RLWC Attendance-O-Meter

[londonrlfan]

8 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

As every poor attendance is posted, I keep reading how that game was never a big going to be a big seller. If that was the level of our ambition, the wrong people are in charge. 

Just being realistic. The RFL do nothing to promote the games and just expect heartlands fans to turn up in their droves. They need to target newcomers. Surely there was an advertising agency they could have linked with?

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Went to Scotland v Italy today and really enjoyed it.

Not sure there were 6300 there, but that and the Jamaica v Ireland attendances seem fine to me.

The NZ attendance was poor and Lebanon are a half decent side. I think the 'heartland' needs to take some blame for not showing up. Prices or not. 

I guessed about 6k at the ground. The big main stand was pretty full. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

12 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Or at least a small heartland venue. Doncaster as one of three games is a tough sell. 

It's like they have abandoned almost everything food from 2013.

I’m glad to hear food from 2013 has been abandoned to be honest - cost of living crisis or not!

[Josef K]

I wonder if more tickets would’ve been sold if fans could have nipped into a club ticket office where a match was taking place and picked up the tickets from there. Instead of having the rigmarole of getting them online which i know has been a pain for some fans. 

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, Josef K said:

I wonder if more tickets would’ve been sold if fans could have nipped into a club ticket office where a match was taking place and picked up the tickets from there. Instead of having the rigmarole of getting them online which i know has been a pain for some fans. 

If you want to go you will go. 43k managed it and a lot of those near me were locals and novice fans. For some reason people in the Warrington area were simply not interested today. 

[Big Picture]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

If you want to go you will go. 43k managed it and a lot of those near me were locals and novice fans. For some reason people in the Warrington area were simply not interested today. 

Evidently one of the game's problems is that its fanbase is poor and either can't or won't pay such prices.  A good few seem to think that a World Cup match shouldn't cost much more than a regular league match.

[ChristianB]

My daughter's school ran a bus to a Women's Euro football match in Southampton. From Cornwall. All in it cost us £20.

She had a fabulous day (and night) trip, as did the entire coachload of kids.

Put it this way, by reaching out to Primary schools alone within five miles, the Halliwell Jones could have been filled to the brim tonight.

[Colin James]

10 minutes ago, londonrlfan said:

Just being realistic. The RFL do nothing to promote the games and just expect heartlands fans to turn up in their droves. They need to target newcomers. Surely there was an advertising agency they could have linked with?

Anyone who gets a tram in Manchester is likely to see Sale Sharks advertising. One I got last week had the whole outside of the tram emblazoned with Sale Sharks advertising. You couldn't miss it.

Didn't see anything about the World Cup in the city hosting the final and with lots of games within easy public transport distance.

[Colin James]

2 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

A good few seem to think that a World Cup match shouldn't cost much more than a regular league match.

Some of the teams in the competition would struggle in the Championship. As much as it is the World Cup, we have to be realistic about the standard. Should people be paying more than SL prices to watch League One players?

[londonrlfan]

2 minutes ago, Colin James said:

Anyone who gets a tram in Manchester is likely to see Sale Sharks advertising. One I got last week had the whole outside of the tram emblazoned with Sale Sharks advertising. You couldn't miss it.

Didn't see anything about the World Cup in the city hosting the final and with lots of games within easy public transport distance.

Preaching to the converted as per usual. I spoke with a couple of Jamaican (heritage) people and none of them knew they would be playing at the WC this weekend. I suspect it would be the same with Greeks. 

You got to get out and promote it into the local communities, websites, newspapers etc. One thing Australia did well was promote Lebanon to the Lebanese community in Sydney. 

[Leyther_Matt]

5 minutes ago, ChristianB said:

My daughter's school ran a bus to a Women's Euro football match in Southampton. From Cornwall. All in it cost us £20.

She had a fabulous day (and night) trip, as did the entire coachload of kids.

Put it this way, by reaching out to Primary schools alone within five miles, the Halliwell Jones could have been filled to the brim tonight.

Tbf the community clubs of Warrington were out in force tonight. Good job really (although we did choose to shift seats to a quieter area in the second half)

One benefit of the poor crowd tonight was that I was home within half an hour of the hooter! Not sure I’ll be quite so early coming back from Donny tomorrow. 

[The One]

7 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Evidently one of the game's problems is that its fanbase is poor and either can't or won't pay such prices.  A good few seem to think that a World Cup match shouldn't cost much more than a regular league match.

I think a lot will have paid to go to one/two matches and not wanted/been able to pay to go to more.

It someone has £80 to spend, is it better if they go to 5 matches at £15 each, or 2 at £40? Always going to be the dilemma when every event is targeting the same people.

[SouthLondonRL]

I went to the Ireland vs Jamaica game today, drove up from London after being inspired by the England performance yesterday. Paid 35quid a ticket which I thought was reasonable and enjoyed the day. However I was disappointed with some aspects compared with the women's Euro. 

The plain beer cups, lack of Carribean food at the ground and lack of sinage around. It didn't feel like a world cup game, instead a friendly. 

Staying in Leeds tonight you would not believe a World Cup is taken place. 

I would loved to have seen some giant billboards of Dom young etc 

[GUBRATS]

24 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I wonder if more tickets would’ve been sold if fans could have nipped into a club ticket office where a match was taking place and picked up the tickets from there. Instead of having the rigmarole of getting them online which i know has been a pain for some fans. 

I called at the LSV on Friday for tickets for 2 games , told I couldn't have any 

Bonkers 

[Gerrumonside ref]

I’ve not been to any games yet so I’ll refrain from going in too hard on organisers or fellow fans (although I want to go to games out of a sense of having a good time, rather than a sense of duty).

I reckon heartlands fans will be pretty savvy at knowing the relative strengths of teams and how to get best value while following a fully televised big tournament. 

On the other hand, non-heartland fans will want to know they’re being a part of something eventwise and might be willing to take the plunge if you can afford to market things as you want to.

The thing that would wind me up though is overpaying for a rubbish view or being mis-sold on the interest level of a game.

Perhaps it is here where RLWC2021 can be criticised, but there is a long way to go and England’s thumping win in the opener could yet draw a more people in.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Gerrumonside ref

[Leonard]

3 minutes ago, SouthLondonRL said:

I went to the Ireland vs Jamaica game today, drove up from London after being inspired by the England performance yesterday. Paid 35quid a ticket which I thought was reasonable and enjoyed the day. However I was disappointed with some aspects compared with the women's Euro. 

The plain beer cups, lack of Carribean food at the ground and lack of sinage around. It didn't feel like a world cup game, instead a friendly. 

Staying in Leeds tonight you would not believe a World Cup is taken place. 

I would loved to have seen some giant billboards of Dom young etc 

I do think the late cancellation last year must have cost the organisers a small fortune and that will have knock on impacts.

[NW10LDN]

23 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Evidently one of the game's problems is that its fanbase is poor and either can't or won't pay such prices.  A good few seem to think that a World Cup match shouldn't cost much more than a regular league match.

Rugby league heartlands are among the poorest in the country. I remember reading an article about the Fiji team visiting St. Helens and talking about substance abuse problems being similar to back home.

[GUBRATS]

5 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

I called at the LSV on Friday for tickets for 2 games , told I couldn't have any 

Bonkers 

My son has just tried to book my tickets only to be told there is no option for delivery of paper tickets , looks like I won't be going 

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I’ve not been to any games yet so I’ll refrain from going in too hard on organisers or fellow fans (although I want to go out of a sense of having a good time rather than a sense of duty).

I reckon heartlands fans will be pretty savvy at knowing the relative strengths of teams and how to get best value while following a fully televised big tournament. 

On the other hand, non-heartland fans will want to know they’re being a part of something eventwise and might be willing to take the plunge if you can afford to market things as you want to.

The thing that would wind me up though is overpaying for a rubbish view or being mis-sold on the interest level of a game.

Perhaps it is here where RLWC2021 can be criticised, but there is a long way to go and England’s thumping win in the opener could yet draw a more people in.

I got 3 x £100 tickets for SJP and the views were pretty poor. Front row by try line. 

If I had known I would have got far cheaper tickets with better views.

Had a great day but that grated a bit. 

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

My son has just tried to book my tickets only to be told there is no option for delivery of paper tickets , looks like I won't be going 

You can print them off. 

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

I called at the LSV on Friday for tickets for 2 games , told I couldn't have any 

Bonkers 

A casualty of the logistics of so many venues being involved. Although, that said, there was a provision for that in 2013, albeit they were then distributed from RL HQ with a booking fee and spawned the infamous quote which is still someone’s signature on here IIRC.

For what it’s worth, tickets weren’t available at the venues for the women’s Euros either, albeit in our situation you’d think it would have been sorted much sooner  

Quick enough to do it online, mind. Quicker than it took to write this post, in fact. (Though the real bonkers aspect of this whole thing is that you can’t pick your seats)

*********
After seeing a post on Twitter, I’ve dug out my confirmation emails from RLWC 2013

England v Australia/Wales v Italy (Cardiff) - £18

Fiji v Ireland (Rochdale) - £9 in June, £5 in October

Tonga v Cook Islands (Leigh) - £5

New Zealand v Samoa (Warrington) - £5

Scotland v USA (Salford) - £5

Final (Old Trafford) - £12.50 

Amazing we could afford to turn the lights on tbh!

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, Leonard said:

I got 3 x £100 tickets for SJP and the views were pretty poor. Front row by try line. 

If I had known I would have got far cheaper tickets with better views.

Had a great day but that grated a bit. 

I’m glad you had a great day, but this is the sort of thing people will remember.

[Josef K]

10 minutes ago, Leonard said:

If you want to go you will go. 43k managed it and a lot of those near me were locals and novice fans. For some reason people in the Warrington area were simply not interested today. 

I know a three people who would have gone to the games at Saints but they couldn’t be arsed setting up an account to get tickets. They did say “if they could’ve picked them up from Saints or pay at the gate they would have gone”.
The four games i am going to luckily a mate ordered them for us, but he wasn’t happy with being charged P&P for tickets that he was getting on his phone and not through the post. Myself i would sooner have an actual ticket in my hand than having to download it or get it printed. Hopefully the crowds will pickup, but i am mainly concentrating on what is happening on the pitch. But if they decided that they’d cut the price of tickets for the group matches to try and entice people i wouldn’t mind. 

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I’m glad you had a great day, but this is the sort of thing people will remember.

I've had it with cat A tickets before.

For that I want halfway line and elevation. 

In future I will book cheaper tickets where I can see what is going on. 

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, Josef K said:

I know a three people who would have gone to the games at Saints but they couldn’t be arsed setting up an account to get tickets. They did say “if they could’ve picked them up from Saints or pay at the gate they would have gone”.
The four games i am going to luckily a mate ordered them for us, but he wasn’t happy with being charged P&P for tickets that he was getting on his phone and not through the post. Myself i would sooner have an actual ticket in my hand than having to download it or get it printed. Hopefully the crowds will pickup, but i am mainly concentrating on what is happening on the pitch. But if they decided that they’d cut the price of tickets for the group matches to try and entice people i wouldn’t mind. 

They can.