That is perhaps the worst comeback from a troll that I have seen in my life.

We all know this mans a prat, can I even call him a man?

Anyhow, the best way to stick it up kn*bs like this is to take it to them, get to London and fill stadiums. Less than half full in Edinburgh or Cardiff simply feeds them

It will be a building site if either West Ham or Spurs get their way.

If Spurs had their way i'd agree but i've been listening to the debates on LBC etc and reading the local papers, West Hams bid was to keep the stadium how it is, with it being a multi purpose stadium.

West Ham if i recall have been given the green light.

London would be great, but no way can you risk it in Feb with no roof. Neither will you get a pitch, as has meen mentioned before.
Cardif is great for it.....especially with the roof. The fans will be the deciding factor.....if they turn up then it will continue.

As for the comments about London being full of rude cockneys and dirty....I suggest the poster takes a walk around any major city in the world...maybe with the exception of Vancouver...they are all dirty and all have rude people in them.....but with the chip that size on your shoulder, maybe you should just stay in your pit village. I would also like to see a list of the Senior RU clubs in London that make it a hotbed......wendyball is the ONLY game in town


London is the multicultural capital of europe, where in most cases, people get on with each other regardless of creed or code, skin tone or political belief....it is a great place to love just so long as you are tollerant...something I doubt you are.

Stop being as bad pal, Pit stock through and through myself but a fan of promoting the game in London. RL in London suffered IMO during the years Wembley was being rebuilt. That has had an impact on the Quins. Time we started to catch up, using the magic weekend, agreed, in summer

Good for you. As for promoting the game in London, I would expect Harlequins RL to do that first before I planned a summer festival of RL in the capital. Until last week, they had failed to carry out anything of note in "marketing" since 2005......the reason the club have an average of 3.500 going into their 31st season, or 6th as QRL has SFA to do with Wembley being rebuilt and more to do with the fact that 99% of the population of Richmond and Twickenham not knowing they exist, let alone the greater poulation.
As for the pit village comment...it was off the cuff and uncalled for....but at least I didn'r generalise like the anti-london poster did, otherwise I would have called you all Monkey Hangers

No, they will be removing the top (temporary tier) and making a few other changes to reduce capacity while keeping the track.



Not if Orient have their way.

I am not a Stephen Jones fan, but I am sad to say that a lot of this quote is true. The promotion and advertising is laughable and as a sport we don't seem to have a clue about how to sell an occasion to people who are not already big fans of the clubs. I also don't have any idea as to whether or not the RFL as a coherent marketing strategy at all, but my guess would be that they don't. They are probably relying on the clubs and the clubs are probably relying on the RFL. Neither of them taking a major initiative.

Cardiff as a venue is perfect. February isn't.

In May, it's far more clement weather (I grew up in winter rugby, so I can do cold, but 4 games on the bounce can be pretty testing even with roof on), and it causes difficulty for the many people who camp rather than do hotels etc.

There's also a bank hol, which means you can have 2 full days of RL and socialising with fellow fans and leave your journey home until you've slept it off.

If they'd have kept it at Cardiff on the May bank hol, I firmly believe the crowds would have grown and grown.

But many were clamering for it to be the season opener to increase participation

I know, and it worked in respect of getting the season off to a good start as a spectacle - but one which I fear will be a TV event rather than making the effort to get there for the reasons I've already mentioned.

Wel considering SKY pay nearly 17 million a year for it , it isn't really surprising is it

Yes that's why the NR 9 s are so well attended at Lytham

My point was, though, that leaving it at the Bank Hol weekend in May would have seen crowds grow rather than fall.

The crowds increased for the second year in Cardiff, the atmosphere ran seamlessly from ground to pubs to hotels and campsites.

On a cold Feb weekend, with a long journey home after the final game on Sunday, it's a less attractive way to spend a weekend IMO.

I don't disagree , a friend of mine commented something similar at the weekend , they had tried to book late but were given a ridiculous quote , and as you said , camping is not really an option , but at the end of the day , it's not like the RFL to constantly change things is it

So enlighten us as to how you can achieve that?

Free pies and strippers.

I'm in.

Toughie this....but it could be done.
Second May Bank Holiday and either Wembley (maybe a bit too big to start with) or a 40k/50k wendyball stadium.
Late May gives the pitch plenty of time to recover before the ladies start kicking it around again....so no pitch problems there.
There are no shortage of cheaper hotel rooms at the wekends in London. Regardless of where you hold it, people will complain about the cost of a hotel room......you get what you pay for IMO!
Travelling from anywhere along the M62 to London has got to be easier than to Cardiff.
SELL THE BUGGERY OUT OF IT!
I agree with the earlier posters comments about the RFL not knowing how to promote their game properly, but If the Union Lot can fill Twickenham on boxing day or whenever for a single game of union (not a final, Not a double header, just a normal club game) then surely we can fill a 40 or 50k stadium in the capital.
Also, if it were to be played in London, maybe some of the 1,000,000 League fans that the RFL live there might roll up too.......just a thought.
Oh,,and free pies and strippers too

A coherent marketing strategy that involves all levels of Rugby League would be a start. There are several things that could be tried, but would take a little imagination, dynamic pricing being one of them. I would consider selling so many tickets at a certain price. Once we sell a high enough amount of them, we can crow about how successful the game is going to be record season tickets etc. Obviously, this idea that I wrote down in a few seconds has not been costed out yet, but where there is a will there is a way.

I agree with most of this. The only trouble with the May bank holidays in London are that the early one is still the football season and the late one is playy off finals season. Thus ruling out Wembley as I can't see the FA allowing 7 games on the first weekend just weeks before their finals programme which also includes the FA cup in the intrim period.
In terms of football stadiums which I assume you would be talking about as they are the only ones with suitable capacity. Early May is out due to football season still on. Arsenal's stadium would be my prefared choice. Its straight up from Euston, St Pancreas and Kings Cross on the tube. Also allows for overnight stays in cheaper and rural Hertfordshire if you don't want to stay in London. I just don't see an overly sensitive local community allowing for yet more disruption to their lives. I say this from knowledge having worked at the stadium and knowing what had to be done to placate the locals, as opposed to a random statement.
Spurs ground is not the best and only 35,000. Its not the best to travel to and does not have a great deal around it if you want to nip out in between games.
Upton Park, who knows what will happen to that now, but its got the same problems as the area around Spurs ground.
Chelsea's ground might be a starter, nice area reasonably good transport links, just very expensive area for accomodation and food and drink.
I can't see any other ground being suitable in London either in May or any other time of year, at least unil the Olympic stadium is built. Though lets face it with all this garbage about stadiums going under if the are multi purpose (Thats the talk from the Spurs camp and football journalists who have some fancyful blah about no atmosphere with an athletics track) the Olympic stadiummay just be an attractive concept. Though way out in East London it isn't going to help Quins in West London.

Has anyone thought about next years CC Final. Planned for the middle of the Olympics when Wembley is being used for football. Are we likely to have to go on the road ?

Powergen Challenge Cup final is on the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. The Olympics finishes on August 12. So should be no problem. The RFL have, in any case, a contract with Wembley.

Maybe this is a bit off topic. Don't know as this is my first post, but the talk of different venues for the Magic leads ME to think there is a need for our own stadium.

Don't all 'families' need a place of their own? On this basis RL should have it's own stadium.

I suggest a 50-55 thousand capacity (poss 65000-one seat to accommodate each and every regular SL goer in England), with a retractable roof to allow year-round use and the prospect of multi-team comps like the 'Magic' weekend.

Possible costs at today's 'rates'? My (inexpert) guess £30-40 million. Funding? Maybe a concerted effort across the board from clubs, fans, stakeholders etc., could raise the requirement before the end of the decade. Don't know if I'll still be here to witness it, but how good would that be to see England lifting the RL World Cup there in 2017?

Sorry if it's the wrong thread. Maybe one for the future.

means nowt...the FA have a bigger contract with wembley but have had the charity shield booted out of wembley next year..