2024 attendance thread

[Dave T]

21 minutes ago, Damien said:

 

 

I think it's brilliant to see that trips to Catalans are still as popular as ever. I think it's been such a positive development for RL in Europe and I'd love us to make even more of the coverage from France.

I've never actually made it to Perpignan for a game since they joined SL, only watching my team in Barcelona - but defo on my list for the next year or two.

[Tommygilf]

14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think it's brilliant to see that trips to Catalans are still as popular as ever. I think it's been such a positive development for RL in Europe and I'd love us to make even more of the coverage from France.

I've never actually made it to Perpignan for a game since they joined SL, only watching my team in Barcelona - but defo on my list for the next year or two.

I've done it once on a whirlwind sub 24 hour trip in 2022, it would be great to do as part of a longer trip.

It's definitely fantastic that we have this opportunity for a European away day in top level club RL. Without it we would be significantly poorer I feel.

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

I've done it once on a whirlwind sub 24 hour trip in 2022, it would be great to do as part of a longer trip.

It's definitely fantastic that we have this opportunity for a European away day in top level club RL. Without it we would be significantly poorer I feel.

My trip watching Wire beat Catalans at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium was one of the best weekends of my life. Superb stuff. 

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

My trip watching Wire beat Catalans at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium was one of the best weekends of my life. Superb stuff. 

Same when I went to the Nou Camp, it was a fantastic weekend in a fantastic city.

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

34 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think it's brilliant to see that trips to Catalans are still as popular as ever. I think it's been such a positive development for RL in Europe and I'd love us to make even more of the coverage from France.

I've never actually made it to Perpignan for a game since they joined SL, only watching my team in Barcelona - but defo on my list for the next year or two.

Looking at the numbers travelling up from Spain it might be a good idea to move the club to Lloret.

[Damien]

Great crowd for the NRL:

 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

 

 

 

[JohnM]

16 hours ago, Dave T said:

My trip watching Wire beat Catalans at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium was one of the best weekends of my life. Superb stuff. 

What were the other weekends? I think we should be told.

[Dave T]

13 minutes ago, JohnM said:

What were the other weekends? I think we should be told.

Not for this forum sorry John

[sheddingswasus]

Oldham had another good crowd against Cornwall. 1421. 

[stookie]

20 hours ago, Damien said:

Great crowd for the NRL:

 

Temporarily off topic, but damn do I really hate Homebush, and really hate 6pm kick-offs.

I desperately want to go, but Sydney trains in their wisdom are not running a special event timetable, even for a 35k - 40k crowd, literally right next to some big gig going on. The best option to get there a bit before kick-off from Sydney central station involves 3 trains !! Other brilliant suggestions involve changing from a train to a suburban bus. I don't fancy lining up for an hour to get on an 60 person bus.

Back on topic, the 6pm kick-off is very unfortunate, a lot of people guessing a crowd of 50-60k if it was the 8pm kick-off. There seems to be quite a few fans of other teams trying to go, just for the atmosphere.

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, stookie said:

There seems to be quite a few fans of other teams trying to go, just for the atmosphere.

Post on LU -

"Coming down to Sydney for Parra/Saints, thought we might catch the Dogs/Manly game on Friday. After experiencing the Bulldogs fans at Kogarah recently, are dead keen to avoid being surrounded by Dogs fans again. Can anyone advise me whether there are separate areas for Sea-Eagles fans and how do you access them when buying tickets. Greatly appreciate any advice"

NRL should set up a helpline. Next caller, random Souths fan.

[stookie]

34 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Post on LU -

"Coming down to Sydney for Parra/Saints, thought we might catch the Dogs/Manly game on Friday. After experiencing the Bulldogs fans at Kogarah recently, are dead keen to avoid being surrounded by Dogs fans again. Can anyone advise me whether there are separate areas for Sea-Eagles fans and how do you access them when buying tickets. Greatly appreciate any advice"

NRL should set up a helpline. Next caller, random Souths fan.

Well, I didn't say "good atmosphere".

[GeordieSaint]

On 27/08/2024 at 15:13, Dave T said:

I think it's brilliant to see that trips to Catalans are still as popular as ever. I think it's been such a positive development for RL in Europe and I'd love us to make even more of the coverage from France.

Yet some clubs want to kick them out. Really annoying.

[Dave T]

11 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Yet some clubs want to kick them out. Really annoying.

I do think we need to be careful of repeating that rumour and it becoming official narrative. This does come from one or two people, repeated over and over. 

Some people like division and creating us v them narratives.

Edited August 29, 2024 by Dave T

[GeordieSaint]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I do think we need to be careful of repeating that rumour and it becoming official narrative. This does come from one or two people, repeated over and over. 

Some people like division and creating us v them narratives.

I agree. 

But I am pretty certain there is truth to this (and heard from a reputable source). It’s not like our sport has an issue with self interest and insularism… 

 

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I agree. 

But I am pretty certain there is truth to this (and heard from a reputable source). It’s not like our sport has an issue with self interest and insularism… 

 

I think we struggle to control the narrative in our sport, maybe we need lessons in PR - our silence allows naysayers to control it at times imo. 

There may be people who dislike French teams in the RFL comp, that's their prerogative, but they need to not be given too much prominence. 

[GeordieSaint]

4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think we struggle to control the narrative in our sport, maybe we need lessons in PR - our silence allows naysayers to control it at times imo. 

There may be people who dislike French teams in the RFL comp, that's their prerogative, but they need to not be given too much prominence. 

That’s where leadership from your governing body is required… 

[Tommygilf]

12 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I agree. 

But I am pretty certain there is truth to this (and heard from a reputable source). It’s not like our sport has an issue with self interest and insularism… 

 

I agree, there are clearly at least 1 or 2 club owners in Super League who don't like having Catalans in. 

That said, the majority of club owners, and let's be real here the owners of the clubs that matter, want them in. They may have caveats, and these may encourage others with stronger opinions to be more bold, but the bottom line is they want Catalans in.

Likewise, 10s of thousands of fans every year want Catalans in and show it by taking advantage of our sport's one European away trip. That those thousands don't flock to away trips along the M62 for ###### beer in average venues with mixed atmospheres (and everything else too long to list) is not because they are spending their money on Catalans so can't afford it, as some seem to believe.

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I agree, there are clearly at least 1 or 2 club owners in Super League who don't like having Catalans in. 

That said, the majority of club owners, and let's be real here the owners of the clubs that matter, want them in. They may have caveats, and these may encourage others with stronger opinions to be more bold, but the bottom line is they want Catalans in.

Likewise, 10s of thousands of fans every year want Catalans in and show it by taking advantage of our sport's one European away trip. That those thousands don't flock to away trips along the M62 for ###### beer in average venues with mixed atmospheres (and everything else too long to list) is not because they are spending their money on Catalans so can't afford it, as some seem to believe.

This is sort of my point - if it's a small handful of clubs that are anti-Catalans, we shouldn't repeat the fact that SL wants them out. Atlantisman paints this picture regularly here. Hopefully it is the majority that are supportive, but the silence does allow these claims to gather pace.

As you point out - the trips to Catalans probably make it one of the most popular away day trips outside of the really local derbies.

On the surface - if you ignored naysayers, they appear very popular to fans.

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

This is sort of my point - if it's a small handful of clubs that are anti-Catalans, we shouldn't repeat the fact that SL wants them out. Atlantisman paints this picture regularly here. Hopefully it is the majority that are supportive, but the silence does allow these claims to gather pace.

As you point out - the trips to Catalans probably make it one of the most popular away day trips outside of the really local derbies.

On the surface - if you ignored naysayers, they appear very popular to fans.

I do think there is an element of just ignoring irrelevant ignorance operating on the fringes to an extent. Acknowledging it would give it more fire. However as we saw with Toronto, total lack of leadership and a lack of a supporting voice created a huge vacuum.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

It's not just the Catalans that a few clubs want rid of. Remember the whinge at the start of the season by McManus because the Saints were going to have to cough up £700 to hire a coach to take the team to London to play the Broncos?

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

It's not just the Catalans that a few clubs want rid of. Remember the whinge at the start of the season by McManus because the Saints were going to have to cough up £700 to hire a coach to take the team to London to play the Broncos?

That’s interesting because Saints and Leeds were Toronto’s biggest fans iirc. Also do Saints really not have their own coach, and if they don’t a day hire would cost no more than hiring one to go to Hull. 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

That’s interesting because Saints and Leeds were Toronto’s biggest fans iirc. Also do Saints really not have their own coach, and if they don’t a day hire would cost no more than hiring one to go to Hull. 

Didn't Toronto have to pay the visiting team's expenses? Like to see them back in the League (to go off topic), I think we missed a big opportunity there but hey - that's RL for you!

[sheddingswasus]

7 minutes ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

It's not just the Catalans that a few clubs want rid of. Remember the whinge at the start of the season by McManus because the Saints were going to have to cough up £700 to hire a coach to take the team to London to play the Broncos?

Sadly if the club can’t afford £700 for a coach, why are they still signing more overseas players?