Why have I not been to an International Game for nearly 30 years?

[Tommygilf]

Watching England/GB has been a weird thing for a while now. We only really seem to play 2 sorts of teams.

1. France and Wales, who we are guaranteed to beat pretty heavily.

Or 

2. Australia and New Zealand, who up until very recently has meant playing in hope more than expectation. More English NRL players and the Kiwis losing players to the islands.

The competitive matches, like Samoa, Tonga, PNG, Fiji, and mainly heritage based Ireland, Scotland, even Italy and Lebanon, rarely seem to get considered, despite them probably providing a good test that is closer to 50/50 than Australia, France or Wales would be.

I hope this changes in future.

[Sammo]

17 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

We both live in Bradford. You can come with me to watch Wales. It's good fun and. to be fair, no-one would pay £80 to watch one.

When is the next Wales match? Would be interested in going 

[Gerrumonside ref]

My first international was the famous 12 men Wembley Test In 1994 with the Jonathan Davies try against the Aussies.

I thought they would all be like that!

[Damien]

1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

My first international was the famous 12 men Wembley Test In 1994 with the Jonathan Davies try against the Aussies.

I thought they would all be like that!

I'm not a SL knocker, and this isn't the intention, but there is no denying that the international benefits from SL and the seasons being aligned failed to materialise. There was a lot of talk of how SL and the switch to summer would be great for the international game but all it seems to have done is make it harder to play matches. 1994 was an incredible test series, then that was followed by the 1995 World Cup. Everything was set in stone up to then and you knew exactly when the next test series was and they were events really worth looking forward to. Bar the odd year and World Cup since then we haven't come close to those heights.

[Jughead]

There’s little to get excited by when it comes to England. Since the 2013 World Cup, which provided a superb, yet crushing defeat by New Zealand, England have played New Zealand in England seven times since, France twice, Combined Nations, Scotland and Australia once. Compared to 2013, the advancement in the likes of Fiji, PNG, Samoa and Tonga is vast and I think people want to see a bit more variety in the scheduling rather than playing New Zealand three times every other year.

The loss of the Four Nations, which could quite easily have been expanded to five or six nations, was a big loss.

[Just Browny]

45 minutes ago, Damien said:

I'm not a SL knocker, and this isn't the intention, but there is no denying that the international benefits from SL and the seasons being aligned failed to materialise. There was a lot of talk of how SL and the switch to sumer would be great for the international game but all it seems to have done is make it harder to play matches. 1994 was an incredible test series, then that was followed by the 1995 World Cup. Everything was set in stone up to then and you knew exactly when the next test series was and they were events really worth looking forward to. Bar the odd year and World Cup since then we haven't come close to those heights.

I think I'd argue that the period 2004 - 2014 was generally a good one internationally. We instituted a competitive Tri Nations series and the wider public saw those as serious internationals. 2007 was a bit of a nothing year with a slightly forced series against NZ, but 2008 was good enough to save the World Cup format and Australia losing the final was a massive shot in the arm of the game.

The trouble was that for variety purposes a fourth team needed to be added to the format before we had a fourth team good enough to compete at that level. That meant the 2009- 2011 Four Nations were a bit underpowered, as was the England-Wales-France series at the end of 2012 (although that had its moments of interest). 

2013 was the best World Cup of the post-Super League era and the 2014 4N was a belter with almost every game a nail biter.

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I think I'd argue that the period 2004 - 2014 was generally a good one internationally. We instituted a competitive Tri Nations series and the wider public saw those as serious internationals. 2007 was a bit of a nothing year with a slightly forced series against NZ, but 2008 was good enough to save the World Cup format and Australia losing the final was a massive shot in the arm of the game.

The trouble was that for variety purposes a fourth team needed to be added to the format before we had a fourth team good enough to compete at that level. That meant the 2009- 2011 Four Nations were a bit underpowered, as was the England-Wales-France series at the end of 2012 (although that had its moments of interest). 

2013 was the best World Cup of the post-Super League era and the 2014 4N was a belter with almost every game a nail biter.

And the 2016 Four Nations where Scotland drew with New Zealand and were beating England at half time

[langpark]

11 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I think I'd argue that the period 2004 - 2014 was generally a good one internationally. We instituted a competitive Tri Nations series and the wider public saw those as serious internationals. 2007 was a bit of a nothing year with a slightly forced series against NZ, but 2008 was good enough to save the World Cup format and Australia losing the final was a massive shot in the arm of the game.

The trouble was that for variety purposes a fourth team needed to be added to the format before we had a fourth team good enough to compete at that level. That meant the 2009- 2011 Four Nations were a bit underpowered, as was the England-Wales-France series at the end of 2012 (although that had its moments of interest). 

2013 was the best World Cup of the post-Super League era and the 2014 4N was a belter with almost every game a nail biter.

Make that 2003!  I know the history books can be cruel when you look back and see the Aussies won the Ashes series 3-0 that year, but I remember every game was in the balance (or GB were ahead) right up until the 80th minute.  A valiant effort, made even more impressive by the fact GB played the full 80 minutes, of one of those matches with just 12 men (the infamous Morley hit on Robbie Kearns 8 seconds into the game).  Still to this day, one of my favourite international series ever!

[Just Browny]

17 minutes ago, langpark said:

Make that 2003!  I know the history books can be cruel when you look back and see the Aussies won the Ashes series 3-0 that year, but I remember every game was in the balance (or GB were ahead) right up until the 80th minute.  A valiant effort, made even more impressive by the fact GB played the full 80 minutes, of one of those matches with just 12 men (the infamous Morley hit on Robbie Kearns 8 seconds into the game).  Still to this day, one of my favourite international series ever!

I was at the Morley red card game and remember the series being fairly depressing. Australia had a pretty average team (Craig Wing played centre all series, with the other spot filled by Phil Bailey and Michael De Vere) and the backdrop was of the Rah Rahs' world domination at the same time.

The matches were close as you say but I remember there being an 'end of days' atmosphere.

[lanzer98]

As as non UK/AUS citizen I can tell  it is all about internationals. With a bunch of people I attended the 4N in Wembley in 2011 and it attracted me to RL. Nice stadium, nice atmosphere, and intense games. I then headed over 3x for the RLWC2013 doing a one week round trip with my wife, the semi final, and final. That was the reason to follow SL and NRL more closely and I attended SL finals, Magic weekends quite regularly - as well as 4N in 2016.

Although I head over to MW this year with a bunch of 12 people I get much more excited heading to RLWC2021 with my wife and kids - 1 week roundtrip and final booked. So internationals are above all club games and I am sure EU RL fans see it the same way.

[Wolford6]

5 hours ago, Sammo said:

When is the next Wales match? Would be interested in going 

WORLD CUP 2022:

Wed, 19 Oct 19:30       Cook Islands       Leigh Sports Village, Leigh

Mon, 24 Oct 19:30       Tonga                 Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens

Mon, 31 Oct 19:30       Papua New Guinea       Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster

There'll probably be a few warm up games as well. I'd go to Wrexham; maybe not to South Wales, which is too far for a return journey in the car.

 

[Mr Frisky]

On 15/01/2022 at 18:18, Mumby Magic said:

The question just hit me earlier today. I'm an expansionist if done right, an optimist, go to 30 + games every year for 37 years, want our game to develop, nationally and Internationally so what has stopped me going to internationals. 

Ironically my first two games ever were 1985 Vs NZ at Headingley and VS Australia at Elland Road the year after.

Does the international game appeal to you? Would you fork out say, 80 quid on a match for tickets food etc? Am I not interested because I like the club game or there seems no real competitions when it comes to internationals. 

I've forwarded your question to Lachlan Coote.

[Sammo]

38 minutes ago, Wolford6 said:

WORLD CUP 2022:

Wed, 19 Oct 19:30       Cook Islands       Leigh Sports Village, Leigh

Mon, 24 Oct 19:30       Tonga                 Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens

Mon, 31 Oct 19:30       Papua New Guinea       Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster

There'll probably be a few warm up games as well. I'd go to Wrexham; maybe not to South Wales, which is too far for a return journey in the car.

 

Thanks, thought there might be some warm up matches already in the diary