Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:42 pm  

I say I say I say I say...after taking 1.7 million a year in sponsorship and swapping it for a few wagons with the SKY logo on it, how else can we devalue the sport?



stacking it high and selling it cheap is not a business model that is sustainable.........see the bumper crowds at this weeks play-offs for further evidence!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:53 am  

gutterfax wrote:

It is not irrelevant.....SL play-offs don't come as part of a ST.....neither do International matches. A sub 5k gate is not a good pointer to "walk up" attendances at RLWC 2013.......but bury your head in the sand anyway



On the topic of RU......the only comparison I'd make is that if the RFU booked Cardiff or Wembley for a double header, they'd do so with the intention of filling it.....the RFL have done it to generate hosting fees.....the UK public perception of RL is hardly going to be increased and improved watching Italy v Wales with 20k fans in the M stadium on the opening day........and if England are in semi-final 1 at Wembley.....then please god the BBC turn the cameras off before Australia A face Australia B in the second semi...the rush for trains back north will mean Wembley will be empty by 4pm.

If we take your worst case scenario and only 5,000 Hull FC fans support the World Cup game in Hull. To that you can add 5,000 HKR fans and maybe 5,000 neutrals who love the idea of the World Cup ( my wife and I will be two of those), then the attendance could well be 15,000 at the KC stadium and a sellout at Craven Park.

Do you hope this tournament is a miserable failure just so you can say "Na na na na na an" or are you a true RL fan who hopes this tournament is a success for the progress of the game ? You certainly don't seem like that. You may not be but you are coming across as a troll.

The releases which state the lower tiers at both the Millennium and Wembley are almost sold out and that over 40,000 tickets have been sold for the final and probable sellouts at Rochdale and Workington plus 13 000 plus tickets sold for France v NZ are good news. The cup will not top RU but I guarantee that, already, it is more successful that the 2000 version and this is good news. Don't be so depressingly negative. Try a glass half full approach.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:17 am  

Not many tickets in the bottom tiers of Huddersfield are left. Only the side with the TV gantry has more than one section left available. They have therefore opened the top tier behind the posts and expect the side opposite the cameras to open the top tier soon as well. I reckon it will be a near enough full house for England vs Ireland...

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:43 am  

Gutters sounds more like a union troll every post. He's now moaning that they're might be a 55k crowd for a RL international lol!

This is going to be a great World Cup regardless of crowds, can't wait for it and as good as it will be the ARL has stated that the next one will be even bigger. International RL is on its way back people!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:08 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

This is going to be a great World Cup regardless of crowds, can't wait for it and as good as it will be the ARL has stated that the next one will be even bigger. International RL is on its way back people!

I don't think there is a single person involved in the game who would deny there are issues with the international game that need rectifying, eligibility rules being one of them. However, after 10yrs of being in the wilderness, we have to redevelop the international game as it is, especially in this country, the only vehicle to increase the commerical viability of the game and its perception in the wider public. This World Cup is just for the first step in this process; we are basically starting from scratch. We need to create demand outside of traditional areas. Hence this World Cup has been competitively priced and there are huge signs this is bearing fruit (I personally have sold 104 tickets for Wembley and 50 to Cardiff; all to non-RL fans). We are not other sports and shouldn't compare ourselves to them. I personally can't wait!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:37 am  

Bringing back the ashes will be the next step as well as the NRL committing to supporting PI development, change state of origin eligibility and plans png has for development. Main priority in northern hemisphere should be development of France and Wales. If we concentrate on that with a ten year plan then we should have 6-8 nations that are very competitive by the 2023 World Cup.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:36 am  

gutterfax wrote:

I have never said I had a solution or a magic wand,

Then how noble of you to go around continuously pointing out the flaws of the RFL with nothing to offer back. Just imagine if you talked to everyone like that. Or if everyone talked to you like that all the time. What a cr*p world we'd live in.

gutterfax wrote:

but I would have played Australia's 2 group games excluding England in London, same with NZ's games v Tonga and PNG. Relying on Locals and 7 quid tickets is not a business strategy...it cost-cutter marketing.

One of the Aussie games are in Ireland, a development area, against a development side. A chance for then to support their team in a big game. It has already sold more tickets than any other Ireland RL international ever, although that doesn't matter to you because you count people not there rather than people there. 5k in London or 5k in Ireland? What's the difference?

The PNG games are in Hull because of the Hull connection. Good use of knowledge. Again, why London? You can't expect the expats to fill out 4 internationals against lower teams when they can't do so for a game against themselves.

Your solution is worse than what is happening.

gutterfax wrote:

As it is, the Media will not be interested in the "lesser" nations games, so the success of the tournament is currently reliant on England being competitive.

How would you change that? If you can't, stop bloody moaning about it.

gutterfax wrote:

I'd have played England v Australia in Huddersfield.....the birth place of the game with a rammed 25,000 fans......as it stands, Italy v Wales at Cardiff in the 2nd game could prove an embarrassment.

But then you'd have moaned that we've sold a pathetic 25k for our headline international and opening game.
You'd also have stopped over 20k people being able to see the game live at the ground.

I guarantee there will be more people at the Wales v Italy at MS than there would be anywhere else. But you count empty seats. Where would you have had it? And would you have likely moaned about it anyway?

gutterfax wrote:

No chance of getting a ticket to the final without attending 2 group games and QF minimum......double headers should have been for the smaller draws, not the bigger teams.

Then you'd have killed the final. What an absolutely awful idea. Why would you need such a proposal? The final is selling well. The group games have more tickets sold now than your suggestions would have allowed. Overall, the RLWC under your proposal would have reached far few people and generated a lot more negative publicity.
You'd have had a real reason to moan if this happened!

gutterfax wrote:

Tickets could have been purchased through clubs ST's from September 2012......

They'd have had to have confirmed with broadcasters about kick off times to be able to do that. Much harder in this country with PL. something you'd have no control over.

gutterfax wrote:

as for marketing/sponsorship/partners.....the sale of the TV rights to premier killed any hope of a national brand buying into the comp...I said a while back Gillette may ride in at the 11th hour and I am still of that Belief.

What'd be worse? All on Sky, or big games on BBC and the smaller games (the ones you say no one would be interested in) on Premier Sports?

gutterfax wrote:

Sally Bolton has said 500k is the target......in reality, 350-400 is more likely and well done them, but it won't do anything to promote the game as a national sport....it will be seen as a northern hobby also played by Aussies.....

Why would it? Only someone looking hard to moan about something would pull out such a traditional whinge.

gutterfax wrote:

if Italy turn over Wales I suspect Craig Gower being interviewed as the Italian playmaker will only reinforce this stereotype!

But when it happens for Italy RU it doesn't matter?
And before you talk about national switching as some kind of rebuttal, would it have made a difference had he never chosen Aussie RL?! You'd have still made such a negative whingy comment.

Once you accept that you're just a massive whinger with nothing to offer, you can begin to change!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:54 am  

Gutters would rather see 25k for engvoz in the m62 corridor and 5k for walesvitaly as a stand alone game in Wrexham or Cardiff instead of a dbl header that will draw 40-50k. That is all you need to know about him and the quality of his ideas on how to run the RLWC!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:40 pm  

Can I just add, I think the venues are all perfect - apart from the Semis in London.

I personally would have preferred the semis to be at Old Trafford and the Final at Wembley - would have been much easier to sell 'both' out !

I can't wait until Cardiff, also going to Huddersfield and the final !
Come on England

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:39 pm  

About time we all stopped giving the troll the attention they're craving.