Yeah I'm happy about the venues too.

I should say to those questioning my fitness

that that Wireless festival was on an exceptionally hot day: I remember a young fella stood behind me, hefty looking chap in his twenties, just keeled over and went out like a light from heat-stroke. St. Johns Ambulance guys were kept busy all day. IIRC it was Stratford station; suburban train rather than tube, anyway. This isn't likely to be too much of an issue in November.

Anyway I'l plan to go there and to the DW.

Can I just point out - again - that England/GB vs NZ as a standalone fixture has NEVER attracted more than 28,000 in this country, at least not in living memory, and in fact has always seemed to hover between 16-23k. The 67k at Wembley in 2013 was fantastic, but let's not forget that was a double-header riding on the back of a superb World Cup competition.

We've had some good attendances versus Australia as a standalone game, but Australia has always been a bigger draw than NZ.

I truly hope we can fill it, or at least get close, but it's going to take some incredible marketing. It's possible as long as the RFL have a strong social media marketing team and plenty of funds for traditional marketing - they need to build the same levels of interest and excitement as we saw in 2013. If they break 35k they've done a good job.

I think we need to win the match at Hull as the London one then becomes crucial to New Zealand who will have to win to keep any chance of winning the series. Lets get all three grounds sold out and cheer our boys on.

the thing I worry about is how much the onion lot are going to furk up the pitch with their clod hopping.
Olympic park is only 45 minutes for me..will it be afternoon or evening game?

Think you talk some good points. I know people are excited about the Olympic stadium game but you've got to remember it's part of a 3 match series. How many people are realistically going to go to more than one? If you're Yorkshire based you'll opt for the Hull one. If you're based on the wrong side of the Pennines then you'll go to the DW. Whilst they'll be plenty of interest for the London one and the intrigue of watching a game at the Olympic Stadium, you've also got to remember that they'll be more local and cheaper (little travel and no hotel booking) alternatives either weekend of it for many people.

Utter rubbish. Then why book it?
If it's to accommodate rl fans in the south and potential sports fans, then market it properly and fill it. Social media is all well and good, but you are relying on your audience spreading the message.....traditional media is the way to sell this game.
If on the other hand your playing it there in the hope of getting 35,000 then pls I at elland road and save us the pain of swathes of empty seats on tv.
Filling the Olympic......even at a tenner for adults and a fiver for kids is an absolute must.

There's about 60,000 Kiwis in UK, that's a good starting point. Then get clubs to put on coach trips with incentives for the more coach loads they bring. For this London game offer any registered Jnr RL player free ticket with every adult ticket bought. Get some ticket and corporate comps in London running from Aug onwards. Will be tough to get any traditional media with the kick and clap nonsense going on so they are going to have to be very targeted. I would even be tempted to do a parody advert taking the pss out of the quality of a RU test match alongside the ferocity and skill of the last Eng v NZ games.

Given the incredible quality of the last two NZ v England games you would have to be a very poor (monetary and attitude) RL fan to miss any of this series!

For most in West Yorkshire Wigan is closer than Hull and you don't get the same level of grief if you want to wear your own team's shirt

Cronus is right to point out it won't be as easy to sell tickets for this is as it was the World Cup Semi Final double header. And I think if we get 40k we'll have done pretty well.

Having said that I'm still always depressed at how little of a link there is between the clubs and the RFL in terms of selling tickets for these things. You should be able to buy tickets through your amateur club or through your pro club that you go to watch or through any RL organisation in this country. And those clubs should be making a big fuss over it too. For instance Leeds should do offers such as if you buy the ticket through them you can get discounted coach travel with them (maybe even discounted train travel from Leeds?) and that all Leeds fans would sit together etc. Similar offers for amateur clubs where the RFL could liaise with amateur clubs in certain areas and help put on coach travel. Obviously the pro and amateur clubs would get a percentage of the ticket sales that go through them but it wouldn't need to be much of a percentage to incentivise the clubs to put a lot more effort into it than they currently do. Unfortunately most clubs efforts seem to be limited to an article on their website every so often and, if you're lucky, a couple of coaches.

Which is why I mentioned a strong social media team and plenty of funds for traditional marketing. If you want to market extensively in London you'd better have very, very deep pockets.

Social media can be fantastic, however you're hitting your existing audience for the most. Raising the profile of the game with a new audience is much more difficult, and expensive.

No, the hope is to fill it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't understand the challenges. I actually think 40k can be achieved, but it's gonna take some work.

I don't include the 2013 fixture for obvious reasons. A double-header riding on the emotion of a fantastic World Cup. A one-off. The 2nd game of a Eng-NZ series simply does not have that draw. It's not a decider for a start. Perhaps if we were playing Australia in an Ashes series, but we're not and NZ standalone has never been a massive draw.

In the meantime let's look at attendances for Eng/GB vs NZ, which - even in the heartlands - hover around 16-24k on average. So straight away you're talking roughly a 100% growth in attendance to achieve 40k, at a venue 200 miles from most heartland fans, who also have the option of a game or two on much more local soil, at much less expense.

Then let's look at previous standalone London attendances: 15,568 & 13,217. Now you're talking up to a 200% increase. No easy task, even for an alleged marketing genius such as yourself, I'm sure.

So where do we get those people from? Do we try and encourage heartlands fans to travel, or attract locals. A mixture of both, of course. But the fact is, even if every single fan who attended on 7th Nov 1998 travelled, you then need every single fan who attended either of the London games to also attend, just to break 40k.

Finally, the RU World Cup will be dominating the media from August to the final on 31 Oct, and into the following week - indeed we're going to London a week after the final and the 3rd place final, the last of 5 games at the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately the series will be utterly lost in all that RU hype, and for those newbies who do stumble across any marketing, they'll probably barely notice it among all the oval ball publicity and assume it's part of the World Cup. In reality, we either win locals now, or immediately after the final, and if England win the RU competition we haven't got a prayer of getting noticed in that week. It also means fewer RU fans are likely to attend.

Now the positives. The last few games vs NZ have been absolute belters, and there's probably a sense of 'unfinished business' amongst fans and players. I expect most RL fans haven't visited the Olympic Stadium, a new venue is always an attraction. And as much as I don't reference the double-header, it's worth remembering that there's a database somewhere containing the details of those who purchased tickets for Wembley. They MUST be targeted.

As Him says, the RFL need to get ALL clubs on board at all levels. They've had deals for amateur clubs in the past which included coach travel, shirts, etc and these need to be out there well in advance of the RU World Cup hype - I'm actually fairly optimistic on this point as they've worked well in the past and the RFL put some good offers together. It would be good to see them build on that and take them to another level.

[size=9023 Nov 13, Wembley: England 20 - 18 NZ - 67,545 (double header, World Cup semi-final)
12 Nov 11, KC Stadium: England 28 - 6 NZ - 23,447
7 Nov 09, Galpharm Stadium: England 20 - 12 NZ - 19,390
21 Oct 07, HJ Stadium: Northern Union 18 - 25 All Golds - 6,284
27 Oct 07, Galpharm Stadium: Great Britain 20 - 14 All Golds - 16,522
3 Nov 07, KC Stadium: Great Britain 44 - 0 All Golds - 20,324
10 Nov 07, DW Stadium: Great Britain 22-28 - 22 All Golds - 21,235
12 Nov 05, Galpharm Stadium: Great Britain 38 - 12 - NZ - 19,232
6 Nov 05, HJ Stadium: England 22 - 30 NZ - 7,298
29 Oct 05, Loftus Road: Great Britain 26 - 42 NZ - 15,568
6 Nov 04, Galpharm Stadium: Great Britain 22 - 12 NZ - 20,372
20 Nov 04, KC Stadium: Great Britain 26 - 24 NZ - 23,377
23 Nov 02, DW Stadium: Great Britain 16 - 10 NZ - 22,247
16 Nov 02, Galpharm Stadium: Great Britain 14 - 14 NZ - 23,604
9 Nov 02, Ewood Park: Great Britain 16 - 30 NZ - 16,654
18 Nov 00, Reebok Stadium: Great Britain 6 - 49 NZ - 16,032
23 Nov 98, Vicarage Rd: Great Britain 23 - 23 NZ - 13,217
7 Nov 98, Reebok Stadium: Great Britain 16 - 36 NZ - 27,486
31 Oct 98, Galpharm Stadium: Great Britain 16 - 22 NZ - 18,500
Average: 20,965[/size

There's an easy answer to that.

RL fans get off your s and get yourselves there.

If each SL club sold 2k tickets. That's 24k sold before anyone even tries to sell to the southern market, the championship market, the amature club market, the none RL market.

I know we have not had big crowds before for NZ and it is a point well made, but the sales people need to earn their coin, rather than just expecting people to turn up.

Well I will be attending all three, and I'd expect most RL fans to do the same. Why cheer on your country from your sofa when you can do it live at the ground?

We all moan about the fact the game doesn't grow and is along the m62 corridor etc etc, well this is a small step that needs to be taken to help grow the sport and as fans we should all want to make it happen and sell the ground out, not sit here slagging the whole thing off.

There really is no winning when it comes to RL fans.

36,131 Wembley Stadium October 1993
First Test
Great Britain 17
New Zealand 0
This crowd was double both the following two tests played in the North of England.

Just booked for 4 of us at Stratford Travelodge for Fri 6th and Sat 7th November - £236...

Hard to knock £59 each for a couple of nights...

I stopped being evangelical about the game many years ago (I work on the theory if some people don't enjoy the game then 'so be it') but hope that the series can match the standard of the most recent games against the Kiwis and is played in front of full houses...

As one who attended the Olympics, I think it's a great move by the RFL to stage a game there.
54,000 capacity is about right I feel, the stadium is only a 10 minute walk from the tube station.
Should be a very competitive series as well.

I'll be at all three!

No!!!

I will be there, fireworks displays all over London afterwards too!!
One can wheel out all kinds of lilly livered excuses for not attending, but the first Rugby league International to be played at the Olympic Stadium is a great sporting attraction, not to be missed.
The trend of Great Britain and England International Rugby League matches played in London to be well supported by the General Sporting Public looks set to continue.

It's a good call, what I'm not sure about is why we have announced it, but then you can only buy tickets, in a weeks time??

You would think on the morning it is announced then you would be pushing the tickets then and there, you have the headlines, get the phone number and website up whilst it;s fresh.

But maybe that's just me.

1st "lilly livered" set of excuses.

It's cheaper to watch with HD TV and surround sound.

England currently are not as good as the Kiwis.

I decide how to spend my leisure time.

good enough?

No not good enough.

You are a very selfish person, and your behaviour regarding attending matches belies your name.

Probably on the back of many RL fans wanting to spend no more than a tenner on a ticket so wait and wait until nearer the time to see what discount/offers/groupon will come up.

Problem with the coaches is that there is no coach parking at the Olympic venue aside from 20 spaces at the 'Here East' and drop off bays at the velo park/copper box arena etc and 20 bays that you need to register and book in advance at the Westfield. Car parking is a none starter in the Westfield as they control the parking system there for event days though a lot of the on street parking for residents is only controlled Mon-Fri on the North/NE & East side of the park though there are a few with Saturday permit holders until 2pm unless you pay (for up to 2 hours) then it's all good after that.

As a suvverner I took 12 folks from my local to the Wembley semi and they loved it. Aiming to get them all to Stratford and a few more.