England v Australia 2025 - coming to the UK!

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

Expanses of shiny bright red seats don't help when it's well short of full. 

It is worse at Wembley than many other grounds due to the size and space around the seating. A block of 20 or 30 seats can be really stark on TV for example. 

Part of the design which has corporates right in front of the camera is poor too. Absolute prime seats are often empty for decent chunks of the game even when sold out.

I agree with many comments here, as Tommy highlights it appears to have missed out on new tech we see at grounds, things like the big screens are quite modest, and I was surprised when I went a few years ago for an FA cup Final that my £150 seats was on some retractable seating area that felt cheap and rubbish.

On a purely nostalgic level, I really miss the tunnel being at the end behind the goals and the long entrance of the players.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

56 minutes ago, Dave T said:

On a purely nostalgic level, I really miss the tunnel being at the end behind the goals and the long entrance of the players.

I agree, although I don't think it's nostalgia - I think the long walk out to the middle of the pitch really added to the drama of the occasion. Nowadays they walk out and they're almost immediately in the right place to meet the dignitaries. 

[WN83]

When they decided to knock the old place down and start again, it feels like more effort should've been put in to trying to retain some of the original features of the Stadium. I grew up as a kid in the late 80's and early 90's and obviously had a special relationship with the old place as a Wiganer, so maybe it's that but to me Wembley is just the name and it feels nothing like the original stadium. 

The development around the ground is good in some ways but even though years back it was a bit in the middle of nowhere and there wasn't much around it, I found that added to the atmosphere, with people spending more time sat around the grass banks chatting and having drink/food. Sitting in a Nando's isn't quite the same (although I suppose at least you don't have a bloke having a slash at the back of you when you're getting your butties down you). 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

14 hours ago, Coggo said:

It’s the national stadium. That’s why it’s at Wembley and should stay at Wembley.

That literally means nothing - we can call OT the national stadium. It's the same agreement i.e. we don't own it and have to pay to use it. 

[Gav Wilson]

From a wheelchair access POV Wembley is one of the best stadiums I visit. With a fair wind I can also get from the stadium to my house in York in under 4 hours using only public transport.

Wembley will enhance its iconic status for me when we've beaten the Aussies in front of 70k+... 

[Click]

12 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

That literally means nothing - we can call OT the national stadium. It's the same agreement i.e. we don't own it and have to pay to use it. 

It literally means that it is RL's national stadium, with RL statues outside it.

[DoubleD]

Knew it wouldn’t take long for fans to start moaning about something 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

7 minutes ago, Click said:

It literally means that it is RL's national stadium, with RL statues outside it.

It's a football stadium, owned by the Football Association. A statue doesn't change that. NFL gets played there as much as RL does. 

Wembley is and always will be a great day out but RL wise, and certainly at the new Wembley, it holds no nostalgia for me. 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

28 minutes ago, Gav Wilson said:

Wembley will enhance its iconic status for me when we've beaten the Aussies in front of 70k+...

Agreed - that could change my previous sentiments. 

[WN83]

1 hour ago, Gav Wilson said:

Wembley will enhance its iconic status for me when we've beaten the Aussies in front of 70k+... 

True that! and when we win the Ashes at Headingley, it'll mean the next time I'm stood in the away end, in the p*ssing rain, desperate for a pee but moaning about the bogs being half a mile away, I'll just smile and think back to the good times!

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

That literally means nothing - we can call OT the national stadium. It's the same agreement i.e. we don't own it and have to pay to use it. 

It was built as a national stadium for football and rugby league. The Club Wembley offer was football and rugby league.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

19 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

It was built as a national stadium for football and rugby league. The Club Wembley offer was football and rugby league.

I've genuinely never seen anything official that defined Wembley as RL national stadium. The only reference to RL at all was in the initial government paper (for funding allowance) that references the CC final, amongst others, as a 'flagship' event that should be protected/given preference at the time of year it is played. No mention of anything to do with the national team. 

That's not even my main point though - my main issue with it is even if in name it was the national stadium, it gives us nothing. We have to pay to hire it same as any other stadium. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

5 hours ago, Gav Wilson said:

From a wheelchair access POV Wembley is one of the best stadiums I visit. With a fair wind I can also get from the stadium to my house in York in under 4 hours using only public transport.

Wembley will enhance its iconic status for me when we've beaten the Aussies in front of 70k+... 

I think if we do beat the Aussies at Wembley in this series it will go down in our sports history as one of the greatest and most famous games so it certainly would elevate the status of it.

[fighting irish]

How many tickets have been sold? 

[sam4731]

24 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

How many tickets have been sold? 

Enough so that some people will be optimistic about the final total but not enough that there won't be any moaning about why Wembley was the wrong choice.

[Leyther_Matt]

5 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I've genuinely never seen anything official that defined Wembley as RL national stadium. The only reference to RL at all was in the initial government paper (for funding allowance) that references the CC final, amongst others, as a 'flagship' event that should be protected/given preference at the time of year it is played. No mention of anything to do with the national team. 

That's not even my main point though - my main issue with it is even if in name it was the national stadium, it gives us nothing. We have to pay to hire it same as any other stadium. 

They literally built a statue outside

[sam4731]

10 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

They literally built a statue outside

Surely there are plenty of statues around many other RL grounds. Does that also make them the national stadium?

[Hopie]

2 hours ago, sam4731 said:

Surely there are plenty of statues around many other RL grounds. Does that also make them the national stadium?

No, but the reason that statue is there is because Wembley is our national stadium. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Well that was a good dream!

I dreamt about the game at Wembley. The stadium was absolutely rammed solid with fans even spilling onto the pitch! With just seconds to go England were down by 2 points and we got a penalty 30 metres out from Australia's line. We lined up to take a kick at goal and level the score and take it to extra time.

The kicker (didn't catch who it was) ran up but instead of kicking the ball over the posts, he backheeled it to a teammate who picked it up on the run and sprinted for the line while the Aussies were still waiting for a kick at goal, and the England player with the ball dived over the line, avoiding two defenders who just missed the tackle and scored the match winning try just as the clock hit full time! 

Then suddenly I was on the field screaming and running round it celebrating before the dream suddenly cut to me on the coach coming back from the game singing 'Bat out of hell' with the other fans at the top of my voice and arguing with some old school friends who I haven't seen in decades (don't know what that bit was about but that's how dreams work I guess). 

C'mon England!! Make my dreams come true!!

Aside from that last bit...

[sam4731]

50 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Well that was a good dream!

I dreamt about the game at Wembley. The stadium was absolutely rammed solid with fans even spilling onto the pitch! With just seconds to go England were down by 2 points and we got a penalty 30 metres out from Australia's line. We lined up to take a kick at goal and level the score and take it to extra time.

The kicker (didn't catch who it was) ran up but instead of kicking the ball over the posts, he backheeled it to a teammate who picked it up on the run and sprinted for the line while the Aussies were still waiting for a kick at goal, and the England player with the ball dived over the line, avoiding two defenders who just missed the tackle and scored the match winning try just as the clock hit full time! 

Then suddenly I was on the field screaming and running round it celebrating before the dream suddenly cut to me on the coach coming back from the game singing 'Bat out of hell' with the other fans at the top of my voice and arguing with some old school friends who I haven't seen in decades (don't know what that bit was about but that's how dreams work I guess). 

C'mon England!! Make my dreams come true!!

Aside from that last bit...

Not a genuine attempt at goal. Penalty Australia.

[StandOffHalf]

56 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Well that was a good dream!

I dreamt about the game at Wembley. The stadium was absolutely rammed solid with fans even spilling onto the pitch! With just seconds to go England were down by 2 points and we got a penalty 30 metres out from Australia's line. We lined up to take a kick at goal and level the score and take it to extra time.

The kicker (didn't catch who it was) ran up but instead of kicking the ball over the posts, he backheeled it to a teammate who picked it up on the run and sprinted for the line while the Aussies were still waiting for a kick at goal, and the England player with the ball dived over the line, avoiding two defenders who just missed the tackle and scored the match winning try just as the clock hit full time! 

Then suddenly I was on the field screaming and running round it celebrating before the dream suddenly cut to me on the coach coming back from the game singing 'Bat out of hell' with the other fans at the top of my voice and arguing with some old school friends who I haven't seen in decades (don't know what that bit was about but that's how dreams work I guess). 

C'mon England!! Make my dreams come true!!

Aside from that last bit...

Illegal to back-heel the ball and to deliberately miss after electing to kick at goal (I'm sure you're aware).

Sorry to dash your dream, Goose.

[AB Knight]

2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Well that was a good dream!

I dreamt about the game at Wembley. The stadium was absolutely rammed solid with fans even spilling onto the pitch! With just seconds to go England were down by 2 points and we got a penalty 30 metres out from Australia's line. We lined up to take a kick at goal and level the score and take it to extra time.

The kicker (didn't catch who it was) ran up but instead of kicking the ball over the posts, he backheeled it to a teammate who picked it up on the run and sprinted for the line while the Aussies were still waiting for a kick at goal, and the England player with the ball dived over the line, avoiding two defenders who just missed the tackle and scored the match winning try just as the clock hit full time! 

Then suddenly I was on the field screaming and running round it celebrating before the dream suddenly cut to me on the coach coming back from the game singing 'Bat out of hell' with the other fans at the top of my voice and arguing with some old school friends who I haven't seen in decades (don't know what that bit was about but that's how dreams work I guess). 

C'mon England!! Make my dreams come true!!

Aside from that last bit...

You were probably arguing about Headingley as the choice for the 3rd test or perhaps one of your old school friends didn’t physically count the crowd.

I watch a lot of whodunnit programmes so I deduct you were possibly going back to Leigh (most other fans would’ve been able to get a train) unless by chance a bucket was passed around the coach in which case you were going back to Bradford/Halifax (though it could’ve been for the driver). If the coach was red with a horse emblem on the front you were returning to a garage in Salford. To be honest none of those locations sound ideal.

Edited May 24 by AB Knight

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, sam4731 said:

Not a genuine attempt at goal. Penalty Australia.

 

1 hour ago, StandOffHalf said:

Illegal to back-heel the ball and to deliberately miss after electing to kick at goal (I'm sure you're aware).

Sorry to dash your dream, Goose.

Well it's illegal to have a full stadium in rugby league as well, let alone 90,000 people spilling on the pitch at Wembley but that's how dreams work, they aren't gonna be correct, especially not in my head... 

I often dream about being with a woman I work with as well and the fact she is the most beautiful woman in the world bar none but I'm never gonna get with her... *sigh* Eva... *sigh*

Dreams are just dreams unfortunately...

Edit. I should add, I don't think England actually officially elected to kick at goal for the penalty, they just lined up like they were gonna to fool the Aussies before playing the ball. Hmm... I'm starting to forget it now...

Edited May 24 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

20 minutes ago, AB Knight said:

You were probably arguing about Headingley as the choice for the 3rd test or perhaps one of your old school friends didn’t physically count the crowd.

I watch a lot of whodunnit programmes so I deduct you were possibly going back to Leigh (most other fans would’ve been able to get a train) unless by chance a bucket was passed around the coach in which case you were going back to Bradford/Halifax (though it could’ve been for the driver). If the coach was red with a horse emblem on the front you were returning to a garage in Salford. To be honest none of those locations sound ideal.

I think I was probably just going back to Hull on the megabus. Do you think the average working class Hullensian goose can afford the train?!

[hunsletgreenandgold]

16 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

They literally built a statue outside

Okay….statue = national stadium does it? Interesting, someone should inform Headingley they have a national stadium too. It depicts moments from challenge cup games…literally. That’s not the definition of a national stadium. I’ve addressed how RL was considered when new Wembley was built and the game can be proud of its links to such a world famous stadium. 

 

13 hours ago, Hopie said:

No, but the reason that statue is there is because Wembley is our national stadium. 

See above….its not.