Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 3:51 pm  

I think a fair summary is that the best team won on the day, it was actually a pretty good game, but the late August bank holiday weekend is no longer a good time to hold what should be a prize event. Personally I went as a neutral, as I do pretty much every year, and really enjoyed it, as I do most years. But it has lost a bit of its sparkle.

I would move it to June, whilst the soccer and RU seasons are on break, before the great summer getaway gets underway and before Network Rail shut down large swathes of the rail infrastructure (on Saturday Euston was closed and most of Waterloo and London Bridge stations were closed). Shutting down the rail network drives people on to motorways already crippled by active traffic mismanagement systems and hundreds of miles of road(not)works.

The attendance has been struggling for a while. The Club Wembley issue has masked it for a few years. Now these are on general sale that mask has slipped. I also agree with those people annoyed with endless trips to the bog/kiosks, it is becoming a bit like Australia in that respect. However, there's no chance of it being addressed as the stadium relies on this behaviour for commercial reasons.

One final point, London's most widely read newspaper is the Evening Standard. It occasionally covers RL, but on Friday there was absolutely nothing. After the semifinals the RFL should have been hitting it with ticket promotions i.e. comps to win free tickets as well as ticket promotions.

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:03 pm  

On the face of it 65-70k is decent considering we have arguably a bigger final being played a little over a month later, something we never used to have.

Its crying out for Millenium stadium end of May for me.

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:56 pm  

Call Me God wrote:

I watched the game live on TV and enjoyed it immensely.

The Stadium being 40k, 50k, 60k 100k full didn't impact on my enjoyment, but as usual, RL fans love to blame the date, roadworks, engineering works and the dog eating their homework on the empathy that has crept into the game.
We have a great product but we're not selling it to a new audience, so therefore, as RL fans age and then die they aren't being replaced.

My clubs (London and NZ Warriors) are a perfect example of getting it wrong/right....at Mt Smart we see families, dads and Kids and sometimes 3 generations of the same families at games....at London we have a core of the same 300 or so fans with the majority (75%+) being at or close to pensionable age....when these fans are gone there's nobody there to replace them......

the RFL need to sell the CCF to a newer audience ot it'll end up being moved to a smaller venue and become even loss significant on the UK sporting landscape.

I took a newcomer to the game. He thought the game was good (a first - most games I take people to have proved boring and turned them right off). Three things that he commented on - the half empty stadium and two others he found ridiculous and utterly comical - the 'water carriers' carriers on the pitch every few minutes and the 'man in the suit' on the pitch - Robbie Paul after tries. It's not good when people come with an open mind but find things to laugh at is it?

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:57 pm  

Kelvin's Ferret wrote:

One final point, London's most widely read newspaper is the Evening Standard. It occasionally covers RL, but on Friday there was absolutely nothing. After the semifinals the RFL should have been hitting it with ticket promotions i.e. comps to win free tickets as well as ticket promotions.

All the free/cheap tickets are seriously devaluing the game, hence why people who have always paid full whack in advance chose to turn up and pay a fiver to a shady character to sit in Club Wembley.

I'd say that there was at least 200 sat in front of us (prime seats) clearly on a free ticket because their kids were doing the obligatory dance. If you have to give them tickets, surely put them up top and sell the premium tickets to genuine punters?

We need to have the confidence in our product to be able to sell it at the right price. Instead we have the ridiculous situation where a league game at Belle Vue costs more than any of the 'marquee' events.

Other sports manage to pull in big crowds for such occasions, despite the fact they have little interest in the sport itself - at least not to start with. What is it about RL that makes it so unfashionable? To me, the obsession with targeting families is a flawed approach. It might upset the traditionalists who want to turn up an hour before kick off with a flask of bovril and a tatty looking corned-beef barm then be home for the One Show; but, the way to bring in new crowds is to pull in younger people with disposable income who want to be seen "checking-in" at the fashionable event of the day.

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:07 pm  

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:07 pm  

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That all be must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:08 pm  

craig hkr wrote:

At least we now know where Jake was sat

60? You cheeky fugger

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:36 pm  

Dally wrote:

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

Spot on. Add to that, being told by the clunky online ticketing-system (which is useless on mobile devices) that the block of your choice is unavailable, only to see rows of empty seats on the day.

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:36 pm  

Dally wrote:

I took a newcomer to the game. He thought the game was good (a first - most games I take people to have proved boring and turned them right off). Three things that he commented on - the half empty stadium and two others he found ridiculous and utterly comical - the 'water carriers' carriers on the pitch every few minutes and the 'man in the suit' on the pitch - Robbie Paul after tries. It's not good when people come with an open mind but find things to laugh at is it?

Robbie Paul on the pitch does my head in. I don't understand why he feels the need to run across the pitch during the game. You don't see it in any other sport. Just another way of down grading our game. Even in the amateur leagues no one is allowed on the pitch!

Re: Wembley : Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:08 pm  

68k including the empty club Wembley seats is an utter embarrassment.

Regards

King James