What's the obsession with holding these games outside the traditional areas?

One game in a blue moon does feck all to promote 'the game' in London, Manchester or Timbuktu. Feck all. FFS, most of the population of Manchester doesn't even know the Grand Final is at OT and it's held there every year among (allegedly) great fanfare.

I'm all for expansion and promotion, but when games like (for example), NZ v GB (2005) are held at Loftus Road all it does is deny traditional fans the opportunity to attend unless prepared to fork out yet more money. I look forward to the internationals massively and it's crap to see them being transplanted to some football haven in the name of promotion. No-one in London knows or particularly cares that the game is on and we end up with a half-d effort and a half-d crowd, the whole thing looking half-d on Sky, when we could have a full house packed with passionate and vocal RL fans getting behind England. And God knows we need all the help we can get.

We have good stadiums in Wigan, Hull, Warrington and Hudds for pool games - except of course Aus v NZ in London where plenty of Antipodeans will attend, albeit normally in their RU shirts - so I'm fairly happy with those fixtures. Except Elland Road? Why, just why? It. Is. Crap.

that doesnt stop them choosing to play games at Huddersfield and Elland Road, and it doesnt stop Charlton playing there every other week





so what.

1) if they are interested they will travel for a couple of hours to watch the game - its not that much further when they have travelled all the way from Aus already.
2) we should be able to fill a ground with English people for a game of that calibre - especially if part of a double header with an England game.

The majority of Charlton fans live in Charlton mate

Which counts for sweet FA (pardon the pun) if they aren't RL fans.

You haven't a clue about the Aussie and Kiwi scene in London have you?

er....yes I did initially say 10,000 and still believe that it was realistic to attract that many if the marketing budget/machine had been available. As it is, those people who did work on it, worked bluddy hard and shoud be applauded, not riddiculed by knobs like you.

Still, 6,000 for a friendly was only 540 odd short of the Wakey crowd for a competition game and they've been at it for 136 odd years. HTH

I will openly admit now that I haven't and would be more than happy to be enlightened.

I think you got the wrong idea from my post. I'm not a knob, nor was I riddiculing what I thought was a good attendance.
I was just pointing out that you thought a 10k crowd was on the cards for the Quins-Manly match.