England v Tonga series

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Billy King's Boots said:

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.

Same for the world cup - Irritating when you could have paid a quarter of the price for a better seat.

If they are really selling only every other row in the main stand at Huddersfield and making people pay £30 to sit in the corners when there are rows of empty seats centrally, that is criminal.

[Hopie]

I think the problem we have is most people who go watch Rugby league regularly are willing to buy a season ticket, and save up for a club final, but that's about it. That's why regular cup games get poor crowds, that's why playoff games get lower crowds than regular rounds, that's why the World cup and this series will, by my standards, undersell. There are those in that group who don't go to these one off paid games because they can't afford it so marketing doesn't really matter in that case, those who choose not to for other reasons which we can certainly work on (several comments in this thread show examples of why that choice is made)

We need to be selling this product to "new" fans outside that core, I think the London tests are a good example of this, usually plenty there in England football or union shirts, or those just there for because its England in any sport or an affordable local event. 

They were trying to sell tickets for the next two games to those in the ground, I'm not sure there were many there who hadn't already made their decision to go to the other games or not.

However if you wanted some marketing gold to sell it to someone who wasn't aware of the test series, the halfback giving an interview after a good debut performance holding back the tears shows how much these games matter!

[ivans82]

As to the game itself  ,  nice to watch a game with relatively clean play the balls ( probably due to having a lot of players playing in Aus ) ,  also good to see off the cuff half back play rather than the regimented stuff we usually get , these 2 should play all series if we are looking to the future ..........i believe the game showed what is wrong with the game over here  ,  gang tackling and slow play the balls are killing the game as an entertainment spectacle and need sorting out .

[Barley Mow]

30 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

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?

Yes, from memory BBC put a graphic up pre-match, half time and post-match.

[OriginalMrC]

I wouldnt say the crowd for the game was a disaster but it's not great either. Tonga aren't the same draw as Australia or NZ so wasn't expecting a bumper crowd. We also know there's not a huge appetite for international RL in heartlands areas. Let's hope the closeness of the game draws a few more in for the next game. 1-1 going into the 3rd test would probably be the best result for the RFL! 

[Guest]

Oddly there is one seat available in two of the top tier sections now.

Ticketmaster and/or the RFL really are useless.

[Big Picture]

2 hours ago, Northern Eel said:

Either in the stadium or on the box...

 

It appears that I was right that tiny little Tonga isn't much of a draw.

2 hours ago, OdsalBull said:

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

In this case with a team representing a tiny country the public has either never heard of or doesn't rate because it's so tiny, a lot further.

[Dave T]

23 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Oddly there is one seat available in two of the top tier sections now.

Ticketmaster and/or the RFL really are useless.

Sounds perfect

[Eddie]

15 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

It appears that I was right that tiny little Tonga isn't much of a draw.

In this case with a team representing a tiny country the public has either never heard of or doesn't rate because it's so tiny, a lot further.

Do you think England should have just not played this autumn then, rather than playing a really good side representing a small country? 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Sounds perfect

I'm a misanthrope par excellence - but even a whole top tier to myself is a bit much.

[Guest]

Just now, Eddie said:

Do you think England should have just not played this autumn then, rather than playing a really good side representing a small country? 

They should have played three tests against a big country like France or Germany.

[Big Picture]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Do you think England should have just not played this autumn then, rather than playing a really good side representing a small country? 

We both know their options are constrainted by the sport's narrow spread in the world so they had to make do.  Whether they'll make enough money from this for any more series not involving Australia or New Zealand to be viable remains to be seen though. 

[Intake Don]

The ticketing site is so poor. Why are random blocks appearing at Huddersfield, why is there no map at Leeds, if seats are all sold out why aren’t we reporting that? Just seen that the wheelchair game is sold out, they were hardly any tickets available so why don’t they open more sections???

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Intake Don said:

The ticketing site is so poor. Why are random blocks appearing at Huddersfield, why is there no map at Leeds, if seats are all sold out why aren’t we reporting that? Just seen that the wheelchair game is sold out, they were hardly any tickets available so why don’t they open more sections???

I tried to buy 2 tickets to the wheelchair the other day and was told there were only 2 singles left in different blocks.

 

[Guest]

I like the fact the sole ticket is in the top row of the upper tier as well and the same price as Cat A.

So you can be the furthest away from the pitch in your own stand and still pay top whack.

[Dave T]

20 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I'm a misanthrope par excellence - but even a whole top tier to myself is a bit much.

I expect there would still be a queue at the kiosk. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 hours 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. 

I don't think it's bad either. I know it's not really the same comparison but as some people know on here, I'm a season ticket holder at a non-league football team and whenever we play on a Tuesday night we tend to get bigger crowds than when we play on a weekend and it's just as you say, when people are off from work at a weekend they want to go do other things than just sit watching sport. Maybe they take their kids to the seaside or run a load of errands they can't do midweek but on a Tuesday night you can't do these things so instead of sitting watching Eastenders they decide to go down some live sport. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I expect there would still be a queue at the kiosk. 

They would have sold the one ticket twice by mistake.

So i would have to argue with the other person over the one seat in the top tier.

[Guest]

I might buy it just so they have to spend an extra £10k opening the top tier.

Then tell them I'll sell it back for £5k.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

1 hour ago, Hopie said:

I think the problem we have is most people who go watch Rugby league regularly are willing to buy a season ticket, and save up for a club final, but that's about it. That's why regular cup games get poor crowds, that's why playoff games get lower crowds than regular rounds, that's why the World cup and this series will, by my standards, undersell. There are those in that group who don't go to these one off paid games because they can't afford it so marketing doesn't really matter in that case, those who choose not to for other reasons which we can certainly work on (several comments in this thread show examples of why that choice is made)

We need to be selling this product to "new" fans outside that core, I think the London tests are a good example of this, usually plenty there in England football or union shirts, or those just there for because its England in any sport or an affordable local event. 

They were trying to sell tickets for the next two games to those in the ground, I'm not sure there were many there who hadn't already made their decision to go to the other games or not.

However if you wanted some marketing gold to sell it to someone who wasn't aware of the test series, the halfback giving an interview after a good debut performance holding back the tears shows how much these games matter!

This is the key point. Whilst of course we should be wanting existing fans to attend if they want to, we should be using internationals to sell to a new audience. That's their purpose in the game growth strategy. Or at least it should be...

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Hull plugging the second test. Its a bit of a ###### that they feel they need to advertise the game to dedicated RL fans but there it is. 

[tiffers]

Just now, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Hull plugging the second test. Its a bit of a ###### that they feel they need to advertise the game to dedicated RL fans but there it is. 

Organic social media posts are free - or near as free.
We should absolutely be doing this to our core audiences when the cost of sale is so low.

[Big Picture]

2 minutes ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

This is the key point. Whilst of course we should be wanting existing fans to attend if they want to, we should be using internationals to sell to a new audience. That's their purpose in the game growth strategy. Or at least it should be...

History shows that Londoners who turn out for Internationals there won't bother with a London team playing teams from smallish unfashionable towns up north though, so any growth will be fleeting at best.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

Same for the world cup - Irritating when you could have paid a quarter of the price for a better seat.

If they are really selling only every other row in the main stand at Huddersfield and making people pay £30 to sit in the corners when there are rows of empty seats centrally, that is criminal.

Not having any tickets for the Huddersfield or Leeds games, reading some of the comments on this site it makes me think why should I bother, just stay at home and watch them on the telly. 

[RigbyLuger]

3 minutes ago, tiffers said:

Organic social media posts are free - or near as free.
We should absolutely be doing this to our core audiences when the cost of sale is so low.

It's very much moaning at something for the sake of it, isn't it? All clubs should be sending that kind of post out, because, as you say, it costs nothing.