The minimum if they win it.


Unlikely.....SKY are pulling back from a lot of things and they really wont suffer that much this autumn for not having the RLWC on...

I have some bad news for you regarding the tooth fairy and Santa. England play Australia, Argentina and NZ and only a loss to the Argies would be considered "bad"...... What worries me more is that SKY TV have access to the majority of sports fans in the UK.....SKY TV will hardly give the RLWC a mention, but will be more than happy to show highlights of a half empty stadium for RL before switching to bore-lights of the kick-a-thon at TW2 with 82,000 crammed in. Perception is everything...to make joe public want it, the perception of demand for it must first be created....


No reason England can't win it.....but to do so, they will need to beat Australia twice IMHO.....an easy(ish) semi-final followed by the final, after the Kiwis kick the crap out of the criminal element, is preferable to having to do battle with the Kiwis to get a crack at the title.

Hi all,

Coming over from Oz for the RLWC and have purchased tickets for the Opening Ceremony, Wembley semi's, and Old Trafford Final with the OC tickets received in the post - and hopefully the others turning up real real soon !!!


Plan to purchase the tickets for other games upon arrival in the UK - but getting a little concerned as to the availability of seats at such a late stage (I arrive one week before the OC in Cardiff).

There is no way the whole tournement will sell out wall to wall in every ground. But I think we need to be positive, if Wembley does not sell out but has 10k tickets left, that does not mean it's failed, far from it.

It's about whether we are growing or standing still compared to the previous tournement.

If it was the football world cup with almost limitless demand, they maybe concerned about not selling out every venue.

We need to be concerned about having a good vibrant tournement, that is building on the previous good work and will move us forwards to the next one. Hopefully with some of the teams becoming more of a feature in future internationals, like USA etc.

You should be ok there are plenty of tickets left for plenty of matches. Australia v.s Fiji at Langtree park has plenty of tickets remaining.

You may struggle to get any tickets for Ireland v.s Fiji though. What games you thinking of attending?

Everything's where it should be for me, except the opening ceremony in Cardiff seems to have been too ambitious and the game in Ireland seems like a complete waste of time, and not sure about Bristol

I'm pretty happy so far. We're our own sport and have to measure ourselves as such.

If there's 80,000 on at Wembley for the semis then I think everyone can be very proud of that. That would be a real breakthrough IMO for international rugby league and something to build on.

Anything above 50,000 would be a success IMO.

just bought a load of tickets for the WC final on the promo code 100days.May not be the best view in the house, but 12.50 is outstanding value for the most high profile game to be played in this country in many years.

I just pray England make the final. Imagine the atmosphere with 75,000 fans inside Old Trafford cheering us on!

That first match is so important. If we can win that the final must be in sight for us.

I thought the game at Cardiff was too ambitious, but the sales so far have proven me wrong. Cook Islands-USA is the weakest game of the tournament, and interest in the heatlands would have been poor...so they have done right giving the enthusiastic team down in Bristol a chance to show they can make RL work down there.

Everything looks on course for this to be the most well attended RL tournament ever. Bristol tickets are promising as it will only let you buy tickets from selected areas so some of the stands must have sold out as they are not grayed out like other seating plans.

I thought the opening ceremony and Wembley would be poorly attended and not sure but think I slagged it at the time but now can only congratulate the promoters. I bought the tickets last year in November so it is so pleasing to see areas of the ground I am sat in to be sold out. Should also be able to attend all Hull games too which is a bonus (I work in a bookies so can't take the P with weekends off). In total I'll be attending 6 different events and have also subscribed to premier sports telling the operator RLWC made me subscribe. Not trying to act like super fan as I am sure many will beat that but for somebody whose not usually pro international RL I dont think is a bad effort.

I think this will be the best RWC ever as regards attendances. I think the host city concept was a brilliant innovation and has resulted in local authorities getting involved and promoting the tournament raising local interest.

I think the choice of venues also is well thought out. We had to have some games in London, the capital, but kept the final in the North so that the final would be a sellout and deflect any criticism if the London games were poorly attended.

The Welsh are co hosts so we had to have a game at the Millenium and pairing it with England V Australia ensures a good attendance. In 2000 Wales v NZ at the millennium attracted around 20,000, a good attendance in itself but looked bad in a stadium that size. this year it looks like the attendance will be at least 40,000.

Giving the French two home games stimulates interest there, helps the French team to be more competitive and will draw good attendances. It will be interesting to compare the attendances at the games in France with the remaining French game in Hull. I think the France based games will draw double the Hull attendance.

The England games are spread from Cardiff, to Hull to London to Huddersfield and maybe a quarter final at Wigan. A nice spread that should enable Englishmen from he length and breadth of the country to support their team.

Fiji at Rochdale was inspired given the history of Fijian players at the hornets and the Fijian diaspora in the town.

Cumberland was not ignored and putting Scotland up there with some attractive opposition in the form of a South sea islander team and a very strong NRL based Austro Italian team should tempt the locals ona cold November night. I think the games up there will draw well.

Our strong SL areas got games, Warrington, leeds, Saints, Hull, Huddersfield. Turnout should be good there.

The Welsh games are in the games strongholds at Wrexham and Neath as well as their capital. Good distribution to entice the locals.

Even the Irish and Bristol games are well conceived. The Bristol/Gloucester, Somerset and Devon areas are developing areas well away from the heartlands and a game down there, however small, is a good rallying point for those South West enthusiasts. Ireland, particularly Limerick is a rugby stronghold albeit Union but an attempt to spread the gospel there is a good idea, especially with Australia as the opposition with the large Irish Australian diaspora likely to make a visit to the old country a highlight of their trip. Iv we get 5,000 to this game it will have been a success.

Getting the big games and the England games on the BBC is also a master stroke, full stadiums, top teams will show the game up well to the whole of the UK. You can't beat terrestrial TV for getting the message out.

I will be at most games as my retirement present to myself My tickets arrived today and I am getting quite giddy with excitement given my age.

Agree 100% But the host city thing is not an innovation...it has been done in other sports but is a cracking idea!

[
Have to disagree....Cardiff was an error IMHO and I am still puzzled as to the long term benefit of Bristol or Limerick.


Game 2 will look worse than the game in 2000.


100% spot on!


yep....Nice concept but I fail to see any long term planning post 2013


Nice concept but I fail to see any long term planning post 2013

Cumberland was not ignored and putting Scotland up there with some attractive opposition in the form of a South sea islander team and a very strong NRL based Austro Italian team should tempt the locals ona cold November night. I think the games up there will draw well.'"

Gutterfax this is not a competition to solve the long running problems of SL, just like next season and the 2015 season will not solve these problems.

There is no magic wand, just hard work and progression over time will the game make progress against the long standing issues.

This tournement is about building on past tournements and progressing forwards.

Saying that you don't see the long term strategy, is not totally relevant as the WC is not there to progress the local competition, but the international competition. You would hope for a drip down effect, but it is by no means gauranteed.

RU gets little drip down effect when it's internationals are held up next to the local comps in Oz and the UK.

The only venues I'd have done differently are the Ireland game which shouldn't be played in a cavernous 25k stadium.. and I'd have switched one Aussie or NZ game to Loftus Road or a similar ground in London.. but there's no point complaining now. Tickets are selling well it seems and the tournament should be at very least a success.

Anyone seen any real sales figures yet?

As opposed to numbers from the organisers? Which number would you believe?

Not exact sales figure , but if you look on the WC website, the stadium graphics give you a good idea of how strong sales look

I'm sure the staff have seen real figures

Are they real sales figures?


Real sales figures as opposed to alleged and anecdotal indications.

can someone ban this guy?

Ah there is nothing wrong with William, but his calculator has gone a tad rusty since the league campaign finished. And the playoffs don't take up that much time to calculate.

Of course discussion boards are more than about simple facts. It's about expressing an opinion where facts are missing or don't tell the full story.

I'm sure once the games are played the attendances will be out there for us all to see.

If there was a 6 monthly update, someone would want it monthly. If there was a monthly update someone would want it weekly, if there was a weekly update someone would want it daily, if there was a daily update then someone would want updating everytime a ticket was sold.

I'm sure I read that they are not going to be putting out regular ticket updates, it will be just as and when they feel it's needed.

Euro '96 football tournament was a huge success, yet only the final and games involving England and Scotland sold out ( 8 out of 31 games ).

The other semi at Old Trafford had only 43k there ( 12k empty seats ). A QF at Villa Park had only 26k out of 40k ! Nobody will regret going to games, but some people may feel like they "missed out" on a great event once it's all over !

The RLWC team have saved the bulk of their budget for the last month or so before the final. A LOT more marketing and advertising will be done before Cardiff and then the main seller for the semi final and final will be the rest of the tournament.

Many of the smaller games have sold really well including near sell-outs at a few grounds.

England games will be pretty much sell-outs and the big events seem to be playing well.

How much of a boost would it be for rugby league to have England LIVE on BBC at Cardiff, Wembley and Old Trafford in front of sell-out crowds? Because thats what the media and your average fan will see. For once we might get some profile.

We MUST get to the final, it would do huge things for RL in the UK.

Well, the last of mine turned up this morning, so there'll be at least one person at Cardiff, the two Wrexham games and the final.

None of mine have arrived so far but there's plenty of time I suppose. I'm waiting for 47 tickets spread over 7 games for a group of us.

Maybe they're sending them out in area order.