I would have given All who wanted to attend under the age of 16 entrance for a quid. Accompanying adult a fiver and given the whole of the lexus to them. Might cost the club a few quid but the poential for returns(We will beat Manly)IMO is or was huge.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_biasmmmmm[/url

2 adults x £5 each =10
2 kids at £1 each=2

10 + 2 =12

family ticket(2 adults + 2 kids) available for £15.

All but for £3 that is what they have done

Anything else they are doing you would like to criticize

No criticism of the club but even before the tickets went on sale the powers that be could have decided they want a great crowd,The family ticket which I have applauded earlier and think should be a season long event is a great idea. My idea would have been to let an accompanying adult take under 16's in for a £1.This may have got a few schools involved and letting the Lexus be used for this may have cost the club a few quid(couple of stewards and bar staff for the drinks at half time) but a stand for the day that had the same age groupage .Youngsters enjoy being in the company of their peers.I have been confident of a decent crowd for this game and hope the club learn and try to take on any ideas that may just may guarantee Our future as a club in 2012.

One moment we are saying this match cannot be called off because of the efforts gone into promoting it, the next its being stated that the marketing has been lousy? I thought the club had done alright on this one, getting it into the right channels etc.

I'm expecting around 6000, and IMO this is not too bad. Perspective is important here - this is still a friendly at the beginning of the season on a reasonably cool February Sunday.

4k+ is fine for a game outside season tickets which is also only a friendly. 5k+ is a major success.

Im with you TC

Same. And I think this game will be deemed as a success, apart from by those with unrealistic expectations.

Take note: The Quins website is now saying that they are expecting a "bumper crowd" at the Manly game (see below). Now I do realise that their site would have to put on a positive spin but there must be some element of truth in this. Otherwise, Quins will look foolish on Sunday if the crowd is low.

Personally, I am hoping for 8-9K.

[urlhttp://www.league.quins.co.uk/news/9297.php[/url

There is now: "Ticket sales for Harlequins v Manly are going very strongly, with a bumper crowd expected on Sunday afternoon!"

So, on Sunday we'll find out what the club considers to be a bumper crowd. I'd be happy with 5000, but it would have to be close to 7000 to be "bumper" IMO. I'll be very pleased if they're right and even more pleased if it's a competitive match, win or lose (but not by many).

I'm now absoloutely gutted that I'm going to miss this game, I now have to work on Sunday!!!!!!!

I'll be more than happy if we get 3,000. After all, Halifax only got around 4000 when they played Storm last year.

So now we are competing and accepting that we can't attract crowds that the likes of Halifax, a NL team, can attract? 3000 will be a disgrace and a huge disappointment.

Halifax have all the Yorky fans to pull on for that game. Don't think they will make the trip down for us

Yer, there are no RL fans in the small town of London. Fair enough, good point.

I am sure there are tens of thousands of RL fans in London...problem is, finding them

I’ve been reading these Manly postings for a short while now after I recently found the site, and I’m blown away by the naivety of some of the comments. I’m originally from South Sydney and know the Aus community over here well having been here for a long time. I also know my RL.

Where on earth is the disappointment in pulling in 5-6k for a FRIENDLY fixture in London? The result doesn’t determine anything competition-wise. Your average ‘competitive’ gate last year was 3.6k if you take out Wigan, game 1! And that’s with a contingent of away fans. Sunday will be all London based people. You pulled in only slightly larger crowds last time you played Aus teams in a HIGHLY PROFILED COMPETITION (first year of Super League Aus, the war with NRL, Murdoch’s money, SkyTV) and that was with the benefit of messieurs Offiah, Edwards and Branson to get you profile. Realistically, no paper is going to be willing to give major profile to a friendly fixture and that’s before you get going on the biased middle classes who run the press – all of the available press is going to the World Club Challenge, between the best two clubs sides in Europe and Aus, who merit their place in that comp by winning their respective comps!; even Sky Sports News haven’t mentioned the London game. Not wanting to be rude, but you don’t at the moment have a major player of recognisable profile whom Londoners would recognise (unlike Offiah, Edwards or Cipriani to make a further point), regardless of how good a team you might believe you have. So where is your mass PR going to come from?

I recently met about 8 members of the club staff distributing flyers for the game at a Walkabout on Aus day. They faced a hell of a task, thousands of Aussies strewn across London p1ssed out of their faces. Do you have any idea how disliked Manly are by Aussies? And before you tell me they should come along to cheer Quins, don’t also forget that your average travelling Aus is middle class and more likely to be a Wallabies fan or AFL fan than an NRL fan. Be honest, how many NRL shirts do you see in the street? Your average NRL fan is still sitting in South Sydney in front of Fox. Of course you’ll get an abundance of support if you put Aus v NZ on at QPR; traditional rivalry, the perfect locality (the Bush), 34 of the best players in the world who everyone from Aus and NZ can support. Not 17 (or 23 as it appears now) players who are loved by Manly fans, but hated by everyone else. Seriously, some of the comments on here are bordering on the delusional.

As for marketing the game – I think I’ve seen about 8 ads in TNT, recieved 3 emails from TNT online (they have 75,000 addresses so I suspect a lot of us have this) plus some extensive editorial (not cheap from my experience). I think I’ve seen competitions running in London Lite, Walkabouts, Aus Shop and heard something on local radio. Someone at the club told me that they’ve put a wrap on the local rag and it’s gone into 100,000 homes. I used to work in sports development in Aus and I understand that the community game here has passed on over 10,000 flyers for family tickets into the community game. I’m also a member of BritOz and I’ve been told that the club have worked extensively with them in reaching out via the Aus Business Club (of which I’m also a member) and have hit 100’s of Aus businesses with ticket offers and pitches for hospitality.

Not sure what more can be done personally – take it from someone who hangs out in Aus ex-pat circles every night of the week, we know they are here. Whether we will attend will probably be determined by how hung-over we feel on Sunday morning and/or how much of a draw the Church is……

I’d suggest that instead of the pervading negativity voiced on here, that you embrace this opportunity to put on some real fun for circa 6k fans (if that’s what turns out to be) and get as many of them back for your next home fixture.
You really should be looking at raising your fan base in increments, season by season. Rampant overnight success off the field is only going to come your way by winning Super League I’m afraid.

Fantastic post

I've based my expectations on the fact that we had three SL games last year where the gate was under 3k, we're unlikely to get much support from Yorks and Lancs (one would think the actual WCC would be more of a drawer) and I have yet to meet anyone (other than RLfans) who know who the Manly team are.

What a first post ! Far too informed for this board though

Bloody hell, embarrassing post. Give our fans some credit ffs.

Dave, I said OTHER than RL fans.

I'm sure most London RL fans will know who Manly are, but I doubt many other Londoners do.

Dave, why did you think I wasn't including "our" fans when I referred to RL fans?

Oooh, well don't try and confuse me next time, its early



I'd wager that there are more people in London who have heard of Manly than there are in Halifax and surrounding areas.

Dan you've been Listied



Listy claims his fiver

Not at all