Mon 31st Aug: 1895 Cup Final: London Broncos v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00 (SL+)

[Click]

===EDITED BY LEAGUE EXPRESS TO ADD===

Discuss the game here.

Please don't accuse match officials of deliberate bias or cheating, or your posts will be removed and your account may be banned without further warning.

===END OF EDIT===

I thought it may be time to create a new thread for the final coming up on Monday, now we're seeing some more news coming out relevant to the game.

I don't believe it's been announced as being on TV/Streaming anywhere which is disappointing.

Looking forward to the coach trip up on Monday morning!

Edited August 30 by Click
Poll added

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

3 minutes ago, Click said:

I thought it may be time to create a new thread for the final coming up on Monday, now we're seeing some more news coming out relevant to the game.

I don't believe it's been announced as being on TV/Streaming anywhere which is disappointing.

Looking forward to the coach trip up on Monday morning!

And don’t forget London U16 play Leeds Development U16 as a curtain raiser to the main game.

Edited August 26 by Pen-Y-Bont Crusader

[Click]

Just now, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

And don’t forget London U16 play Leeds Development U16 as a curtain raiser to the main game.

I believe the supporters coaches are due to arrive around 1:30 at the ground so hopefully will get to see some of that

[JonM]

Still not seeing much enthusiasm from Vikings fans for this competition.

Seems like Widnes fans buying tickets are now being put into the London end of the North stand, and no other stands are being opened. The two middle sections of the stand haven't been put on sale. Makes me think we're currently well under 3000 tickets sold.  

[Archie Gordon]

1 hour ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

And don’t forget London U16 play Leeds Development U16 as a curtain raiser to the main game.

Widnes dev u16s.

[Widnes1989]

20 minutes ago, JonM said:

Still not seeing much enthusiasm from Vikings fans for this competition.

Seems like Widnes fans buying tickets are now being put into the London end of the North stand, and no other stands are being opened. The two middle sections of the stand haven't been put on sale. Makes me think we're currently well under 3000 tickets sold.  

 

 

I imagine those two middle sections are reserved for RFL/Players families etc.

 

There's loads of us going and none of us have tickets yet, we're waiting for payday on Friday before ordering ours.

 

5x coaches going from our local pub, I'd expect a big Widnes turnout on the day.

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

12 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Widnes dev u16s.

Sorry Widnes yes 

[Archie Gordon]

9 minutes ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Sorry Widnes yes 

You there with the team? I think I saw one of your lads named.

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

7 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

You there with the team? I think I saw one of your lads named.

Yes. 3 of my lads are in the squad.

[Widnes1989]

If this competition is to remain next year and is organised better, there's no reason why it can't become a big event like the NRC Final used to be - if it was Salford or Oldham in the final rather than London it would make for a very good crowd I'd say.

[JonM]

2 hours ago, Widnes1989 said:

I imagine those two middle sections are reserved for RFL/Players families etc.

Over 800 seats reserved for RFL & players families seems quite a lot to me.

There are now 400 places in Northern half of the East stand available.

[Widnes1989]

... And once they're gone, there'll be no more.

 

So it's likely that fans from Widnes who would like to attend, won't be able to.

 

Don't the RFL keep the profits from these tickets sales? Aren't they skint? Why are they potentially doing themselves out of money? The mind boggles.

[Deadcowboys1]

4 minutes ago, Widnes1989 said:

... And once they're gone, there'll be no more.

 

So it's likely that fans from Widnes who would like to attend, won't be able to.

 

Don't the RFL keep the profits from these tickets sales? Aren't they skint? Why are they potentially doing themselves out of money? The mind boggles.

I'm surprised that you seem surprised. Playing this game at a SL ground was always daft. Should have either been at Widnes or Wimbledon. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

3 hours ago, Widnes1989 said:

 

I imagine those two middle sections are reserved for RFL/Players families etc.

There's loads of us going and none of us have tickets yet, we're waiting for payday on Friday before ordering ours.

5x coaches going from our local pub, I'd expect a big Widnes turnout on the day.

 

26 minutes ago, Widnes1989 said:

... And once they're gone, there'll be no more.

So it's likely that fans from Widnes who would like to attend, won't be able to.

Don't the RFL keep the profits from these tickets sales? Aren't they skint? Why are they potentially doing themselves out of money? The mind boggles.

I'm struggling with this...in the second post you seem to be saying that tickets are going to sell out and some Widnes fans are going to be unable to attend...but in the first post you're saying loads of coaches have been booked but nobody's buying tickets until Friday. 

I don't get it. This isn't going to be a sell-out, why would any fans from Widnes not be able to go?

[Widnes1989]

It's obviously not going to be a sell out. 

 

But Widnes have already sold their allocation, sold most of the tickets in London's end and have now started selling an additional 400, which according to the statement put out by the club, will be the final allocation.

 

So if anybody decides that they want to go once these 400 tickets have gone, which will either be later on today or tomorrow, then they won't be able to.

[doc]

Looking forward to the game. We may only have a small chance of victory, but it's still a chance. 

Winning a trophy at our bessie neighbours ground would be good.

 

[Click]

2 minutes ago, Widnes1989 said:

It's obviously not going to be a sell out. 

 

But Widnes have already sold their allocation, sold most of the tickets in London's end and have now started selling an additional 400, which according to the statement put out by the club, will be the final allocation.

 

So if anybody decides that they want to go once these 400 tickets have gone, which will either be later on today or tomorrow, then they won't be able to.

You don't think they'll open more sections if needed?

[JonM]

8 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I don't get it. This isn't going to be a sell-out, why would any fans from Widnes not be able to go?

They're playing funny games with ticket sales. Four sections in one stand were allocated to Widnes, three sections in the same stand were assigned to London. Different links were given to fans of each club. So when the Widnes section was sold out, it appeared as if no tickets were available. After some time, this was brought to the attention of the RFL, and Widnes fans were then able to buy tickets in the London end of the stand, which a lot have done. They've now added a number of tickets in three sections of another stand that are available to Widnes fans - but it's a number far below what that section can actually hold. All very strange.

[JonM]

10 minutes ago, doc said:

Winning a trophy at our bessie neighbours ground would be good.

Been a while since this...

https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/lancashire-cup-1945-46/final/widnes-vs-wigan/summary.html

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 minutes ago, JonM said:

They're playing funny games with ticket sales. Four sections in one stand were allocated to Widnes, three sections in the same stand were assigned to London. Different links were given to fans of each club. So when the Widnes section was sold out, it appeared as if no tickets were available. After some time, this was brought to the attention of the RFL, and Widnes fans were then able to buy tickets in the London end of the stand, which a lot have done. They've now added a number of tickets in three sections of another stand that are available to Widnes fans - but it's a number far below what that section can actually hold. All very strange.

This has happened with Wembley games in the past, ie some sections show as being unavailable and then mysteriously go on sale later,  I have always assumed it was to try and get fans of the same team grouped roughly together but I'm not sure. 

I suppose in the early stages of sales they had to allocate a reasonable section of the stands to London supporters as they can't just go along the lines of "ok there are 2,000 seats in this stand, let's allocate 1800 to Widnes and 200 to London."

My point really was that they will surely have a plan C to make more seats available to Widnes fans nearer the day, they're  not going to be turning people away.

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

4 minutes ago, JonM said:

They're playing funny games with ticket sales. Four sections in one stand were allocated to Widnes, three sections in the same stand were assigned to London. Different links were given to fans of each club. So when the Widnes section was sold out, it appeared as if no tickets were available. After some time, this was brought to the attention of the RFL, and Widnes fans were then able to buy tickets in the London end of the stand, which a lot have done. They've now added a number of tickets in three sections of another stand that are available to Widnes fans - but it's a number far below what that section can actually hold. All very strange.

Not got a ticket yet and trying to get my head round this. I never knew Widnes had an initial allocation, everything I read was telling people to buy from the RFL. I was under the impression that they'd split the North stand in two, half each and then would sell the East stand if required. Are we now saying that Widnes have sold their North stand allocation, part of Londons's Noth stand allocation and now have a further 400 for the East stand?  Surely any walk ups on the day would just go in the East stand.

[JonM]

4 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

My point really was that they will surely have a plan C to make more seats available to Widnes fans nearer the day, they're  not going to be turning people away.

Their initial response to people not being able to buy tickets was 'oh it's a technical glitch, try again later' and it took quite some time (days) to spot that it was in fact due to all of tickets having been sold. I wish I shared your faith in the RFL  

I assume there's a certain amount of mucking about going on to try to persuade people to not leave it to the day to get tickets - hence claiming there's only 400 on sale in a stand which holds thousands.

 

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

This has happened with Wembley games in the past, ie some sections show as being unavailable and then mysteriously go on sale later,  I have always assumed it was to try and get fans of the same team grouped roughly together but I'm not sure. 

I suppose in the early stages of sales they had to allocate a reasonable section of the stands to London supporters as they can't just go along the lines of "ok there are 2,000 seats in this stand, let's allocate 1800 to Widnes and 200 to London."

My point really was that they will surely have a plan C to make more seats available to Widnes fans nearer the day, they're  not going to be turning people away.

To be fair, though, it would be typical of the RFL to make it an effective home game for Widnes and then not open up enough sections for Widnes fans.

Typical and also very funny.

[JonM]

1 minute ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Not got a ticket yet and trying to get my head round this. I never knew Widnes had an initial allocation, everything I read was telling people to buy from the RFL. I was under the impression that they'd split the North stand in two, half each and then would sell the East stand if required. Are we now saying that Widnes have sold their North stand allocation, part of Londons's Noth stand allocation and now have a further 400 for the East stand?  Surely any walk ups on the day would just go in the East stand.

That's pretty much the state of affairs - except that the two middle sections of the North stand are not for sale. And I think they're trying to discourage walk-ups by making it look like there's limited numbers on sale.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, JonM said:

That's pretty much the state of affairs - except that the two middle sections of the North stand are not for sale. And I think they're trying to discourage walk-ups by making it look like there's limited numbers on sale.

Also, discouraging walk ups means less need to pay for staffing and operations on the day.