jesus-is-coming wrote:
Problem is union make the game a big event big stadiums the rl seem embarrassed about pushing anything as a big event play at little grounds get the little sport mentality we should have gone Wembley old Trafford Olympic stadium people enjoy big events loads of tickets sold in the south for the last world cup,pope on a rope the diddly Dee's sold out Wembley playing the shop lifers the other day for a forgone result 90,000 at top dollar
I think I've said before on here that we need to stop comparing our sport to union internationally. We are a different sport and it just so happens that our game has developed so that internationals get attendances around the 25,000 mark. If we get 40,000 for the Olympic Stadium game and 25,000 for each of the other games that still means an average of 30,000 across the series and that it much larger than any other RL internationals get so that is a huge success (aside from maybe the ANZAC test which gets similar amounts). Just because union would fill an 80,000 ground doesn't mean we have to; sure only 25,000 will be at two games but I would like to wager that the majority of those are hardened fans of the sport. In comparison lets take the Millenium Stadium; Wales fill that for union ball at 75,000 but when you look at their 4 domestic teams which get about 8,000 or so each then that is only 32,000 rugby fans, who are the other 33,000 pretend fans that go? They are only going to be part of the event rather than going to watch a game of rugby, just like the world cup at the moment. So what I'm saying is I would rather see a small stadium full of proper fans than the illusion that union put on.
The administrators are probably thinking that it is better that the series is played in realistic stadiums and look full on TV than in mega stadiums that are half empty. Granted, for the sake of putting the other argument across, they could have thought slightly more ambitious; with the success of magic weekend in Newcastle that could have been an idea with the Olympic a similar size. Also Elland Road has had a good record with RL internationals. With the Olympic, those stadiums would have been a good spread across the country and even if weren't full we would have seen an average of like 40-45,000 fans but you know that could be an idea for next time.
