I Bloomin' well hope the seat ARE allocated! I spent a long time on the phone with Quins trying to ensure that I got 11 good seats (6 of which are newcomers)! I will be totally p****d off if I find myself sitting somewhere other than the seats I booked!

Er...2,500 drunk aussies + Quins stewards = free for all!
I would call the club AGAIN to reitterate you get your 11 together and make a point of saying you will cancel if it is not so.

The seats are allocated. There are seat numbers on my ticket. Any drunken Aussies sitting in MY seat are going home in an ambulance...

... only joking.

Smash'em Curty

Shoulder first and a swinging arm.
Whammo!

Just had a look at the website myself to buy tickets...

Unless the game is a near sell-out, that is PISS-POOR!

For a club that struggles to get gates over 3.5K on a regular basis, why can you only buy tickets in AF of the Etihad (limited)? For the casual or new fan that isnt encouraging! Oh look, there are only a few tickets left, damn... oh well. Even worse, the fan does buy the few remaining tickets, notices the shedload of seats left on game day and leaves with a bitter experience.

And I used to wonder when I arrived in London why the club struggled for gates? If you cant get tickets online easily (one of the advertisings call to actions, and the way the majority of ticketing is bought these days) then no matter how well you market the product you are scewed.

PATHETIC! If I wasn't such a rugby lover, I wouldnt even bother...

Just booked my tickets and got told i couldnt have my normal seats in my private balcony (well disabled balcony then)

, but i wont worry about that i just wander over and go up there anyway.

The reason girl in ticket office gave me was that the LV stand wont be open for the game, and when i asked how ticket sales were going for this game she gave me the impression that ticket sales not all that good.

The Storm in all honesty are probably the worst result for this game in terms of attacting Aussie fans.

If only the Eels has won!! Would have been a much bigger draw.

And they're not looking to have a full side.

Melbourne are playing Brisbane in a pre-season trial match at Rockhampton tomorrow. Be interesting to compare the team they put out there with the squad that travels to the UK.

If the LV Stand is not open, does that mean, so far tickets can only be purchased in the Etihad Stand? If so, only having one stand available for a match like this is embarrassing.

Absolutely disgraceful. I'm not going to bother if the only seats available are in AF.

Dave I think the ethiad is actually full.

As you know, I couldn't give 2 hoots which stand is open - fact remains, if the club has elected to open 1 side stand only, it is a complete joke.

Dave it hasn't. I believe the north stand will be open if enough tickets got sold in the next 2 weeks then the club will have to open either the south or lexus.

Can anyone confirm if there has been any "activity" in TNT or at the Walkabouts?
I am with Listy on this one....the club should have opened both SIDES for this game. There will be a few walk up fans and if we want them back, then let them THINK they can sit where they want....

Not sure if it helps or not but I called the club last week as I'm coming down from Manchester for this game and I was definitely told I'd be able to pay on the gates so whichever stand/s are open and being used the club seem to be making provision for the walk up fans which IMO is at least a sign of forward planning.

A little activity but not enough IMHO

Easy rude boi. If I travel 200+ miles for this as a walkup and the only seat I am offered is row A in Ax, then I am going to be fairly upset. Although I would rather sit there than in the North/South stands, point still stands that we are playing the NRL champions and our farce of a club is opening 2 stands, max. TWO STANDS, against the NRL champions.

I could market this game and guarantee the club a 6k crowd. In fact, I would fancy myself making 8k with a half decent budget, but apologies for offering any ambition, I know this is something that Harlequins RL does not possess.

You are me and where's my £5

Finally a Listy/GF love in.

Wannabe marketeers unite

I'd like to think this won't be the case, but the very fact that the matter seems open to doubt isn't going to help boost the crowd figure. Last year for the Manly game we had both side stands open (i.e. the best two stands in the ground) and each looked around two thirds-three quarters full, and it was the best crowd figure and probably the best atmosphere for any home game last year. It doesn't seem like rocket science to just do the same again for this match.

I appreciate the savings made by not opening the entire ground but the club's policy of opening the bare minimum number of seats, and shoehorning walk-ups into the few seats not sold in advance, makes us look small time and unambitious, i.e we're not even aiming to or don't expect to fill more than one stand. Above all else I reckon it's probably a false economy, as I would think it's also liable to deter any casual spectator from coming back if they get a worms-eye view from near the corner flag, with people continually wandering across their field of vision, while whole blocks of seats with a much better view lie vacant. Obviously some people are getting a similar experience for union games, but the crucial difference is the ground is close to capacity and if they don't want to come back there's probably someone else ready and willing to fill their seat.

Not offering the two main stands for this game is an absolute disgrace. I understand that the club needs to operate on a certain budget, but I know (and no i am not privy to the details of the club) that opening the second stand would more the offset the cost of operations for this game.

Currently you have a limited chice of seats: This
A) May turn potential fans away
B) Effects your match day experience. I commit to the event, buy my tickets early but cannot get my preffered seats. Later on the club opens the other stand and it is possible to get a better position. Leaving a sour taste in my mouth, non return.

This game is supposed to showcase our club the new fans, already they have put them selves behind the 8 ball. Last year I came down with close to a dozen friends. We did the same for the test, usually I can pull 4-5 for a standard SL game. Really struggling to suggest to bring friends to this game as I can get enough seats in a 16k stadium that is going to house maybe 5k. Really starting to lose patience with this club.

Can't fault this post!!! I would certainly feel affected by B) but ugly rumour is that they aren't going to fill out Etihad!!!