We played internationals regularly back then, against France, NZ and Aus and it was considered a big part of the game.



Plus it was the days when not too much RL made it to TV as well, so for the most part if you wanted to watch a game, you had to go see it live.



Totally different culture.



Oh, and they were on a Saturday afternoon when virtually anyone could get to it no matter where it was.



Evening kick offs kill the game at all levels.

I drove a mini bus full down for the final at wembley back then...now super league time I could only muster 4 people to travel to wigan and then one cried off at the last minute......seems it was much more popular than todays tosh thats served up....... Flatcapper 1...... popcorn munching super league fans 0

Couldn't agree more..



Used to go to most of the late 80s /early 90s international that were on a Saturday / Sunday afternoon by bus /train making it a full day out ..happy days



I'm a non driver so evening kick offs ,as in the four nations (Aus game excepted), in the main are a no no ... using public transport at night is a right pain in the derriere

To be honest, we get to see the Aussies and Kiwis more frequently now as it used to be an incoming tour by each every four years - maybe that's part pf the problem. Seeing them every year or so makes it less of an event than the old tours.



TV shouldn't be the issue. If we take the 1990 Ashes series as an example, there were 54,000 at Wembley for game one and 44,000 (capacity) at Old Trafford for game two and 40,000 (capacity) at Elland Road for game three - all these games were show live nationally on terrestrial TV.



Part of me thinks that the old style tours drew better crowds to the tests becasue the overall tour with club and county games gave more time to build awareness and interest amongst fans; but on the other hand, I'm sure most fans are fully aware of the Four Nations, but just don't bother going.



I'd agree with the previous poster about internationals seeming a bit dull. The atmosphere at most internationals in the last 12 years has been much flatter than previous and the players don't generally seem to be as up for it as they used to be.

2004 game at the JJB when GB beat Oz, id love to see that game again, had it on video but got lost somewhere along the way!

Agreed. Familiarity breeds contempt. Every two years we'd have either the Kiwis or Kangaroos over. It was more of an event then.



In his biography Andrew Johns says the same. Many Aussie players would rather go back to that kind of programme as it'd make tours rarer and there'd be more enthusiasm for them.



The rest of the time we could play the French or PNG or maybe Tonga or Samoa. It's develop the game more, mean we'd see some fresh faces and we'd value it more when the Kiwis and Roos turned up.



Afternoon kick offs are a must too.

Playing mid season helped, and BARLA cancelling all fixtures did too

Took a coach from Hull (collecting people the length of the M62 on route) and stayed at Canary Wharf for the weekend, it had just opened and we paid next to nothing. Great weekend, southerners didn’t know what had hit them.

We also had a bloody good chance of beating them in 1990

A Mal Meninga obstruction away from winning the Ashes...

Wigan went full time in 1992 or thereabouts but they did have a couple of full timers (Hanley for example) before that. Didn't think Leeds went full time till the superleague era. Could be wrong on that one but their performances seem to back me up.

Indeed



Didn't Open Rugby Magazine / League Express etc. charter their own train to Wembley too ?