adserver.adtech.de/?adlink/1695/ ... =74826453; What do you make of this then, the Ricoh?? Anyone heard anything? I spose an announcement will come out after World Club Challenge weekend?

adserver.adtech.de/?adlink/1695/ ... =74826453; What do you make of this then, the Ricoh?? Anyone heard anything? I spose an announcement will come out after World Club Challenge weekend?

Ricoh could work well IMO, 2 hour drive from Wigan or Hull, next to a train station so transport links are decent enough. Promote Coventry Bears at the same time and there's potential there.

and then have people complaining that the game and therefore the money is being put into a RU club.

I don't mind the idea of Coventry, about the sort of size we should be looking to fill, as the previous poster said it has decent transport links and in a new area to get people talking about RL. It was mentioned as a candidate for magic weekend before Newcastle so it could be a good call to host a game.
Main question though is which game? You would perhaps say that it would have to be an england game to get people in that area more up for it and talking but then that takes an England game away from the heartland and I don't know if that is right. I suppose though, it means that they could have the non English games in the heartland and not be pressurised to fill a massive ground while still knowing that decent crowds will turn out to see an international in say Wigan, hull or Leeds. Swings and roundabouts.

Except the train station is not used on matchdays!

I know they have a champ1 team, but I can't see the logic in playing at Coventry. It's too far from the m62 clubs, it doesn't have the draw to attract fans to travel, it's not a business and media hub and we have no fan base like in London.

Has to be either London or somewhere along, or a lot nearer the m62 for me. Maybe send a Scotland game upto Cumbria.

Dont know if anyone has read league express this morning but there is a little bit in there that says that the final for four nations could be anfield, directors of Liverpool have agreed but there is a bunch of rfl directors that want the final to be Wigan cos they don't think we could fill anfield. Also looks like Coventry is gonna be a double header on the second weekend. There is a game in London, one will be in Scotland but they don't seem to know where and the rest are gonna be heartland. No games in Newcastle apparently.

I for one think anfield is a better idea for final than Wigan cos it is more ambitious which is what we need! Yeah we might fill Wigan at 25,000 but we could get more than that at anfield even if it isn't full. Liverpool is easy to get to for heartland fans and if they actually market it properly and sell tickets cheap enough then there shouldn't be a problem. I will state right now that I would go to a final in Liverpool and I am in hull so couldn't get further away in the heartland. Liverpool is easier to get to from here than Wigan cos there is a direct train. Also a lack of ambition with Coventry, I'm sure we could have got 40,000 for a double header in say Newcastle or Manchester but we will never know now. Same old RFL I'm afraid! Grow some balls directors!!

Furthermore, the rfl need to realise that 44,000 people travelled to east London for a single England game. That is basically the capacity of anfield which is a hell of a lot closer and will be hosting a major final. In case people haven't noticed, this has annoyed me...

Or even Scotland!

Not only that, it can only take one single carriage train an hour (capacity 75) due to the franchise holder not having thought to provide any rolling stock for the new link - there's been a bit of a row about this in the Midlands' media!

If we got 60k for England v NZ and Australia v Fiji at Wembley three years ago, should we not be looking at building upon that? I'd go with:

England v New Zealand – Murrayfield
Scotland v Australia – Murrayfield

Scotland v England – Firhill? Not too familiar with stadia in Scotland
Australia v New Zealand – John Smiths

Scotland v New Zealand – Wembley
England v Australia – Wembley

Final – Old Trafford

seems to be very little strategic or operational value in taking any game to Coventry. There is no latent support for RL in the West Midlands, there is no history of RL in the area, there is no ANZAC community to sell tickets to, there are no major RL clubs that will see the benefit of any bounce in support for RL (and no real ambitions for a top level presence in the area), there is no national media or commercial base in Coventry to benefit from, and it is the home of a major Union club - where we will effectively giving "rugby" a free marketing boost.

The vast majority of people who goes to the game there will be travelling a significant distance to get there, and any interested locals who do decide to go along for the experience and enjoy it, will probably decide to go to another "rugby" event at the Ricoh and go and take up watching Wasps.

London is an obvious target, as is Newcastle with the Magic Weekend seemingly settled there now. Everything else should be in the heartlands.

Agree with that.
London is a must, it's the only time we get any decent coverage. Other than that I think either Newcastle (to help Thunder and on top of the Magic Weekend) or Manchester (on top of Grand Final and help Salford) or heartlands.

I liked the look of the MK Stadium when they played Chelsea at the weekend. It would make sense to use the stadium (maybe a future semi final?), 30k capacity, north of M25 so easier for us all to get back from but still close enough to be classed more or less as "London".

a bolder move would be to play scotland vs england in scotland, maybe at hearts and market it as a battle with the auld enemy. scots usually turn up to any sporting event when it involves playing england, and you would get a decent numer of travelling england fans going up for a weekend away in the capital. surely even the rfl could market this one.

Again, I don't really see the point in spending big money on marketing an event to a group of people that, however interested they are, have nothing to follow it up with. Fine if Scotland is a strategic development area but I don't think it is. If 10,000 people from Edinburgh love it and want more RL what do they do, unless we have Magic Weekend back up there in 2017?

One event should follow another, have Magic in a city, then follow it up with an international in the same year to build on the first marketing effort.

It would ve great for the game to have the profile to take games on the road and guarantee sell outs / but with the limited financial and marketing resources that the sport has we have to do things a bit smarter.

For Me all England games must be in ENGLAND

So for me

Rd: 1

Scotland V Australia - The game to be In Scotland (not too familiar with stadia 20k max capacity one though)
England V NZ (wigan)

Rd: 2

Scotland V NZ
England V Australia (Id be happy with an Olypic Stadium or Wembley double Header)


RD: 3

England V Scotland (Headingley if the bulldozers are not in If not Huddersfield)
Australia V NZ (Langtree)


Final:

City Of Manchester

Lets avoid Old Trafford. The only thing in it's favour is the capacity, but most seats are uncomfortable; and I hate the narrow in-goal, it's going to cause a serious injury one day.

Got to start well:

Round 1:
Double header at Wembley (I would prefer the Olympic Stadiums size but having gone to it in November I thought it was a bloody awful stadium)
England v Australia
Scotland v NZ

Round 2:
Australia v NZ - St Helens/Wigan
Scotland v England - Huddersfield

Round 3:
Double header at St James Park
England v NZ
Scotland v Australia

Final at Etihad

I've got to say I preferred the old Tri Nations format of playing each team twice. Gave the comp more "heft" to it and kept it in the media for longer. If England don't make the final it's effectively over and done with in 2 weeks.

League Express reckons-
Rd 1-
Rd2- Ricoh- Aus v NZ & Eng v Sco
Rd 3-
Final- Anfield

In the gaps somewhere 1 match in London, 1 in Scotland, others in the heartlands

Scotland vs England at Coventry would work best. A poor selling game in the north but smashing the Scots and lots of points make it a good sell to a newbie.

NZ vs Australia would be a good bet for London as the last game at the Stoop got some real interest going with the ex-pats. Unless they fancy trying the Olympic Stadium again, which was a great success last year.

England vs NZ/Australia will work anywhere in the north or London. Hull for the NZ game is a good bet as they have a poor record there. A win against NZ will get us into the final and that means £££ for the RFL. Maybe Wigan for the Australia game as that gives Lancashire a game.

The other two Scotland games are hard sells regardless of where they are. Maybe have these as double header openers?

Anfield sounds exciting but if you think there is no leg room at Old Trafford then you have never sat in the Centenary stand.

'More or less London'? Ask an AFC Wimbledon fan about MK being 'more or less London'!

I think Anfield is a great suggestion, it's an historic world famous ground with a great atmosphere, and with the new tier they are bulldog capacity will be approx 54k with new corporate facilities. Liverpool is also a massive northern city where we don't get much coverage (despite Widnes and Saints not being too far away)

Not keen on the ideas of Coventry and Milton Keynes, both places aren't the kind that would attract many northern fans to go down for the weekend like London would, and we would need thousands of fans to travel from the heartlands to make it work.

The aim is to attract other supporters from around the country, not just northerners.