Grand final attendance doom and gloom thread.

[Amber Avenger]

Haven't read the whole thread, so sorry if this has been mentioned before. Anyway I usually go with a similar, non RL crazy group who like the occasion and we tend to get the second cheapest tickets. Like getting a wine in a restaurant cos we are so classy like that.

Anyway this year they couldn't believe that that option was 40 quid. Last GF in 2019 it was 35, before that it was 30. Quite a hike over the course of 3 finals and I suspect took its toll on the crowd as much as Catalans getting there.

Im not complaining, we were there at the end of the day and I'm sure it's been budgeted by the people that know how. However I was surprised at how much it's gone up looking back now and surely it's a factor along with Catalans and Covid 

At the end of the day, they enjoyed the game so almost 'nuff said, except gotta convince people who weren't there. A toughie.

[Eddie]

17 minutes ago, Amber Avenger said:

Haven't read the whole thread, so sorry if this has been mentioned before. Anyway I usually go with a similar, non RL crazy group who like the occasion and we tend to get the second cheapest tickets. Like getting a wine in a restaurant cos we are so classy like that.

Anyway this year they couldn't believe that that option was 40 quid. Last GF in 2019 it was 35, before that it was 30. Quite a hike over the course of 3 finals and I suspect took its toll on the crowd as much as Catalans getting there.

Im not complaining, we were there at the end of the day and I'm sure it's been budgeted by the people that know how. However I was surprised at how much it's gone up looking back now and surely it's a factor along with Catalans and Covid 

At the end of the day, they enjoyed the game so almost 'nuff said, except gotta convince people who weren't there. A toughie.

Your experience of this is obviously completely valid but on the flip side we have people saying tickets are too cheap. Must admit I thought £40 for ten rows back in the stretford end was more than I’d expected, though compare it to football or Union and it’s a bargain, especially for a game like today’s. 

[yipyee]

On 08/10/2021 at 19:52, Mr Frisky said:

Do French teams play Irish games??

France is just one of many european countries

[rlno1]

3 hours ago, MC Finchy said:

45k is better than the 39k from the NRL grand final in a less covid ridden country 

And a ten times better atmosphere then the NRL

[Amber Avenger]

8 hours ago, Eddie said:

Your experience of this is obviously completely valid but on the flip side we have people saying tickets are too cheap. Must admit I thought £40 for ten rows back in the stretford end was more than I’d expected, though compare it to football or Union and it’s a bargain, especially for a game like today’s. 

Yeah I do get that and at the end of the day, I thought it was worth if before we went, however I do wonder if two price hikes over the past two finals is put the casual off especially if times are tough post covid. I'm not sure what anyone could have done differently about that - obviously money has to be made. 

Im sure for people who don't go to RL a lot that price is great, but we need a mix of RL die hards and neutrals and there aren't many RL matches where 40 quid is the second cheapest option. You've always been able to spend a lot on GF tickets if you've wanted to as well!

It was just an observation anyway, I do wonder if it would have been on the low side whoever was in the final. 

[Liverpool Rover]

The Grand Final was only a month after the Magic Weekend so any might have prioritised that as their team league wasn’t guaranteed to be at the Grand Final.

[philipw]

11 hours ago, Eddie said:

Your experience of this is obviously completely valid but on the flip side we have people saying tickets are too cheap. Must admit I thought £40 for ten rows back in the stretford end was more than I’d expected, though compare it to football or Union and it’s a bargain, especially for a game like today’s. 

well, it depends how you view it. That’s where I sit at MUFC and my season ticket is £29 per game. 
 

However, for a major final, I think £40 is an absolutely appropriate price bracket. 

[Eddie]

38 minutes ago, Liverpool Rover said:

The Grand Final was only a month after the Magic Weekend so any might have prioritised that as their team league wasn’t guaranteed to be at the Grand Final.

In other sports people would go to two major events in one month, it’s not like most people who go to the GF even need to stay over as the heartlands are all so close. 

[Gav Wilson]

[bratman]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

In other sports people would go to two major events in one month, it’s not like most people who go to the GF even need to stay over as the heartlands are all so close. 

Funny you should say that, I do need to stay over and all the hotels in Manchester were crazy prices.

[GUBRATS]

I don't need to stay over , but I didn't go , so I am part of the problem 

[Derwent]

17 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

I don't need to stay over , but I didn't go , so I am part of the problem 

Me too, apart from internationals I refuse to attend any RL event that my own club aren’t involved in. 

[Spidey]

Well done you two

[GUBRATS]

8 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Me too, apart from internationals I refuse to attend any RL event that my own club aren’t involved in. 

I don't refuse , I have attended some Championship finals as a neutral 

[DC77]

18 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The highest attendance of any Rugby League game in Europe in 2021. It’s easy to say it’s lower than some previous Grand Finals, but that’s still some achievement.

Not being funny like, but the highest RL attendance in England is always going to be the highest in Europe. 

18 hours ago, Saint 1 said:

45k with very few Catalan fans and Covid still having some impact. It's not great, but it's also not as disastrous as some are making out IMO.

It looked fine, and yeah those two issues were genuine factors in the crowd.

[Derwent]

14 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Why is that, if I can ask?

Just generally feel disenfranchised from the game and disillusioned with what it’s becoming. Sad after 47 years of playing and spectating but that’s life. I’ve been to Oz, NZ and PNG with RL but it just doesn’t get the blood pumping anymore like it used to. Some will say the game now is great but I think it’s too robotic, too sanitized and has no character anymore. Or characters. 

[fighting irish]

15 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Well you're not really though. You are an existing RL fan who chooses not to attend. They really need to focus on new punters or existing RL fans that maybe will attend, given a bit of encouragement.

 

15 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Why is that, if I can ask?

If I was organising it, (the GF). I'd make it cheaper for people, who've never attended before and/or fans who declare no particular affiliation to any club.

Then I'd keep them separate from the others, to prevent them from being infected by the overwhelming cynicism, envy, negativity, referee baiting and out and out neanderthal tribalism that is so prevalent amongst the existing ''so called fans'' of this great game.

Talk about the need to break the cycle?

We desperately need some new fresh (uninfected) blood, on the terraces and in the stands. 

[Padge]

2 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

 

If I was organising it, (the GF). I'd make it cheaper for people, who've never attended before and/or fans who declare no particular affiliation to any club.

Then I'd keep them separate from the others, to prevent them from being infected by the overwhelming cynicism, envy, negativity, referee baiting and out and out neanderthal tribalism that is so prevalent amongst the existing ''so called fans'' of this great game.

Talk about the need to break the cycle?

We desperately need some new fresh (uninfected) blood, on the terraces and in the stands. 

We need MORE

[Keith989]

22 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Just generally feel disenfranchised from the game and disillusioned with what it’s becoming. Sad after 47 years of playing and spectating but that’s life. I’ve been to Oz, NZ and PNG with RL but it just doesn’t get the blood pumping anymore like it used to. Some will say the game now is great but I think it’s too robotic, too sanitized and has no character anymore. Or characters. 

Genuine question, does that happen with every sport or is it just us individuals? I used to watch things like darts and snooker all the time but now I never stick it on, no characters anymore. It's the same even with poker (not a sport I know) where I just rewatch cash games from a decade ago instead of the new stuff. Even with my beloved Leinster rugby I would never think of missing a game on TV and used to even rewatch every game a couple of days after, but I've already missed the first 3 games of this season. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

33 minutes ago, DC77 said:

Not being funny like, but the highest RL attendance in England is always going to be the highest in Europe. 

It looked fine, and yeah those two issues were genuine factors in the crowd.

Wasn’t the record for the highest Super League attendance in a regular round broken in Spain when Catalans hosted Wigan in Barcelona?

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

16 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

 

If I was organising it, (the GF). I'd make it cheaper for people, who've never attended before and/or fans who declare no particular affiliation to any club.

Then I'd keep them separate from the others, to prevent them from being infected by the overwhelming cynicism, envy, negativity, referee baiting and out and out neanderthal tribalism that is so prevalent amongst the existing ''so called fans'' of this great game.

Talk about the need to break the cycle?

We desperately need some new fresh (uninfected) blood, on the terraces and in the stands. 

Give all Super League clubs 3000 tickets to sell to their supporters. 10 Super League clubs don’t make the Grand Final, if they all sold them that’d be 30,000 neutral fans. Let the Super League clubs keep 50% of the face value ticket revenue and they can come up with their own deals or offers or sell them at full price.

[Padge]

21 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Wasn’t the record for the highest Super League attendance in a regular round broken in Spain when Catalans hosted Wigan in Barcelona?

Correct

[Pitouf]

Hi all,

I’m Catalan and supporting the Dragons. I travelled this weekend to Manchester and wanted to give a bit of feedback in this topic.

I’m also disappointed that the stadium was not packed. However, without looking for excuses, it is important to notice that:

-          Travelling to UK is more and more difficult, a passport is now requested. Not everybody in France has a passport as an ID card is enough to travel across Europe. This new change was applicable at the beginning of this month

-          The forms / tests / etc. to comply with to accede to UK because of Covid 19 are also difficult to manage, moreover for those who don’t speak English. I had, as all the Dragon’s fans to buy an unexisting 2 day test (that everybody paid but nobody received) to receive a code by e-mail that I had to put on a paper… and that is only an example

-          I travelled there with my daughter of 4 years, the total price for the weekend was more than 1 000 euros what is not affordable for everybody.

To be precise we should take this in consideration when judging the attendance.

Another point is that I won’t come back and won’t recommend other people to travel to this type of match in England.

In France Rugby match (league or union) are family events where you can go with children, therefore I decided to bring my young daughter of 4 years with me. We were in section 2405 full of Dragons’ fan. Just below us was a section full of English people, some of them were supporting Saint Helens but many other English persons were supporting the Dragons (not sure if they were pro Dragons or against saint Helens but it doesn’t matter). In this section, a dozen of fans continuously insulted us, with gesture that I let you imagine, shouting F***k O*F during all the match and worse things. They have thrown garlic on us. The yellow jackets guys tried to calm them down, but this was useless, they finally flighted against each other, a bottle was launched, and the police came, but it continued. I decided to leave with my daughter before the end of the game.

To sum-up, I was more disappointed by the behavior of the local persons than by the match. I won’t come back myself and won’t recommend going there in family. My daughter is young so she doesn’t hopefully understand what happened but soon she will, and I want to protect her from this.

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Pitouf said:

Hi all,

I’m Catalan and supporting the Dragons. I travelled this weekend to Manchester and wanted to give a bit of feedback in this topic.

I’m also disappointed that the stadium was not packed. However, without looking for excuses, it is important to notice that:

-          Travelling to UK is more and more difficult, a passport is now requested. Not everybody in France has a passport as an ID card is enough to travel across Europe. This new change was applicable at the beginning of this month

-          The forms / tests / etc. to comply with to accede to UK because of Covid 19 are also difficult to manage, moreover for those who don’t speak English. I had, as all the Dragon’s fans to buy an unexisting 2 day test (that everybody paid but nobody received) to receive a code by e-mail that I had to put on a paper… and that is only an example

-          I travelled there with my daughter of 4 years, the total price for the weekend was more than 1 000 euros what is not affordable for everybody.

To be precise we should take this in consideration when judging the attendance.

Another point is that I won’t come back and won’t recommend other people to travel to this type of match in England.

In France Rugby match (league or union) are family events where you can go with children, therefore I decided to bring my young daughter of 4 years with me. We were in section 2405 full of Dragons’ fan. Just below us was a section full of English people, some of them were supporting Saint Helens but many other English persons were supporting the Dragons (not sure if they were pro Dragons or against saint Helens but it doesn’t matter). In this section, a dozen of fans continuously insulted us, with gesture that I let you imagine, shouting F***k O*F during all the match and worse things. They have thrown garlic on us. The yellow jackets guys tried to calm them down, but this was useless, they finally flighted against each other, a bottle was launched, and the police came, but it continued. I decided to leave with my daughter before the end of the game.

To sum-up, I was more disappointed by the behavior of the local persons than by the match. I won’t come back myself and won’t recommend going there in family. My daughter is young so she doesn’t hopefully understand what happened but soon she will, and I want to protect her from this.

Thanks for your thoughts and I'm saddened to hear about your negative experience. 99% of RL fans aren't as you describe but unfortunately there is a small minority of idiots and the Grand Final late evening kick off definitely causes issues with boozed up fans.

[Dunbar]

4 minutes ago, Pitouf said:

Hi all,

I’m Catalan and supporting the Dragons. I travelled this weekend to Manchester and wanted to give a bit of feedback in this topic.

I’m also disappointed that the stadium was not packed. However, without looking for excuses, it is important to notice that:

-          Travelling to UK is more and more difficult, a passport is now requested. Not everybody in France has a passport as an ID card is enough to travel across Europe. This new change was applicable at the beginning of this month

-          The forms / tests / etc. to comply with to accede to UK because of Covid 19 are also difficult to manage, moreover for those who don’t speak English. I had, as all the Dragon’s fans to buy an unexisting 2 day test (that everybody paid but nobody received) to receive a code by e-mail that I had to put on a paper… and that is only an example

-          I travelled there with my daughter of 4 years, the total price for the weekend was more than 1 000 euros what is not affordable for everybody.

To be precise we should take this in consideration when judging the attendance.

Another point is that I won’t come back and won’t recommend other people to travel to this type of match in England.

In France Rugby match (league or union) are family events where you can go with children, therefore I decided to bring my young daughter of 4 years with me. We were in section 2405 full of Dragons’ fan. Just below us was a section full of English people, some of them were supporting Saint Helens but many other English persons were supporting the Dragons (not sure if they were pro Dragons or against saint Helens but it doesn’t matter). In this section, a dozen of fans continuously insulted us, with gesture that I let you imagine, shouting F***k O*F during all the match and worse things. They have thrown garlic on us. The yellow jackets guys tried to calm them down, but this was useless, they finally flighted against each other, a bottle was launched, and the police came, but it continued. I decided to leave with my daughter before the end of the game.

To sum-up, I was more disappointed by the behavior of the local persons than by the match. I won’t come back myself and won’t recommend going there in family. My daughter is young so she doesn’t hopefully understand what happened but soon she will, and I want to protect her from this.

I have posted that I wouldn't take my family to the Grand Final and this post (very sadly) backs this up.  I am really sorry you and your daughter had such a poor experience. 

As a sport that likes to describe itself as family friendly I think we need to take long hard look at what our big games offer to potential new fans.