London game confirmed

[josie andrews]

I'm sure it will be taken into account in your season ticket pricing.

And yes I went to London twice in years we were at Wembley and played the Broncos.

So did I & all the years we weren't In the CC final too

[Mike]

Next year's two matches are going to be the CC final (hopefully) and a regular season home game. Seems an OK plan to me

You are happy to give up a regular season home game compared the "free" home game we got for finishing where we did in the league for the super-8's?

Which game?

As I said I think it has got to be Les Cats but if we do look like getting to Wembley I can't see many forking out to go to London for a "home" game as well.

Neither will many, especially if no free transport and the same venue!

Oh to see only the negatives in life. What a wonderful place that would be.

I remember the drudgery of attending the Broncos game year after year. The expense, the time, the strange accents and skin tones, and it was an away game, how unfair we should have to go to those.

Awful it must have been. But wait, those were always my favourite away matches along with Catalans and other trips to interesting and unusual venues. I'm not sure why now its been pointed out how awful and pointless it all was.

Could be worse though, imagine if we were playing in a comp like premier league or RU, we'd be playing all over the country every other week - disaster, no one would go! Best keep it local.

[Mike]

I love the posts that are saying things along the lines of "I told you it wouldn't work and even though it might have done this time (even though it didn't) it definitely won't work next year".

Good persistence guys! Dogmatic beleif is definitely a popular choice. Analysis and ambition is an alternative though, but fair play to sticking to your guns.

8K crowd in London for RL is up there with the NFLs roadgames when you take into accout relative market and marketing budget sizes IMO.

Well done Wigan. At least we are trying and right now we're not making idiots of ourselves.

[bill.inger]

There are a load of cynical comments on Redvee, nothing complementary at all. Most were hoping beyond hope that the venture would be a failure. They've all been proved wrong again.
Incidentally, I notice that the Wigan Three (Rogues gallery, Bazdev and Bold Miners, whoever he is) have all re-emerged on Redvee this week. It's going to get interesting again.

[markill]

I love the posts that are saying things along the lines of "I told you it wouldn't work and even though it might have done this time (even though it didn't) it definitely won't work next year".

Good persistence guys! Dogmatic beleif is definitely a popular choice. Analysis and ambition is an alternative though, but fair play to sticking to your guns.

8K crowd in London for RL is up there with the NFLs roadgames when you take into accout relative market and marketing budget sizes IMO.

Well done Wigan. At least we are trying and right now we're not making idiots of ourselves.

Anyone who is a rugby league fan first and foremost and a Wigan fan second to that must see that this is of benefit to the sport. The other top clubs should be doing the same, the NRL clubs certainly do and that is proving to be a positive for them as it continues to grow commercially, giving it more clout to fight off Union and other rival sports (the Jarryd Hayne exception aside).

[the pieman]

There are a load of cynical comments on Redvee, nothing complementary at all. Most were hoping beyond hope that the venture would be a failure. They've all been proved wrong again. Incidentally, I notice that the Wigan Three (Rogues gallery, Bazdev and Bold Miners, whoever he is) have all re-emerged on Redvee this week. It's going to get interesting again.

the problem is that most (if not all) will ever accept that Wigan are the biggest draw in RL, and no matter what we do it will not work / wont work or they are simply better than we are (to quote 1 colleague - not 1 Wigan player would get into the Saints team but that's a different argument)

I work in Warrington where there is a good mix of Wire, Saints, Widnes and Wigan fans, with the odd Lobby chucked in for good measure, there are some so blinkered that it is unbelievable (and yes we have them too), and the negative comments before the venture were unbelievable. God help us if we worked in Yorkshire and had to put up with the archaic views of the Cas / Wakey / Hudds fans etc who want to keep the game way back in the 19th Century

IL has taken a gamble that we as Wigan fans would buy into it, along with the hope that he could attract general RL fans, but his main aim IMO was the corporate sponsorship

just imagine if we get 1 or 2 big new sponsors out of this. that IMO would be a massive success. I know we are capped salary wise on who we can attract, but it could pay for the Marquee signing / prevent season ticket price increases (at the end of the day the players wage bill is capped, but Wigan still have to pay for ground / non playing staff etc, and them costs wont have been frozen for the last 15 years or so), and that is where our season ticket money goes

IMO IL/ Wigan have to be applauded for at worst case - giving it a try.

RL fans generally complain that we don't get this or that, no paper coverage / no TV coverage, but as soon as someone puts their hand up to try something different they shoot them down.

Wigan as usual are leading the way. Taking a game on the road, TV adverts etc etc - I don't see any other club(s) or the RFL doing anything to promote the game

I would be more than happy to go to London again for a game and to support a pro-active forward thinking club, and put the negative doom mongers to bed. if we want RL to progress (and not just Wigan) things have to change and Wigan as usual are leading the way

[OAMJSONA]

I love the posts that are saying things along the lines of "I told you it wouldn't work and even though it might have done this time (even though it didn't) it definitely won't work next year".

Good persistence guys! Dogmatic beleif is definitely a popular choice. Analysis and ambition is an alternative though, but fair play to sticking to your guns.

8K crowd in London for RL is up there with the NFLs roadgames when you take into accout relative market and marketing budget sizes IMO.

Well done Wigan. At least we are trying and right now we're not making idiots of ourselves.

I believe they gave loads of free tickets for this event

[OAMJSONA]

There are a load of cynical comments on Redvee, nothing complementary at all. Most were hoping beyond hope that the venture would be a failure. They've all been proved wrong again. Incidentally, I notice that the Wigan Three (Rogues gallery, Bazdev and Bold Miners, whoever he is) have all re-emerged on Redvee this week. It's going to get interesting again.

the problem is that most (if not all) will ever accept that Wigan are the biggest draw in RL, and no matter what we do it will not work / wont work or they are simply better than we are (to quote 1 colleague - not 1 Wigan player would get into the Saints team but that's a different argument)

I work in Warrington where there is a good mix of Wire, Saints, Widnes and Wigan fans, with the odd Lobby chucked in for good measure, there are some so blinkered that it is unbelievable (and yes we have them too), and the negative comments before the venture were unbelievable. God help us if we worked in Yorkshire and had to put up with the archaic views of the Cas / Wakey / Hudds fans etc who want to keep the game way back in the 19th Century

IL has taken a gamble that we as Wigan fans would buy into it, along with the hope that he could attract general RL fans, but his main aim IMO was the corporate sponsorship

just imagine if we get 1 or 2 big new sponsors out of this. that IMO would be a massive success. I know we are capped salary wise on who we can attract, but it could pay for the Marquee signing / prevent season ticket price increases (at the end of the day the players wage bill is capped, but Wigan still have to pay for ground / non playing staff etc, and them costs wont have been frozen for the last 15 years or so), and that is where our season ticket money goes

IMO IL/ Wigan have to be applauded for at worst case - giving it a try.

RL fans generally complain that we don't get this or that, no paper coverage / no TV coverage, but as soon as someone puts their hand up to try something different they shoot them down.

Wigan as usual are leading the way. Taking a game on the road, TV adverts etc etc - I don't see any other club(s) or the RFL doing anything to promote the game

I would be more than happy to go to London again for a game and to support a pro-active forward thinking club, and put the negative doom mongers to bed. if we want RL to progress (and not just Wigan) things have to change and Wigan as usual are leading the way

**Rugby League have been trying since at least the early 1970s, to promote the game in the South and it as still not worked or taken hold it never will

**Fixed your post - Josie

[the pieman]

I don't think its necessarily about making RL work in London

it was about tapping into work that has previously been done. Believe it or not RL is growing at grass roots level in London, but I bet part of the problem for any young kid wanting to take up the game is where to go?? & they probably get snapped up by a union club who offer better money as no RL alternative - where would Clubb, Sarginson, LMS etc go if they were making their way through now

as mentioned previously I believe that it was a lot more about what the club can take out of it corporately. How many big companies / corporates are there in Wigan that could sponsor with big money - I would guess at 0 (not being disrespectful to the many companies that we have in Wigan)

I work for a Global Multi-National Company and I believe it is companies like what I work for that Wigan are looking to get on board. it works both ways what can Wigan get out of the sponsorship (money / other softer benefits) and can the profile of Wigan RL attract new business / new opportunities for the sponsoring company. the challenge is that we are competing with Football (much higher profile), Union, Cricket & NFL etc to gain sponsors, but do we just die and let all the big money go elsewhere

No IL is standing up and fighting to make a success out of Wigan RL and not just curling up and being content with feeding off the scraps that are left over

[cpwigan]

I love the posts that are saying things along the lines of "I told you it wouldn't work and even though it might have done this time (even though it didn't) it definitely won't work next year".

Good persistence guys! Dogmatic beleif is definitely a popular choice. Analysis and ambition is an alternative though, but fair play to sticking to your guns.

8K crowd in London for RL is up there with the NFLs roadgames when you take into accout relative market and marketing budget sizes IMO.

Well done Wigan. At least we are trying and right now we're not making idiots of ourselves.

I believe they gave loads of free tickets for this event

The Wigan game or the NFL?

Wigan did not go down the freebie route.