looking at past series between us and Australia / NZ, IF we can get 50k tomorrow and the last game is a sell out as it looks like being, we should have touching 100k for the 3 games played.That would put the attendance figures at well over 30k more than any other series against NZ since 1970 and infact it would compare favourably with the heyday of the early 90's series with Australia, and those were the days when we included Old Trafford and Wembley in the grounds used. If the RFL had used the Etihad stadium for example as well as the Olympic this time, who knows where we could be maybe pushing 120/130k overall which would be up there with the best ever.As it is, i think crowds wise we have done well this time out and it's something to build on.Hopefully it will convince the RFL to think even bigger next time we hold a series over here. Stats below are taken from RL Project - host team first followed by series winners


Ashes Series 1970 Australia Great Britain 165,027
Ashes Series 1973/74 England Drawn 36,567
Ashes Series 1974 Australia Australia 133,791
Ashes Series 1978/79 England Australia 75,009
Ashes Series 1979 Australia Australia 66,752
Ashes Series 1982 England Australia 67,215
Ashes Series 1984 Australia Australia 75,480
Ashes Series 1986 England Australia 101,560
Ashes Series 1988 Australia Australia 67,554
Ashes Series 1990 England Australia 133,684
Ashes Series 1992 Australia Australia 103,459
Ashes Series 1994 England Australia 140,432
Ashes Series 2001 England Australia 68,921
Ashes Series 2003 England Australia 73,887


New Zealand vs Great Britain 1970 New Zealand Great Britain 37,685
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1971 England New Zealand 13,351
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1974 New Zealand Great Britain 28,356
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1979 New Zealand Great Britain 24,500
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1980 England Great Britain 26,187
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1984 New Zealand New Zealand 28,029
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1985 England New Zealand 50,306
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1989 England Great Britain 51,619
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1990 New Zealand Great Britain 19,049
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1992 New Zealand Great Britain 21,771
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1993 England Great Britain 67,772
New Zealand vs Great Britain 1996 New Zealand New Zealand 33,000
Great Britain vs New Zealand 1998 England New Zealand 59,203
Great Britain vs New Zealand 2002 England New Zealand 62,505
Great Britain vs New Zealand 2007 England Great Britain 58,081

We always seem to be building for something else. Always seems to be, at best, building blocks.

Like the WCC we are going to go from one game selling 40k to 3 selling 60k and celebrate it as a great building block.

When are we going to try something ambitious and then put the time and effort and money in making it succeed?

I agree Smokey, If we had an international calendar set in stone like the other code does then we may go some way to keeping the momentum going. We need to be having 3 test series against the big 2 at least every other year imo to do this. 4 nations just once in the 4 year cycle and obviously a WC. We really need Australia to start buying into International RL more, obviously for this to happen England need to start beating them to make them sit up and take notice again .I don't think we are too far away these days on that front.

Well I have just read on sky sports that Australia if we beat new Zealand will be down to third place and they do not like that one bit so they are after a full time coach, so they might want to play tests to try and put them back to number 1

To be fair to the much-criticised RFL, I got a clarifying email this morning confirming that I should collect from the ticket office and where it is located.

That would be fantastic, International RL needs to get some rivalry,fire and needle back in it again, we have sat back and had our tummys tickled for far, far too long.

I think we have a problem that the average rugby league fan is not willing to travel to see rugby league matches, particularly international games. Whether that is because of cost, or games being on TV or just a lack of interest I do not know. But I get the impression most people at the game last week were from Yorkshire, if not Humberside itself, a majority of tickets for this weeks game have been sold in the south and this is a pattern I saw repeated at England v Australia in Cardiff and at the Wembley double header in the world cup. We have a problem that each game is basically it's own marketing challenge as it attracts a different audience.

The core who go to all the games is relatively small, I think the lack of continuity and fixtures is a big problem and for me you should never be able to leave a ground where England have played a game of rugby league without knowing where and when the next time they are playing is. The international product is the best we have, games against New Zealand and Australia can attract those from outside our main audience, we need to be presenting this product every year and preferably, every year in this country.

Yeah, agree with all of that.

There is alot of building to be done though.

Getting crowds to come to a top class international is only the start.

In RU England get regular air time because of the 6 nations. Not the visit of southern hemisphere teams.

If we want regular internationals, the real challenge is building Wales and France into true top level sides. Without diluting the progress with England.

Huge amounts of building to be done.

when i was brought up, i was always told that whenever there was an international, there was a hell of a lot of coach trips and parties done by a large number of the local pubs, which took the dads and lads to wembley or wherever (late 80's early 90s), that doesn't seem to occur in Warrington anymore, there's a small number that arrange coaches for wire away games, but not necesarily the england games, maybe there's a change in ethos, a difference between Warrington fans, and fans of rugby league overall.

Very exciting news! Does that mean if we win the next game or win all 3 games??

Albeit until we beat Australia, in a match or series of any significant importance, then its pretty meaningless.

Current rankings here: www.rlif.com/rankings I would think it really odd if our coefficent (based on 5 seasons) doubles after two or three wins.

Current rankings here: www.rlif.com/rankings I would think it really odd if our coefficent (based on 5 seasons) doubles after two or three wins.

When did the Aussies last win a game? I think their points will drop significantly