England v Tonga series

[The Masked Poster]

3 hours ago, Just Browny said:

That was good, but worth remembering that, then just as now, everyone on RL internet forums (inc this one) thought the game was on its last legs, both sets of teams were a pale imitation of the sides from the 80s and 90s, that the game was slowly dying because those games weren't on terrestrial TV and weren't at a major London stadium.

I'm sure they have vanished into the ether but I'd love to read the comments from then about the games and how satisfied fans were with everything. It would be interesting reading for sure. 

I seem to remember the 2003 Australians being labelled the worst tourists in history and if they can't beat them then they should pack it in etc etc. So there definitely was lots of moaning. 

[meast]

21 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Genuine question.  Can anyone tell me exactly what the RFL (SL or any other body) exactly have done, or planned, to entice crowds to the 3 Tests?
Is there anywhere online that shows this?  

 

I have seen adverts on LED advert boards around Huddersfield, I have heard radio adverts on talksport.

Not sure what else though.

[17 stone giant]

25 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

You know I`d go as far as saying that if the NRL think they are going to win over fans in the U.S. with the modern game they are kidding themselves, it might work in the Pacific or NZ where people are comparing it to their union but the Yanks aren`t.

If anything, wouldn't the Americans most likely compare it to NFL? If they do, rugby league will appear fast and flowing as a result, even if it's less so than 20 years ago.

[RigbyLuger]

18 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

OKish? What should we be comparing it with?

No doubt there'll be journalists writing articles now forgetting that this is the most important part.

[The Masked Poster]

I saw a couple of electronic poster type things while driving in Leeds round the Gelderd Rd area. Didn't have time to read them but I guess (hope) they were for the Headingley match. 

[meast]

22 hours ago, Damien said:

Maybe if we had just 1 match in West Yorkshire we may have? Maybe at Elland Road one big West Yorkshire match may have pushed 30k or at the very least a sellout at Headingley (which hopefully we'll get anyway).

I know Huddersfield fans will be all touchy about this but I do also question the logic of playing in a town where the team barely averaged 5k last year and where even its fans on here say its not a RL town, that there's little interest and that RL can't grow. When your poor marketing and unambitious choices dont appeal to many and you are left selling to locals that is a struggle when even they aren't interested.

If we are having 1 match in West Yorkshire, which we should, then it has to be in Leeds. At least there we have 13k RL fans watching RL on a regular basis and RL is a major part of the city, plus it's a major city to visit and stay in and would result in vastly more corporate income.

I do tend to agree despite being put out by people suggesting Huddersfield Giants and Huddersfield people are the issue.

But an England game shouldn't be targeted at the residents of the host town/city, it's not the job of Huddersfield people or Giants fans to fill the town's stadium for an England game, just like it's not the job of Leeds residents or St Helens residents or Rhinos or Saints fans.

The poor attendances and choice of venues are solely down to the RFL, they should be doing the job of selling the England brand to everyone not just the residents of Huddersfield for example.

They have failed, not Huddersfield, but your point still stands though and it's a good one.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, meast said:

I do tend to agree despite being put out by people suggesting Huddersfield Giants and Huddersfield people are the issue.

But an England game shouldn't be targeted at the residents of the host town/city, it's not the job of Huddersfield people or Giants fans to fill the town's stadium for an England game, just like it's not the job of Leeds residents or St Helens residents or Rhinos or Saints fans.

The poor attendances and choice of venues are solely down to the RFL, they should be doing the job of selling the England brand to everyone not just the residents of Huddersfield for example.

They have failed, not Huddersfield, but your point still stands though and it's a good one.

As I said I wasn't knocking Huddersfield, I firmly lay the blame at the RFL. These are their decisions and their mess.

[meast]

19 hours ago, londonrlfan said:

I always wonder if somewhere like Milton Keynes could be a good shout? A lot cheaper than London, and easy to get to from London and the North West. It's a area starved of any real top level sport or events. I realise the home countries is genuinely rah rah territory, but if we put the effort in, you never know. And I don't mean a one off WC game on a Monday night between two small Island nations most people haven't heard of. I'm thinking one England test every year for 5 years guaranteed. Something like that to try and build an audience. 

If we apply he same logic for Huddersfield then the local football team struggle to attract big crowds so therefore it shouldn't be hosting a game regardless of the fact it's England

[meast]

18 hours ago, M j M said:

Why on earth would you play one in Sheffield?

Because it's an easily accessible, busy city with a rich sporting history.

It's not too far from the heartlands, equally so the Midlands and it has good transport links to the rest of the country

It's got 2 decent sized stadiums that are easily accessible from the centre.

A city centre that is as good as any that caters for all tastes in terms of bars, restaurants etc.

Why wouldn't you?

[M j M]

1 minute ago, meast said:

Because it's an easily accessible, busy city with a rich sporting history.

It's not too far from the heartlands, equally so the Midlands and it has good transport links to the rest of the country

It's got 2 decent sized stadiums that are easily accessible from the centre.

A city centre that is as good as any that caters for all tastes in terms of bars, restaurants etc.

Why wouldn't you?

This is in the scenario of playing one game in Yorkshire.

Time after time we've seen international games in Leeds perform well attendance-wise. It's simply a fact that you would get a bigger attendance at Elland Road than you would playing the same game in Sheffield.

[meast]

16 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

I remember 21000 fans turning out on a freezing cold bonfire night in Coventry being an 'absolute disaster'. 

Not suggesting coventry should have been chosen for this series but sending games to areas that have repeatedly been apathetic to international RL is brainless. Give other venues a try and promote the games for god sake!

 

I still shudder at how ridiculously cold it was that night

[Blind side johnny]

16 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

I remember 21000 fans turning out on a freezing cold bonfire night in Coventry being an 'absolute disaster'. 

Not suggesting coventry should have been chosen for this series but sending games to areas that have repeatedly been apathetic to international RL is brainless. Give other venues a try and promote the games for god sake!

 

I was one of those having driven down from West Yorkshire for the double-header. The difference then was it was a World Cup which had been very well promoted and packaged for months in advance and I, like many others was excited by the competition. I also attended games in Hull and Leeds.

Would I have travelled such a distance for this series, considering the lacklustre promotion? No, not at all.

The problem has not been the venues but the whole promotion of the series. Had it been done properly I believe that each game could have sold out.

[Blind side johnny]

15 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

If the RFL did need to have two games in West Yorkshire on consecutive Saturdays they should have just played them both at Headingley. Would have got a better crowd than Hudds and may have reduced costs further.

#1 daft idea.

[Blind side johnny]

2 hours ago, daz39 said:

Agree, the emphasis has gone from an energetic fast paced game to almost a minute at times of wrestling and messing around at every play the ball, oh how i'd love to see it return to how it was.

It was the removal of unlimited tackles and proper scrums that really caused the problems.

[Billy King's Boots]

22 hours ago, daz39 said:

Sounds like what i had in front of me, block 4 Core lower?

Core Block 6 lower. The poor lady next to us had travelled from the South West to see the game and wasn't happy at all.

[fieldofclothofgold]

Apparently the Headingley test is heading for a sellout . Interesting 

[Gomersall]

3 hours ago, meast said:

I still shudder at how ridiculously cold it was that night

We were nithered.

[M j M]

47 minutes ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

Apparently the Headingley test is heading for a sellout . Interesting 

Not sure that's quite right but looking at the availability it seems they have shifted more than 1,000 tickets today.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, M j M said:

Not sure that's quite right but looking at the availability it seems they have shifted more than 1,000 tickets today.

Peter Smith saying they’ve sold more than the saints game already.

It won’t sell out because I don’t think many will be in the Western terrace.

I reckon 15k with all the seats sold it will look full on TV

[JohnM]

3 hours ago, meast said:

I still shudder at how ridiculously cold it was that night

Even wearing my 4 season goosedown duvet jacket, I have never been so cold in my life and I've been up a fair few Munros in winter.   At least the fan zone was indoors. Yes, strange but true, a quite good fan zone.  

[Northern Eel]

13 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Peter Smith saying they’ve sold more than the saints game already.

It won’t sell out because I don’t think many will be in the Western terrace.

I reckon 15k with all the seats sold it will look full on TV

I am not sure they are quite at the St Helens total yet, although it is probably not too far off. There have only been 4,460 standing tickets sold so far, with 550 or so behind the sticks at each end.

That means that there are 2,000+ tickets remaining in the East stand, 3,000 on the Western Terrace and 2,000+ in the South Stand.

Take that 7,000 off the capacity of 19.700 and we are at 12,700 if every seat is sold. I would be more than surprised if some seats don't become available in the next 48 hours too, albeit only a few.  

[Northern Eel]

20 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Even wearing my 4 season goosedown duvet jacket, I have never been so cold in my life and I've been up a fair few Munros in winter.   At least the fan zone was indoors. Yes, strange but true, a quite good fan zone.  

Agree on all of those things. Excellent fan zone.

[Chrispmartha]

2 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

I am not sure they are quite at the St Helens total yet, although it is probably not too far off. There have only been 4,460 standing tickets sold so far, with 550 or so behind the sticks at each end.

That means that there are 2,000+ tickets remaining in the East stand, 3,000 on the Western Terrace and 2,000+ in the South Stand.

Take that 7,000 off the capacity of 19.700 and we are at 12,700 if every seat is sold. I would be more than surprised if some seats don't become available in the next 48 hours too, albeit only a few.  

Where have you got the figures from?

[Northern Eel]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Where have you got the figures from?

If you look on the ticketing website, the tickets for standing areas are allocated by number. You can see in each stand how many have been sold, therefore. 

[Bamboozle]

18 hours ago, Damien said:

I think back 20 years to nights like this at Wigan when the atmosphere was electric against the Aussies in a sellout. Yes it maybe against Australia but everything about it as an event seems a world away now. I refuse to believe that we shouldn't be aiming for the same again against Tonga at these sorts of grounds:

 

That was great but just over a decade earlier the game for me in this country reached its zenith with the 2nd test in 1990 ashes series.