What do you reckon?

We were sat near the big screen, it was odd there was a massive 50ft gap in front of us until the next tier. Meant we were a distance from the pitch, transport links were great though.

Didn't like it. Billion pound spent on the place and wind blows through the back if the stand.

Spent first half lower tier at the front and second half right up the back of top tier which a long, long way from the action. The premium price seats are so far away from the action it's ridiculous.

Decent stadium although not as good as wembley.

There are too many big gaps between the tiers, which looks to be due to the conversion from Olympic to football stadium.

It means the crowd are too far away and separated. I know the atmosphere was poor yesterday but this didn't help at all.

Wembley every time for me.

That's good for the grass on the pitch.


I thought the ground was very good. Sat centrally in the main stand amongst the main crowd of fans. Was very quiet but that's because we never have any big home games so haven't built a proper fanbase (we play at the same places more often and that'll change).

I want that to be our London home. We should play a game there every time we have a test series or Four Nations or World Cup from now on.

Looked half finished on the inside

I agree about being too far from the action, but that is the same at most large all-seater stadia, including most seats at Wembley.
I enjoyed the day, if not the game, but I thought the stewarding outside after the game was awful. The stewards were rude and aggressive at times. At one point we were directed to a Heras barrier with only one section open which created an unnecessary crush. At another point where they were temporarily holding people my son was pushed into my wife, who was also hit the face by the same steward. When I approached a steward he laughed and said they were only doing their job. The stewards probably thought they were already dealing with football fans.

I thought the stadium was pretty goo. Even better is the location and the facilities around it. It would be a good shout for a magic weekend.

Dies anyone know if the conversion to a football stadium had finished. It still looked like a work in progress to me so hopefully a few of the issues some have may be resolved once finished.

Expected the stadium to be similar to Wembley but, it's nothing like it, either in terms of facilities or, as a venue for watching RL.
I don't think the stadium can be blamed for the lack of atmosphere but getting a pint or, getting into the gents was ridiculous.
Cant see me wanting to rush back for the next game.

Not a patch on the KC stadium last week

Nothing is as good as Wembley, other than Sydney's underrated Allianz Stadium, and Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, which is by the consensus of those who have been there, the best rugby league ground in the world.

Why were some sections in the lower tier marked as sold out when they clearly weren't?

Looked like they had not quite finished it, the bars seemed reasonably organised, but generally whole feel was disapointing. What it does have over wembley is the transport link and with westfield loads of places to eat and drink.
was in the lower tier so view pretty good view of the game.
Don't think you could really compare it to the KC, atmosphere was pretty poor again but that's the nature of international rugby league in England. 20 odd thou against 40 odd the crowd still had very little to shout about so pretty morgue like.

Decent enough stadium, looks huge but smaller capacity than you would expect which is good for rugby league cos we can have a good go at filling it and it will also look great on tv (if the game is any good anyway...)

Must say the renovation to football isn't great, the massive gap between tiers just looks ridiculous. They should do like a party deck type thing that they have in a lot of nfl grounds.

Didn't like it at all. I don't see what is so great about transport links; the tube is much closer at Wembley (say). I expected to have to queue to pick up my ticket, but the length of queues was enormous, I must have queued for over half an hour, and missed the beginning of the match (as did many, many, others). On the other hand, all the stewards I spoke to were helpful and polite. Once inside the stadium, I found I was miles from the action; any stadium with a running track makes for a poor spectator experience. Trundling up and down flights of stairs every time you wanted a beer or something was tedious, too.

Don't get me wrong, BTW, I'm no Wembley fan (although they are doing a lot of development around the stadium there, so complaints about there being insufficient chain-type eating places will presumably be addressed in future); if I had to pick a favourite stadium, it'd be the Millennium.

Think the atmosphere was the problem. Liked the stadium. When it's full of West Ham fans or if Wigan and Leeds were going at it or GB v Australia think it would be bouncing.

I was underwhelmed. Hated that they herded me through a shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon to get there. Purgatory is shopping centre on a Saturday,

If Shaun "Magic" Johnson and Kieran Foran had been playing it would have been bouncing.

The problem is that 44k at Wembley would look really poor on TV.

Hopefully once it becomes a regular venue, rather than -as now - a special event venue, it will improve in regard to toilets, stewarding etc. As for atmosphere, it's hard to generate much when the on- field entertainment is so mediocre ( except when it's filled with Union fans who are used to getting excited over very little)

If the teething problems can be sorted, I still think it represents a better proposition than Wembley at the moment, since we can reasonably expect to fill it.

We need to play internationals in big grounds and run the risk of it 'not looking good on TV'. Only England RU sell out their internationals, and that's because it's a massive corporate jolly.

Wembley is RL's home in London and if we're playing in London we should play there.

Meantime we should also be looking to play in cities in the 'hertlands' that aren't such rugby league hotbeds in order to spread the game.

Forget Wigan & Hull. We should be targeting St James's Park, Anfield, Old Trafford, or Hillsborough as venues.

Only problem with wembley us the one tube station, at least Stratford has two tube lines overground and DLR

Transport was great. 5 minutes or so from Liverpoool Street station on the tube. On the Central Line which is a prime line into Central London.

The Olympic Stadium is not a big ground? It holds 55K, there aren't [ithat [/imany stadiums in England that are bigger...

I do agree though about looking at using bigger football stadia for Internationals. St James Park in Newcastle would be a good option as it works well for Magic Weekend

The atmosphere yesterday was nothing to do with the ground - a combination of fans from different teams scared to cheer for England and a load of people new to the sport. It was crying out for an England supporters group...

I'd also argue Old Trafford atmosphere is better than Wembley. Club Wembley has ruined that place...

I'm sure West Ham fans will love it...not! However West Ham's owners/backers will be jumping for joy, £2.5M rent PA but with about £1.5-£2.5M worth of tax payer funded freebies/services/equipment.
The 272 millions to convert it to a 'multi use' stadium is utterly unbelievable considering the £429M odd to build it initially (Bid cost was only £280M).
I think the stadium itself is bang average all things considered, not that fussed if we don't go back any time soon as fans are too far away in too many places. I would imagine some seats are comparable to the nose bleeds at OT. I think the Emirates is superior/nicer/more inviting.

Why would the Emirates host a game of rugby league? Correct me if I'm wrong but they never expressed an interest in hosting a far more commercially appealing Rugby Union World Cup fixture.