bit of a shame for the Catalan fans, thought they could have been 'rewarded' with a France-NZ clash at their ground

Wigan for a cert, likely Leeds and Donny and I dare say Huddersfield as well. Still in two minds about the game in June, having forked out to go to Toulouse in April. Best geet saving up

Which major football ground? what premiership soccer club in their right mind are going to allow their £M pitch to be used by RL?

If you are going to use places like Loftus Road (a dump with poor facilities) Brentford (poor transport) Charlton (again poor transport) they don't offer a great deal more that The Stoop either capacity wise, facilities wise or in terms of RL connections.

Wigan when it suits.

Perhaps that's why Hull hasn't been chosen to host a game.

At least they have a ground capable of holding a test match...

The Valley is 27,100 capacity which would have been a realistic target for an England -v- Aus game (more than it will get in Wigan), and is a perfectly suitable stadium for such a game.

Also Craven Cottage is a 22,200 capacity which would have been ok too.

Loftus Road and Griffin Park wouldnt be big enough, and as you say are complete dumps.

For the Aus v NZ game they could go all radical and have a double header at Eastlands along with England v France (the 2 games which are likely to get the lowest crowds).

I thought the discussion concerned Australia vs. New Zealand? If so, I think the Stoop is a very good choice, albeit a drop in capacity after they filled Loftus Road a few years back.


I think the idea is to capitilise on London's Antiopdean population, although I do agree they could have been a little more ambitious in their choice of venues and maybe tried Eastlands or even Blackburn for one of the games.

Its not even 12,00 if you kook on the ticket page on of the stands behind the sticks is closed.

err...yes. They play it at Twickenham all the time, getting their biggest crowds there.

Put it this way, it's like Rugby League holding a game at Old Trafford. There are tonnes of teams close by enough to travel without making a whole day of it, but none in the exact postcode.

Ye thats why the RU are staging a test match at OT in june

Pretty much sums it up.

And damn hard to get a big crowd into and out of via public transport and forget about parking.



A Premiership side will not allow a game to be played on the pitch if it really doesn't have to



Yes, and take it away from the major population of Aussies and Kiwis living here

why does it say that england v france and australia v new zealand are going to be played on weekend 24/25 oct when both games are being played on sat 24th oct

Because it is a provisional line up and not the finished thing, expect one to be played Saturday and one Sunday if Sky requests it.

What's the obsession with holding these games outside the traditional areas?

One game in a blue moon does feck all to promote 'the game' in London, Manchester or Timbuktu. Feck all. FFS, most of the population of Manchester doesn't even know the Grand Final is at OT and it's held there every year among (allegedly) great fanfare.

I'm all for expansion and promotion, but when games like (for example), NZ v GB (2005) are held at Loftus Road all it does is deny traditional fans the opportunity to attend unless prepared to fork out yet more money. I look forward to the internationals massively and it's crap to see them being transplanted to some football haven in the name of promotion. No-one in London knows or particularly cares that the game is on and we end up with a half-d effort and a half-d crowd, the whole thing looking half-d on Sky, when we could have a full house packed with passionate and vocal RL fans getting behind England. And God knows we need all the help we can get.

We have good stadiums in Wigan, Hull, Warrington and Hudds for pool games - except of course Aus v NZ in London where plenty of Antipodeans will attend, albeit normally in their RU shirts - so I'm fairly happy with those fixtures. Except Elland Road? Why, just why? It. Is. Crap.

that doesnt stop them choosing to play games at Huddersfield and Elland Road, and it doesnt stop Charlton playing there every other week








1/2 November:
England v Australia JJB Stadium, Wigan




so what.

1) if they are interested they will travel for a couple of hours to watch the game - its not that much further when they have travelled all the way from Aus already.
2) we should be able to fill a ground with English people for a game of that calibre - especially if part of a double header with an England game.

The majority of Charlton fans live in Charlton mate





I did say if they didn't have to, London soccer clubs own their own grounds and are not controlled by the stadium management companies ...



Yawn...

Exactly. Bring internationals back to their traditional home – Wembley.

do they? im sure you can provide a link to the stats...



Dave Whelan is the only decision maker when it comes to who plays at the JJB.



fair enough.

Oh, more than happy for Wembley to feature - as long as we can be assured of a decent crowd that won't look embarrassing on TV.

Wembley for the Four Nations or World Cup final - fantastic. Pool games - keep 'em oop north ferrus flat cappers.

Is that your whippet I can hear barking in the background



Seriously, I understand the sentiment, but Austalia v New Zealand should be London based.....even if I think we could sell 40,000 tickets to it if it was held somewhere like Stamford Bridge and not the 12,750 Stoop.

Like you thought Quins would attract 10k for Manly?

Definitely. I mentioned this in my first post - Aus v NZ in London is a perfect fit. There's probably more Antipodeans in London than RL fans in Greater Manchester. But it has to be promoted properly to at least make them aware it's taking place.

I'm just for keeping the England/GB competitive games within the heartlands where we'll get better crowds and atmosphere, and give the majority of fans who regularly attend games the chance to take in the internationals at no huge cost. For major finals, yes, perhaps Wembley, and perhaps some other venues for friendlies.

Which counts for sweet FA (pardon the pun) if they aren't RL fans.