No the best game, but a result that puts us 4th with a game in hand....so very happy.

The crowd? Tough one this. 3,612 is a very poor result after the amount of work that went into promoting this game in the local schools etc...
PB really has his work cut out if we are going to get anywhere near a 4,000 average this year and 5,000 by 2012.
Wakey brought about 300, so it is a step in the right direction and we all know that Rome wasn't built in a day, but we are on an average of 3,387 this year and we really need to do something now. The question is, what?

Still, 2 points, 4th place and the newbie I brought yesterday will be back...

I certainly don't know the marketing answer (and have little knowledge of Geroge Sampson) but I enjoyed the vibrancy in the ground yesterday and the obviously increased numbers.

Maybe we have to accept, no matter how unpalatable, that RL itself, even if accompanied by "theme days" is unlikely to attract many newcomers. What we may have to do is provide something additional with far greater mass appeal that will, and hope some attendees attracted by the additional entertainment return.

Horse racing provides an example, many of the best attended meetings are those where racing is followed by a biggish music act (ie Madness, UB40) who play for about an hour. No-one pretends that, say, a Madness fan will also understand the handicapping system, but the gates are swollen and there's always the possibility of some returning.

Whilst I doubt we can afford to book such a headline act, bringing in someone like George with his huge appeal seems on the right appropriate lines, and I applaud it. The difficulty now of course is to make sure its not a one off.

I didn't think that was a bad crowd considering the weather was absolutely horrible (and it was a Sunday with the usual London transport problems).

My non rugby mates enjoyed the day and I'm sure they will be back (I will make them!).

May I apologise to anyone on our train home, that had to endure our cockney sing-a-long. I do hope your eardrums didn't bleed.

Thanks for that bit of information Dan.
Maybe having to work & missing the game wasn't so bad after all !!

Two poor sides. Luke Dorn had a 'mare. I think Dorn's tactic of kicking back across the field of play when he is close to the left-hand touchline is a good idea ONLY when other members of the team are chasing it. He seems to employ it every time he gets on the 5th tackle and it rarely works. Some of his passing was poor also.

Williamson and Heckenberg looked very good, Williamson absolutely nailed Scott Grix towards the end of the first half. Clubb blatantly not fit, neither's Orr.

Still, a win's a win.

It was our second highest crowd so far after Wigan, and the visiting contingent was the second smallest after Catalans so hopefully progress is being made.

I got one free ticket for a mate who goes a few times a season anyway, which was much appreciated as he's recently been made redundant; four others had already bought tickets before the free offer was made - I'm not so sure whether I can get them back again. One felt the atmosphere wasn't great and that there were a lot of unforced errors.

Not a classic game: I felt we started slowly then took control in the middle stages and looked very comfortable at 24-11 until a string of harsh or rather odd decisions given against us helped Wakey to establish the momentum to come back at us and start forcing errors. They didn't get near our line at all in the first twenty minutes or so of the second half and with half our points coming in that period it proved the decisive phase of the game.

Biggest gate at a London/Quins Wakefield game since 2000 (at least...slstats only goes from 2000) and should be applauded. 500 up on last year.
Problem is, with Celtic up next, we need to create the atmosphere your friend said was missing. To do that, we need at least 2 sides of the ground full.
I for one would fill the North Stand with free tickets (Like Wigan last year) and aim for an attendance figure of 6,000. With 3 weeks to go, the club (when the phone system is back up) need to really get pro-active. The London Welsh community, the RU database, every school in the surrounding boroughs(100 free tickets each), the convict community in Shepherds Bush.....all these people need to be targeted. As I said earlier, push the KO time back to 5pm, get the Lions Game on in the Kings bar, BBQ, Kids tournament.......Even target the South African community as the lions are playing down there.....
I understand that we now have access to the RU "back office team" to push the game for the next couple of months and we should really leverage this while we have it.
The club are to be applauded for the attendance yesterday......but they must press on and aim for a bumper crowd at the Celtic Game.

He was saying after the game he hadn't trained for two weeks, was in the gas chamber, torn hamstring(iirc).

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Golden has broken his thumb, which is a shame as i was impressed with him last game, he really stood out with his tackling, always eager to get in there. Very pleased with his progress.

The primary school I teach at in the Kingston borough had an email today asking us if we wanted to participate in a schools tag RL tournament prior to the Celtic Crusaders game, with tickets for the kids thrown in. So, that's a start.

I brought two friends to the game on the "2 free tickets" offer. One of whom has come off to Quins with me about twice a season, the other was their first RL match, and, once she got over the absurdity of the referee coming from the same town as our opponents, she loved the whole product that Quins put on (even if she was praying that George slipped a*se over t*t on the stage he was dancing on).

Performance wise, well, it was good to continue our vein of winning ugly. In the past, I think it was a game that we would've lost, as Brian Mac said afterwards. We're grinding out the results whilst not playing at our best - which is the sign of a successful team. Unquestionably we will have to play better on Friday night to get close to Saints. Good to see Willy go over for a try. Just wish that we would stop throwing ridiculous OTT passes whenever we get a lead in a game. It will come back to bite us on the backside sometime.

ahh maybe the crowd numbers were up for this fixture as it was played on Sunday!!!!
Hee heeee come on lets start this one again

Now that soccer and union are largely over, there are a lot of people looking for something to do. We only have to suggest it to them.

It's not rocket science!

QRL need a link with one of those trashy free papers. Don't deny it, we all read them on the tube and the amount of readership them things get is blooming mental. A nice half page colour advert advertising "The Greatest Game on your doorstep" as well as "the crunch derby with the Celtic Crusaders" will hopefully pull in a few hundred more.

I like that train of thought

BF....Those trashy free papers are free to read, not advertise in. Can't be bothered researching the page rates (again), bit they are all between 20 and 30k for a page. As for the readership.....it all depends who you are talking to.
Metro London has around 1,000,000, with the two evening ones on about 500k each. The recent demise of SPORT magazine goes to show that they are all struggling, so may be prepared to do deals, but let's face it, it's all wendyball in the back 2 pages and I can assure you, they will all be covering the Union Lions tour, wimbledon and the Ashes over the summer.
We did used to have a big broncos fan at Metro a few years back, but he was moved to The Mail and that tie up ended pretty much then.
Over the years, I have harped on about the perceived lack of exposure we receive in the London Press, but to be honest, unless Darth get's promoted to Editor of the Standard, we are never going to get any coverage and I for one would not like to see the club blow 20k on something that in all honesty, probably wouldn't get a decent return.
If we could get a half page deal in Metro for 3k...then yes, I would have a pop, but I can't see it happening.

I agree with the clubs current strategy of creating an "event" at each game, that is designed to attract new fans. Not sure about the George Sampson thing being a success, but at least it's a start and did give us our best ever gate for a Wakefield game.

As I have already said, the Crusaders game is a great opportunity to attract fans from the Welsh community, the south african community and our Union brothers...if we put the Lions game on at 3pm in the Kings bar and move our kick off to 5pm. BBQ, beer, sun, pretty dancing girls and a live band afterwards......what's not to like?

What was this ticket offer? I must have missed it.

Season ticket holders were invited to bring 2 friends free of charge in return for their contact details so we can ask them to come back. I seem to remember advocating this in 2004.....but it may have been 2003


Not sure how many this added to the gate but at least the club are having a go.