England v Australia 2025 - been to the UK!

[sam4731]

Week 1:

Friday- Wheelchair- Co-op Live

Saturday- Mens- Eithad

Sunday- Womens- City Academy Stadium

Week 2:

Friday- Wheelchair- First Direct Arena

Saturday- Mens- Elland Road

Sunday- Womens- Headingly

Week 3:

Friday- Wheechair- Wembley Arena

Saturday- Mens and Womens Double Header- Wembley

[Damien]

So it seems like they are aiming for the what most people think is best, a London test with a test East and West of the Pennines:

Furthermore, Love Rugby League has been told that will categorically include one Test match in London.

Where that takes place remains to be seen. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium would immediately be the two frontrunners. There will also be one traditional Test on each side of the Pennines.

Interestingly it also seems like the RFL actually listened to fans after their fan survey and had decided to tour Australia as England and not Great Britain (this may have been announced but I must have missed it). Im not surprised at all that this was what most fans wanted:

Next year’s tour would be against England rather than Great Britain, after senior officials opted against reverting back to the Lions brand after consideration from the public

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/australia-to-tour-england-in-2025-ashes-as-huge-venue-choice-revealed

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by Damien

[WN83]

10 minutes ago, Damien said:

I think London daytime works for travel etc, and maybe that's because any internationals I've been there have been daytime too so it just seems normal. 

Games in the North at night would be great though. They just have that big, gladiatorial feel and electric atmosphere.

It'll just be based on what the BBC want you'd imagine but hopefully they can push for evening kick offs. I think back to the Ashes series in the early 2000's and images of the players with steam coming off their heads come to mind. It just feels right and in the modern day with all the light and laser shows and the like, it would really help with the atmospheres, which in truth have been flat as a pancake at internationals for a while (although that will naturally improve against Australia even if we play them at 9am). 

[17 stone giant]

1 minute ago, sam4731 said:

Week 3:

Friday- Wheechair- Wembley Arena

Saturday- Mens and Womens Double Header- Wembley

If you're having a double header, it should be at Wembley (or at least in London) for the 1st Test. I'm actually not against a double header for a 1st Test in London, with the 2nd and 3rd games being help seperately when it moves north and you have a better choice of grounds in the heartlands.

In fact, I'd probably play the wheelchair game on the same Saturday too, because if you're going to the 1st test, you might get some people staying on for an evening wheelchair match.

[sam4731]

2 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

If you're having a double header, it should be at Wembley (or at least in London) for the 1st Test. I'm actually not against a double header for a 1st Test in London, with the 2nd and 3rd games being help seperately when it moves north and you have a better choice of grounds in the heartlands.

In fact, I'd probably play the wheelchair game on the same Saturday too, because if you're going to the 1st test, you might get some people staying on for an evening wheelchair match.

I think having Wembley as the last test allows you to build through the series to sell tickets, especially to a national audience rather than just the north. If you have the London game first, you're going in cold.

[Leyther_Matt]

5 hours ago, Dave T said:

What is slightly frustrating for me personally is that yesterday me and my wife actually discussed potentially visiting Oz next year, and tying it in with the Ashes.

But then I suppose I'd never be so stupid as to take RL authorities at their word when they say something is happening.

That was also our plan, but we’ve pushed it back a year to coincide with the World Cup.

As for 2025, I’m intrigued by the Newcastle and Everton suggestions but I’d probably go a little safer with Tottenham, Man City and Leeds Utd. Will take some acrobatics with the football fixtures and kick off times will certainly be interesting. Would love an evening kick off under the lights; the atmosphere was electric at some of the early 2000s games when half the crowd had been boozing all day. 

[bromleybulldog]

• Well, IF this is true and IF it happens, and IF the RFL actually choose to stage one test in London, and IF they choose good, large stadiums..... then this is the best news I've heard for ages and hopefully I'll be going to all three tests with extended family right down to grandson..

[WN83]

5 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

That was also our plan, but we’ve pushed it back a year to coincide with the World Cup.

As for 2025, I’m intrigued by the Newcastle and Everton suggestions but I’d probably go a little safer with Tottenham, Man City and Leeds Utd. Will take some acrobatics with the football fixtures and kick off times will certainly be interesting. Would love an evening kick off under the lights; the atmosphere was electric at some of the early 2000s games when half the crowd had been boozing all day. 

12 pre match pints certainly helped when it came to thinking Adrian Morley had been hard done to

[Damien]

1 minute ago, WN83 said:

12 pre match pints certainly helped when it came to thinking Adrian Morley had been hard done to

Quite fitting that happened to be a pint for each second he played!

[17 stone giant]

7 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

I think having Wembley as the last test allows you to build through the series to sell tickets, especially to a national audience rather than just the north. If you have the London game first, you're going in cold.

That might work, if you get lucky with the results.

The flip side is how many people would hold off on buying tickets for a 3rd Test in London, in case we were already 2-0 down by then?

I know that I would wait and only buy if the series was still alive.

[Just Browny]

Could we have one in the Midlands? Villa Park?

On the other debate, sometimes the momentum for a series is driven by the first game and people get hungrier for more after game 1. I'd consider having the 'big' game as game 2.

Edited October 28, 2024 by Just Browny

[Hanover XIII]

Spurs wk 1  - London, capacity about right.

Newcastle wk 2 - Great city for celebrating the return of the Ashes

Everton wk 3 - newest stadium in the country. Will look great on the SPOTY montage as we collect Team of the Year and Coach of the Year but not the individual award as no-one will make the shortlist.

 

[sam4731]

7 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

That might work, if you get lucky with the results.

The flip side is how many people would hold off on buying tickets for a 3rd Test in London, in case we were already 2-0 down by then?

I know that I would wait and only buy if the series was still alive.

This is a good point but hopefully enough people just see these as being big enough events to stand on their own rather than being dependent on how the series is going or we'd struggle to sell tickets to any 3rd game. Maybe a 2nd test as a compromise.

[17 stone giant]

16 minutes ago, Damien said:

Quite fitting that happened to be a pint for each second he played!

I don't think it was even that long. More like 2 pints per second.

[17 stone giant]

1 minute ago, sam4731 said:

This is a good point but hopefully enough people just see these as being big enough events to stand on their own rather than being dependent on how the series is going or we'd struggle to sell tickets to any 3rd game. Maybe a 2nd test as a compromise.

I'm be perfectly happy with that. Having read what Dave and others have said, I can definitely see the logic in that. Basically anything but the 3rd in London for me. 1st or 2nd and the series would be alive and I'd buy a ticket today.

I'm actually starting to think that 2nd might well be best for London. Manchester 1st - big BBC presence in the city, can be evening game as most fans will be from heartlands/local. Then to London to either win or save the series.

[Dunbar]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Damn, just caught up with this thread, I was planning to go to Aus for the series in '25 much more exciting than being played here. I was also going to couple it up with the Cricket Ashes being played over there (scheduling allowing) now would have been a good trip to savour and look forward to.

Don't worry, it's only Monday, plans will have changed by the weekend.

[Hopie]

1 hour ago, Gav Wilson said:

 

All 5 or 6pm KOs. All on BBC. All on sale before Christmas. Go BIG!

Evidence suggests we will only get BBC 1 if we play at 2:30pm, but I think we should be bold and go for the time you suggest and probably end up on BBC 2 (or worse).

[JohnM]

This is why London

Great Britain Vs Australia at Wembley

28th October 1995

England 8 - Australia 16

Attendance 66,540

Edited October 28, 2024 by JohnM

[eal]

This would be fantastic news, after watching a lot of international RL this past weekend it perplexes me that many in the game don't want more of it! With the 2026 RLWC in Australia it makes sense for Australia to come up to England. Manchester, London for the first two games. Game 3 is tough as if the series isn't alive a large venue may not work out. If the series is alive though it would be a shame to see a historic decider played in Leigh. Maybe Hull is the best bet? 

I can't see it happening, but it would be awesome for Australia to bring over an extended squad and play a couple of midweek tour games under the guise of testing options for the RLWC. Although perhaps they'd have trouble finding enough players due to injuries, apathy, and guys opting to play for Pacific nations instead?

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, JohnM said:

This is why London

Great Britain Vs Australia at Wembley

28th October 1995

England 8 - Australia 16

Attendance 66,540

That was the World Cup Final tbf 

[Hopie]

7 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

That was the World Cup Final tbf 

And we beat them in front of 41,271 in the first game, optimism sells a lot of tickets.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Hopie said:

And we beat them in front of 41,271 in the first game, optimism sells a lot of tickets.

A lot of people didn't go to that knowing, bar a big upset, we'd be back at Wembley a few week later to play the Aussies again.

[Dave T]

London has proven itself many times, particularly for games against the Aussies:

1990 - 54k (Wemb)

1994 - 57k (Wemb)

1995 - 41k and 66k (Wemb)

1997 - 41k (Wemb)

2000 - 34k (Twickenham)

2011 - 42k (Wemb)

2013 - 67k (Wemb v Kiwis)

2015 - 45k (Olymp v Kiwis)

2016 - 36k (Olymp)

2022 - 40k (Emirates v Samo)

We do need to be cautious of a couple of those attendances. Crowds don't just turn up. If I was a betting man, I'd say 40-45k is our level in London for a standard Test match - but if we get anything wrong (playing Sunday, poor stadium choice etc) then it can easily drop. On the flipside - get things right, and we can see that there is some huge potential. Having two finals that are around 65k and an international that is 50k plus would be really positive, and hopefully start to change the narrative.

[Dave T]

38 minutes ago, Hopie said:

And we beat them in front of 41,271 in the first game, optimism sells a lot of tickets.

This is one of those things we need to be careful of. The first game is often a cold start. That 41k for that World Cup opener was seen as a disaster at the time.

[The Masked Poster]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

London has proven itself many times, particularly for games against the Aussies:

1990 - 54k (Wemb)

1994 - 57k (Wemb)

1995 - 41k and 66k (Wemb)

1997 - 41k (Wemb)

2000 - 34k (Twickenham)

2011 - 42k (Wemb)

2013 - 67k (Wemb v Kiwis)

2015 - 45k (Olymp v Kiwis)

2016 - 36k (Olymp)

2022 - 40k (Emirates v Samo)

We do need to be cautious of a couple of those attendances. Crowds don't just turn up. If I was a betting man, I'd say 40-45k is our level in London for a standard Test match - but if we get anything wrong (playing Sunday, poor stadium choice etc) then it can easily drop. On the flipside - get things right, and we can see that there is some huge potential. Having two finals that are around 65k and an international that is 50k plus would be really positive, and hopefully start to change the narrative.

What about the 1992 WC final? I seem to recall that got around 73k at Wembley..