200,000 tickets sold so far is the official line.......40% of their self set target.
Not sure what you consider positive, but Cardiff, wembley and old Trafford hold 240,000 on their own.

That was over a month ago now...

I consider 2/3 of An England group game sold 100 days out to be pretty positive...

Really?
I'd consider an England Group game in a world cup hosted in England (In the heartlands) not sold out hours from general release in a stadium that only holds 25,000 anything but positive.

RFL pretty quiet on sales - suppose its a case of finding a balance in terms of expectation

Can't help but think we would be hearing more if things were going really well

For a game against an essentially made-up team representing a country that has virtually no interest in the sport, it's not bad TBH (if it's accurate).

Bet you're a barrell of laughs at the pub.

Jesus H christ.

What planet are you on? When has an international RL game EVER sold out hours after going on sale? This the exact type of game that sales will pick up for closer to the time as RL fans are famous for leaving it until the last minute.

The heartland fans are expected to go to a lot of games, most will be spreading the cost. Unfortunately, in most families i don't expect world cup tickets to take priority on household budgets. People have bills, cars, houses, holidays, kids etc to pay for.

Dear old Gutts remains completely confused that RL hasn't suddenly overnight morphed into a sport with entirely different characteristics to those it has been displaying for the past century.

It bloody well needs to......but instead, it looks like it is regressing

In what way?

Are tickets given away for free included in ticket sales?

Sorry, general sweeping statement.....I'm just bitter that London will soon be a distant SL memory and the pit villages and a French team will be the Pro RL universe in the NH.

The RLWC 2013 organisers never really announced what would be seen as a success, what KPI's were going to be used to judge progress etc...all that has happened is Wood said once that the competition would make money (not repeated it again though) and now this Bolton bird has said 500k tickets is the target.

I am not saying they didn't have these targets, but they are loathe to set themselves up for any consequential action when stuff goes wrong.....it's a nice safe way to keep your job!

200,000 sales is great going, but they are relying on 300,000 sales from an audience that has shown itself reticent to spend money on any game that doesn't come included with their season ticket....15% drop in CC attendances and 30% les fans at 8 play-offs in 2012 compared to 2010....we keep hearing in billy eves attendance thread that the economy is to blame for the 11.5% from in SL attendances....something has to give



If I still lived in the UK, then Cardiff, Wembley and Old Trafford would have been booked straight away and I would probably wait until the end of SL to pick a couple of smaller country games.......let's hope the RFL are right about fans being traditionally late arriving to the party

Blame the fans who don't attend and talk down the game at every opportunity. This World Cup will still probably be the best ever regardless.

Yeah, I guess the tens of tickets that have been given away are probably included.

I am a realist. I don't talk the game down for giggles....I say it as I see it and the fans are becoming less and less engaged with the game. There are plenty of positives to talk about with regard to the game, but Superleague isn't one of them. The majority of posters on these boards are SL club followers.
You say it's the fans fault...I say it's unfair to expect fans to turn up to games if you don't ask them to come and ask them with bells on...the days of sticking posts in the ground and announcing KO times is long gone! And a few extraordinary cartoons don't cut the mustard either.

I would love to see the governing body take bold and strong decisions, designed to challenge the stereotypical view of the game, but instead they make nothing gestures and cow down to the wishes of the bigger clubs.

Regardless of the fact I am a London Broncos fanatic, if The RFL really wanted to expand the game, then they should have funded the club in the capital all guns blazing, a la Melbourne Storm. Instead, they are prepared to watch the club die slowly and become more of an embarrassment with each turn of the page.....they don't even have the balls to put us out if its misery.

The howls of Chairmen bemoaning low attendances for London games in the heartlands are a smokescreen. 2,000 fans at 25 a head is 50k maximum.....about 1% of the turn over of a SL club....but still the RFL will manage London out of the top table citing nature taking its course and the game will retreat to the M62.......good luck with the naming rights sponsor then by the way!




In whose eyes? Certainly not those of the corporates, sponsors or major broadcast partner for the game in the northern hemisphere.

300k in attendance is all it will take to surpass the 2008 version......if that's the only gauge, then yeah 2013 should beat that, but in the real world, there has never been any targets set, bold statements made or clever initiatives put in place....it's all just been very "safe".


Don't get me wrong....I want nothing more than to tune into the opening ceremony and see a packed Cardiff and 2 cracking games of RL......once the cup starts then the RFL don't matter any more.....but if people tune into BBC and see banks and banks of empty seats, it will do the game no favours at all.

I'm not sure what you're talking about or how this has any relevance to the World Cup. If the World Cup has poor attendances then that's the fault of RL fans, pure and simple.
It will probably be the best in my eyes, and the eyes of fans, I don't really give a what anyone else thinks. People like you need to spend more time watching the game and less time watching the stands. If all the matches are played in front of empty stadiums I'll still enjoy the competition, and the fact that the pre-sales and preparations for the tournament far exceed anything we've seen previously suggests that it should easily be the most successful, in anyone's eyes. I'm not sure why you're complaining about the fact that stadia are not sold out given that there's absolutely no precedent for that, but you've made your point and if, as you claim, you are a fan of RL then I don't see what you're trying to achieve by continually repeating yourself and attempting to put a negative spin on what's been a very positive build-up so far.

About 30 sections now sold out for opener.

Sales are going exceptionally well,much to the disappointment of gutterfax.

I'm sure he will complain that the games at Salford only have x amount sold and it will look shocking on tv etc.... snore fest. (No dig at Salford just a generic venue for one of the games)
If we get the main three events pretty much sold out then I think thats the main thing and from the looks of it we are pretty much heading that way.

I await him telling us it is only so popular due to cheap tickets and still isn't as popular as the RUWC. You know it is just a matter of time.

You mentioned the RFL not announcing their KPI's for the Wold Cup, what in your opinion would you class as success?

Is it purely down to the numbers in the stadiums? If so, what figure would you say was sucessful should the WC meet that threshold.

To be fair we did get given USA v Scotland, possibly the worst fixture in the whole tournament for levels of interest and support.

I agree it is probably one of the worst games to get given. It really wasn't a dig a Salford. From the looks of it though Scotland should have a pretty decent squad for the game.

Think i'm going to be reporting on that one.

To be fair I went to USA v Russia at the Emerging Nations WC in '95 at Wilderspool and that was a cracking game.

Scotland's squad looks more than capable, I havent seen the USA one so cant comment but seen as though Ryan McGoldrick has been doing their promotional work over here I havent much hope for a competitive team.

Salford have also got the England v Italy warm up game, but I must admit I havent seen tickets available for this yet.