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Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 12:37 am
by cpwigan
DaveO wrote:gruffy wrote:cpwigan wrote:Hopefully, the RFL / Wigan RLFC will be trying to sell big time to Londoners / Southerners. The intention / ambition is commendable.
You mean like the many other times we've tried to sell the sport to them?
At some point someone has to stand up and accept,for the most part this is a northern sport,Union has the rugby viewers down south.
CPW is just playing "the politics of the message board". You don't think he actually believes a word of what he is posting do you?
He can be seen to be positive without danger of inadvertently praising Wane
Give up mind reading Dave. I firmly believe the London game is a great idea and it is vital for RL to have 3 big events down there at a time when very shortly the media world will be going Union crazy with the WC.
For Wigan RLFC the London game is part of their business plan; the opportunity to attract the big London sponsors is the real attraction. The London business club is attracting members very successfully. The club are trying hard to get important and influential people from the city to attend the game. The media coverage that Wigan RLFC has had in London has been excellent I am told. That has to be good for RL does it not?.
Catalans are happy to help promote the game. Milwall outbid other competing clubs to host it but more importantly they want the fixture and are doing everything they can to assist re promotion. The game day experience will be first class with a number of things planned including a headline musical act and fans village. There will be an army of volunteers assisting and community initiatives in the week leading up to the game.
Just a bit of info; The pitch is bigger than the DW so we should see a fantastic game with Budgie benefiting from the extra width. 2 hours 20 minutes from Wigan to the New Den!
What do we want for our sport? Stuck in the dark ages and feeding for scraps or actually fighting to build something that RL deserves!
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 12:51 am
by gruffy
300,000 french all gagging for a game of rl,better sack the den and get wembley sorted then..
There'll be more aussies there than french fans of that im certain.
On a different note the ticket prices to attract the passing public is too expensive,that a fair amount to take a chance on,its already costing an arm and a leg so why not go whole hog and at least try to temp the locals with a nice cheap game of Rugby?,indeed i think Mike said if its more than a fiver then it'll struggle to attract the locals to it.
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:10 am
by i'm spartacus
Amazing that there is a post indicating that RL viewing figures are falling through the floor, and yet there are those who think taking a game 200 miles away from the people who matter most is a good idea. This game and thisidea will achieve the square root of nothing.
Big business isn't interested in Rugby League, if it was there would be large companies falling over themselves to get their names onto the one thing that can provide the widest possible exposure and that is Sky. Instead SL get a sponsorship from the smallest energy supplier in the market place after previously giving it away for free. The biggest clubs struggle to attract the big sponsors or have sponsors who go belly up half way through the season. These problems need answers, but this isn't it.
So Dick got safe to London, and was in such a hurry to see the fine streets paved all over with gold, that he did not even stay to thank the kind waggoner; but ran off as fast as his legs would carry him, through many of the streets, thinking every moment to come to those that were paved with gold; for Dick had seen a guinea three times in his own little village, and remembered what a deal of money it brought in change; so he thought he had nothing to do but to take up some little bits of the pavement, and should then have as much money as he could wish for.
Poor Dick ran till he was tired, and had quite forgot his friend the waggoner; but at last, finding it grow dark, and that every way he turned he saw nothing but dirt instead of gold, he, sat down in a dark corner and cried himself to sleep
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:53 am
by Mike
As I'm sparticus says, if business were interested they'd already be banging at our door. Nothing we can do so don't try.
In a similar vein, I say Leeds are top of the league so lets conceed this season and not try to change that. Best to accept 3rd spot and save money and potential embarrassment of trying to win but failing.
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:08 am
by josie andrews
Chook wrote:For what it's worth, I'll give my background and feelings on this matter.
I was brought up on football and union, 3 years ago I moved to Sydney. Season tickets at the Roosters were $100 (50 quid) for a whole season, and having few friends initially I thought it was worth a go. So having only ever seen one game before (actually an All Stars v Indigenous All Stars game about 12 months previously whilst on business) I was now a Roosters member. The Roosters were coming off a pretty poor season and I was advised that I'd picked a poor team to go for. It turns out they won the Minor Premiership and GF in my first year as a member. Of course I renewed my membership and although we didn't make the GF in the second year we were still Minor Premiers. After all this I love rugby league.
I moved back to the UK 6 months ago and set up in London, having not lived here before. I went looking for a team to support. In the last few months I've been to see London Skolars, and the Broncos a couple of times, and also been up to see Salford. Nothing is really getting close to the rugby league I'm used to, though the passion is certainly there. Recently I've been watching the SL Show on iPlayer and of course following the Challenge Cup on BBC, which I must say do a good job of selling the game. One way or another I've come to admire Wigan, I was at the World Club Challenge in Sydney and although my team (the Roosters) won quite comfortably, the Wigan fans were outstanding throughout. My links with Wigan are fairly loose, I'll be honest, but I have no stronger ties to anyone else.
So imagine my joy to hear that Wigan are playing a regular season (sort of) game in London! I've gone out and got a red and white striped rugby shirt and can't wait for tickets to go on sale. You'll very soon have a signed up Wigan fan.
I can't pretend that there are hundreds, tens or even one other person in my situation, but what I am saying is that there is definitely the potential for Wigan to engage a group of people who have a RL sized hole in their life.
I hope Wigan do this properly, and I hope they come back once a year.
Welcome to our RL family & this forum Chook, I love that word.
What a great post ???????? lets hope you get the opportunity to come up to see Wigan play at Wigan a little more often rather than just on Sky or, if this first experiment works, once a year in London.
Enjoy watching & supporting the Mighty Wigan Warriors in what is the Greatest Team Sport, Rugby League ????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:02 am
by Owd Codger
If the club want the game to have the atmosphere like a home game at the DW Stadium, surely free travel should be for all season ticket holders and not limited to the first 1,000 to apply.
Or do they think that only 1,000 or so will be going from Wigan.
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:50 am
by Fujiman
josie andrews wrote:Chook wrote:For what it's worth, I'll give my background and feelings on this matter.
I was brought up on football and union, 3 years ago I moved to Sydney. Season tickets at the Roosters were $100 (50 quid) for a whole season, and having few friends initially I thought it was worth a go. So having only ever seen one game before (actually an All Stars v Indigenous All Stars game about 12 months previously whilst on business) I was now a Roosters member. The Roosters were coming off a pretty poor season and I was advised that I'd picked a poor team to go for. It turns out they won the Minor Premiership and GF in my first year as a member. Of course I renewed my membership and although we didn't make the GF in the second year we were still Minor Premiers. After all this I love rugby league.
I moved back to the UK 6 months ago and set up in London, having not lived here before. I went looking for a team to support. In the last few months I've been to see London Skolars, and the Broncos a couple of times, and also been up to see Salford. Nothing is really getting close to the rugby league I'm used to, though the passion is certainly there. Recently I've been watching the SL Show on iPlayer and of course following the Challenge Cup on BBC, which I must say do a good job of selling the game. One way or another I've come to admire Wigan, I was at the World Club Challenge in Sydney and although my team (the Roosters) won quite comfortably, the Wigan fans were outstanding throughout. My links with Wigan are fairly loose, I'll be honest, but I have no stronger ties to anyone else.
So imagine my joy to hear that Wigan are playing a regular season (sort of) game in London! I've gone out and got a red and white striped rugby shirt and can't wait for tickets to go on sale. You'll very soon have a signed up Wigan fan.
I can't pretend that there are hundreds, tens or even one other person in my situation, but what I am saying is that there is definitely the potential for Wigan to engage a group of people who have a RL sized hole in their life.
I hope Wigan do this properly, and I hope they come back once a year.
Welcome to our RL family & this forum Chook, I love that word.
What a great post ???????? lets hope you get the opportunity to come up to see Wigan play at Wigan a little more often rather than just on Sky or, if this first experiment works, once a year in London.
Enjoy watching & supporting the Mighty Wigan Warriors in what is the Greatest Team Sport, Rugby League ????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Josie I'm surprised at you. Surely you should have corrected him and told him to get a cherry & white rugby shirt
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 10:12 am
by LooseHead
Mike wrote:As I'm sparticus says, if business were interested they'd already be banging at our door. Nothing we can do so don't try.
In a similar vein, I say Leeds are top of the league so lets conceed this season and not try to change that. Best to accept 3rd spot and save money and potential embarrassment of trying to win but failing.
Business doesn't often come knocking though - any business has to be developed. Development requires investment. At Wigan we've got one of the best scholarship set ups in RL : at some point Lenegan has had to decide 'do we reinvest profit or do we give shareholders more?' - he (and Mo before him) chose to invest. If in 5 years time we have one or two South East based corporates tipping in money it'll be better than having a shirt sponsor like Houses for Homes or another low asset sponsor. All the club has -or the most effective thing- in terms of advertising stock is people seeing the game.
We all know that RL live is a different entity than on TV, so to get these investors interested we need to get them to a game. Bring them up to Wigan ask g them to take a full day out on a Saturday or make it accessible for a few hours? If I wasn't that bothered but may be interested in something I know I'd rather watch it here in Wigan than trek to London so same rules apply vice versa.
As a ST holder I'd love another home game at the DW and due to working on the Sat AM I can't travel to London but I don't begrudge IL trying to put the club in a stronger position financially. If he did it more than once in a blue moon I'd be annoyed but on balance it may, and I repeat may be worthwhile.
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 10:48 am
by cpwigan
Loosehead; Mike was being sarcastic when he replied.
It amazes me the negativity shown by some posters. The club is doing something here that the gang of 4 would have done and they should IMO be commended for ambition and aspiration. Credit where credit is due. The club for me deserves masses of credit for an activity that will help build Wigan RLFC and RL. Wait until the RU WC arrives and then you can complain about being swamped by Union!
Re: London game confirmed
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:08 am
by Bunny
josie andrews wrote:Bunny wrote:Well, if any down to earth, voluptuous northern ladies want to check out who I say I am please add me on Facebook! @ Matthew Warnham ????
Just had a look, there were three, but not sure which.
Add me, it may be easier.
I'm down to earth, more fat barsteward than voluptuous & I will confirm to the doubters
I sent you a message - but may be in your 'other' box.
I'm the one in a straw hat!