Vegas Again/2025 and WCC

[The 4 of Us]

16 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Have you seen the state of rugby union in the US - even with fawning articles on a regular basis?

Reference was to a Guardian article. I was referring to BS from RU in general not hurting RU generally.  Not specifically US game. 

[gingerjon]

Just now, The 4 of Us said:

Reference was to a Guardian article. I was referring to BS from RU in general not hurting RU generally.  Not specifically US game. 

Fair. Okay.

[gingerjon]

35 minutes ago, JonM said:

What I've been hearing from people in Australia is that AFL has its season opening game Sydney vs Brisbane at the SCG on Thursday and that fixture has barely got a mention in the Sydney & Brisbane media this week as the Vegas thing has had saturation coverage. So I think they'll be happy on that score.

The AFL opening round is deeply weird this year. It's one of those where I assume someone in a position of power came up with it and no one corrected them, and now they all have to pretend it's a real thing they really wanted to do.

[Futtocks]

28 minutes ago, JonM said:

I've seen quotes saying that around 5000 tickets were sold to people in the UK.

There was a breakdown posted on Twitter earlier today, not sure what the source was. It claimed approximately 5,000 from the UK, 15,000 from Down Under and the remainder were US spectators.

[ATLANTISMAN]

3000 i think about right 18000 all up oz poms ,everyone else yanks etc.

One thing i would add the gap between SL and NRL is  bigger then ever yes there will be the odd WCC one off however what we saw was night and day.

The majority of the SL clubs would be thrashed out of sight by all 4 teams last night.

 

 

Edited March 3 by ATLANTISMAN

[Worzel]

5 hours ago, Dave T said:

Aye, they basically decided to do their own thing despite decades of precedent here. They went for the approach of having 8 incorrect lines instead of 2.

But putting that aside, it just doesn't massively affect the sport, they were two great games of RL and nobody really noticed. 

To be honest it seems the best way to do it. Basically dividing the pitch into 10 equal sections.

It does my head in that we don’t mark the Super League pitches with proper markings, with numbers etc. Even at grounds like Hull KRs where we don’t share with football teams. Just seems lazy. 

[bratman]

7 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

3000 i think about right 18000 all up oz poms ,everyone else yanks etc.

One thing i would add the gap between SL and NRL is  bigger then ever yes there will be the odd WCC one off however what we saw was night and day.

The majority of the SL clubs would be thrashed out of sight by all 4 teams last night.

 

 

Yep they beat us every time apart from when they don't

[Futtocks]

The moment of the Vegas double-header?

[Pigeon Lofter]

Very positive reporting on the main Foxnews homepage :

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rugby-star-takes-page-out-rob-gronkowskis-book-try-nrl-dazzles-las-vegas

[gingerjon]

21 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

There was a breakdown posted on Twitter earlier today, not sure what the source was. It claimed approximately 5,000 from the UK, 15,000 from Down Under and the remainder were US spectators.

I think the Australian figure must be too low on that one given the numbers they appear to have sold to Australian packages in early sales.

[Lowdesert]

6 hours ago, Spidey said:

I thought it was interesting they kept all the same markings even though only 95ish meters goal to goal. Which meant each 10 was more like 9.5. But different to how we’d do it by having the dotted 30

It’s in Yards rather than Metres.  I think it made 25sqm less space.

[graveyard johnny]

watching that in vegas then watching SL made us look like the football match in  kes

[Lowdesert]

5 hours ago, Dave T said:

I get it, we've heard the same at many RFL events too (obviously not a desert storm!). 

It's a good crowd, it just gave me a chuckle, some things never change, the crowd was lower than much of the media stated. 

I think Mick G wrote 45k.  

[Gomersall]

2 hours ago, Worzel said:

Love this.

Watched the games when I got up this morning, you could feel the positive energy in the room even on the TV. First game in particular was excellent, and US TV viewers on Fox 1 would have loved it. 

Me and the missus are already looking at hotels for next year, and I doubt we’ll be alone in that. This will definitely build. Great that the NRL have committee to a 5-year plan around this. 

Totally agree. A must see on the bucket list.

[Spidey]

29 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

It’s in Yards rather than Metres.  I think it made 25sqm less space.

No it wasn’t 

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-news-2024-allegiant-stadium-field-dimensions-smaller-field-las-vegas-round-1-sea-eagles-vs-rabbitohs-roosters-vs-broncos-super-bowl-field/news-story/5327c4b050b41fca4f7e8102f2bb7dfa

[Balmainboy]

5 hours ago, Northern Eel said:

I generally enjoyed the games, the atmosphere and all that came with the event, from my armchair. 

I would like to think it was a success, by whatever metrics it is intended to be measured by, and it would be great to have a Super League team join in at some stage.

 

Agree. Potentially WCC as well as two NRL round 1 games? Food for thought but a great success in the end. Long term strategy still needed though for breaking into the US market...

[The 4 of Us]

50 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

I think Mick G wrote 45k.  

Somebody told him

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, Worzel said:

To be honest it seems the best way to do it. Basically dividing the pitch into 10 equal sections.

It does my head in that we don’t mark the Super League pitches with proper markings, with numbers etc. Even at grounds like Hull KRs where we don’t share with football teams. Just seems lazy. 

Indeed, it's a much more professional look than the UK-only practice for shorter than normal fields which @Dave Tsomehow thinks is a precedent.

The Mickey Mouse field markings seen in Britain aren't only lazy, they reflect British RL's small time  cap-in-hand, know-their-place mindset of not insisting on correct field markings as part of their contracts with stadiums there.  It's no wonder that the big time NRL doesn't follow that "precedent".

Edited March 3 by Big Picture

[lemmy xaan]

The small-minded laziness of UK field-marking has always been my bug-bear. 

Even talking into account the weather and ground-sharing, and possibly even a UK antipathy amongst some people towards "Americanisation" of field, it beggar's belief that our administrators can't see how much you impress key audiences, sponsors, etc by setting out a proper field dressing.

There was a brief period (Leeds v Wigan "Offiah" challenge cup final springs to mind) when there was a bit of effort in pitch marking, but not much. 

It can be done. When NFL use Wembley or Spurs, they dress the field with colour. 

Alas, we can't even be arsed to wash out the soccer lines. 

That Las Vegas field, as it rolled in from outside, looked amazing. DW the week before? - errr not quite....

[Copa]

Good to see News Corp chair Lachlan Murdoch in the crowd going back to his roots.

[Lowdesert]

Good review from New York!

https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/sports/nrl-shows-rugbys-potential-in-america-with-vegas-doubleheader/

[Copa]

I won’t pollute this thread with links to AFL content but there are a few annoyed AFL loving sports writers out there right now.

 

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, Worzel said:

To be honest it seems the best way to do it. Basically dividing the pitch into 10 equal sections.

It does my head in that we don’t mark the Super League pitches with proper markings, with numbers etc. Even at grounds like Hull KRs where we don’t share with football teams. Just seems lazy. 

It depends whats important to you. If you are happy for a 20m restart not to be on the 19m line, thats cool. But people who seem annoyed that a 40:20 isn't a real 40:20, seem OK with stuff like this. 

In reality, either system works, but it's good to have a system. Personally having the majority of lines right rather than zero tight is my preference. 

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Big Picture said:

Indeed, it's a much more professional look than the UK-only practice for shorter than normal fields which @Dave Tsomehow thinks is a precedent.

The Mickey Mouse field markings seen in Britain aren't only lazy, they reflect British RL's small time  cap-in-hand, know-their-place mindset of not insisting on correct field markings as part of their contracts with stadiums there.  It's no wonder that the big time NRL doesn't follow that "precedent".

You always like to pick up on small detail, but seem happy with the far less accurate system that was employed in Vegas. That simply can't be anything more than bias.

Literally one of the metre markers were correct in the Vegas game. And it does affect the game, the 10m line for a kick restart becomes a 9.5m restar, a 20m restart becomes a 19m restart. I'm not a fan of just dismissing rules just for aesthetics, but I do understand why cheerleaders would approve. It's odd that someone who is suck a stickler would think 19m restarts are a great solution. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

1 hour ago, Big Picture said:

Indeed, it's a much more professional look than the UK-only practice for shorter than normal fields which @Dave Tsomehow thinks is a precedent.

The Mickey Mouse field markings seen in Britain aren't only lazy, they reflect British RL's small time  cap-in-hand, know-their-place mindset of not insisting on correct field markings as part of their contracts with stadiums there.  It's no wonder that the big time NRL doesn't follow that "precedent".

Christ, who rattled your cage? 

How’d your superstars do at the Piedome?