Quote Odem="Odem"Without doubt it is achievable. RU do it with similar crowds at club level. Many tickets are sold through those clubs.
I think we could get huge crowd for these games with a succesful team, cheap tickets and good marketing in the NORTH. The potential is there. It is just a shame people don't want to go.'"
In that last sentence you said what my response was going to be.
I think that in ten years time it isn't out of the realms of possibility that we could have a 4N's comp with three Double Headers and a final being played twice at Wembley, once at Millenium and once at OT in front of sell out crowds. The only way we can do that though is to start building the crowds now. Wembley this year is part of building towards that, thats about building towards 2013. The decision to play at Leigh is also part the Wembley decision and a strategic one to build the international game.
As has been said there is no point playing that match with that crowd in a 25k stadium; not enough people would turn up, effecting the experience, damaging the reputation of the clash and costing a lot more money. LSV is cheap and small, meanign tickets are cheap, meaning more will be sold and it will be close to sell out, so having a good atmosphere. It also means the RFL can place more emphasis on Wembley. We haven't been there for an international for a very long time, that is the priority. The figures that Jonny put up shows we don't have a history of big crowds against Wales. In fact what it shows is that we don't have a recent history against Wales because we haven't played them that often. Wales' lack of any recent or long term history and their lack of professional domestic teams mean they have little in the way of a following or players.
France on the other hand have a long history of playing RL. They have an established league. When we played them in the 4N's in 2009 we'd played against them in mid-season tests and Europeans comps. By that point Catalans were an estblished team, having finished third and eighth in SL and having made the CC final. Despite all this and playing in the 15231 capacity Keepmoat stadium, 11529 turned up. The attendance against Wales was just under that, despite the lack of history and, admittedly, despite the lack of marketing, this match hasn't been marketed, Wembley has.
When you put the Wales match into context you see it was a massive success and the right decision.
The national team is the best we've had since the class of 2003/04 and its young. We have the potential to win this comp and win the WC. This season's comp has been all about cheap tickets, this isn't going to change, if anything tickets will get cheaper, especially for the WC. And, the marketing has been good this year, have a look through these boards and you can see how much effort has been put in this year. If we are to make the international game a success it won't be because the RFL have marketed well to the North, it will because they market the matches well outside the M62. That is the only way we will achieve 80k crowds and will be the next step from the foundations that have been laid down this year.
Start small and grow it gradually. Booking larger stadiums for low key matches is never going to work. Build support gradually and you build the interest as well. I know you have a thing about Twickenham United, but personally I'm glad we're growing from the roots up. They have tried to buy success for the past ten years and while they may seem to be in a position of power now it is only a matter of time before something pops and it all starts to crumble (as League fans we should all be able to see the signs).
