Joined: Mar 07 2004 Posts: 13327 Location: A Red Muffin on the outskirts of Pie Land
GT wrote:It might not have been said, but it's inferred when people all over the forums post negative things about the tournament only to get "but you weren't there, so shut up" and other, similar comments thrown at them. Then someone comes on and says "I was there and I thought it was shite" and he gets slagged off as well.
I didn't go yesterday, purely down to cost, but I remember thinking after our one outing at Cardiff that I wasn't bothered about going to it again. It's a waste of time. What is the point of it? To give people a day out in a big, tourist city? You can do that without a game of rugby league to watch. To give people a day out on the ale? Again, you can do that whenever you want. To give people the chance to watch their club in a big stadium? Well, that should be reserved for showpiece events such as Cup Finals. To expand the game? Well, it doesn't seem to be working on that front, does it? And if it works as well as it did in Wales... Or was it to give the RL family a big day out? Superleague Grand Final. Challenge Cup Final. We don't need anymore and both of those events sell out more tickets than this white elephant.
Anyone from outside RL who tuned into that yesterday would have laughed their nads off seeing the state of the ground. I'd like to think they'd laugh their nads off at the balloons in fancy dress and the rest of the clueless shenanigans that seem to go hand-in-hand with big RL events these days, but I'd guess I'm in a minority on that one inside and outside of the sport.
So the RFl shouldn't do it cos you and a handful of the usual suspects don't like it It's a shame thousands of other supporters did like it.
It's done to expand the game and "IF" in the event of that people get to have a good experience and heaven forbid enjoy themselves then so be it.
OMFG!!!!!! it's terrible isn't it.
I sympathise with those priced out of it. For us it was France with the kids and miss out on Celtic and Edinburgh or vice versa. You won't hear me moaning cos we couldn't afford to go France. We were gutted to miss a Salford game, but I get the feeling we made the right choice.
But to have an opinion on how successful the whole weekend was when you either wasn't there or turned up for one game then went straight back home is just ludicrous.
Joined: Mar 07 2004 Posts: 13327 Location: A Red Muffin on the outskirts of Pie Land
Diavolo Rosso wrote:It looked terrible on television, awful. At least when it was at Cardiff you could hear something resembling an atmosphere on the TV.
On a weekend when the Rah-Rahs are filling Croke Park (82,000) and the getting 45,000 at Cardiff for two semi-finals getting a total of ~40,000 to Edinburgh for seven matches is abysmal. No wonder the paper and TV coverage was almost non-existent.
No matter how enjoyable the day(s) itself may be the event needs to be ditched or at the very least be moved to a much smaller stadium (Villa Park anyone?). Three years on and it has achieved nothing.
A weekend in birmingham sounds sooooooooooo appealing
Joined: Aug 25 2007 Posts: 413 Location: Walking distance from new ground - so hurry up and build it.
Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:So the RFl shouldn't do it cos you and a handful of the usual suspects don't like it It's a shame thousands of other supporters did like it.
It's done to expand the game and "IF" in the event of that people get to have a good experience and heaven forbid enjoy themselves then so be it. OMFG!!!!!! it's terrible isn't it.
I sympathise with those priced out of it. For us it was France with the kids and miss out on Celtic and Edinburgh or vice versa. You won't hear me moaning cos we couldn't afford to go France. We were gutted to miss a Salford game, but I get the feeling we made the right choice.
But to have an opinion on how successful the whole weekend was when you either wasn't there or turned up for one game then went straight back home is just ludicrous.
It is done to expand the game? So how does getting short of 60,000 people - 99.9% of whom would go to a game and enjoy it wherever it was - for 7 matches, thus making it look a complete laughing stock to the rugby union fans in Scotland who will never accept rugby league expand the game. Look at celtics fanbase. How many people did millenium magic attract to the game?
The simple fact of the matter is that there were fewer people watching the entire weekend than there would have been in total watching each individual game seperately and the game has no bigger profile in Scotland than it did before (other than a few people who might have had some good crack in the bars with you all). I'm sure it was fun while it lasted but when you look at what it is supposedly designed to do - FAILURE.
Diavolo Rosso wrote:It looked terrible on television, awful. At least when it was at Cardiff you could hear something resembling an atmosphere on the TV.
On a weekend when the Rah-Rahs are filling Croke Park (82,000) and the getting 45,000 at Cardiff for two semi-finals getting a total of ~40,000 to Edinburgh for seven matches is abysmal. No wonder the paper and TV coverage was almost non-existent.
No matter how enjoyable the day(s) itself may be the event needs to be ditched or at the very least be moved to a much smaller stadium (Villa Park anyone?). Three years on and it has achieved nothing.
I remember having a ding dong on here with you about it last year, you were massively in favour it. Good we have got another convert to common sense
Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:But to have an opinion on how successful the whole weekend was when you either wasn't there or turned up for one game then went straight back home is just ludicrous.
Come on then what did we miss by going home after watching the game of the team we support? The whole top flight of our sport can't fill half a stadium, shows how highly regard it is by fans. And how on earth is that intended to spread the game? You spread the game from grass roots up simple as, not gimmicky gimpfests like this weekend.
Anyway I'm off there is 3 amateur games on at The Willows I'm gonna go and watch, just got to sort my fancy dress costume out first.
Joined: Mar 07 2004 Posts: 13327 Location: A Red Muffin on the outskirts of Pie Land
chrismum wrote:It is done to expand the game? So how does getting short of 60,000 people - 99.9% of whom would go to a game and enjoy it wherever it was - for 7 matches, thus making it look a complete laughing stock to the rugby union fans in Scotland who will never accept rugby league expand the game. Look at celtics fanbase. How many people did millenium magic attract to the game?
The simple fact of the matter is that there were fewer people watching the entire weekend than there would have been in total watching each individual game seperately and the game has no bigger profile in Scotland than it did before (other than a few people who might have had some good crack in the bars with you all). I'm sure it was fun while it lasted but when you look at what it is supposedly designed to do - FAILURE.
If the figures are true and I did say "If" I would call 4-6000 scottish ticket sales a success in it's first year.
Are we who are already fans of the game the right ones to ask if it was a success. We already love the game and would probably watch it if it was being played in downtown Kabul. The people to ask are those who went to watch the game having little or no knowledge of our sport and the questions to ask them are not just did you enjoy the weekend but would you watch this sport if we stuck a team in Scotland. Whats not to enjoy about having a weekend away in an historic beautiful city like Edinburgh, watching Rugby and drinking beer? But it was an event not designed just to have a beano but to "expand" the game in new areas. Only time will tell if its been a success from that perspective but as pointed out in other posts the numbers of local fans who attended are the truer test of its value not that the numbers of fans who are already supporters of the greatest game. And as a final thought if the RFL do decide to franchise to Scotland or Ireland or Kabul!! which teams do you think are vulnerable to being dispensed with?
He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.
Joined: Mar 07 2004 Posts: 13327 Location: A Red Muffin on the outskirts of Pie Land
Walshovski wrote:Come on then what did we miss by going home after watching the game of the team we support? The whole top flight of our sport can't fill half a stadium, shows how highly regard it is by fans. And how on earth is that intended to spread the game? You spread the game from grass roots up simple as, not gimmicky gimpfests like this weekend.
Anyway I'm off there is 3 amateur games on at The Willows I'm gonna go and watch, just got to sort my fancy dress costume out first.
I thought you had it on already Enjoy your amateur game youth finals
Joined: Feb 27 2002 Posts: 2524 Location: 10,000 feet up
I didn't go to the Cardiff version so have nothing to compare this weekend with & don't know if it was better or worse.
I do find it puzzling that so many people went all that way at such cost and watched so few games - sat in a pub (and what a goodly number of great pubs there are!!!!) on Saturday night chatting with some Saints fans, they'd ONLY watched their match (and therefore were drowning sorrows) - surely the point of the weekend was an opportunity to see a lot of games and watch many as a neutral - for me that was the most enjoyable thing about it. RL is a fantastic sport and to be able to enjoy the skills on show was great.
Now - to answer the question posed - was the weekend a success? I suspect from a marketing point of view the answer is a resounding "no!" Playing in a half empty stadium benefits no-one; If the aim is to show what a great spectacle we have then you need people to really WANT to get tickets and clearly not enough did. My son lives in Edinburgh and it appears there was precious little local marketing done in the lead up to the weekend - surely free tickets to schools and colleges, competitions on local radio to win tickets etc etc all could have been organised - but when you look at the rugby league organisation generally are we surprised?
For me it was a terrific weekend and I would definitely go again.
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It's a shame thousands of other supporters did like it.
