England v Australia 2025 - coming to the UK!

[JonM]

5 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

That is a fascinating article, one of the most interesting things I've read in a long time. Has anyone written a book about this first tour? 

The Kangaroos: The Saga Of Rugby League's Great Tours by Ian Heads has one chapter per tour - it's pretty good.

There's a film "The First Kangaroos" (with Dennis Waterman, Wayne Pearce and Andrew Ettingshausen among others ) that is vaguely based on events on the tour, unhistorically making Albert Goldthorpe out to be the villain of the piece.

[Anita Bath]

2 minutes ago, JonM said:

The Kangaroos: The Saga Of Rugby League's Great Tours by Ian Heads has one chapter per tour - it's pretty good.

There's a film "The First Kangaroos" (with Dennis Waterman, Wayne Pearce and Andrew Ettingshausen among others ) that is vaguely based on events on the tour, unhistorically making Albert Goldthorpe out to be the villain of the piece.

Out of the same genre as the Australian miniseries on bodyline. Awful (the film that is, not the book which is excellent).

[Archie Gordon]

58 minutes ago, JonM said:

...

There's a film "The First Kangaroos" (with Dennis Waterman, Wayne Pearce and Andrew Ettingshausen among others ) that is vaguely based on events on the tour, unhistorically making Albert Goldthorpe out to be the villain of the piece.

Indeed, I tried to quote from that very film on here yesterday.

Some gems in that film.

[Phil W]

I don't know if this has been mentioned in the 100 pages on here, it probably has. I hope we're trying to get Netflix involved with this, give them all the access they want. Rugby union messed it up with Netflix, if league gives access it could be huge.

[saintspete83]

Plenty of tickets in all areas still available for Wembley. Just bought 5 myself in a club Wembley seat. Has any sat in the middle club Wembley tier ? and if yes what's different compared to other parts of the stadium ?

[Dave T]

5 minutes ago, saintspete83 said:

Plenty of tickets in all areas still available for Wembley. Just bought 5 myself in a club Wembley seat. Has any sat in the middle club Wembley tier ? and if yes what's different compared to other parts of the stadium ?

I sat there for the Saints v Wire cup final, not sure if you remember that one?

I loved it, better seat (with a drink holder) and the concourse were better standard, better organised and less cramped. 

I'd choose it every time.

[saintspete83]

Just now, Dave T said:

I sat there for the Saints v Wire cup final, not sure if you remember that one?

I loved it, better seat (with a drink holder) and the concourse were better standard, better organised and less cramped. 

I'd choose it every time.

Thankfully I was in sat with the Gods at the top of the 3rd tier so I couldn't see much. That said, even from up there it was still pretty obvious that Morgan Knowles had scored. 

[Wakefield Ram]

On 20/04/2025 at 08:04, Anita Bath said:

Out of the same genre as the Australian miniseries on bodyline. Awful (the film that is, not the book which is excellent).

I remember that series from 1980s. The Aussie players all looked about 45

[Wakefield Ram]

On 17/04/2025 at 16:32, hunsletgreenandgold said:

It has to be said, the ticket sales for Wembley have ground maybe not to a halt, but certainly to a trickle. My best guestimate now is we've sold somewhere between ~16-18k. I know we're still months off, I know there will be, hopefully, an advertising/marketing push between now and then, but momentum is everything. In say a month's time even on this forum all the chat about tickets and the series in general will be much less concentrated. I'm in London for few days in June - will be interesting to see if there's much going on to promote the game. 

Overall, I take nothing away from sales so far - there's much to be commended about having 2 complete sell outs. Now however, I'm revising my expectations for Wembley down and saying 50k will be a solid crowd that is hopefully still achievable and anything beyond that incredible. 

I know for 3rd Test v Samoa last year they offered Tag Rugby players discounted tickets late on. So guessing they have some plans like that, but tbh it will need some big marketing in London to sell the game.

Equally if people have spent on 2nd and 3rd test tickets, then they might hold off Wembley tickets to spread the cost a bit. Or might be editing to see cost of train tickets. 

[Damien]

 

 

[WN83]

15 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I know for 3rd Test v Samoa last year they offered Tag Rugby players discounted tickets late on. So guessing they have some plans like that, but tbh it will need some big marketing in London to sell the game.

Equally if people have spent on 2nd and 3rd test tickets, then they might hold off Wembley tickets to spread the cost a bit. Or might be editing to see cost of train tickets. 

It will sell totally differently to the other two IMO because there just isn't that fear of missing out there. If we say 20-25,000 have been sold, I think in normal times we'd call that a good start, knowing that RL fans traditionally bide their time, knowing they could rock up on the day and get a ticket if needed. 

I think excitement will really build in the weeks leading up to the game and it'll be that period when we see a surge. Hopefully in the meantime they can just keep sales nice and steady. 

[Dave T]

I think there is nothing to worry about with London yet.

We are usually good for 40k minimum in London for an England game (accepting we got lower at Olympic St game 2). 

When you then overlay that sales have been far better/quicker for the other 2 games and we've posted sold out signs, then it should mean that we are tracking way above that 40k mark, probably towards that 55k mark that we saw in the 90s for Ashes. 

Because tge others have taken care of themselves we can put literally every penny and bit of effort into Wembley, meaning we should be confident of pushing that to 70k, and ultimately even more.

From where we are now, a crowd in the 50s would seem disappointing, success should probably be seen as 75k plus.

[SUPERSTUD]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

I think there is nothing to worry about with London yet.

We are usually good for 40k minimum in London for an England game (accepting we got lower at Olympic St game 2). 

When you then overlay that sales have been far better/quicker for the other 2 games and we've posted sold out signs, then it should mean that we are tracking way above that 40k mark, probably towards that 55k mark that we saw in the 90s for Ashes. 

Because tge others have taken care of themselves we can put literally every penny and bit of effort into Wembley, meaning we should be confident of pushing that to 70k, and ultimately even more.

From where we are now, a crowd in the 50s would seem disappointing, success should probably be seen as 75k plus.

Price em right stand back and watch the fight. I am predicting plenty of discounted offers as we move along.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

On 20/04/2025 at 09:00, Archie Gordon said:

Indeed, I tried to quote from that very film on here yesterday.

Some gems in that film.

The scene at what was supposed to be a game with Dennis Waterman in the stand was shot at Craven Cottage and the players on the pitch were the Fulham Travelers team (complete in their club kit). They reckoned that it was a great day and spent a lot of it playing football with Dennis Waterman (who's from saarf Lundun).

[Yorky]

On 23/04/2025 at 15:20, saintspete83 said:

Plenty of tickets in all areas still available for Wembley. Just bought 5 myself in a club Wembley seat. Has any sat in the middle club Wembley tier ? and if yes what's different compared to other parts of the stadium ?

Sat there in a football play off final a few years ago, and personally (prices/availability dependant) I'd look to sit there again.

Great view at that height but (assuming it's not changed since) as someone else has mentioned the biggest difference is the concourse. Better choice and standard of drinks etc, felt a lot less crowded

[JDM]

Found this beauty from the 1994 series during a tidy up.

Obviously went straight for the signature of the star player from the series... and erm... Phil Hepworth.  No idea why.

 

[WN83]

12 minutes ago, JDM said:

Found this beauty from the 1994 series during a tidy up.

Obviously went straight for the signature of the star player from the series... and erm... Phil Hepworth.  No idea why.

 

Cracker that. I've got a programme somewhere from a Wembley game around that time (maybe 92 final), that I got as a kid and got ET to sign it (The Aussie player, not the alien). Hopefully I'll find it one day. 

[Henson Park Old Firm]

33 minutes ago, JDM said:

Found this beauty from the 1994 series during a tidy up.

Obviously went straight for the signature of the star player from the series... and erm... Phil Hepworth.  No idea why.

 

Deserves a frame and straight into the pool room.

[Damien]

 

 

[OriginalMrC]

Just a quick note to say the most popular sport in the world and by far the most dominant sport in the country had 20,000 empty seats at Wembley yesterday. I think that should put things in context here - 50000 plus would be outstanding 

Edited April 28 by OriginalMrC

[17 stone giant]

5 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

Just a quick note to say the most popular sport in the world and by far the most dominant sport in the country had 20,000 empty seats at Wembley yesterday. I think they should put things in context here - 50000 plus would be outstanding 

That's comparing apples with oranges.

As for the Ashes, 50000 would be good, but I personally wouldn't regard it as outstanding. I think it would need to be 70000 plus before I considered it to be outstanding.

[17 stone giant]

On 25/04/2025 at 10:53, Damien said:

 

 

The Ginger Churchill.

[OriginalMrC]

1 minute ago, 17 stone giant said:

That's comparing apples with oranges.

As for the Ashes, 50000 would be good, but I personally wouldn't regard it as outstanding. I think it would need to be 70000 plus before I considered it to be outstanding.

I realise that completely but I think it does put things in context and should temper expectations. Then you state 70000 should be what we consider outstanding (that is despite never having close to 70000 for a test match in London!)

[Exiled Wiganer]

11 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I realise that completely but I think it does put things in context and should temper expectations. Then you state 70000 should be what we consider outstanding (that is despite never having close to 70000 for a test match in London!)

I remember attending one. 

[17 stone giant]

6 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I realise that completely but I think it does put things in context and should temper expectations. Then you state 70000 should be what we consider outstanding (that is despite never having close to 70000 for a test match in London!)

Well, yeah, because "outstanding" isn't something that normally happens. It's something you achieve on rare occasions. I don't think 50000 for an Ashes Test at Wembley is outstanding, particularly when you consider it's the first series for 22 years and the way tickets have sold out for the other two venues. Not forgetting previous matches (both Ashes and World Cups) in London where we've had the likes of 54, 57, 73, 66, and 67 thousand - some of which were 30 or more years ago. The UK population has increased by around 10 million since then too, so all things considered, I'm sticking with my 70000 figure. But there's no right and wrong answer - it's just an opinion.