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.

Not quite true, there's Wembley Stadium station as well.

Three tube stations within walking distance of Wembley. As I said above, I'm no Wembley fan, but it gets the nod for me over the Olympic because you are a little closer to the action.

Just on stadium size, the NRL, who can do no wrong , it seems, in the eyes of some posters here, regularly schedule televised games in enormous, virtually empty stadia, and nobody thinks they're in crisis.

Very underwhelmed with the stadium itself. Is it always going to be like that? I can't imagine West Ham fans being happy with a massive gap in between sections.
Wembley is by far a better stadium. Unfortunately it's just a bit too big for us at the moment.

I think the transport links are great, I was home within 40 minutes (I can't wait until our offices are finished on the site)

I'm not so keen on the inside of the stadium though. They either need to make it in to a football/rugby stadium or keep it as a athletics stadium rather than some hybrid mess with temporary stands on top of the existing seats.

Transport was no better than Wembley IMO in fact, due to being herded around the ground, it took far longer to get on the tube than Wembley.
It was the concourse inside that just seemed unfinished/ done on the cheap.
The Olympic stadium was built to host a "once in a lifetime" event but wasn't up to the standard of the other stadia that are used for RL.
Old lTrafford, The Millennium Stadium and Wembley are all better, as was the KC last week (albeit half the size).

So you know for a fact that the RFL have approached the Arsenal football club with regard to possibly using it for an event? Similarly do you know that they were approached by the RFU, that i was making a comparison between stadiums in how they are for fans makes your point fruitless. As I said, the Emirates is a superior stadium to the Olmpic stadium with regard to fans, if you disagree then say so and why instead of going on about something unrelated to what I actually said.

Knowing what Arsenal charge for their season tickets, I can just imagine what they'd charge for the use of their stadium!

I doubt the RFL will use the Olympic stadium again. If they do, fans who went on Saturday may well be put off returning.

You're just plucking out random stadia you personally would like to see. Anyone can do that. I wouldn't mind seeing Catalans play Wigan at the Nou Camp in a double header with the El Clasico but it isn't going to happen. The reality is the Olympic Stadium is one that is up for grabs at the moment and not many others are.

I'd like to see a game in White Hart Lane... They recently signed a deal with the NFL so must be open to other options....Sure the capacity is 36,000 so some might say that it's not ambitious enough but i think charging a bit more for a sell out crowd would look better,feel better and ultimately give better value for money

White Hart Lane isn't long enough between the stands at each end. Ideally need at least 125 metres for a 100 metre pitch plus in-goal areas and preferably at least 5 metres from dead ball line to the boundary. Old Trafford is bad enough (if not dangerous-unless they start filling in that ditch with some sort of foam or inflatable).

What if it was England v Aus? It'd be a sellout no problem

No, I'm making a direct comparison between two stadia that had a lot of money spent on them and how the Olympic stadium could/should have been better for fans for the amount of money spent given the extra £272M spent to make it into what is primarily going to be a soccer stadium. if you can't grasp that, that's your problem not mine.

The proximity to central London was great in comparison to Wembley. 2 short tube stops was a bonus.

It would be nice to see a 10 year plan for international rugby league to create some structure and the Olympic stadium should well be part of that. It would also make a decent magic weekend venue. Maybe alternate it with sjp having it London when England are down under.

Isn't that the new White Hart Lane which will be larger?

The core problem with the Olympic stadium was it was a mish-mash of ideas, the original plan was all about being eco friendly and leaving an athletics legacy, with the top tiers to be taken off the ground and the seats donated to charity/other sports. Leaving a 25k athletics ground. Years later the new government realised that athletics grounds are a financial black hole so they've retro fitted it in to a football stadium, and had to put things like bars/food outlets in which were previously outside the ground and temporary. A new roof also cost a fortune,my the original one didn't cover all the seats to save costs and I believe there are rules on the lighting/size of roof for some Olympic events.

Ideally the design should have been either like the Etihad where the running track was temporary and then bombed and a new lower tier and end stand added near the pitch, or designed to have retractable seats from the outset like the Stade De France.

All in all it may not be perfect but there are further changes to come when West Ham move in, and I still think it's an untapped part of London that RL can exploit.