Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 7:39 am  

Everton's new ground would be a good idea IMO

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 9:23 am  

Barstool Preacher wrote:

The 2003 series was in Wigan, Huddersfield and Hull. I went to the Wigan one where Moz got sent off after 12 seconds.

There was some iconic series before that at Wembley, Old Trafford and Elland Road, but if you try and use grounds like that (or Etihad, Anfield, St James' Park etc) then all you will see are thousands of empty seats.

I'd make the London one a bigger one - Wembley, Spurs, Arsenal or West Ham - and then use Wigan and either Leeds (Headingley, not Elland Road) or Hull.

I remember the 2003 series and thought it was awesome. Even with the aussies winning late on etc. I agree a full house at Wigan etc produced an electric atmosphere back then rather than bigger venues. Sadly the product on the field isnt as good as back then so it would have a lot to live up to. I mean, back then i knew most of the aussie team by name and i didnt particularly watch that much NRL. Now i couldn’t name one aussie international apart from Nathan Cleary. Where are all the superstars/characters these days?

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 10:36 am  

They are there. The Hammer is a real superstar.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 10:54 am  

wirecation wrote:

I remember the 2003 series and thought it was awesome. Even with the aussies winning late on etc. I agree a full house at Wigan etc produced an electric atmosphere back then rather than bigger venues. Sadly the product on the field isnt as good as back then so it would have a lot to live up to. I mean, back then i knew most of the aussie team by name and i didnt particularly watch that much NRL. Now i couldn’t name one aussie international apart from Nathan Cleary. Where are all the superstars/characters these days?

All comes down to exposure, there seemed to be regular matches between Eng/GB and Aus / NZ back then. Plus the tours were longer and included games against club sides (the Aus vs Wire game at Wilderspool in 94 was tasty!). I also used to watch a lot more NRL than I do now - purely a time thing for me, had much more time when I was younger to follow it - I don't even watch State of Origin anymore.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:02 pm  

ratticusfinch wrote:

Everton's new ground would be a good idea IMO

Good call that, better placed than Anfield for getting into city centre.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:07 pm  

The tours were longer and included games against clubs because the club seasons in England and Australia ran at different times. I went to the 1994 Australia game at Wilderspool too, and loved watching Jonathan Davies score for GB on telly. That series was in the middle of our season and after the Australian season though, so the Aussies were over on tour and the clubs here were playing league games in between the GB internationals and club team exhibitions V the Aussies.

Since 1996 the two leagues have ran concurrently, so unless you have players centrally contracted and clubs allow them to disappear on tour for two months in the middle of the season, which Super League couldn't afford and the NRL would just laugh at, then the international "season" can only ever be a tag on in October and November when most fans see the real business as being over until February and no clubs would have enough players available to be able to field a team against the touring side.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:08 pm  

karetaker wrote:

Good call that, better placed than Anfield for getting into city centre.

It's got a capacity of about 50,000. It will be ideal if you want 25,000 empty seats available.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:13 pm  

I also think one of the big attractions to the tours back then was the presence of real top quality Welsh players in the GB team. I understand why they choose not to use the GB brand now because realistically it would just be England in all but name, but those Welsh players really made the GB team into a side that had a more nationwide appeal.

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:25 pm  

So your saying we can’t fill a 50,000 stadium here but we can in London

Re: England v Australia : Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:55 pm  

I don't think this series will fill a 50,000 stadium anywhere, but I think there's a chance of one of the games having a big crowd and if promoted properly you could maybe attract 40,000 or thereabouts to a game in London.

Having two or all three of the games at bigger than needed grounds would be self defeating in my opinion though. I'd go for a showpiece opener in London then two games up here at Super League grounds with 20/25,000 capacities.