Airlie Street wrote:
Crazy how people are moaning about venue size / allocation of tickets. We haven't been to a game of live rugby for over a year, be thankful 600 from each team are able to go, the games less than a month away and there are still restrictions in place, have some perspective.
Unless you know about the availability and cost of each individual venue and the demands from the BBC I'd say everything else is just pure speculation based on little more than frustration that you might not get a ticket.
Airlie Street wrote:
Thetalentboy wrote:
Well Headingley must have been fairly cheap as they used it for most matches
The reason people are moaning is they've waited 15 months to go to a game and now vast majority of pass holders won't be able to go due to a joke of a allocation, that's the thanks the fans get who paid they're pass money for nothing
3,000 capacity is OK.....? For a semi final between 4 teams You having a laugh
And what if Headingley wasn't available, have you considered that?
Your pass pays for home Super League games and not Challenge Cup Semi-Finals, so that has no relevance here.
It is simply a very poor decision by the RFL to hold the semi finals at Leigh and its decisions like this and these thought processes that think it would be OK that hold the sport back.
If the press release is to be believed and the semi finals had been scheduled for this date over 6 months ago then surely someone somewhere within the RFL would have come up with 2 options with respect of possible lockdown scenario's.
The first option being if there were still strict restrictions in the place and the second option being if the restrictions had been eased to allow fans to attend.
The other issue I have with the RFL statement such as 'Several stadiums were considered based on being a neutral venue for the 4 Semi Finalists, being available on June 5, being able to host Rugby League, being geographically located somewhere accessible for the fans who would want to attend', hell fire Southampton is geographically located somewhere that's accessible, its even got a train station unlike Leigh. You would think they would look for somewhere more central rather than a stadium a stones throw from 3 teams who had a very real chance of reaching the semi's in Wigan, St's & Warrington.
As for the idea of a triple header for me the jury's out on this as to why they feel it was such a good idea or to suggest this to the BBC for the coverage. The football season is over when the Semi finals take place and feel the RFL once again have missed the chance by a country mile to really promote the sport to a new audience.
But even ignoring the above the biggest thing for me looking at it is, this is the sports prestigious competition at the Semi Final stage and the RFL seem to think a fitting venue to hold such an event is the Leigh Sports Village!!! That for me just sums up why the game is falling on its backside.
Can you ever imagine the FA holding the FA Cup Semi Finals at Blackpools Bloomfield Road or Oxfords Kassam Stadium for example? Not even the League Two Play-Offs would be held at venues like that as the FA regard their product highly and as such for prestige events they select venues fitting of the occasion..
wasn't being relaid, the semi's would have been held there. And they have 2 trains stations, we have none.
