England RL and internationals venues; opportunities to engage new audiences ?

[The Partisan]

Just had a quick look at the grounds used by the England football team and the England Rugby Union team for international games over the last 4/5 years. 

Seems to be almost exclusively Wembley and Twickenham.  Both London based locations. (Did see Old Trafford for football...but just the once. Was only a quick look so may have missed other venues.) 

With this seemingly being the case, would it be of any advantage to RL in England to be seen as leveraging off this and expanding on the taking of internationals to places across England that have never hosted an international in any of the football codes ? 

Understand that travel to London from many parts of England can be an event or weekend away trip for some ... but having an international game in your part of the world would hopefully be of interest...and easier on the budget. 

Just as an example.  Would playing France on a weekend in Bristol or Norwich work ? 

I think RL has done well to have international games played in cities such as Liverpool.  Would just love to see them capitalise on the London centric approach of the other codes. 

(As a Brisbane based Aussie I am probably way out of my depth here .. Did enjoy my RL outing to Bristol during the 2013 RLWC )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2025 by The Partisan

[JonM]

2 hours ago, The Partisan said:

Just as an example.  Would playing France on a weekend in Bristol or Norwich work ? 

It could. I think you could play such a match anywhere in England and get a crowd. But - you have to do the work to promote it and I don't think the RFL has the know-how or the boots on the ground. England v Brazil in the women's world cup was a perfect example. OK, it was Leeds, but it was a game where you had dozens of primary schools turning up en masse - five figure crowd, great occasion, great atmosphere etc. for an 80-point mismatch. That could be repeated anywhere if you have people who can organise it. Leigh for the RLWC2021 games they hosted (and also the women's soccer world cup) is another example of how to turn an otherwise not particularly compelling international game into a great event with a build-up, flags and signage around the ground. The England v France games the RFL has staged in the same venues - Doncaster, Leigh etc. are perfect examples of how not to do it.

Thing is, it needs to be in support of something. There's no point playing a game in Norwich unless you can also say - kids, if you want to play, go here. If you want to watch your local team, here's how. It would be interesting if say Bedford or Anglian Vipers were given the opportunity to piggyback off such a game.

[Damien]

I have long said that France matches should be played outside the heartlands. I think international matches against tier 2 teams are a much easier sell to those who don't get to see much RL. For many international sport is a big deal and France as a name is a reasonable sell.

Many RL fans are much more fussy and perhaps spoiled for choice. I have long felt the RFL are flogging a dead horse expecting people to turn up at places like Warrington and Leigh. Crowds alone show they often turn their noses up at internationals like that

[JohnM]

"Would playing France on a weekend in Bristol or Norwich work ? "

Unfortunately, no. 

Playing France in "the hearlands" hardy attracts any attention and only the diehards turn up  anyway. I don't think such a game would be a complete sell out even at LSV or York or Doncaster.

Playing such a game in Bristol or Norwich would be even less suucessful.  (sucess criteria?). Only the diehardiest of the diehards would travel from the North and local interest would be minimal. Yes, the phrase, "marketed properly" would be deployed but there are n! definitions  of what "properly" means, where n = number of active forum members.

 

[17 stone giant]

7 hours ago, The Partisan said:

Just had a quick look at the grounds used by the England football team and the England Rugby Union team for international games over the last 4/5 years. 

Seems to be almost exclusively Wembley and Twickenham.

Football has the advantage of a strong women's team (Lionesses) and the age group teams (Under 21's etc.) that often do play around the country. RU won't ever play much away from Twickenham, because games there make them so much money.

You are right though that the England rugby league team probably does have more scope than others to play around the country - it's happening with the Ashes, for example, with games in London, Liverpool and Leeds.

Unfortunately, there are so few games that as a strategy it is hard to build upon - like others have said, where is the follow up to playing a game in Bristol or Norwich?

I do think that, unlike in 2021/2, when we next host the World Cup, there needs to be an attempt to make it relevant to all parts of the country. I get that last time it was a 'northern powerhouse' thing, but in future I think it would be great to take those England games to different places.

[wilsontown]

The problem is that we can do a one-off game, but then what happens?

After 50-odd thousand fans walk out of Bramley Moor Dock having witnessed England win the Ashes series with a game to spare (I can dream), when's the next game (other than Headingley)?