Didn't have any issues with the facilities last year (bar, toilets, tube etc) but I agree the atmosphere wasn't all that. Hopefully we'll get more to shout about this year and it should naturally be a little more excitable with it being the Aussies.

Looking at the sold out areas on the RFL site I doubt the crowd will top 35k which is a shame but still it's bigger then we'd get playing at Wigan, Hull etc.

The RFL have a lot of blame to shoulder on that score. To only announce the venues for this tournament around 6 months in advance is shambolic! Add in the kick off times/days and then chopping and changing the kick off time and that's what you get.

What I always think about the promotion of these kind of games is that one thing they should do is get a few players to go into a load of schools in London, especially around the stadium area and give a talk, do a little skills session, really try to enthuse the kids and offer some sort of ticket deal, free for the kid, tenner per adult or something.

20,000 seats are gonna be empty anyway so could at least fill some with discounted tickets, make a little money and improve the atmosphere and image of our great game. Games like this are key cos of the amount of first-timers and unioners who will be going. That game last year cant have helped, most boring game of my life.

Anyway, I'm not a businessman...

There was a big feature in last weeks free Sport magazine with Sam B on front cover. I understand there may be an advert on tube station(s). Otherwise wouldn't know it was happening. They held training sessions in London but aside from Twitter etc accessed by existing supporters they didn't seem to get any publicity / promotion on back of it. Agree that the atmosphere last time was dire and the worst ever at an RL match I've been at. Even Huyton used to be better.

If the turn out is going to be as embarrassing as expected, then will someone involved in the game be asking "How does Nigel Wood keep his job, and shouldn't the game be getting someone who has an inkling of how to run the game slightly better".

I don't think we've had one good choice of venue so far.

Huddersfield sold out with a couple of weeks to go, but you assume we could have sold 30K if space was available, they went too small. England & NZ have built up a good rivalry in recent years and it needed a bigger venue.

Scotland - Australia wasn't ever going to be top box office, but playing a game in hard to reach East Hull on a Friday night led to a poor crowd.

the Double Header at Coventry was mediocre at best, i'm all for taking the game to new areas if the marketing is done properly but not a half-hearted effort.

Workington's archaic ground shouldn't be anywhere near a 4 Nations game. Sales for Olympic Stadium look weaker than last time.

So far sales at Anfield look good and seems to have been their only decent decision this time around.

Anyone know how many tickets have been sold?

I don't know but I bet none of the Royal Family will have one.

Crowd looks very poor, and worse than the NZ game last year. I'm all for taking the game to expansion areas if its done properly with a marketing campaign, but showing our flagship Test game live on the BBC to a half empty crowd just looks embarrassing.

Don't think venues them selves are the problem. Just wrong games on wrong days.

Would agree with that, playing the Scotland games at Craven Park and Workington on a weekend would have boosted the gate, as would playing at Coventry in the afternoon instead of Bonfire Night and today's game on a Saturday not a Sunday. But that's far too simple for the RFL

Why was this game scheduled for Sunday? Did the RFL not wanna clash with the England rugby union match.

Huddersfield aside, I think venues are th problem. Especially Coventry, East Hull and Workington.

Don't know, it wasn't due to stadium availability as West Ham have the weekend off, maybe a BBC decision?

I don't think the crowds have been too bad, similar to previous 4 nations I reckon.