Watching the game on catch up now and i honestly couldn't believe that decision. Not a hard decision to make and after watching it back so many times the video ref still gets it wrong. Unbelievable!

People who want to defend RL no matter what always say things like, "It's a premium product", "you're watching the world's best players", and ask questions like, "how much do football World Cup tickets cost?", or "how much do you pay to watch some poor games in Super League?"

My answer to all of these:

It's not a premium product! Even if it was, do you think moneyed people are going to hear that some tickets cost £70 and think, "wow, that must be good" and snap them up? You don't attract new people by charging a fortune. You attract new people by making it a relatively affordable family day out. You also don't attract your traditional existing fan base by trying to charge them more than they've been used to paying. You just put them off with that and make them less inclined to bother.

You're not watching the world's best players in the vast majority of games. In a few games you are, yes, but in most definitely not. RL players aren't superstars anyway, so even if you go to an Australia game, you won't know all the players if you don't watch the NRL every week. Even if you do go to an Australia game, where you definitely will see some of the world's best players, you're also very likely to see a one sided fixture, because, you know, it's not really a premium product.

It doesn't matter how much other events cost. I don't know about Qatar, but if the football World Cup was in the UK right now it could sell out every game twice over. The final could sell out ten times over, long before anyone even knows who will be in it. RL doesn't have that demand, so it's an irrelevant comparison.

This competition is more expensive than Super League, and someone has said above it costs £40 to get into the South Stand in Warrington for these fixtures. I have a season ticket in that stand, and it is nowhere near £40 a game to watch Super League there. It is roughly half that, so if that £40 figure is true they're charging double what a lot would expect to pay! I will also fully acknowledge that I've watched a lot of dross there, especially this past season, but most Warrington people are naturally more likely to want to watch Warrington than watch an international as a neutral aren't we? Same goes for every town and team.

In short, these games are well overpriced, simple as that. I'm going to the final and that's it. I wasn't thrilled at having to pay £60 to do so, but I will admit the final is a bit of a premium product.

Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.

Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.

Cheaper tickets in this world cup hasn't always equated to higher demand though, last night at Leigh, most tickets were £15, there was 6.8k there, the Doncaster game was £20 a ticket, only 4k there. The last world cup only had 7 games live on BBC, this one has all of them, that'll be a massive factor why the crowds are down. People have some weird obsession about "their seat" being more expensive, therefore they won't go. If you think the section you normally go in is too expensive, go in a cheaper bit, you might enjoy the different view.

Quote The Ghost of '99="The Ghost of '99"Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.'" The last international game at the Kcom only attracted 17k and that was England v kiwis, I imagine tickets were slightly cheaper for that game, but still

Quote The Ghost of '99="The Ghost of '99"Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.'" The last international game at the Kcom only attracted 17k and that was England v kiwis, I imagine tickets were slightly cheaper for that game, but still

Quote The Ghost of '99="The Ghost of '99"Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.'" Thats my take on it too, the ridiculous high top bands tickets have created a bad smell and people are then just switched off and won't go. Hull is both a RL mad city and an economically depressed one you can't kid us Jamaica are worth paying £70 to watch.

Quote The Ghost of '99="The Ghost of '99"Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch. https://tickets.rlwc2021.com/mm?id=170 Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty. And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do. Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.'" Thats my take on it too, the ridiculous high top bands tickets have created a bad smell and people are then just switched off and won't go. Hull is both a RL mad city and an economically depressed one you can't kid us Jamaica are worth paying £70 to watch.

Some positive news, 35k tickets sold for the Emirates semi already.

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20k for Elland Road and 55k for the final. Seems like I suspected people targetting bigger games and avoiding the group stages.

Whilst you could argue about the ticket prices all day one thing for sure is that not alot of people will have jobs to attend multiple games every week like last time. In all honesty id rather the tournament finished strong then start well and phased out.

The final will easily sell out if England get there, and there's a reasonable chance it will anyway. I maintain that the group games are well overpriced though. I'm not someone being introduced to the game by the World Cup. I'm a regular at a Super League club. The RLWC will 100% be hoping I attend a few games, but I had a look at the tickets and just thought "nah". I won't be the only one.

With the benefit of hindsight it might have been better to play the small games in the diehard areas like Craven Park, Rochdale, Halifax, Cas, Cumbria. Know it doesn't look as fancy for the marketing or TV but crowds would be bigger.

I still see no sense in playing in Coventry, Middlesbrough or Sheffield. The grounds are too big and Coventry in particular is too far from the heartlands. I actually fancied going to Australia V Scotland tomorrow, but getting there and back by train is incredibly difficult, so you're expecting everyone to either drive (I don't) or stay over (no thank you). I've therefore chosen the "just don't go" option. Had it been anywhere in the North West, or possibly even Leeds, I'd be going.

I've always maintained, and I always will, that games outside the heartlands absolutely have to be played on weekend afternoons to give people the maximum opportunity to get there and back.