England vs France or GB Vs France have always had underwhelming attendances and I can go back 40 years. I don't see that changing fast.

There is a big difference between England v France at a world cup, and England v France in a mid season international.

The union autumn internationals are different to the 6 nations too but both will attract huge crowds

There is a big difference between those that go to Rugby Union "one-off" internationals, and those that go to Rugby League "one-off" internationals.

[url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/phil-gould-believes-englands-defeat-25505837Phil Gould believes England's defeat to Samoa should have been decided by different method[/url

Golden Point is BS, it should only ever be used (in knockout games) after extra time.

They are expecting a crowd of 64k on Saturday which is good considering England didnt make it and Samoa dont have as many fans kiving here as New Zealand do.

But that means the tournament is going to limp in with 400k tickrt sales, so 50k short of 2013 and absolutely miles behind the orignal target of 750k. Appreciate that Covid and the cost of living crisis would have impacted sales regardless and revenue may still be good as they have charged high prices and not discounted, but serious questions need to be asked about whats gone wrong.

Id start with the Marketing, for me its been too vague (billboards with 'this is real impact' where its not clear what event is being promoted) to the over the top 'games are selling out!!' social media ads, to marketing emails being sent out 2 hours before a game.

Also much discussed questions about the format, the public arent daft and know games like NZ-Jamaica are going to end one way.

Ive enjoyed the last couple of weeks game and the boost to the wheelchair and womens games but this tournament hasnt delivered a big boost to the mens game.

Didn't the last final at Old Trafford sell out before the tournament began? Significantly less than 2013 would be a poor outcome. Ticket sales across the board have clearly been disappointing but they need to learn the right lessons. The highest prices were probably a bit too high for some of the games, but the lowest prices were probably about right. I hope we don't go back to basically giving tickets away for the pinnacle events of the game. Although the Women's and Wheelchair events are relatively new, I doubt selling concession tickets for a couple of quid made a big increase to crowds overall. Lowest price tickets didn't sell out for the big games involving England's men so cheaper doesn't always mean more sales.

Saying things are sold out when they are not, having a ticketing website that is a disaster, and not letting you select a seat in advance was a horrible combination of ideas that would have impacted on ticket sales. I also believe the aim of selling tickets to those outside the "core" audience is the right one. Face it, our "core" audience is effectively those small number of fans who are willing to pay in advance and travel, think how many go to away games compared to home, large numbers of season ticket holders don't go to cup/playoff games for their own team in their own ground, and won't travel to neutral grounds for semi finals/magic weekend.

As well as getting more people to play the game, we need to find a way to attract those who will spend the money, if our core audience is those who don't have a lot of disposable income it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with that audience, but it does mean we have to work with less income, and be less attractive to sponsors. Internationals are more attractive to the non-core audience than Super League will ever be. However tickets do need to go on sale well in advance, as we did for this tournament and knew the fixtures and they were well publicised in national media. I'd buy tickets for genuine big ticket internationals this time next year if they were available and book off time to travel to the games. Sort out the calendar, and ensure that clubs don't reduce the international side of the game's chance of success.

Just had a google and found an article from October 2013 so juat before the start that said 65k sold for the Final, so it didnt sell out before but I think it may have sold out before the finalists were confirmed.

Agree that the ticket website wasnt user freindly, and having to register just to even look for tickets probably put some off.

The rock with 364 million followers on Instagram sent a 5 min good luck message to Samoa, probably the biggest bit of free advertising the sport has ever had

It didn't sell out before in 2013, I went to loads of games, I bought my tickets during the tournament, bought my final tickets last Friday night.
Having to psychologically convince myself that I'm going to love watching Australia murdering Samoa.
At least its not Qatar.

Fair play at least you got a ticket,I did get all mine over a year ago.
What p*sses me off those fans who dont attend the games or to be honest any game (circumstances withstanding) moaning about that it doesnt look good on TV etc and then give advice on how to increase the attendance,maybe just maybe if they attended it would increase so to speak.
Support the game which in my humble opinion is "the greatest game of all"

In better news last weeks game peaked at 2.4 million viewers, which is the highest RL audience since the 2013 semi (which only got slightly more) if only theyd have got there tomorrow eh!

You can tell he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about lol. Had to keep looking off camera to read his script

Celebrities with big followings can keep reading about RL off a script we need all the promo we can get!

5.9 million people are just more aware of a rugby league match happening this saturday. Fantastic, as somebody whose followed the social media numbers since the start of the tournament to see what growth they have had. The Samoan accounts have gone from strength to strength with everyone now checking the family trees for samoan blood.

Probably - Can see that fixture struggling to attract 10k wherever you play it as a mid season stand alone international.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63656512 Maybe I'm misunderstanding this line "We've got 15 commercial partners who are new to the sport and then there's a balance to make up from ticket revenue. There's no profit." Is he saying that there's going to be no profit made from the entire tournament! Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that article sounds like he's preparing us all for bad news about the financials of the tournament because we got good viewwng figures on the BBC which is a load of tosh. The fee paid by Premier sports would have been pittance and hardly contributed to 2013s profit. The whole point of those high ticket prices was to record healthy profit for the game.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/63656512 Maybe I'm misunderstanding this line "We've got 15 commercial partners who are new to the sport and then there's a balance to make up from ticket revenue. There's no profit." Is he saying that there's going to be no profit made from the entire tournament! Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that article sounds like he's preparing us all for bad news about the financials of the tournament because we got good viewwng figures on the BBC which is a load of tosh. The fee paid by Premier sports would have been pittance and hardly contributed to 2013s profit. The whole point of those high ticket prices was to record healthy profit for the game.

The directors probably all got a free car from cazoo, some wood from selco builders warehouse, lifetime supply of ronseal fence paint and 10 lucky dips for a lottery draw of your choice from the national lottery in exchange for sponsorship deals.

So the best deal the sport has got for a while?

I also read it the same way and that is concerning.

Know there will have been a cost of keeping staff on for an extra year (and the delay came after furlough so that wasnt an option) but as some grounds paid to host the games (it was reported Middlesbrough spent 250k of which a share was a hosting fee) it will be very poor if a profit hasnt been made.

I assume the massive failure in ticket numbers means the chance of a profit went too, I think the exposure the BBC has given the tournament was fantastic, and I'd aim for that model of broadcast going forward, but it should not be either or, and I think those in charge should not be able to hide failures behind partial success.

As for the game tonight, I think if England can keep Bourson quiet we have a good chance, but I'll be interested to see how the French defend, they are very good defenders in general, but they are also not afraid to use the "dark arts" of the game to keep attackers out.

If Wane had played Brown and Collins in the halves we'd have been World Champion's by this time tomorrow.

Bobby Brown and Tony Collins?

Wheelchair players squire, Brown hunting the foul and most horrid French down.
But you knew that.

Get the f in!!!