Can you imagine the reaction from the doom merchants if the RFL drafted in the army to fill the empty seats

For what its worth, I'm 100% behind the world cup and hope its a success, which in part, it will be. I also agree that we can reasonably expect a lot of games to be played in front of crowds which look bad on TV, unless, for those games, tickets are practically given away ( which was the not-unreasonable post I responded to). These are not contradictory positions to hold. It may in fact be entirely reasonable to give tickets away, or indeed, as I think was suggested somewhat in jest, fill them with members of the armed forces). That, for example, would be indicative to me of RFL actually doing something really smart, in realising that we're going to get some exposure for once, so for Pete's sake make it look good! The televised empty stadia in preious World Cups looked awful.

Stop lying, you are desperate for the competition to fail.

WTF?
Nobody on here is desperate for the RLWC to fail. You need to chillax headhunter mate......not everyone is out to get you.



It is fair to guesstimate from the press release used at the start of this thread that about 80% of the tickets available for the RLWC are still available...it is also fair to say that 40,000 tickets for the final are available and less than 35,000 have been sold for the semis and 35,000 for the double header.....this is a real worry, as regardless of a late surge if England make the final, Wembley Stadium and the Millenium stadium less than half full will not be a good look on TV.......pointing that out doesn't make someone "desperate to see it fail"..

Yes, it would be bad if no additional tickets were sold in the next 9 months. Yes, it would be bad if nobody turned up to the matches but it's not a 'real worry' because your posts aren't based on anything other than your fantasies, and with that in mind I'm not sure why you are continuing to post the same thing over and over again.

And that's why the 'pessimists' and 'optimists' ( though I dispute which is which) will never 'get' what the others are trying to say. You can't understand how we can be worried about the sport, scornful of the RFL, but supportive of the actual sport of RL. Likewise, we can't understand what is so difficult to understand about that.

There *are* some short term shocks I would accept if it served the greater good of getting the sport to wake up, find new leadership, and radically change. If that is what you mean when you say I want things to fail, maybe. A 'failed' World Cup isn't one of those things.

Anyone with the slightest memory of the previous World Cups, and indeed some other internationals has plenty justification to at least have a concern. Only if the problem had never been seen before would it be fair to call it 'fantasy'. On previous evidence in fact, it is more fantastical to expect to avoid some of these very empty-stadia games appearing on TV. Whether you're confident or worried, nobody *knows* what will happen. People have a right to an opinion. That remains true even if you think they're wrong, they're boring, they're repetitive, or if you have no interest in their droning on in a way that annoys you. It's a discussion forum.

I remember 3 World Cups, one was amazing in 95, then a garbage one in 2000 and another great one in 2008. Forgive me for being optimistic about this one.

I'm interested in the views of paying supporters if they perceive a problem. I'm less interested about reading gripes from those with no intention of attending any games. Hopefully this post doesn't hit any raw nerves as everyone from both camps will be attending at least one, hopefully many more, of the WCC games. I'm particularly set on those at Derwent Park, a ground I haven't visited for far too long.

Pathetic. The game would be better off without fans like you.

We (me and familly) spend approximately £700 per year on tickets and probably £300 on stuff like food, programmes, replica kits for the kids, etc. Not to mention a Sky Sports subscription for nothing other than RL. But presumably my money comes marked with "pathetic pessimist" and therefore isn't welcome at the bank and no good to the sport. Sorry we pollute your game.

I have only 1 gripe, the fact that in englands group they have 2 matches on the same day. Will the RFL have kick off times whereby you can attend both games.
2nd nov games at Hudds and Saints (hopefully a 15:00 & 20:00 kick off)
9th nov Hull and Limerick (private jet needed)

and on 16th 2 quarter finals Wrexham and Wigan.

The RFL have not indicated times for kick offs so buying tickets for both games on 2nd and 16th could be a waste of money......They need to make a decision and announce it.

No need to apologize for being optimistic about the world cup. In general, I am. I was defending the person accused of 'fantasy' for having concerns about tickets. I share those concerns and think that we need behind the scenes some kind of emergency plan to fill those seats, because this is best exposure we're going to get for 4 years and if not quite "appearance is everything" it's ridiculously important given where we're at right now.

If you want to call it pessimistic, fine, I am pessimistic about filling seats for a lot of games under 'normal' sales. If I'm wrong, and they're all full of paying fans then - despite the inabilty of people to understand this, and their STUPID ASSERTIONS that critics hate the sport - I would be delighted. I'd be almost as delighted if they're filled using some sort of plan B, C, or D because more than anything I want people to turn on the TV and see full seats.

Your bitter and poisonous attitude are what arent welcome.

Your family are more than welcome. With all your negativity, death-riding and bitterness gone they would probably enjoy the game more.

Where do I fill in the form to get your permission to watch Rugby League? You could really clean up the sport and turn it into something akin to North Korean celebration. Happy smiling faces all round, it would be lovely.

everything is cool....nothing to worry about...move along

I never said you werent allowed. I said the game would be better off without you.

And if you were somehow banned it wouldnt be anything like a north korean celebration, it would be exactly the same as it is now except there would be one less moron in the stands and one more bitter jackass sat at home moaning to themselves.

Have you managed to find out what the thing you were complaining the RFL didnt have was called yet. After all it was such a terrible, amatuerish thing not to have, surely it has a name?

You dont know that isnt the case. you dont have the information to know.

I appreciate there are changes you would like to so see, and many times i agree with your suggestions and think there are some very good points you make. But you are half-way around the world and have no information to base your assertions on.

Your views seem to have become coloured by your experiences of London and the RFL which to be fair were a fair old time ago now.

If the RFL can sell 350-400k tickets then they World Cup will be a relative success. Not relative to RU, not relative to football or the olympics, relative to RL and were we are. Were we are right now is pretty close to where we would expect to be to hit those targets.

RL cannot afford to discard fans Smokey, I think you are a complete goon and I am sure you feel the same way but the sport must find unity, and not by simply excommunicating one side or the other.
Many RL people are disillusioned with the way our sport has been run, that is a fact and doesn't stop them being the low hanging fruit we must get back behind the sport.
I hope we can go someway to achieving that soon and if so a united RL fanbase will make this comp the headline act it deserves to be.
I will be attending 3/4 games, I may attend more if I feel more motivated to do so.

Breathe.....aaaand.....relax....repeat. We're not worth getting worked up about, seriously. Leave us stew in our anti-RFL rage, we'll just implode eventually.

Never mind getting them back...I'm disillusioned and still go! Smokey wants me to stop. The mere thought of me sitting in the stands shredding pictures of Nigel Wood as I twitch with uncontrollable rage is enough to ruin his afternoon.

Ever regret posting a positive thread on the VT?

Blimey, calm down everyone!

Can we all not just enjoy this tournament and get behind it?

To be fair (even to Smokey et al) though, the thread was "World Cup Ticket Sales", not "Will you enjoy the World Cup?"

I don’t want you stop going. I want you to stop being such a bitter h0le who would see the game suffer to get what they want, that wishes ill on the game they profess to love because they don’t like some of the things that happen, that presents a negative bias and searches out negativity to try and damage the game to effect the changes they want. Your attitude is almost the perfect example of cutting off your nose to spite your face, except you are trying to cut off everyones nose. You stop doing that then great.

But if it is a choice between you not being an RL fan, or you being an RL fan who pushes a personal vendetta through unhelpful, unnecessary, counter-productive, bitter, negative, childish means then we would be better off without you.

It doesn’t ruin my afternoon at all, I have just got my tickets to see springsteen open the Leeds Arena, Leeds play Melbourne tonight at headingley, Today is a good day

What would the critics have done differently?