: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:33 pm  

PTB wrote:

The Dragons brought a decent number of supporters and they were certainly very vocal. I was impressed.

I thought we were continuing our boycott of the Quins home ground - we will never give our hated rivals a penny!

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:41 pm  

Are the crowds likely to go up at all during the summer? would more people / more union fans attend when the guiness is over.

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:51 pm  

A bad crowd, even by Quins standards, but there isn't going to be as many for a Thursday night game I would imagine. The RFL needs to persist with Quins though, the game needs a presence in the capital. The only issue is whether Harlequins can compete on the low income that they will have to cope with because of attendances.

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:52 pm  

Ashulster wrote:

Are the crowds likely to go up at all during the summer? would more people / more union fans attend when the guiness is over.

Union fans are the wrong fans to target and I doubt more than a couple of hundred switch between either game.

From my experience in the same way we find Union dull, slow and too messy, they find league dull, predictable and too easy. If your brought up on lineouts and scrums then you appreciate them.

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:54 pm  

Maximus Decimus wrote:

Union fans are the wrong fans to target and I doubt more than a couple of hundred switch between either game.

From my experience in the same way we find Union dull, slow and too messy, they find league dull, predictable and too easy. If your brought up on lineouts and scrums then you appreciate them.

My experience exactly.
Union fans argue if they wanted to watch shuttle runs for 80 minutes they'd go circuit training

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:01 pm  

Maximus Decimus wrote:

Union fans are the wrong fans to target and I doubt more than a couple of hundred switch between either game.

From my experience in the same way we find Union dull, slow and too messy, they find league dull, predictable and too easy. If your brought up on lineouts and scrums then you appreciate them.

Therin lies the truth of the matter

It all starts with the kids , as long as they are trying ' convert ' people they will fail

They need to ' breed ' them

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:09 pm  

they've been trying for 25 years or more, in various guises, how long does it take to realize it aint gonna happen?

: Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:29 pm  

But I wonder what schemes that the marketing managers have devised to get bums on seats.

Does anyone know if they have offered free admission to all registered players 16 and under, and 5 pounds admission for all registered players over 16, with a discount ticket for sale if they bring a paying relative?

: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:42 am  

belgianxiii wrote:

Thursday night game, great idea.

We weren't gonna get many through the gate no matter when we played the game but I wouldn't fancy trying to get thru the bank holiday traffic in London.

: Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:09 am  

I stilll think that if the RFL licences London Olympic after the 2012 Olympics (with Toulouse Olympique becoming Toulouse Spacers), based in the Olympic Stadium, then the eastt v west London rivalry will greatly build up popular interest in the game.

Right now, from any London resident's perspective, having one club located way over in Richmond doesn't feel like London is involved in rugby league.

Of course the newspapers would have to get involved. But here I think that the Sun and the Times, being Murdoch owned, would have a motivation to do something in terms of publicity. Perhaps the Daily Mail and others, motivated by the competition, could follow Murdoch papers even though on a smaller scale. If so, we could see 8-10,000 crowds iat London games n 2013.