Are people just being deliberately stupid in trying not to understand the point I assume Matty B is making?
I'm reading between the lines and assuming he's asking why is this game scheduled for Friday night in Australia/Friday morning in the UK, as opposed to Saturday night in Australia and Saturday morning in the UK?
Had this game been played Sat night Oz/Sat morning UK there would have been a chance that non-RL could have watched it. It would have been a good start to a sporting Saturday. Playing it on a Friday is an utterly stupid decision. The biggest England game of the World Cup group stages and it's going to go virtually unnoticed on a Friday morning workday. Do you honestly think that England v Lebanon is going to attract the casual observer in the same way that the Australia game would have done?
I know that Australia are hosting the tournament and so it's great to take into account their needs and maybe Friday night was good for them. But seriously, RL isn't exactly in a position that it can stupidly miss the chance to showcase the game.
Are people just being deliberately stupid in trying not to understand the point I assume Matty B is making?
I'm reading between the lines and assuming he's asking why is this game scheduled for Friday night in Australia/Friday morning in the UK, as opposed to Saturday night in Australia and Saturday morning in the UK?
Had this game been played Sat night Oz/Sat morning UK there would have been a chance that non-RL could have watched it. It would have been a good start to a sporting Saturday. Playing it on a Friday is an utterly stupid decision. The biggest England game of the World Cup group stages and it's going to go virtually unnoticed on a Friday morning workday. Do you honestly think that England v Lebanon is going to attract the casual observer in the same way that the Australia game would have done?
I know that Australia are hosting the tournament and so it's great to take into account their needs and maybe Friday night was good for them. But seriously, RL isn't exactly in a position that it can stupidly miss the chance to showcase the game.
Nah I think you're giving him far too much credit there
Anyway this world cup does not revolve purely around England and us brits watching from over here. This game is launching the whole tournament and it is simply how the fixtures have been arranged. There are three games being played on Saturday morning/evening so it couldn't have been played at that time. I'm sure a Friday night game will generate plenty of interest in the southern hemisphere, like I say not everything is catered for England - did we give a sh*t what time the Aussies had to get up to watch their games when the WC was held here? Don't think so.
Nah I think you're giving him far too much credit there
Perhaps. It just saddens me because I see it as a lost opportunity to promote RL in England/UK. I get that the Aussies are hosting it but would it really have been that bad for them to play it on Saturday evening? At the Olympics the football competition began before the official opening ceremony. The matches at the RLWC are being played at different venues anyway so it's not as if the opening ceremony even means that much compared to an Olympics where the bulk of the main events take place in one city and one stadium. Would it really have mattered to people attending Papa New Guinea against Wales if that game had taken place before the official world cup opening? I doubt it.
Ah, well, hopefully people can still tune in to watch the semi-final against NZ and perhaps even a final against the Aussies.
I'm sure a Friday night game will generate plenty of interest in the southern hemisphere, like I say not everything is catered for England - did we give a sh*t what time the Aussies had to get up to watch their games when the WC was held here? Don't think so.
This is exactly right. We even had some Sunday games in the Four Nations last year, in Australia and New Zealand that was very early Monday morning, didn’t see any complaints about that on here
JESUS WEPT HOW MANY TIMES????? £20 a ticket and £15 on beer and merchandise.....so an away fan is worth £35. At best, 1,000 is the average away support split across 11 rounds and I am being really generous here, so Toronto, replacing say Wakefield will cost a SL club £35,000. The minimum turnover of a SL club is £4,000,000 so Toronto instead of Widnes is worth less than 1% of a SL clubs turnover.
There are many valid reasons for and against expansion into America, but "AWAY FANS" isn't one of them.
Since it started in 1930 the FIFA World Cup has only had 8 different winners and 12 different Finalists (i.e. only 4 teams have got to the Final without winning).
Hence I guess the 200+ countries that compete for the FIFA World Cup just shouldn't bother either since its not really feasible that they'll win ?
8 winners and 12 competitors over 20 games is far better than 3 winners from 14 (almost assuredly to be 3/15) and one other side in the Final but who have not won it*. Note. As you counted West Germany and Germany as the same, I have done the same for Great Britain and England......