Quote: jesus-is-coming "Got shouted down when suggesting bigger venues the next 4 nations should not be doubleheaders they all should have there own venues nz v aus should be Olympic stadium eng v aus old Trafford eng v nz city ground if France are the 4th nation there games should be played in France and the final Wembley people want to be involved in big time events ,sponsor's want to be involved let's step the sport up to the big time level or continue to wallow in small time'"
Completely agree.
Play it at smaller stadiums and it comes across as a small time sport.
Playing at bigger and more impressive stadiums helps create that 'event' appeal that attracts the floating fan and stokes up interest.
GB played NZ at Loftus Road, in 2005 and attracted 15-16k. Pretty much the same fixture in the same city, but plated at the Olympic Stadium is already at 40k. It's not [iall[/i due to the choice of stadium, but it's a big part of it.
Sorry to bring up a Union reference, but the amount of people I know this Autumn who've been to a RUWC game despite not being RU fans is ridiculous. Every fker seemed to be at the Scotland USA game at Elland Road.
Scrap double headers too, again that just devalues our game.
The 4 nations needs to be at better stadiums. Think bigger and market the hell out of it
England vs Australia - Wembley (90k)
New Zealand vs Scotland - Ibrox (51k)
England vs Scotland - Elland Road (38k)
Australia vs New Zealand - Olympic Stadium (54k)
England vs New Zealand - Etihad (60k)
Scotland vs Australia - Easter Road (20k) or Tynecastle (17k)
Final - Old Trafford (76k)