Has the venue been finalised?

Wigan v St.George looks a cracker and personally I don't think the DW is big enough.

Hint to British RL - try shooting for the stars for the first time since pre-SLW.

Book OT. Promote the hell out of it to ALL RL FANS, not just Wigan's, and let's threaten the 1994 attendance record for the event of 54,220.

Completely agree, massive, massive promo on this one, it's just where to play it? Eastlands owners have already said they don't want us there. I'm fairly sure Man Utd wouldn't want RL on their pitch in February. Anfeild? Liverpool are skint. Reebok isn't big enough, dare I say it........Wembley?

take it to wembley

I've been saying something similar on another thread, Jonny.

DW; too small, not a neutral venue
Reebok, Ewood Park; poss too small, bit conservative
Eastlands; poss to small, but despite it being owned by Manc Council and Wigan being in Greater Manc they won't have us
OT; far too large, Utd might not want us again, impinges on image of GF
Anfield; Right size and legendary ground, putting the word of RL out there!

I know a lot of ppl who aren't into RL, have always wanted to go to Anfield, but have never had chance. What better chance? And, it won't be long before it gets bulldozed. Its the last chance for many to go and the tickets would be better priced than when the footy's on. I reckon there'd be massive interest amongst neutral RL fans and fans of other sports. It could be immense. Imagine watching some top class RL in a 45k sell out whilst being in the Kop!!

Regarding said promotion and demonstrating to the British public the value in seeing St George play FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ENGLAND are these two relevant statistics:-

1. The last time St George won the 'Australian' premiership (1979) was within seven years of the last time GB beat Australia in something meaningful (1972 RLWC). Much as it pains me to say that. A long time ago.

2. The significance of the 1962 St George v Great Britain match. Among other remarkable things about this game (close to 40 years to the day of the 2011 WC) are:-

(a) St George were in the middle of their amazing and unmatched 11 premierships in a row (1956-66).
(b) The GB Lions team had dominated Australia in the Test series of 1962, winning the first two Tests comprehensively and losing the 3rd Test 17-18 after the siren in highly controversial circumstances.
(c) Australian critics (nothing has changed! - I am Aussie I can say it) claimed too few of the mighty St George team's players were in the Test series and results "would have been different" with "more St George players".
(d) Out of the blue, and before GB left for NZ, a match was hastily arranged for 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon at the SCG between St George and GB. This was the first ever game between an Australian club side and a touring international team.
(e) On a non-holiday work day, the crowd at the comfortable 50,000 capacity SCG, was 58,000!!!
(f) The GB side defeated the might of St George 33-5, with Alex Murphy running riot, in an era of 3 point tries.

I still say OT over Anfield but it has been too long since 1991 when we last visited the famous Liverpool arena so it is a good plan B in my view.

Nothing less than it in capacity should be considered for the historical reasons alone I pointed out in the post above.

the poms only won that game because our half back was injured.

we were robbed.

theres a photo of those teams in st george leagues club

lol

Hardly DM. That sounds a lot like a bit more of point (c) above. Nearly 40 years late.

Just to rectify this guy's Wigan are playing St George Illawarra. Just to show the importance of Illawarra's contribution to the merger with there 1st Premiership the Steelers supplied 7 juniors and the Dragons just 2 juniors in the premiership winning team

i wasnt alive back then so im making up for lost time.

yeah true

even manly have 2 illawarra juniors in their team too.

they produce lots of juniors.

Fair point regarding Illawarra's contribution.

As I have pointed out elsewhere though, St George's heritage is as much a part of St George Illawarra as anything else (including the Steelers).

In fact, St George have always drawn from the Illawarra region - including such champions as Langlands - well before the clubs were merged in the joint venture.

Neither was I for that matter.

Back to the point though, this is a first for British rugby league with the visit of a St George team to England.

Surely that must mean something to the collective rugby league fans resident within Britain???

Or am I giving them too much credit?

wish they played it next week

Nope. Ill be there, i've always gone for St George in the NRL but i'll be supporting British on the day. Anfield definately, OT is far, far too big

I might roll on down and support the Saints. You never know, this might be one we might win.

Gotta think big Dico.

These same arguments were used in Britain circa 1984-85.

Then, you guys got a bit bold...

We saw:

1986 First Test Old Trafford
1986 Second Test Elland Road
1990 First Test Wembley
1990 Second Test Old Trafford
1990 Third Test Elland Road
1992 WC Final Wembley
(1993 First Test NZ Wembley !!! )
1994 First Test Wembley
1994 Second Test Old Trafford
1994 Third Test Elland Road

etc.

And blew the lid off prior to the SLW. Time to get back to the big thinking.

Wigans average is about 15,000. To fill Anfield you'd have to treble it, achievable. But multiplying it by 5 to try and fill OT? Not gonna happen imo and you'd run a loss. This sort of thing needs £10/15 tickets and to hire Old Trafford you simply will not make the money required at those ticket prices.
Also, how many on here have visited Anfield? Im shooting at not many, that's another reason I'd go. COM stadium would be better but as previously stated, they wont have us, awesome stadium too. It was brilliant for GB V Aus in 04

Again, the promotion should be outside of only Wigan fans for the reasons I have outlined.*

You don't need to fill Old Trafford. But aim for a crowd of 50,000 plus and let's all be disappointed if it only draws 45,000 and hopefully ecstatic when it busts the record of 54,220.

Imagine the massive kick to a season such a crowd would give the Super League...

* though nearly every one of them should get along for what is, so far, a once in a lifetime event

Just further to that, it is a matter of the "true once in a lifetime event" factor kicking in.

Certainly, no-one would have expected nearly 30,000 for England v Fiji at Central Park in the RLWC 1995 either. But it happened largely because of that sense of what I (poorly) described above.

I was there in 95 actually but no, its difficult to get saints, wire, widnes fans etc to pay out to watch Wigan. There'll be plenty of neutrals but not enough willing to pay out to get OT, these stadiums cost a lot of money to hire. Most can just watch it on the telly and will, if its £15 ill go, if its £25 ill watch it on telly and head out for a few beers after and 90% of the league paying public will do the same.

I'm a Leigh fan and i'll be there no matter where it's played. This will be a belter.

So was I actually.

More evidence in favour of my argument.

If Leeds could get not far off 40,000 to Elland Road against Canterbury for the WCC 2005, Wigan - as a traditionally better supported club (before the Leeds fans jump in I am talking over a sample say the size of the 20th Century and a bit of this one) - should be aiming for 45,000 min for this game.