No doubt he will sift through the channels looking for a row of empty seats to moan about- a complaint I have never understood. Some of the best atmospheres I have known at games have been when watching Leigh in the Championship in front of around 1,500 people.

Ok, so I'm a whinging nobhead, fine whatever thank you for your eloquent, considered comment. I'm also a passionate supporter of the domestic and international game who is sick of some people burying their heads in the sand oblivious to the damage to the game things like this cause.

What I do know is that you can parade the WC cup on breakfast time as much as you like but matches like yesterday undo any good work the RFL might be doing. It was a pointless exercise in rugby terms and a damaging PR one.

If the build up to the WC has started in earnest, yesterday was counter-productive. I'll be at as many WC games as I can but how many neutrals or people with a passing interest in the game will be motivated to do so based on yesterday?

Insults and abuse to the usual address please.

Australia

England -New Zealand

PNG - France

everyone else pants

We can only beat what's in front of us.

The reason some people want GB back is it's a massive part of RL history. For many people the only international RL they could genuinely imagine being excited about watching is a GB V Aus Ashes series. Other contests simply don't capture the imagination in the same way and probably never will.

Even those of you who are looking forward to the World Cup, wouldn't you be looking forward to three Ashes tests at Wembley, Old Trafford (or Eastlands) and Elland Road a lot more? Be honest.

If you could find a way to build games V clubs into the tour with the current calendar then so much the better, although I accept that is now extremely difficult.

I'm not patriotic and I don't like international sport in general. I see international football as an inconvenience and international RL as largely pointless, but even I loved Jonathan Davies scoring at Wembley. It's the only form of the sport outside club level that can truly capture the imagination in my opinion.

Rugby League's biggest problem; its 'supporters'.

Rugby League World Cup 2013 bring in Olympic experts McCann Rugby League World Cup 2013 (RLWC2013) has underlined its determination to build on the unparalleled interest in global sporting events held in the UK by appointing McCann Manchester as a sports marketing partner. Rugby League World Cup 2013 celebrated the one year to go to the tournament mark by releasing tickets for general sale on Friday October 26 2012. By the end of normal office hours on the first day of sales 50,000 tickets had been sold with the biggest interest in the ‘big three’ games: the opening double-header, the semi-finals and the Rugby League World Cup Final. www.rlwc2013.com/rugby-league-wo ... trongly-on

Rugby League World Cup 2013 bring in Olympic experts McCann Rugby League World Cup 2013 (RLWC2013) has underlined its determination to build on the unparalleled interest in global sporting events held in the UK by appointing McCann Manchester as a sports marketing partner. Rugby League World Cup 2013 celebrated the one year to go to the tournament mark by releasing tickets for general sale on Friday October 26 2012. By the end of normal office hours on the first day of sales 50,000 tickets had been sold with the biggest interest in the ‘big three’ games: the opening double-header, the semi-finals and the Rugby League World Cup Final. www.rlwc2013.com/rugby-league-wo ... trongly-on

www.warringtonwolves.org/warring ... unity-5783

www.warringtonwolves.org/warring ... unity-5783

Thanks to the RFL for listening to my suggestion. On talksport Last week I heard an advert for the 2013 Rugby league world cup....well done.......!!

Was in Central London on Saturday and saw the Fan Zone for the NFL in Trafalgar Square. They should definitely do something similar before the semi final double header and also in each of the host towns / cities. This creates a congregation point and help build the anticipation and atmosphere before the match the next day.
Get players visiting local schools well in advance of the match (particularly in London and Limerick) and doing coaching sessions.

As an aside - there was a near full page on the World Cup (focusing on Tomkins) in the Evening Standard on Friday. So it definitely has an impact.

The story of the trophy is brilliant - they should definitely use that as a hook for a general news story. But with the trophy tour they seem to be on to that.

I was there too and had the same thoughts as you. Especially when I saw there were Harlequins cheerleaders handing out RU leaflets - i.e. you don't even need to set up an event yourself, you can tag on to others. I've already emailed the RLWC2013 team about this!



RLWC2013 have a full educational programme planned. Warrington are planning to involve all schools in their activities.



Yes, they are planning to use the trophy story. Also they have been using the Broken Time play to attract interest to the heritage of RL.

Forgive my ignorance/laziness (the answer might even be in this thread) but what's the trophy story?

GDMM - I must say that is a ridiculous statement to make. That's like a failed retailer blaming consumers for not shopping with them leading to their demise. Make the product right and people will buy. I don't believe there is anything inherently problematic about Rugby League supporters when compared with football, cricket or RU fans.

That Wales vs England game was lucky to get 4,000 fans for the quality of the game and the attractiveness of the fixture. A complete farce of a competition with zero interest across the UK RL fan base never mind the sporting public as a whole. Even 5Live didn't bother reporting on it. Seems like the Stobart vans in Wales didn't really work

BTW I still remember early 90's getting 65-70K at Wembley for a GB vs AUS test match. Where did we, and when I say 'we' I mean the RFL, go wrong?

I just looked up the Wembley attendances for internationals in the 90s:

1990 GB Australia ~ 55,000
1992 GB Australia ~ 74,000
1994 GB Australia ~ 57,000
1995 GB Australia ~ 67,000

Impressive attendances, no doubt, but only the 1992 and 95 ones are over 60,000. In the recent history of the international game, they are starting to look like outliers. The last World Cup final in Australia drew just over 50,000, which the 2013 tournament should match if England can manage to make the final. The annual ANZAC tests rarely get more than 50,000 either.
One could argue that the fact we now have England rather than GB deters people from attending, but that doesn't really stand up - of all the GB players in those 90s tests at Wembley listed above, only Jonathan Davies and Allan Bateman weren't English.

I'd suggest keeping England for World Cup purposes, and resurrecting GB in Four Nations years (down there Aus NZ PNG & GB, and up here Aus NZ GB & France), on the off chance there are any Welsh players who might merit a GB 'Lions' shirt.

The trophy visits the English and Welsh governments:

The three children who jointly won the RLWC2013 Design a Mascot competition were shown the designs for the Mascots "Grubber" and "Steed": www.rlwc2013.com/rugby-league-wo ... s-rlwc2013

The three children who jointly won the RLWC2013 Design a Mascot competition were shown the designs for the Mascots "Grubber" and "Steed": www.rlwc2013.com/rugby-league-wo ... s-rlwc2013