Well Done RLWC Team! Best yet!

[Archie Gordon]

22 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

How do you know it hasn’t cut through to those outside the rl public?

Anecdotal of course but ive never had as many people speak to me about RL than in the last month. These aren’t RL people either but they saw it in the BBC

TV viewing figures are the best indicator of a lack of breakthrough.

[Dave T]

21 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Your last point is s good one, England didn’t play a tier one nation yet got better crowds than those in 2017

If we've learnt one thing from World Cups, it's that the fixtures and tier 1 and tier 2 are, to an extent, irrelevant. 

We've had higher crowds for WC games against minnows than for full on test matches versus top nations. I think the move away from staging Eng v Oz in every tournament was a good thing for me. I hope they don't go backwards on that. 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Archie Gordon said:

TV viewing figures are the best indicator of a lack of breakthrough.

And weve had record breaking tv viewing figures

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

If we've learnt one thing from World Cups, it's that the fixtures and tier 1 and tier 2 are, to an extent, irrelevant. 

We've had higher crowds for WC games against minnows than for full on test matches versus top nations. I think the move away from staging Eng v Oz in every tournament was a good thing for me. I hope they don't go backwards on that. 

I agree on not going back, however i would hazard a guess had our semi final been against NZ or Australia the crowd would have been higher. 
 

Both NZ and Australia would have had a higher pull on the general public imo.

[Dave T]

25 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

How do you know it hasn’t cut through to those outside the rl public?

Anecdotal of course but ive never had as many people speak to me about RL than in the last month. These aren’t RL people either but they saw it in the BBC

 

18 minutes ago, JonM said:

Yes - this. There are very few 'water-cooler moments' these days, but RL has been on national tv shows a lot over the last few weeks. Unheard of levels of coverage.

 

I think this has been a major success of the tournament. The viral moments have been on a level we haven't really seen before. Maybe not the biggest numbers ever, but the frequency of these things has been higher than ever. 

On top of the core coverage, every news bulletin had highlights (particularly of England), external social media shared clips, and I thought the RLWC social media was excellent. 

I made the point in another thread - very many viral moments were nowt to do with the actual rugby, they were the ceremonial dances, royal visit etc. We need to realise it isn't big hits that will draw in the fans. 

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Chrispmartha said:

I agree on not going back, however i would hazard a guess had our semi final been against NZ or Australia the crowd would have been higher. 
 

Both NZ and Australia would have had a higher pull on the general public imo.

I think we would have, but possibly lower for the 2nd semi then. 

The Arsenal semi had bigger issues than opposition, all the usual I've highlighted, plus major football and RU games on clashing with us. As we saw at the opener, people were there to watch England, not the opposition. 

In 2000 our semi v NZ got 16k.

[JohnM]

On 19/11/2022 at 18:56, Madrileño said:

No. Not at all.

My point was, that when we have zero sellout games, even in relatively small heartland stadia; and when we cannot sell out our Final (our global showpiece event), don't come back with a reply bigging up Wheelchairs and amateur women's games.

The 2 cannot be compared. 

Your point, your only point is only to moan and snipe. Don't try to rationalize or justify your negativity. 

[iangidds]

4 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Your point, your only point is only to moan and snipe. Don't try to rationalize or justify your negativity. 

His point is totally valid , when people realise how we can simply improve things by doing the fundamentals we will be able to move forward in step with other sports and not go backwards as we are.

[Archie Gordon]

8 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

And weve had record breaking tv viewing figures

Sorry, I think that's trite. We've been on TV more - excellent - but we haven't broken through 2.5m viewers for any one game. We haven't expanded the audience to above our usual ceiling - hence no breakthrough in my view.

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Sorry, I think that's trite. We've been on TV more - excellent - but we haven't broken through 2.5m viewers for any one game. We haven't expanded the audience to above our usual ceiling - hence no breakthrough in my view.

I'm not sure I agree with this. We have smashed viewing figures for women's and wheelchair. 

[JonM]

4 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Sorry, I think that's trite. We've been on TV more - excellent - but we haven't broken through 2.5m viewers for any one game. We haven't expanded the audience to above our usual ceiling - hence no breakthrough in my view.

I think you have to interpret live TV viewing figures in the light of even top rated shows like Coronation Street, EastEnders etc. getting below 2m these days.

[Archie Gordon]

Just now, Dave T said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. We have smashed viewing figures for women's and wheelchair. 

We have.

But it would be great to know for sure that these were different viewers to the 2.5m who I count as our ceiling. Possibly they were.

[Man of Kent]

9 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Sorry, I think that's trite. We've been on TV more - excellent - but we haven't broken through 2.5m viewers for any one game. We haven't expanded the audience to above our usual ceiling - hence no breakthrough in my view.

The wheelchair and women tournaments absolutely broke through.  

I feel some are missing the point of this World Cup. We've essentially added two new sports to the RL offer: women's and wheelchair.

RLWC21 has proved there is demand for women and wheelchair internationals from TV viewers and in the stands. That means we can now package series involving all three forms of the game, eg Ashes tours up here and down under.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Man of Kent

[Archie Gordon]

1 minute ago, JonM said:

I think you have to interpret live TV viewing figures in the light of even top rated shows like Coronation Street, EastEnders etc. getting below 2m these days.

I would have agreed with you a couple of weeks ago but I've since read on here that live sport hasn't suffered the same effect.

[iangidds]

4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. We have smashed viewing figures for women's and wheelchair. 

Probably because they are relatively new conceots , the flagship event is really important to focus upon

[Dave T]

Just now, iangidds said:

Probably because they are relatively new conceots , the flagship event is really important to focus upon

Of course, but a- it is progress, and b- it wasn't a given. 

[Dave T]

7 minutes ago, JonM said:

I think you have to interpret live TV viewing figures in the light of even top rated shows like Coronation Street, EastEnders etc. getting below 2m these days.

I'm not sure about that. It is relevant, but we should compare to live sport. 

Looking at the biggest 6N games, they do appear to be around the 8 to 10m mark, many at 4 to 5m,- and tbh I don't think Eng v Samoa peaking at 2.5m versus that is too bad. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

On 19/11/2022 at 18:17, Madrileño said:

Zero sellout crowds.

Zero.

Not even the final. 

Well done. 

No sell out crowds what about wheel chair games most were sell outs. 

[Chrispmartha]

17 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Sorry, I think that's trite. We've been on TV more - excellent - but we haven't broken through 2.5m viewers for any one game. We haven't expanded the audience to above our usual ceiling - hence no breakthrough in my view.

It’s not trite its a fact.

unless weve had millions tune in to watch the Women’s game and Wherlchair game that im not aware of

[iangidds]

1 minute ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

No sell out crowds what about wheel chair games most were sell outs. 

Ok but the flagship event got no where near , which is really where the main focus should lie without wishing to sound insensetive

[Chrispmartha]

9 minutes ago, iangidds said:

Probably because they are relatively new conceots , the flagship event is really important to focus upon

So what, that’s a positive that these new concepts can get such good viewing figures.

You can’t strip out those tournaments, they were part of it and very successfully part of it.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, iangidds said:

Ok but the flagship event got no where near , which is really where the main focus should lie without wishing to sound insensetive

I thought you were all about looking at the bigger picture?

[ELBOWSEYE]

1 minute ago, iangidds said:

Ok but the flagship event got no where near , which is really where the main focus should lie without wishing to sound insensetive

There are issues with the mens game but the other versions plus pdrl are on an upward curve so to ignore the positives and grow all these areas is stupid, and future fans come from all aspects of the community not just men. 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

There are issues with the mens game but the other versions plus pdrl are on an upward curve so to ignore the positives and grow all these areas is stupid, and future fans come from all aspects of the community not just men. 

Also wheres the idea it was no where near selling out come from? 68k in a 74 k seater stadium which has reduced capacity because of media and tv gantry.

The crowd looked and sounded fabulous  on TV, even the popular moan fest attendance thread was quiet

[iangidds]

7 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

I thought you were all about looking at the bigger picture?

I am hence looking at the flagship event which is the main event , sorry for you that that is difficult to understand