England v Tonga series

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

1 minute ago, OdsalBull said:

Good game but for me the average England team Vs Tonga is just not going to draw the crowds

Depends on the make-up of the crowd. If it were held outside of the heartlands in a decent stadium in a town that's nice to visit, then I reckon you'd get loads of rugby league fans who are otherwise starved of top class live RL. Plus - if marketed correctly - you'd probably get some general sports fans/event goers keen to watch England playing against anyone. By hosting them where they're hosting them this year, they're reliant mainly on the tribal club RL fans who have just come off the back of a season of top class live RL (Leeds perhaps being the exception, as it's a big city and may attract a different audience).

[Bring back GB]

14 hours ago, M j M said:

There's often not much of an atmosphere, by UK RL standards, at England/GB games. Unless it's vs Kiwis or Kangaroos and even then it disappears if we're getting hammered.

The problem with Tonga I suspect is that we don't really dislike them enough for fans to be at their usual club-level of engagement with the game.

England games don't have the same atmosphere as GB games did

[Northern Eel]

1 hour ago, OdsalBull said:

Good game but for me the average England team Vs Tonga is just not going to draw the crowds

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

[crashmon]

3 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

wonder how that competes with the England Union WC group games (not the QF or SF as that not a fair comparision)  But the England v Chile or England V Japan games

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

I believe that it is well down on the average?

Shame, as the coverage was decent.

[Northern Eel]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I believe that it is well down on the average?

Shame, as the coverage was decent.

I think we are usually in the 1-1.2 million area.

[OdsalBull]

13 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

Seen so many comments on social media asking if it was even on TV or things like what time it kicks off. Goes to show marketing of the series and in particular this game is not up to scratch 

 

[M j M]

38 minutes ago, Bring back GB said:

England games don't have the same atmosphere as GB games did

Did you ever go to a GB vs France game???

[Northern Eel]

1 minute ago, OdsalBull said:

Seen so many comments on social media asking if it was even on TV or things like what time it kicks off. Goes to show marketing of the series and in particular this game is not up to scratch 

 

I get your point, but seriously, how many true RL fans didn't know about this test series? I don't think it has been any more or less advertised than usual? (That doesn't make it adequate though, of course)

[EggFace]

1 hour ago, OdsalBull said:

Good game but for me the average England team Vs Tonga is just not going to draw the crowds

When it needs to as it deserved a full house....they need to work harder to get tickets shifted.

[OdsalBull]

1 minute ago, Northern Eel said:

I get your point, but seriously, how many true RL fans didn't know about this test series? I don't think it has been any more or less advertised than usual? (That doesn't make it adequate though, of course)

I just think if it isn't NZ or Aus you have to go a bit further, personally. 

[Eddie]

19 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

I don’t think that’s bad, for a test match against Tonga (non-RL fans won’t know what a formidable team they are), when people have other stuff to do than watch tv on a Sunday afternoon and there’s also premier league football on. I watched because I’m a fan of international RL but like many people if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have been sat at home trying to find something to watch on tv. 

[Eddie]

I was pleased this morning when a bloke at my work who’s a die hard Union fan and is quite dismissive of league told me he’d watched yesterday and really enjoyed it. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Eddie

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I don’t think that’s bad, for a test match against Tonga (non-RL fans won’t know what a formidable team they are), when people have other stuff to do than watch tv on a Sunday afternoon and there’s also premier league football on. I watched because I’m a fan of international RL but like many people if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have been sat at home trying to find something to watch on tv. 

Agree - i think those figures are okay.

I doubt BBC paid for it or spent a lot covering it.

[Billy King's Boots]

25 minutes ago, crashmon said:

wonder how that competes with the England Union WC group games (not the QF or SF as that not a fair comparision)  But the England v Chile or England V Japan games

Well, viewing of the *nion world cup was zero in our house!

[Eddie]

28 minutes ago, crashmon said:

wonder how that competes with the England Union WC group games (not the QF or SF as that not a fair comparision)  But the England v Chile or England V Japan games

I don’t think it would be a fair comparison, World Cup games are always going to draw more viewers than an end of season test match, and the Union WC has received disproportionately massive publicity in the media. 
 

Good news however is that 8.7m people were tuned in for the hilarious ending to Saturday’s semi final. 

[17 stone giant]

53 minutes ago, Bring back GB said:

England games don't have the same atmosphere as GB games did

I would prefer to play as GB, but I disagree with your statement.

What the team is called makes no difference. It's the occasion and opposition that makes the difference.

[WN83]

The opposition and the kick off times are the biggest deciding factors in regards the atmosphere IMO. If we played games as we used to do, around 5-6pm on Saturday evenings, the atmosphere would be much improved. If we were playing the Aussies and were kicking off after dark, then I think the grounds would be buzzing (especially in an Ashes series, with 20 years between drinks). 

[Guest]

I'm bored - so I have noted all the sales percentages for Sat by section.

Will check back on Friday and then give my estimate of the crowd - lol.

Of course depends if you think sold is 100% sold or just every other row sold.

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

I don’t think that’s bad, for a test match against Tonga (non-RL fans won’t know what a formidable team they are), when people have other stuff to do than watch tv on a Sunday afternoon and there’s also premier league football on. I watched because I’m a fan of international RL but like many people if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have been sat at home trying to find something to watch on tv. 

It was a rare Sunday without any Premier League on until 4.30pm.

[Archie Gordon]

3 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I'm bored - so I have noted all the sales percentages for Sat by section.

Will check back on Friday and then give my estimate of the crowd - lol.

Of course depends if you think sold is 100% sold or just every other row sold.

~9k seats have been put on sale, maybe 4k sold.

[Guest]

Just now, Archie Gordon said:

~9k seats have been put on sale, maybe 4k sold.

LOL

[17 stone giant]

I think for every three match series it needs to be one in the North West, one in Yorkshire, and one in London. The RFL need to have the confidence to do that. It shouldn't even be up for discussion. Likewise when we hold a World Cup, it should be England's semi-final in London, final back in Manchester.

The only question is whether London should be the 1st test or 2nd test. In the past it often seemed to be the 1st test, and I think that would probably still be my preference. But that relies on good marketing and doing things regularly enough, so that people in London and the surrounding areas are in the habit of expecting a match at that time of year.

If you're not certain that people will be aware of the match, then maybe London is better suited to the 2nd test. That way you'll hopefully get Londoners watching the 1st test on tv, who will then seek tickets for the 2nd test. A bit like the situation crashmon is describing above.

Just out of interest - I did watch the game yesterday, but I wasn't in my chair for every single minute pre and post match and at half time, so did they ever put up a graphic showing that it's a three test series and when and where the other matches will be played?

[tiffers]

1 hour ago, OdsalBull said:

Seen so many comments on social media asking if it was even on TV or things like what time it kicks off. Goes to show marketing of the series and in particular this game is not up to scratch 

 

Difference is, do you want your marketing budget spent on driving a TV audience or on selling tickets?

I ask this as "marketing" can't do all things for all audiences on the budgets the RFL are working with. They have to focus on driving ticket sales for paid advertising and then focus *free* channels like their email database / organic social media / BBC ads, rather than spending any money on raising awareness of the series to a TV audience that will generate next to no income for the RFL.

If a person on social media doesn't know what time kick-off is or if it is on TV at all then they sure as hell aren't going to have seen any content with a call to action of "buy a ticket". It's a matter of prioritising spend of your budget.

If we had a few spare tens of thousands kicking about then maybe you would allocate some of that to driving a TV audience. Reality is that the RFL make money by selling tickets and that's where their budget is facing, quite rightly so in my opinion.

Whether they did a good enough job of selling tickets is a wholly different kettle of fish.

[Billy King's Boots]

On 18/10/2023 at 08:14, crashmon said:

Nothing pisses me off more than having to sit in a sub-optimal seat in the corner as there is "no availabilty" then getting to ground and seeing loads of space in the stand I wanted to sit in.

This is a 100% loss of my custom for any other games at that stadium going forward. Not that it matters as a London fan I get a stand to myself anyway, but I never have this problem when I book tickets for other sports

Similar at the WC final last year at OT. Paid £100 for a 'good seat' and the pitch was at eye-level. Never again. Got a 'cheap' seat behind the posts for the SL final that was much better.