old I have to pay £55 for her for Scotland v Italy because they have blanked out cheaper seats. 

Tbh, they are making a bit of a balls up of it, the approach is identical to the approach that saw so many empty seats for the England v Exiles game recently. Apparently all seats sold out, in reality, probably 50% used. 

Could this be due to them being offered to schools? i know my daughters school was offered tickets to the Euros tomorrow night (months ago). Went to a lottery in the school (we didnt get any, but did lead me to buying them for all the family for Sunday). I would love it to be so as it would be IMHO a good way to go. Sadly I doubt it.

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18 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yeah, I think our target is 750k, I'd be surprised if we get there, but fingers crossed. 

Interestingly, the women's euros selections do appear to be all over the place, huge grounds for some, small grounds like City's Academy ground and Leigh for others. From light reading on the subject, I believe they struggled with bidders. 

The process around bidding was really weird and didn't make much sense at the time - and even less now. I suspect there are UEFA requirements that make it onerous for 'casual' bids.

It does mean that (for example) two games that were never going to go past 10,000 have been played in the 30,000+ St Mary's ground in Southampton. (And that Northern Ireland will play all three of their games there but England will have played in Brighton, Southampton and Manchester before they even move out of the group stage).

The RLWC, I think, seems to work the other way round where the organising committee essentially looks for rentals.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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1 minute ago, Scubby said:

But ticket offers and cheaper tickets are things they ask in the survey.

Yes, I ticked that 🤣

But they also mention a dozen other things. 

I think we are in a tricky place on this one, as I think we have gone with frankly terrible pricing, for various reasons. 

I actually think we will need to rely on ticket offers for this World Cup. I think they have shown real arrogance and I competence on this point for this tournament. 

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1 minute ago, RP London said:

Could this be due to them being offered to schools? i know my daughters school was offered tickets to the Euros tomorrow night (months ago). Went to a lottery in the school (we didnt get any, but did lead me to buying them for all the family for Sunday). I would love it to be so as it would be IMHO a good way to go. Sadly I doubt it.

Yeah, these are part of the group offerings I refer to - the problem is that they have blocked out whole price points - see my example of only being able to get £55 seats for a 6 year old for a Scotland v Italy game. 

And it is highly likely that they will sit unsold and go on general sale closer to the time. 

I want to watch Scotland in Newcastle, but being quite frank about it, it isn't worth £165 for the three of us to go. 

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Just now, Dave T said:

Yeah, these are part of the group offerings I refer to - the problem is that they have blocked out whole price points - see my example of only being able to get £55 seats for a 6 year old for a Scotland v Italy game. 

And it is highly likely that they will sit unsold and go on general sale closer to the time. 

I want to watch Scotland in Newcastle, but being quite frank about it, it isn't worth £165 for the three of us to go. 

yes thats not a very clever way of doing it. They need to make sure what they offer out is a selection of areas and that they are sold.. hence the one with our school was good as all tickets have been taken up so it has worked for them, and other tickets for other matches at Bramall Lane have been sold on the back of it.

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6 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The process around bidding was really weird and didn't make much sense at the time - and even less now. I suspect there are UEFA requirements that make it onerous for 'casual' bids.

It does mean that (for example) two games that were never going to go past 10,000 have been played in the 30,000+ St Mary's ground in Southampton. (And that Northern Ireland will play all three of their games there but England will have played in Brighton, Southampton and Manchester before they even move out of the group stage).

The RLWC, I think, seems to work the other way round where the organising committee essentially looks for rentals.

It was Twitter, so should be taken with the proverbial dose of saxa, but I read that due to lack of demand (and I did assume working with Uefa could be a challenge), they had had to go down the route of hiring grounds on a more traditional basis. 

It would be interesting to know what the RLWC approach is, obviously we invited bids, and I expect we have a mix of winning bids and traditional hires. 

For example, if be stunned if we have gone out of our way to hire Middlesboro FC. 

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45 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yes, I ticked that 🤣

But they also mention a dozen other things. 

I think we are in a tricky place on this one, as I think we have gone with frankly terrible pricing, for various reasons. 

I actually think we will need to rely on ticket offers for this World Cup. I think they have shown real arrogance and I competence on this point for this tournament. 

Make your mind up FFS!

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