Because that was a very special Big Event -- the Final of a World Cup --- and most of the seats had been sold before anyone knew if England would be there. Similar great crowds show up for the SL Grand Final at Old Trafford and the Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

The semis are much less prestigious and less of a Big Event.

But compare the World Cup semis with the Challenge Cup semis. The CC semis held in the M62 corridor cannot crack 20,000 each. Sometimes not even 10,000 show up. But the World Cup semis at Wembley attract 67,546.

However all of this is not relevant to my main point, which is that the interest of southern Englanders, esp. Londoners, in international rugby league, is significant. It is much stronger than the interest of the Welsh. We need to recognise that fact and keep working on holding international matches at Wembley rather than Cardiff --- every year if possible.

I dont think playing games in the millenium stadium help though i think it would be better if it was played at Cardiff city's stadium and then slowly expand it.

Wales doesn't have a big following for RL.

Hell, the game at the racecourse attracted 8,500, one of the smallest attendances of this world cup, it's not a pop at the Welsh, it's just stating that Cardiff was unsuccessful, would need about 200,000 hardcored Welsh RL fans, and the attendance to be the same.


Arguably, for fans in the heartlands, it's a VERY difficult place to reach, no clubs were running coaches, so access was either, make your own way there, get a train, which was costly really. I know Leeds decided to run coaches at the last minute, and a few private companies ran some, but i felt 45,000 was a great turnout considering the circumstances.

We are on about the same place, aren't we? From reading your post one could be forgiven for thinking the game was held in Pyongyang!

The only thing these kinds of figures do is frustrate the hell out of me. How can we not fill Challenge Cup quarter, semi and final venues?

While I don't consider the double header at Cardiff a failure - there was a significant Welsh crowd there (as was evidenced by the numbers singing the Welsh national anthem in Welsh) - I do think that the Wembley double header idea appears to have been a real success. We acquired over 20,000 new fans between 2011 and 2013. So long as we don't wait too long until then next one, we could feasibly sell the place out for an international double header in the not too distant future.

Wales RU only got 66,000 to watch SA a few wks ago, Australia didn't sell out on Saturday either, quite a few empty seats in the top tier. Economy around here, all the best players off to France + England. Llanelli, Cardiff, Ospreys and Newport not getting many, and that with all the marketing brain-washing going on.

Why the comparison with Union...and in all places Wales



Wales RU attendances in Wales in 2014.
South Africa 66,490
Argentina 46,253,
Tonga 46,523
Australia 67,436
Ireland 71,254
England 74,104
372,060/6 = 62,010 average.

Wales RL attendances in Wales (last 6 games)
Cook Islands 3,270
USA 8,019
Italy 45,052*
England 4,014
France 1,464
Australia 5,233

67,052/6 = 11,175* (22,000/5 = 4,400)

Not sure how many Wales RU tickets were available from as little as 3.75 a pop in 2014.

LOL at doing an attendance comparison with union.

Total attendance for 2007 world cup 2.263,223

KAPOW!

You could be right. It worked well for the semi final. It always works well for the Football Association / the England soccer team.

The FA have a slightly easier sale on their hands.......

London/south east have a big event culture and RL has a near 100 year history of staging big events in the capital
Cardiff needs a SL team

Wales needs a SL team if they ever want to grow Welsh RL. We ideally need SL teams in Ireland and Scotland too in the future.

Problem is that the last experiment in Wales flopped and, from an outside perspective, no real ground work has been done in Scotland or Ireland.

I agree about wembley. I think every home England game should be played there or if in the 4Ns etc, then at least a game vs Aus.

The (financial) state of Welsh RU clubs is genrally very poor, including those in the Pro 12, and the WRU are desperately trying to stop the drain of their best international talent (primarily to French RU) by a £1m pot.

Hence, simply stating that Cardiff should have a SL club is ignoring the sustainable viability of such a venture.

It seems obvious to me that if we want to build RL in Wales then north Wales is the area to start.
We should be aiming to turn NW into a new NW England or W Yorkshire but without the clutter of to many pointless clubs,the sport should then look to push southwards.
What is the population of N Wales?

We need a second French club in Super League before we need a Welsh club. That is because France, not Wales, has the best chance of becoming the 4th international power, and a second French club will help facilitate that. However Nigel Wood will not allow it unless Toulouse can show that it can pay for the costs involved for Super League.

Also French fans of rugby league are more numerous than Welsh fans. I would prefer to see international tournament games staged in Toulouse rather than in Cardiff.

For example in the next Four Nations, play England vs Australia and England vs New Zealand at Wembley.

Then play England vs France at Toulouse. That match would attract more people than England vs Wales at Cardiff.

People need to wake up and realise that when RL had GB as the national team representing the regions of Wales, England, Scotland and N. Ireland, it didnt matter where players were from and players had more pride in the Lions badge. RL in Wales or Scotland will not succeed unless some brainless multi-millionaire wants to throw money at such future projects.

Do what the NRL are doing: STRENGTHEN the heartlands before accepting expansion bids! Not hard.

Who are England playing in this magical wembley game?

What needs realising, in terms of expansion, is just how small the catchment area for the existing RL heartlands club actually is (I'd estimate that its no more than a 5-10 mile radius for 90% of the supporters).

Hence, when people start talking about developing in Wales and even London upon the mistaken assume that a large proportion of the entirety of North/South Wales or London will attend games, they are just wrong (e.g. Salford & Manchester springs to mind...)

What have existing clubs done to expand their supporter base and development of the game (e.g. into South Cheshire, South Yorkshire, Merseyside, Lancashire, etc) ?

I find it incredible that we've never played a SL game in Liverpool. Wigan v Saints or Widnes v Saints. Massive market, on our doorstep, almost completely ignored.

The event at Wembley was a far bigger event than the one at Cardiff, with more on the line and the four biggest teams in world RL in it.
Cardiff had far less on the line. Defeat was not the end of any side, and only featured two big teams with no momentum at this stage going into the game.

A completely unfair comparison, and what basically just looks like a chance to have a pop at the Welsh.

I'd suggest to the inability to capture the wider public in the "heartlands" reflected by not managing to sell-out at the (Manchester) Magic Weekend as very concerning.

I think if anything is to be learned, it's that double headers on FTA can be made into huge events, and the CCSF should follow suit immediately. Announce a neutral ground early, build the event and let tickets be bought before we even know who's playing.

Far better than the "let's wait and see... oh wait, the crowd is 10,000"

The thing with the Magic Weekend is that it can seem a bit like overkill to a newbie, whereas you might be able to make a bigger event out of say Wigan vs Saints and Warrington vs Widnes at Liverpool. Sometimes less is more.

Not that it bothers me as I love the Magic Weekend!

I agree, it's also harder to get newbies excited over a regular league game between 2 clubs they know little about and have little to no connection with. But anyone can get behind England without having to know much or anything about the game.