England v Tonga series

[JonM]

2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Wonder how many Tongans in the UK will be there....you'd imagine not many but a small splodge of noisy red would look great 

They made quite an impact at the Tonga vs PNG game at Middlesbrough (~9000 crowd IIRC) and I doubt they'd all flown in specially for the world cup, so I think it's realistic to expect a small splodge of noisy red.

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

45 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Can't see anything on bbc sport about this series yet. 

On there now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/65424410

[crashmon]

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You probably wouldn’t get 30,000 for a Test v Tonga at Wembley, Arsenal or Spurs though. 

No but you would get a lot more first time attendees at the game, who might like what they see and it sparks new interest, they start to watch SL on TV and viewing figures go up so Sky see RL as having more value  You get a lot more new families where the kids like what they see and start to want to play the game in their schools instead of Yawnion or Football.

Lots of reasons why you take one game out of the M62

Of course if they look for a local club then we don't really have anything anymore, as Broncos \ Skolars are really far too low to really enithuse new people to attend. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by crashmon

[Eddie]

This forum has spent the winter worrying about England having nobody to play and the death of the international game in the Northern Hemisphere. 
 

Now we’ve found out a quality international side are coming from the Southern Hemisphere and the first thought is to complain about the stadiums. None of us know which stadiums they tried to get or if they tried to me more ambitious; I’m just glad England are playing 4 fixtures this season, and none of them are against the Combined Nations. 

[Jughead]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You probably wouldn’t get 30,000 for a Test v Tonga at Wembley, Arsenal or Spurs though. 

You know how many people watched England at Newcastle and London last year and how historically London crowds are high, right?  

[Keith989]

52 minutes ago, Damien said:

Great news that this has finally been confirmed but the venues are really disappointing. Talk about thinking small. No Newcastle follow up and no game in London which have both given the best England crowds in recent years and traditionally in the case of London.

I hope the RFL are making this very worthwhile financially to Tonga to attract them again in the future and make them more independent of the NRL.

Looking at the stadiums and ticket prices, I can't see them being able to offer a whole lot financially to Tonga.

It's great to get this tour to go ahead, but just how little were the Aussies offering, that they felt the need to take this ahead of the 4 nations tournament. 

[Damien]

9 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You probably wouldn’t get 30,000 for a Test v Tonga at Wembley, Arsenal or Spurs though. 

I think you'd have got 30k+ at Newcastle. I think you'd have done well at Man City or Elland Road, or Bolton if you went smaller, with just one game in the North (heartlands). I think you'd have sold out Brentford if you wanted to play safe with a smaller London venue.

3 stadiums the length and breadth of the country and not fishing in the same pool of fans.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Damien

[crashmon]

I've been waiting for a follow up game since the semi final for 6 months now,  I took about 15 people to that game who apart from the result all enjoyed it.  There interest in League since then has pretty much gone, thats 15 new potential people lost.  I've been telling them we will probably have games this autumn and they had an interest on the assumption it would be a samoa like team, but there is 0 chance that they will travel north to watch it live, and I very much doubt they would watch it on TV either.

So yes for me what is the point of me trying to sell the game when the game has 0 interest in growing. I won't be going to any of the games, and right now I'm not even sure I'll bother watching it on the TV.

Edited April 28, 2023 by crashmon

[Davo5]

16 minutes ago, Eddie said:

You probably wouldn’t get 30,000 for a Test v Tonga at Wembley, Arsenal or Spurs though. 

Maybe not but 18k at Brentford & 25k at Bolton/Wigan & Huddersfield should be doable 

[JonM]

7 minutes ago, Keith989 said:

Looking at the stadiums and ticket prices, I can't see them being able to offer a whole lot financially to Tonga.

It's great to get this tour to go ahead, but just how little were the Aussies offering, that they felt the need to take this ahead of the 4 nations tournament. 

I guess the unknown is any tv and sponsorship rights, but realistically, you're looking at around £1.2 million in ticket sales, which as you say, probably covers travel, accommodation and player payments but doesn't leave a huge amount for the Tongan RL in profit. I imagine they'll get a fixed fee rather than a share of profit (or loss).

[crashmon]

Tonga are enough of a draw that I'd expect the games to be on BBC 2 or C4 at least.   Possibly even split between the two.  How much they pay however is open to discussion

Edited April 28, 2023 by crashmon

[Gerrumonside ref]

24 minutes ago, JonM said:

They made quite an impact at the Tonga vs PNG game at Middlesbrough (~9000 crowd IIRC) and I doubt they'd all flown in specially for the world cup, so I think it's realistic to expect a small splodge of noisy red.

Tonga vs PNG at St Helens do you mean?

[Moove]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think you'd have got 30k+ at Newcastle. I think you'd have done well at Man City or Elland Road, or Bolton if you went smaller, with just one game in the North (heartlands). I think you'd have sold out Brentford if you wanted to play safe with a smaller London venue.

3 stadiums the length and breadth of the country and not fishing in the same pool of fans.

They might have been a bit constrained with using Premier League stadiums for this one given how late it is. Usually clubs provide their stadium availability for next season's fixtures around March time so we're a bit late for that. Would have had to leave it until June then when the fixtures are out to find out which ones would be free.

Needed to all be sorted last year really. I'll be hacked off though if they're not announcing 2024 fixtures by October this year with more ambitious venues.

[JonM]

1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Tonga vs PNG at St Helens do you mean?

No - I meant Tonga vs Cook Islands.

[Saint Toppy]

Like many of the other posters on here i'm not sure having all 3 games along the M62 corridor was the best move. Personally I think it should have been one this side of the pennines, 1 in yawkshire, and one in a development area. Saints & Leeds will both attract good crowds for these games

And when I say development area I mean one with a fanbase (or potential fanbase) and a genuine opportunity for expansion. Definately NOT London, how many more years do we need to see that there's just no appetite for the game down there and the fans in the north just aren't going to travel all the way down there in large numbers.

My choice would have been one of Cumbria (Carlisle), North Wales (Wrexham - especially off the back of all the current Hollywood hype), or Newcastle.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, JonM said:

No - I meant Tonga vs Cook Islands.

Ah, yes of course.

I agree with you about the sights and sounds of the Tonga fans as a group.

They definitely added to the occasion at the World Cup I went to even as a smallish group.

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Saint Toppy said:

Like many of the other posters on here i'm not sure having all 3 games along the M62 corridor was the best move. Personally I think it should have been one this side of the pennines, 1 in yawkshire, and one in a development area. Saints & Leeds will both attract good crowds for these games

And when I say development area I mean one with a fanbase (or potential fanbase) and a genuine opportunity for expansion. Definately NOT London, how many more years do we need to see that there's just no appetite for the game down there and the fans in the north just aren't going to travel all the way down there in large numbers.

My choice would have been one of Cumbria (Carlisle), North Wales (Wrexham - especially off the back of all the current Hollywood hype), or Newcastle.

England playing a home game in Carlisle or Wales 

[Sports Prophet]

Amazing news and happy for all my assertions and pre conceptions to have been proved wrong.

In the interest of improving coverage of the sport in the region, I hope that France are getting an opportunity with Tonga as well.

[Eddie]

18 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Maybe not but 18k at Brentford & 25k at Bolton/Wigan & Huddersfield should be doable 

Maybe Brentford wasn’t available, or Millwall. 

[Davo5]

6 minutes ago, Jughead said:

England playing a home game in Carlisle or Wales 

The 10k capacity at the Racecourse ground might be a bit too big for an England “home” game.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Any chance Tonga will play a club side as a warm up?

[Jughead]

2 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any chance Tonga will play a club side as a warm up?

I hope not. I hope they play France. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, Jughead said:

I hope not. I hope they play France. 

Yes, that’d be better for the game.

[Davo5]

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Maybe Brentford wasn’t available, or Millwall. 

Yeah ok

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Any chance Tonga will play a club side as a warm up?

I think they may. People will no doubt say they should play France, Wales etc but playing a club side could prove to be a real money spinner and make the trip financially much more worthwhile. When this tour is a already baby steps, as the first tour for a long time outside Australia and NZ, then that counts for a lot.

The trouble is playing Saints or Leeds would just cannibalise the England games so it would really need to be Wigan