St James park

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Coastal_Geordie said:

The Etihad in Manchester?  The Emirates in London?  Bramall Lane owned by Saudi owned Sheffield United?

Amnesty International have plenty to say about the UAE in addition to Saudis Arabia, so I suppose you are also against all of the above stadia?

Or is your outrage only at Newcastle?

I agree this is a slippery slope. This is a RL forum and a discussion regarding the best place for international RL matches. The rest is for the political forum in my opinion.

[Phil W]

Today has hopefully shown what international rugby league can be.

I agree that given the product we have we should be looking to use big stadia as long as we can make it a big event.

Hopefully on the back of a successful RLWC and with the input of IMG we get to a point where stadia are fighting to host England games. 

 

[EggFace]

Lets stop nick picking after a great opener...International Rugby League should be played all the UK and that means Plymouth 

[Sports Prophet]

9 hours ago, Tosh said:

Has it now cemented it’s place as a certain stadium pick in any 3 test series against both New Zealand and Australia(if they can be @rsed to tour)?

At least until the new Bradford Super Duper Dome is completed!

As I was watching the game yesterday which was a spectacular start to the tournament, I wonder if London would have been a better host for the opener than Newcastle. Hit the capital from the very start of the tournament. 

[Sitona]

90% of the games are in the north because £25 million funding for the three tournaments comes from the governments Northern Powerhouse initiative. 
 

 

[Tosh]

3 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

All of the above.Your whataboutary will have to be saved for someone else. I don’t want a sport formed so working class lads could get paid played in stadiums that are billboards for serfdom.

Think the question was about Newcastle though wasnt it?

People who play the whataboutary card do so when their hypocrisy has been exposed.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Tosh

[Tosh]

3 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

No its a factual statement.

People are free to defend sports washing, but they need to say why, when several state bodies (including the Office of the director of national intelligence) have fingered the Saudi state as ordering a hit on a journalist, Rugby League should allow itself to be whored out to these people.

We used a stadium and that’s it. 
 

The house of Saud isn’t sponsoring the World Cup and to the best of my knowledge the house of Saud didn’t pay the RFL a penny to stage the World Cup opening game at st James park.

[Tosh]

So if indeed the kiwis are headed to uk shores in 2023 for stadium picks I’d go with :-

1st test in London at either spurs or arsenal.

2nd test newcastle st James park.

3rd test Manchester Etihad.

All depends on availability of course but I think we could smash it with all 3 venues.

[Tosh]

Also hopefully gone are the days of using wigan, hull and Huddersfield as venues for a 3 test series against New Zealand and Australia(if they ever decide to tour again).

[Yakstorm]

The North East has shown some significant development over the past few years both on and off the field.

Participation in the area is growing, the Thunder has grown its supporter base and moved into the Championship and consumption of RL through TV viewers, crowd attendances, etc continues to grow.

Throw in a favourable local government, who is happy to pay for major RL content (like Magic & the RLWC opener) and talk up the sport, and a local population who appear to be open to watching RL, it seems like a no brainer to lock in St James Park as a Test venue for the next however many years at least. 

There's strategic benefit, there's revenue benefit and playing a game at a big venue makes it more of an event, which is what we should be doing with England Tests.

If that means less Tests in the heartlands because places like Newcastle & London are easier sells, so be it, firstly it's not like the heartlands are staved of high quality Rugby League, secondly it's not like those who want to go don't travel either and thirdly it will hopefully mean when we play a game in the heartlands, it is at a big venue and we sell it out quickly.

Imagine a Test Series in Newcastle, London and say Elland Road. Using last start crowds, we'd attract over 100K. Now that's attractive to sponsors, players and the media.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

3 hours ago, Sitona said:

90% of the games are in the north because £25 million funding for the three tournaments comes from the governments Northern Powerhouse initiative. 
 

 

It's more than 90% in the north .....one game in the south and one in midlands (for men's)....it's about 96% or something 

[Tommygilf]

 

 

[Tommygilf]

55 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It's more than 90% in the north .....one game in the south and one in midlands (for men's)....it's about 96% or something 

And only 80% had to be in the North anyway (which includes most of North Wales and a not insignificant chunk of the midlands too.

[Madrileño]

5 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

No its a factual statement.

People are free to defend sports washing, but they need to say why, when several state bodies (including the Office of the director of national intelligence) have fingered the Saudi state as ordering a hit on a journalist, Rugby League should allow itself to be whored out to these people.

I am neither agreeing nor disagreeing. 

It's just that I have seen posts removed on here for referencing 'Brexit'so I assumed that accusing a state of being a 'murderous dictatorship' was a bridge too far. 

[Northern Eel]

12 hours ago, Eddie said:

The bbc made sure they focused on a few of them too. Unless there were so many that it was by chance. 

There was a sizeable RU contingent in the crowd. Many RU club shirts too.

[Gerrumonside ref]

From all the evidence we have so far it seems that we put on a big event in the North East of the country that the people there responded in big numbers.

Let’s do it again!

Also it’s further evidence that when we showcase the sport using top class England internationals, outside the main areas it is played in, that people will respond and buy tickets.

 

 

[David Shepherd]

13 hours ago, Eddie said:

Why have two of the three games away from where the game is played and where 95% of its fans are? I get the idea of taking games elsewhere but 2/3 is a lot. 

Grow the game and generate revenue from outside the usual pool.

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

From all the evidence we have so far it seems that we put on a big event in the North East of the country that the people there responded in big numbers.

Let’s do it again!

Also it’s further evidence that when we showcase the sport using top class England internationals, outside the main areas it is played in, that people will respond and buy tickets.

 

 

It does seem that a trio of London venue, St James's Park, Leeds/Manchester would work for any Autumn international series and would complement a mid-size heartlands venue for the mid season international, Wembley for the Challenge Cup Final and Old Trafford (or replacement) for the Grand Final.

Add in two home rep games for Cumbria a year and I'd actually be happy with that.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

10 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

And only 80% had to be in the North anyway (which includes most of North Wales and a not insignificant chunk of the midlands too.

I'm really disappointed I can't get to more games ....it's just too expensive on travel and hotels and long for midweek games 

I really think there should have been at least 5/6 fixtures in midlands or South not two

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Bedfordshire Bronco

[gingerjon]

25 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

There was a sizeable RU contingent in the crowd. Many RU club shirts too.

Excellent.

[Madrileño]

2 hours ago, Tosh said:

So if indeed the kiwis are headed to uk shores in 2023 for stadium picks I’d go with :-

1st test in London at either spurs or arsenal.

2nd test newcastle st James park.

3rd test Manchester Etihad.

All depends on availability of course but I think we could smash it with all 3 venues.

QPR

Wigan

Hull

No point in being too adventurous. We don't want to alienate existing member clubs like Keighley Cougars, for whom change can be a terrifying prospect. 

[Sitona]

1 hour ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It's more than 90% in the north .....one game in the south and one in midlands (for men's)....it's about 96% or something 

For mens yes, but this is an inclusive World Cup and there are 6 wheelchair games at the Copper Box in London 

[Damien]

31 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

There was a sizeable RU contingent in the crowd. Many RU club shirts too.

I've seen this mentioned a fair bit too. That has always been my experience with internationals in London too. Internationals attract the floating sports fan in a way that the club game just doesn't do and we don't use it anywhere near enough.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

I've seen this mentioned a fair bit too. That has always been my experience with internationals in London too. Internationals attract the floating sports fan in a way that the club game just doesn't do and we don't use it anywhere near enough.

Exactly. And because people aren't aware that they should formally apologise for 1895 and the actions of the Vichy government, they tend to turn up in either England or (not so much) club RU colours. You often see a fair number of national soccer and cricket shirts too.

It's all money in the till.

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Exactly. And because people aren't aware that they should formally apologise for 1895 and the actions of the Vichy government, they tend to turn up in either England or (not so much) club RU colours. You often see a fair number of national soccer and cricket shirts too.

It's all money in the till.

Again, in my experience, these people are often very complimentary about the game too. It is not their fault that for many of them it is often nigh on impossible to play or follow the sport, bar on TV.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Damien