Attendance thread

[gingerjon]

11 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Just bring back the Yorks and Lancs cup for me 

*Dvorak music intensifies*

[EssexRL]

It would seem to me that the key issues are -

1. The days of the North coming to London for the CC at the scale fans used to is over due to factors discussed here like travel costs and alternative RL "event games" like the GF. Forget the past we need to think how the game can be promoted and made attractive today.

2. There has been a decline in RL in London. Numbers watching LBs and LSs have plummeted. I used to go to the CC for twenty London based fans (most Broncos, some expats from the North and some casuals who came for the day). Post Covid none have attended.

3. There is zero publicity for the game down here. Every time I see tube stations and trains plastered with adverts for a couple of US baseball teams coming over to London to play a match it does make me wonder how many we could add if we promoted the game in the south.

To be honest given the teams playing I thought the attendance was good. What's the population of Leigh? 45,000 or something. Christ there must have been a third of the town there! 

[Snowys Backside]

8 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

That world has gone.

Its also the reason why we will Continue to be a million miles away in regards to international RL. 

Only so much experimenting you can do with same players from 4 teams or who is a friend of the coach and its the nearest thing to an Origin series we will ever get. 

But, let's have 3 extra fixtures just for the sake of it likely to lead to some poor Sod getting relegated due to the inbalences. 

You. Imagine if Leeds were currently in Castleford shoes? There would be a bloody bloodbath! 

Have you ever attended any of the Roses games? 

 

[Tommygilf]

5 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Have you ever attended any of the Roses games? 

Nope, like most of the RL fanbase judging from the attendances they actually drew.

[Dovster]

I agree with the train of thought which says the CC is no longer our premier event and an attendance of 60k is still pretty good. I really enjoyed the weekend and it was made special by the fact we had two relatively new teams in the final. Both teams deserve credit for the game which they provided. I would definitely keep the CC final at wembley as this makes it a unique experience for the fans. It is still a great stadium even when not fully occupied. 

More can definitely be done to promote the game though. 

[Snowys Backside]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

Nope, like most of the RL fanbase judging from the attendances they actually drew.

Ahh, attendances again. Nothing to do with players of unfashionable clubs getting their chance to prove their worth in the talent pool. 

I dont know why we bother at Amateur level then. We are doomed because we can't fill Headingley blah blah..... 

Don't be disappointed if games such as this are not back on the horizon. Our international team is 'ordinary' in comparison to other Countries because other players are overlooked due to bias. 

Attendances?  You either go or you don't! 

[Snowys Backside]

5 minutes ago, Dovster said:

I agree with the train of thought which says the CC is no longer our premier event and an attendance of 60k is still pretty good. I really enjoyed the weekend and it was made special by the fact we had two relatively new teams in the final. Both teams deserve credit for the game which they provided. I would definitely keep the CC final at wembley as this makes it a unique experience for the fans. It is still a great stadium even when not fully occupied. 

More can definitely be done to promote the game though. 

Absolutely. Glass half full on Sat, even though it was a huge day on the sporting calendar. 

With good promotion of our sport, we can get the CC final back to 75k plus and build next year. 

[Tommygilf]

14 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Ahh, attendances again. Nothing to do with players of unfashionable clubs getting their chance to prove their worth in the talent pool. 

I dont know why we bother at Amateur level then. We are doomed because we can't fill Headingley blah blah..... 

Don't be disappointed if games such as this are not back on the horizon. Our international team is 'ordinary' in comparison to other Countries because other players are overlooked due to bias. 

Attendances?  You either go or you don't! 

Its an attendance thread?

[Ragingbull]

22 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Ahh, attendances again. Nothing to do with players of unfashionable clubs getting their chance to prove their worth in the talent pool. 

I dont know why we bother at Amateur level then. We are doomed because we can't fill Headingley blah blah..... 

Don't be disappointed if games such as this are not back on the horizon. Our international team is 'ordinary' in comparison to other Countries because other players are overlooked due to bias. 

Attendances?  You either go or you don't! 

People talking about attendances on an attentance thread, absolute disgrace, throw them all in jail i say! 

[Snowys Backside]

17 minutes ago, Ragingbull said:

People talking about attendances on an attentance thread, absolute disgrace, throw them all in jail i say! 

Bloody lock it then.

As a sport, we are obsessed. Best sport in the world and it is run in a dysfunctional way from top to bottom. I hope some big feathers do get ruffled in the next few years and pies shared out accordingly. 

Now back to the thread. Why can't Odsal and Headingley sell out their grounds week in week out in two Cities totalling well over half a million in raw population?  

I want Bradford back in Super League Btw   

[Snowys Backside]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Nope, like most of the RL fanbase judging from the attendances they actually drew.

As you like attendances, I went to specifically watch a Non SL player come on a score for Lancashire in 2001. Great game and over 10000 in attendance. Lancs won 36-24.

Give me that over a loop fixture any day with some 30 players busting a gut to get into the National side.

[johnh1]

11 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

As you like attendances, I went to specifically watch a Non SL player come on a score for Lancashire in 2001. Great game and over 10000 in attendance. Lancs won 36-24.

Give me that over a loop fixture any day with some 30 players busting a gut to get into the National side.

What's the point in busting a gut to get into the national side when the national side don't play any  meaningful games?

[Tommygilf]

14 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

As you like attendances, I went to specifically watch a Non SL player come on a score for Lancashire in 2001. Great game and over 10000 in attendance. Lancs won 36-24.

Give me that over a loop fixture any day with some 30 players busting a gut to get into the National side.

Good for you?

[JM2010]

14 minutes ago, johnh1 said:

What's the point in busting a gut to get into the national side when the national side don't play any  meaningful games?

They’re playing Tonga at the end of this year 

[Damien]

1 hour ago, johnh1 said:

What's the point in busting a gut to get into the national side when the national side don't play any  meaningful games?

People didn't even bust a gut in these games even when we did play meaningful games.

[Snowys Backside]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

People didn't even bust a gut in these games even when we did play meaningful games.

Has to change. 

We need the Aussie and Kiwi Tours back. 

Might even fill Headingley

[Ragingbull]

2 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Bloody lock it then.

As a sport, we are obsessed. Best sport in the world and it is run in a dysfunctional way from top to bottom. I hope some big feathers do get ruffled in the next few years and pies shared out accordingly. 

Now back to the thread. Why can't Odsal and Headingley sell out their grounds week in week out in two Cities totalling well over half a million in raw population?  

I want Bradford back in Super League Btw   

Because we have been absoloute pony for years and we play in a facility thats 30years out of date.

Unfortunately there are only the die hards left as trying to get new fans to watch 2nd rate rugby in a 10th rate stadium isnt exactly an easy sell.

[Snowys Backside]

32 minutes ago, Ragingbull said:

Because we have been absoloute pony for years and we play in a facility thats 30years out of date.

Unfortunately there are only the die hards left as trying to get new fans to watch 2nd rate rugby in a 10th rate stadium isnt exactly an easy sell.

Appreciate the honest opinion. Keep the faith. 

Hopefully a backer with the clubs best interest will take them to the next level. 

 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

15 hours ago, EssexRL said:

It would seem to me that the key issues are -

1. The days of the North coming to London for the CC at the scale fans used to is over due to factors discussed here like travel costs and alternative RL "event games" like the GF. Forget the past we need to think how the game can be promoted and made attractive today.

2. There has been a decline in RL in London. Numbers watching LBs and LSs have plummeted. I used to go to the CC for twenty London based fans (most Broncos, some expats from the North and some casuals who came for the day). Post Covid none have attended.

3. There is zero publicity for the game down here. Every time I see tube stations and trains plastered with adverts for a couple of US baseball teams coming over to London to play a match it does make me wonder how many we could add if we promoted the game in the south.

To be honest given the teams playing I thought the attendance was good. What's the population of Leigh? 45,000 or something. Christ there must have been a third of the town there! 

The lack of any publicity in London is inexcusable. Back in the eighties and early nineties (don't know about later as I moved) the Underground aways had ads for the CC final, particularly on the escalators.

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

The lack of any publicity in London is inexcusable. Back in the eighties and early nineties (don't know about later as I moved) the Underground aways had ads for the CC final, particularly on the escalators.

I was thinking about that on Saturday, if the tube was plastered with CC adverts (at great expense to the RFL) would the attendance grow sufficiently to cover the cost? 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

I was thinking about that on Saturday, if the tube was plastered with CC adverts (at great expense to the RFL) would the attendance grow sufficiently to cover the cost? 

This is a genuine Q that I wonder if anyone has the answer to: how much would it actually cost?

It's been a while since I ever had to find out advertising costs but my memory is that the tube isn't actually that expensive (relative to other advertising).

[The 4 of Us]

Looks like Global.com are behind a lot of it https://global.com/outdoor/rail/rail-digital-advertising/

As they also have a load of the independent radio stations, it doesn’t seem a great leap for me for the RFL to try and get a contra deal as some sort of tie up, which is hopefully more productive than a fleet of lorries. 
 

Cost seems to vary from a few hundred to a few thousand per week depending on what’s being done. Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me to have all the main stations covered at least in the month before any future event. Even if they can’t prove a return, the value for me would be in building general awareness, but dare I say, the effect might be better with a local club performing on the top stage. 

[Man of Kent]

I'm not sure how effective tube advertising is. If we were smarter/not useless, there'd be exclusive interviews in the Evening Standard/Metro/Time Out.

But more than that, we don't even promote it to our own. There should be promotions with tag and touch rugby leagues in London (thousands of players sort of playing league, many with cash to spend). We would be doing more to entice Broncos fans, Skolars fan, Antipodeans playing for London clubs, Antipodean league fans, the families of London/SE league minis and so on.

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Man of Kent

[tiffers]

20 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

Looks like Global.com are behind a lot of it https://global.com/outdoor/rail/rail-digital-advertising/

As they also have a load of the independent radio stations, it doesn’t seem a great leap for me for the RFL to try and get a contra deal as some sort of tie up, which is hopefully more productive than a fleet of lorries. 
 

Cost seems to vary from a few hundred to a few thousand per week depending on what’s being done. Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me to have all the main stations covered at least in the month before any future event. Even if they can’t prove a return, the value for me would be in building general awareness, but dare I say, the effect might be better with a local club performing on the top stage. 

The problem is with such limited marketing spends, your tend to target your money on platforms that your can prove conversions and ROI with. i.e. digital.

I have been involved with organisations that have purchased tube station ads / out of home advertising in the past and when tight marketing spends are all entirely focused on conversion activities (not awareness building and "promoting the game as a whole" as is the case here with the RFL), the strongest tendencies are to spend on channels where you can monitor results and adjust accordingly. If I was in the chair marketing for the RFL, I would not be spending on radio ads or tube ad's with a small budget. I would be working other channels significantly harder.

Now I am not defending the approach taken, don't let me be misconstrued. I am just merely stating that when you have small budgets, the ability to adjust and cut through to your target audience in digital spaces is far more appealing to a marketeer vs. static advertising on radio channels or in tube trains and stations. A previous organisation I worked at had this exact dilemma and I stopped the tube ads. I didnt have the budgets to be spending on raising awareness in London and cutting through to the masses. I needed to target my advertising to conversion activities for those that were already aware of my organisation where I could prove ROI that is the crux of this issue.

Brand building is a different ball game to conversion marketing.

Edited August 15, 2023 by tiffers

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, tiffers said:

The problem is with such limited marketing spends, your tend to target your money on platforms that your can prove conversions and ROI with. i.e. digital.

I have been involved with organisations that have purchased tube station ads / out of home advertising in the past and when tight marketing spends are all entirely focused on conversion activities (not awareness building and "promoting the game as a whole" as is the case here with the RFL), the strongest tendencies are to spend on channels where you can monitor results and adjust accordingly. If I was in the chair marketing for the RFL, I would not be spending on tube ad's with a small budget. I would be working other channels significantly harder.

Now I am not defending the approach taken, don't let me be misconstrued. I am just merely stating that when you have small budgets, the ability to adjust and cut through to your target audience in digital spaces is far more appealing to a marketeer vs. static advertising in tube trains and stations. A previous organisation I worked at had this exact dilemma and I stopped the tube ads. I didnt have the budgets to be spending on raising awareness in London and cutting through to the masses. I needed to target my advertising to conversion activities for those that were already aware of my organisation where I could prove ROI that is the crux of this issue.

Brand building is very different to conversion marketing.

It always seemed pretty effective in the 1980s and 1990s whether that be Challenge Cup finals internationals.

As far as I can see the RFL's digital efforts are cheap and simply reach out to the converted.