Thought I'd get in before billy boy!

Thread for actual crowds and thoughts.

What's the opening crowd?

In before 'smokeycalc 2 games 1 attendance or divide attedance by 2' repsonse from eve.

so predictable.

Looks about 45,000 to me.

poor

There were sections on ticketmaster that were sold out weeks ago that clearly had plenty of empty seats.

Very insightful.

I don't understand the negativity surrounding WC ticket sales.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the record for previous opening fixtures was around 41,000 (though I'm happy to be corrected). I think its safe to say that they have outdone that this time. So a new record, meaning the best ever...that's a good thing.

This WC is also on track to be the most attended WC yet. So again a new record, meaning the best ever, so a good thing?

I'm not one for thinking the RFL do a fine job, they do plenty wrong. However, I dont think the ticket sales, marketing and pricing can be anything other than praised.

Try opening your eyes

I thought today's crowd is a good effort. Hopefully Wembley will get many more as well.

Oh FFS.............Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Worzel is yet another troll, so best not to respond.

41k is the previous record for a World Cup opener, so anything above that would be good IMO. 50k would be excellent.

I'm tempted to lock this one. We already have a WC attendance thread and this has no facts in it yet. If it's another speculation thread then it can go with the other one. If people have genuine figures then fine.

It came across well on tv what ever the crowd was

The intent was to discuss ACTUAL crowds not ticket sale speculations.
Still not announced?

45,052

It was not really a comment on the OP. It was more a shot across the bows.

Bit like magic weekend though. How many welsh and Italian (I know) fans didn't bother with the first game. If they all had to be in for the first kickoff it would be an accurate look at size of crowd.

Sporting life confirms. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/results 45,052

Sporting life confirms. www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/results 45,052

Not fantastic but equally not disappointing. Reasonable crowd for a game played outside of the heartlands on a day when football is on at near enough same time (pretty sure a lot of Leeds football fans may have chosen derby v Hudds over rugby for instance).

Certainly better than expectations. Be nice to get above 5k for Craven Park tomorrow.

A record for a WC opening game and, I imagine, a record for an International in Wales. Both decent games too.

I think its a decent crowd, but if they hold a game like that there again they need to work on some better transport options such as coaches from the heartlands and special trains. The cost of hotels and not wanting to go there and back there in a day put me off attending. Had there been an option of getting a coach, or a train from Leeds at a decent price i'd have been there.

45k is a very good effort when it's a non-heartland game. I noticed plenty of southern accents and plenty of Welsh, which was probably a key aim of holding it there.

Could we have got more people down? Of course. But Cardiff was buzzing, RL shirts everywhere- a good advert for the game on and off the pitch in my view.

Leeds were putting coaches on from Headingley for £5.
It's disappointing more clubs couldn't be bothered to make some money from this event and put coaches on.

It was OK. Not amazing, but not bad. Importantly, it also looked like someone had been smart enough to make sure the sections that the cameras were mostly pointing at were as full as possible. I've seen almost the exact opposite in the past. It did sound really quiet on the BBC which was a pity, but from another thread it sounds like the BBC got something wrong there.

Fair play to Leeds for putting on the coaches, but at 5 quid a head, I'm not sure much money was made!

To be fair the 5 quid was if you also bought a ticket to the game through Leeds, so the whole price was 35 or 45 quid depending on whether you wanted a £30 or £40 match ticket. If you wanted travel only it was £30.
I think they got 4 or 5 coaches going.

But the point is that there was an opportunity to make money there and, whilst I've not extensively researched it, it seems like few clubs bothered.