RLWC2017 Crowd Watch

[Burns]

Alright, I've got time to spare this morning and have written out the current state of affairs for two matches to be played in Hamilton. So brace yourself for a wall of text.

Tonga v Samoa - Hamilton - Capacity 25,800

What Bays are on Sale?

Northern Upper
Bay 21 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT B – 20/21 – 1 available (literally 2 seat available)
CAT A - 19/20 – 1 available (literally 1 seat available)
Bay 18 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 17 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 16 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 15 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A – 14/15 – 4 available (literally 15 seat available)
Bay 13 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 12 - UNAVAILABLE BAY

Northern Lower
Bay 10 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 9 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT B – 8/9 – ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
CAT A – 7/8 – 10+ available
Bay 6 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 5 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A – 4/5 – 10+ available
CAT B – 3B – ‘double lines seats’
Bay 2 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 1 - UNAVAILABLE BAY

Southern Lower
Bay 23 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
24/25 - Samoa Bay – 10+ available
CAT A - 25/56 – ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
CAT A - 26/27 - ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
Bay 27 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 28 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A - 29/30 - ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
CAT A - 30/31 - ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
Bay 31 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 32 - UNAVAILABLE BAY

Southern Upper
All Bays are available –10+ available, most ‘double lines seats’

Eastern Side Behind Goal Posts
Sold Out = (800 tickets sold)

Western Hill
CAT C - 20 + available
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Northern (The "TV Side") side seems decent. If the Middle Central Bays are Unavailable because they are sold out, this would be fantastic. But who knows? Safe to assume that the Bays on the sides have not been placed on sale.

 

[Disinterested third party]

If the Australia and England V Lebanon games get 20k and then hopefully the bullshit idea that Sydney doesn't support internationals can finally end

The reason people say it is because Sydney - which once was assured to sell out internationals from 1908-1970s - has been extremely underwhelming since. The facts speak for themselves.

 

[Emu01]

There is a massive Oztag carnival at a park near my place today. The World Cup staff should be here handing out a few thousand free tickets to the kids for the Sydney game this week.

It will boost numbers for tv. The cheap tickets behind the posts that no one buys..

 

[Burns]

Tonga v NZ

Which Bays are on sale?

Northern Upper
Bay 21 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 20 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 19 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 18 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 17 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A – 16/17 – 1 available (literally 1 seat available)
Bay 15 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 14 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 13 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 12 - UNAVAILABLE BAY

Northern Lower
CAT C – 10/11 – 1 available (literally 2 seats available)
Bay 9 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 8 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A – 7/8 – 1 available (literally 4 seats available)
Bay 6 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 5 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 4 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 3 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT C - 2/3 – 1 available (literally 1 seats available)
CAT C - 1/2 – 1 available (literally 2 seats available)

Southern Lower
CAT C – 23/24 – single seats
NZ Bay – 24/25 – 10+ seats available – much of the Bay is “unavailable”
CAT A - 25/56 – ‘double lines seats’ – 10+ available
CAT A – 26/27 – (8 seats available)
CAT A – 27/28 – (2 seats available)
CAT A – 28/29 – (5 seats available)
Bay 29 – UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT A – 30/31 - ‘double lines seats’ – 10 available
Tonga Bay – 31/32 - 10+ seats available – much of the Bay is “unavailable”
Bay 32 – UNAVAILABLE BAY

Southern Upper
CAT B – 34/35 - ‘double lines seats’ – much of the Bay is “unavailable” 10+ available
Bay 35 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 36 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 37 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 38 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
Bay 39 - UNAVAILABLE BAY
CAT B - 40 - ‘double lines seats’ - 10+ available

Eastern Side Behind Goal Posts
Just about Sold Out

Western Hill
CAT C - 20 + available
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What does this mean?
There are currently 10 seats available in the entire Northern Grandstand. There is 15 Bays unavailable. Perhaps, just maybe it would be a good idea to open these additional Bays for ticket sales.

Of course this is assuming that these Bays are being held back for Sale - they could possibly be sold, but given the track record of the RLWC lets say they aren't.

Otherwise, ticket sales for this game seem very strong? Lets remember that the executive director of Hamilton City Council, Sean Murray stated that he was confident this game would be a sell out:

"This is another feather in our cap, and another vote of confidence in the facility in our city," Mr Murray said. "We are building a strong track record when it comes to the smooth delivery of world-class sporting events."

Mr Murray is confident of a sellout (around 25,000) for the Kiwis match, while the game between the Island sides should also attract plenty of interest, with a particular influx from Auckland likely, for what should be a real spectacle.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-time...-two-games-of-the-2017-Rugby-League-World-Cup

 

[Burns]

On England v Lebanon;

The Upper Eastern is not, and likely won't go on sale. The Upper Western will be dependent on what Members turn up.

So whats the total capacity with the Upper Levels removed?

On the Bays that are available, most are doing the 'double line seats' to spread the crowd out. There is just no hard sign that the crowd will be approaching 20,000 at this stage otherwise we would have some the Bays actually sold out.

 

[Emu01]

On England v Lebanon;

The Upper Eastern is not, and likely won't go on sale. The Upper Western will be dependent on what Members turn up.

So whats the total capacity with the Upper Levels removed?

On the Bays that are available, most are doing the 'double line seats' to spread the crowd out. There is just no hard sign that the crowd will be approaching 20,000 at this stage otherwise we would have some the Bays actually sold out.

Why did they even schedule Lebanon v England at the SFS? It’s a tough sell at a ground that is nortorisly difficult to sell out.

Leichhardt oval would have been a better choice.

 

[adamkungl]

Why did they even schedule Lebanon v England at the SFS? It’s a tough sell at a ground that is nortorisly difficult to sell out.

Leichhardt oval would have been a better choice.

Leichhardt and Belmore that people keep suggesting are barely fit for local A Grade let alone a World Cup

 

[Burns]

Leichhardt and Belmore that people keep suggesting are barely fit for local A Grade let alone a World Cup

Pretty much this. I am sympathetic to the idea of Belmore for a Lebanese game, but unlike the North of England, we don't need to play our matches at sub-standard venues.

If Parramatta Stadium has not been demolished, it would have been perfect as the "Sydney" venue.

 

[flamin]

4 tix purchased for Australia v Lebanon. PAX is 10981 for what it’s worth.

 

[adamkungl]

I'd be pretty happy if the 2 Sydney games got 15k and 25k.
As usual easy for Brisbane to say it supports the Kangaroos when Sydney gets minnow flogging games and Brisbane gets the semi and final.
Love to see what Australia v Lebanon would draw in Brisbane or Melbourne, and we'll get an idea of Canberra's supposed support in 2 days.

 

[kiwileaguefan]

The Northern (The "TV Side") side seems decent. If the Middle Central Bays are Unavailable because they are sold out, this would be fantastic. But who knows? Safe to assume that the Bays on the sides have not been placed on sale.

Based on last weeks crowd and what we saw on the ticketing sites, Im going to suggest the Unavailable bays have not been on sale at all, or they are opening and closing them daily to try and force the crowd into cretin areas so it appears there are more people at the game on tv than what it is.

I.e. i was at the Samoa game and if they didnt announce the crowd at the game as just under 18,000, i would have said it was 20-22,000.

 

[Burns]

Based on last weeks crowd and what we saw on the ticketing sites, Im going to suggest the Unavailable bays have not been on sale at all, or they are opening and closing them daily to try and force the crowd into cretin areas so it appears there are more people at the game on tv than what it is.

I.e. i was at the Samoa game and if they didnt announce the crowd at the game as just under 18,000, i would have said it was 20-22,000.

Agree entirely.

I just wonder how many sales they potential lose when someone looks to buy a ticket and finds that there are barely any available. I guess it creates that sense of artificial scarcity and forces people to act quickly as its 'about to sell out' - but eh.

Any word from NZ about how the two matches in Hamilton are moving? There has been a lot of noise this week about the reception the Tongan team got at the airport, etc etc - Would hope it would translate into ticket sales.

I haven't bothered to have a look at the NZ v Scotland as I'm not very confident of much there.

 

[kiwileaguefan]

Agree entirely.

I just wonder how many sales they potential lose when someone looks to buy a ticket and finds that there are barely any available. I guess it creates that sense of artificial scarcity and forces people to act quickly as its 'about to sell out' - but eh.

Any word from NZ about how the two matches in Hamilton are moving? There has been a lot of noise this week about the reception the Tongan team got at the airport, etc etc - Would hope it would translate into ticket sales.

I haven't bothered to have a look at the NZ v Scotland as I'm not very confident of much there.

I just looked at the Scotland game and im going to suggest around half the ground has been sold (hard to tell because of the unavailable bays) so maybe 9,000.

Chch generally are good supporters of League, but i dont know with how Scotland preformed last week will help.

I just searched all the local papers and nothing about how many tickets have sold. Which is weird because they generally always state how ticket sales are going for league games closer to the game.

I saw people on facebook asking if their were still tickets available for the game, so one would have to think the organisers have failed in the promotion aspect of selling tickets. Though like we have all seen, 2-3,000 Tongan fans turned up after midnight to welcome the Tongan team into Auckland...if thats not dedication i dont know what is...

 

[flamin]

Fiji v Italy in Canberra next week is the danger as far as crowds are concerned. Shame because it could be a great game.

 

[adamkungl]

Fiji v Italy in Canberra next week is the danger as far as crowds are concerned. Shame because it could be a great game.

Very easy to predict this one as the worst crowd of the tournament. Sub 5000

 

[Coparugby]

Very easy to predict this one as the worst crowd of the tournament. Sub 5000

And going from my experience in Canberra many fans probably aren’t aware it’s on.

 

[morningstar]

I'll put my knob on a block and say Christchurch will go close to a sellout on Saturday,17,000.

Weather has been perfect all week in town and both teams have been out and about doing promotional visits.

The unavailable bays are sold out, these were the first bays that went on sale and are in the TV facing stands, so not much point holding them back for sale if they want it to look good for broadcasting.

 

[Green_]

Fiji v Italy in Canberra next week is the danger as far as crowds are concerned. Shame because it could be a great game.

Hopefully tomorrow night’s game will create a buzz, which will flow over for the Fiji/Italy game and generate some interest among the people of Canberra. Canberra scoring 3 RLWC games is beyond me.

 

[adamkungl]

Hopefully tomorrow night’s game will create a buzz, which will flow over for the Fiji/Italy game and generate some interest among the people of Canberra. Canberra scoring 3 RLWC games is beyond me.

Canberra and Townsville should have got a double header each.
Cairns is a cow paddock.
There's 5 extra games that could have gone to Gold Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle, Western Sydney, Gosford

 

[Green_]

As much as I hate yawnion, but this RLWC should have used the 2003 RWC as the blueprint for the tournament. Look at some of the crowd figures for minnow games at similar stadia we are using:

Argentina V Namibia – Gosford – 17,887

Namibia V Romania – Launceston – 15,457

Fiji V Japan – Townsville – 17,269

Italy V Tonga – Canberra – 18,967

Canada V Tonga – Wollongong – 15,630

Surely, it’s not beyond Rugby League to be getting similar crowds like this to our tournament?