Intially I was critical of taking the game to Wembley. Yet I was at the game yesterday and throughly enjoyed the occasion, and yes it did feel something like the good old days in the 80's and early 90's when fans from all clubs came together to support the national side.
If the game had been played at Wigan it wouldnt have sold out yet we got 42K passionate fans all shouting for the same cause (apart from about 4 Leeds fans at the back of us who booed Tomkins, but that was to expected as they were all sharing the same brain cell).
Not often I say it but WELL DONE TO THE RFL, now lets build on the momentum.

A different sort of crowd at Wembley yesterday. Apart from 5 blokes from Wakefield nearby who spent the game shouting about the referee's alleged sexual preferences, I found myself surrounded by a Ladies London based Rugby Union Team, quite a few Kiwis, some Aussies and more unusually some young ladies from the USA. Certainly a different atmosphere from what you encounter in Leigh!
A pity more people from the heartland couldn't attend, but as people have pointed out, times are not that easy at the moment and choices have to be made.

Just got back and tbh I was pleased. Of course I'd rather it be full but we should still look at the postives and build from what happened yesterday. Where i was sat there where americans who seemed intrigued about the "field goals" and didnt understand the concept of having to put the ball down over the line for a try to be scored instead of just walking over

but from what i could hear they seemed to enjoy it. and also got talking to some southeners next to us who where saying they actually enjoy watching league more as theres so much action. they just dont understand the rules as much.

I think we need to do something similar to this again next time a tournament is in england and stick to wembley, otherwise the whole of yesterday will of been a waste of time. Even if the stadium wasn't full, It definatley got people in the ground who are new to the game and that can only be a good thing.

Top effort from all concerned if you ask me. I did cringe a tad though when the BBC kept using that wide angle lens camera from the roof of the stand. Made the place look a lot more empty than it actually was

First time I have been on here since the game on Saturday night and I must say I am pleasantly surprised at how well the RFL did for this double header. I was sceptical to start with about the games being held at Wembley and thought it wouldn't attract a decent enough crowd, but 42000 is a great effort! The amount of new fans around the place too can only be good for the game, hopefully now the RFL can build on this.

I must say I thought the atmosphere was brilliant too, it was just a shame we couldn't get the win or maybe had a scoreline that was a fair reflection of the game.

Not surprised to see the people that are moaning are the people that didn't bother to go because they believe International RL is dying. Well they're wrong.

I was at Wembley on Saturday and thought it was a huge success. We had a great day, England played really well and the stadium looked great under floodlights. Hope they do the same again next year and really hope more RL fans support the event.

Too bloody right and anybody that was there Saturday would concur!!

What I loved was that, despite the defeat, there was still a buzz with the fans outside the ground after the final whistle. A sort of sense that England will be able to compete with Australia on a regular basis in the future.

Great occasion, the Wales/NZ game was drab but it soon came to life when the Aussie/English game was coming up, there was indeed plenty ethnic minorities including Kiwi's Aussies and even some of them funny sounding people from southern England



Bear in mind that although there was only 42k in a stadium that holds 90k or so the facilities are absolutely rubbish.. 4/5 minute queues at the bogs for a tiddle is incredible not to mention hitler esque stewards asking to see your ticket 4 or 5 times..

All in all it was a great occasion and i even wanted England to beat Australia

Dont remember talking to any Saints fans Brian, tho i do remember some couple saying 5 losses in a row to me or something to that effect then seeing you waving your finger at me



Look forward to the next four nations and hopefully involving Scotland this time

Don't forget that even though it was only 42k, the bottom tiers were basically full so the maximum amount of people would have been using the toilets/queuing for food etc. Its always like that at England games when its a sell out and its a nightmare.

Im sure I read somewhere that Wembley has the highest number of toilets than any other ground in the world

I came out the stadium surprisingly upbeat considering we lost. It was a superb game and had a few awful decisions not gone against us things could of been very very different. I have never enjoyed watching an international game as much in my life. and the whole thing before the players came out with the fireworks and the land of hope and glory being played etc etc was brilliant. The people who didn't go and are moaning are as you say, wrong. And after such a great experience its made me and my friends despite being skint want to try our best to get to hull next week and experience something like that again.

If the RFL do things right then yesterday could have been a big turning point for international rugby league in this country.

Fair point but it wasnt full as in "full to the brim" in the lower tier... far from it..

We shouldnt be queueing at the bogs for 3 to 4 mins at a modern stadium like that should we really?

But hey, its just a minor complaint

Instant solution big man..........i you dont drink so much ........you wont pee so much.

I went, and I don't think I would have gone had it not been at Wembley. Took a mate who lives in London with me, thoroughly enjoyed it (but only went as he hadn't been to wembley before, and I told him you can drink on the terraces), surrounded by Aussies and the odd welshman and had a good atmosphere and some good banter. The wales atmosphere was a bit weak but thats what you expected really, definately livened up later on.

As for the 42k, It was a lot more than I expected. The ground felt full when you were there as tbh you never really thought about the upper tier at all. I think there's been a figure of about 40% of the tickets were bought by London postcodes as well, apparently its been marketed a lot in that area and there were a lot of "non" rugby league fans I felt, a few not understand some decisions and that but everyone seemed to be chanting and shouting.

Must admit though, I was sat in the corner where the Briscoe no try was, and I was shouting that much I walked out of Wembley sounding like Lockyer.

Fantastic occasion that needs to be built on in future years. Agree with a lot of the suggestions being made, such as putting the onus on the clubs to shift tickets.

My only real complaint was the attempt to gee up the crowd, firstly the messages on the big screens (Make Some Noise Rugby League Fans, or Hold Up Your Try Cards) which to me were embarrassing and unnecessary - was half expecting the next message to remind me to breathe in and out! But worse than that was the piped chanting through the PA system. Truly awful!

Many people call for the RFL to show the ambition and real intent to push the International game as hard as possible and in taking that England game to Wembley showed that ambition. 42k for that game is very good indeed considering the timing and location.

What ever the bad side of this, we need, as a game, stop beating ourselves up and do our best to get behind the international game, and keep driving it on and push what is an highly entertaining product that we have !

Ran out of bitter, not happy.

Bring the game to Old Trafford.

Irish pub just round the corner with cracking Guinness at 2.30 a pint. Happy days and the perfect way to start the day

And they claim it's got the most toilets of any stadium in Europe don't they?

If that's correct I'm presuming the club Wembley lot must be sitting on commodes!

Bring back the old Wembley days of just slashing wherever you fancy.

One of the two Aussies slumped in front of us did just that, the dirty sod.

Jeez the Aussies really can't hack the pace! Never seen anything like the states they used to get in at Ashes cricket over there.

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If I had to watch cricket I'd get bladdered too !!!

Thats because stupidly they try to keep up with the barmy army

its cos they drink that pishy beer in the green cans..... VD (or is it VB) sort of the same thing