Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Sat Oct 02, 2010 12:39 pm  

Urmston Wire wrote:

Well, I would go to NRL games every week if I could, but it's a bit awkward!

Don't see why?

'Dally Messenger' claims to attend at least 800 matches a season... and he lives in Bradford.

Clearly it's possible

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Sat Oct 02, 2010 6:47 pm  

Urmston Wire wrote:

I won't argue with you on that, but that's interest in internationals, not the club game.

Most of the the ticket holders are associated with the club game (which would there is a strong correlation between the two), many of the tickets holders would be people who have little or no connection with the club game (just like the SL GF and RL CC).

Club RU, like international RL, is a bit of a joke.

Club RU is more popular and stronger than club RL, and by a very large margin. The only place where this is not true is Austrlalia and PNG.

A lot of those people in the Sale crowd at the Reebok will have corporate tickets.

A lot of the ticket holders at MM got free tickets, week in week out the likes of Leeds, Wigan, Warrington give out thousands of free tickets. Bradford's large crowds were based on the same practices.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:08 pm  

Seemed to be a big crowd for The Scarlets/Ospreys game..as you would expect.

Good game too from the bits I watched earlier

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Sun Oct 03, 2010 5:42 pm  

Thoth wrote:

A lot of the ticket holders at MM got free tickets, week in week out the likes of Leeds, Wigan, Warrington give out thousands of free tickets. Bradford's large crowds were based on the same practices.

Wrong. Wigan have a policy of not giving away free tickets. The idea is that if people have to in some way pay to get in they'll value it more.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Sun Oct 03, 2010 5:44 pm  

Games this weekend in the Aviva Premiership (excluding Exeter for comparison purposes)

Quins vs. Newcastle, 10,813 which is 118 up on the same fixture last year. London Irish vs. Leeds, 6,921 (1,977 down on last year). Bath vs. Gloucester, 12,200 (400 up), Sale vs. Wasps, 7,202 (291 down) and today’s game Saracens vs. Leicester, 7,125 (6,888 down)

A real pattern is starting to emerge. Those teams that are playing in traditional Union areas and established grounds are seeing crowds remain relatively strong. In like for like fixtures the average attendance this year is 12,188 which is just 575 down on the same fixtures the previous season (-4.5%)

These clubs are Bath, Gloucester, Quins, Leicester and Northampton

On the other hand, the clubs playing in the non-traditional areas are seeing attendances struggle. These clubs are either established teams playing in non traditional stadiums or teams in non-traditional Union areas. These clubs are Leeds, London Irish, Newcastle, Sale, Saracens and Wasps

In like for like fixtures, the average attendance in 2010-11 for these teams is 6,493 compared to 8,387 in 2009-10 (-22.6%)

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:28 pm  

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Win a VIP trip to the Heineken Cup Final! SportGuru is proud to be hosting the Official Prediction Games for the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup. As you've played one of our games before, you'll know how fun and competitive it is, and our official status means that there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs as well. There are separate SportGuru tournaments for each competition, and the winner of each will win a VIP trip to the final, complete with travel and hospitality! As if that wasn't enough, there are also match tickets on offer throughout, so check out the prizes page for all the information. It's just a click or two to get involved, so follow the link below to get started: http://sportguru.co.uk/sh/?k=CfOVyObF Both tournaments kick off this week: the Amlin Challenge Cup starts on Thursday night and the Heineken Cup on Friday night, so get your pools set up soon.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:10 am  

Barry_McKenzie wrote:

I read that as well.

How on earth do they hope to achieve that?

Page 1 of the RFU playbook is headed "FREEBIES."

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:11 am  

Barry_McKenzie wrote:

There are clearly a lot of English Rugby Union fans out there... look at the crowds the England national side pull in when they play at Twickenham.

Compare the crowd the Union side would get if they played a side like Italy

Then compare it to the size of the crowd an England RL fixture gets against a top side like Australia or New Zealand.

Despite league being a better sport (in my opinion) clearly RU is doing something right when it comes to getting people along to Twickenham for internationals.

I think the Wallabies and the All Blacks are playing England at Twickenham in the next month or so.... both games will sell out.. or if not... it will be very close.

Yet an England v NZ or Australia league fixture doesnt attract half as many.

Strange.

Yeah like the 1992 WC Final for instance.

Australia v GB 73,000 plus.

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:13 am  

Barry_McKenzie wrote:

On November the 13th the Wallabies are in town to play England at Twickenham

Twickenham holds over 80,000 people... and I reckon the attendance will be not far off a sell out.

I agree that a lot of people get free tickets (I will be one of them because my employer is a sponsor)... but many many MANY thousands will pay to watch.

Refer page 1 of the RFU playbook (still) headed "FREEBIES".

Then refer page 4 "CAR PARK HAMPERS".

Re: If you must discuss Union, do it here II : Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:14 am  

cjhatesunion wrote:

It makes me laugh when unionists say RU is like chess and RL is like draughts(checkers).
Personally I don't think chess is all that complicated where as union,well let's just say it has probably too many rules to make it a decent game.

People who say that lack any clue.

Rugby league is a lot like chess. The rules are simple. The depths lie in strategy.