FANTASTIC

[Mango]

IRELAND vs NAMIBIA in the pouring rain. The game is sold out. No matter what the doubters say the RUGBY WORLD CUP is a roaring success. The Australian public has voted with their pockets and declared RUGBY as a major sport in the OZ psyche. There is no room for argument, the runs are on the board. What the doubters should do is look at the 100 years of investment in the game and apply the principles to their game and then maybe they will enjoy the success that RUGBY does on the world stage.

 

[roopy]

IRELAND vs NAMIBIA in the pouring rain. The game is sold out. No matter what the doubters say the RUGBY WORLD CUP is a roaring success. The Australian public has voted with their pockets and declared RUGBY as a major sport in the OZ psyche. There is no room for argument, the runs are on the board. What the doubters should do is look at the 100 years of investment in the game and apply the principles to their game and then maybe they will enjoy the success that RUGBY does on the world stage.

The only person I know who has gone to a game is a little old granny who wouldn't know a football if it hit her in the head.
She said she had a great night and the atmosphere was terrific, but wasn't too keen on the football, which she said she didn't understand at all.
I think the Olympics has helped a lot. During the Olympics most of the Handball games were sold out, even though people didn't have a clue what the sport was.
Australia is getting good at hosting big events, which is a good thing, but it doesn't necessarily mean that millions of grannies are now Union fans for life.
I happen to know that the old granny I know is now looking forward to some musical from America, which she sees as the next big event to go to.
Maybe the Rugby Union people can put on a musical to try to keep all their new 'fans'.

 

[Mango]

Poor old Roopy. Since when did the old ladies you pretend to know dispute the facts outlined in the original post. You are supposed to be a moderator on this site but you try to turn this thresd into a US vs Them thread. You are too transparent old boy.

 

[weasel]

Your original post clearly seems to be an attempt at provoking Us vs Them replies Mango.

What the doubters should do is look at the 100 years of investment in the game and apply the principles to their game and then maybe they will enjoy the success that RUGBY does on the world stage.

That's not having a go at other codes?

Roopy has put in a bit of effort in the last week to stop posts like this popping up by creating an appropriate section for them. Not only have you ignored that but you've had a ridiculous go at Roopy for replying to your inflammatory thread.

 

[Stevo_G]

so a sellout at aussie stadium is 35382 people last time i checked i thought the capacity is 42,000 people

 

[salivor]

Anyone who saw the game would know it was far from a sellout. There were only pockets of supporters there.

 

[roopy]

Poor old Roopy. Since when did the old ladies you pretend to know dispute the facts outlined in the original post. You are supposed to be a moderator on this site but you try to turn this thresd into a US vs Them thread. You are too transparent old boy.

Mango,
You implied in your thread that Union has picked up a large number of fans by putting on the WC, and I actually hope that is true, especially in the AFL states, because all sports will benefit from the bias of AFL fans being finally broken down a bit (if they find they like Union they are also likely to have a look at a League game now as well.)

I'm trying to think of a really simple way to put over the point I tried to make in my first post, since the point seems to have elluded you.
Let me try again. The only person I know who has attended a game is someone who attends 'events'. She spent thousands on the Olympics, she sees every show going. She is about 70 and always says it is her last chance to see things like this, so she jumps in for tickets very early.
The point of the post is that she isn't a Union fan, and will probably never even think about the sport again.
Union has probably gained a number of fans from this WC, but even the ones you have picked up will be bandwagon jumpers in the main who will take the first chance to jump over to soccer if we make the next soccer wc, or go to whichever sport puts on the next big event.

 

[Dean Moriarty]

Anyone who saw the game would know it was far from a sellout. There were only pockets of supporters there.

Anyone who was there would know there were stacks of people sheltering up the back who had the exposed seats at the front. Selling all the tickets does not guarantee everyone will show up, especially considering the appalling conditions and that there was no home team involved.

Aussie stadium always looks half empty when it rains. I had a similar experience at a Cronulla vs Roosters game a couple of years back. Watching the game back on TV, you would have sworn about three people showed up. The seats that the cameras show are the uncovered ones.

 

[Bomber]

The Australian public has voted with their pockets and declared RUGBY as a major sport in the OZ psyche.

Voted with their pockets? Obviously not with their hearts and minds, which is what I thought the RWC was all about after all, capturing all these poor innocent RL fans and turning them into Bundy-swilling event prats.

What the doubters should do is look at the 100 years of investment in the game and apply the principles to their game and then maybe they will enjoy the success that RUGBY does on the world stage.

What principles? Stealing players from other codes? We've been doing that to union since 1908!

 

[bazza]

So - how was the actual game? Exciting? Skillful? Close?

 

[Stevo_G]

yeah there are people there to watch the matches but i think majority would be their at ruwc becuase it is a "BIG" event and is the world cup

 

[Dean Moriarty]

yeah there are people there to watch the matches but i think majority would be their at ruwc becuase it is a "BIG" event and is the world cup

Undoubtedly. But if you get ten new people along, and one or two of them get hooked, that's a big gain for the code. Same as the Swans' big crowds this season. Most of them will disappear, but some will stay and that's how you build a strong core support. On the other hand, every time soccer gets a chance to build on things, they manage to bugger it up.

The hard work is not in the World Cup itself, it's in what the ARU does to capitalise on the interest of newbies afterwards.

 

[iggy plop]

IRELAND vs NAMIBIA in the pouring rain. The game is sold out. No matter what the doubters say the RUGBY WORLD CUP is a roaring success. The Australian public has voted with their pockets and declared RUGBY as a major sport in the OZ psyche. There is no room for argument, the runs are on the board. What the doubters should do is look at the 100 years of investment in the game and apply the principles to their game and then maybe they will enjoy the success that RUGBY does on the world stage.

The Marketing and media spin has been phenomenal and the Olympic-style ticketing scheme put the event-loving public in to a frenzied state.

We must go in the ballot to get tickets or we'll miss out!!!!!!! Who cares what game we'll end up seeing!!!!

The record amount of mexican waves at the event is a good indication of the public's interest in the actual games.

We certainly love a well-marketed event.

What a shame Australia can't host a union world cup every year.

rah rah!

 

[iggy plop]

I seriously think this union event will do more harm than good for the code in the non-rugby states. People will be exposed to the slowness of the game and the sight of players standing around doing a lot of nothing.

This does not go well when compared to AFL.

It's a shame rugby can't host an event like this every year to attract the 'event' people, the face painters, in.

 

[bayrep]

I seriously think this union event will do more harm than good for the code in the non-rugby states. People will be exposed to the slowness of the game and the sight of players standing around doing a lot of nothing.

This does not go well when compared to AFL.

It's a shame rugby can't host an event like this every year to attract the 'event' people, the face painters, in.

You are definitly a sour person iggy, if you won a million dollars you would be complaining it should have been two million. I also think you forget that with the LWC you had the exact same results with just as much drop balls and penalties because the minows couldnt keep up. At least say something that has some meaning instead of your tired dribble.

 

[bazza]

The record amount of mexican waves at the event is a good indication of the public's interest in the actual games.

It has actually been scientifically proven that mexican waves are a sign of boredom in the crowd

http://www.nature.com/nsu/020909/020909-8.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2253747.stm

BTW - no one has discussed this "fantastic" game (on the field anyway)

 

[Bengal]

yeah there are people there to watch the matches but i think majority would be their at ruwc becuase it is a "BIG" event and is the world cup

Undoubtedly. But if you get ten new people along, and one or two of them get hooked, that's a big gain for the code. Same as the Swans' big crowds this season. Most of them will disappear, but some will stay and that's how you build a strong core support. On the other hand, every time soccer gets a chance to build on things, they manage to bugger it up.

The hard work is not in the World Cup itself, it's in what the ARU does to capitalise on the interest of newbies afterwards.

Dead right! A fact unfortunately learnt by the NZRFL a few years back.

Still I'm impressed with the turnouts the rah rahs have managed to achieve.

The fact that a lot of people are turning up for these games based on the premise that these are 'events' are points the NRL/ARL should be noting for future reference in terms of how to promote League games.

 

[skeepe]

Dead right! A fact unfortunately learnt by the NZRFL a few years back.

Still I'm impressed with the turnouts the rah rahs have managed to achieve.

The fact that a lot of people are turning up for these games based on the premise that these are 'events' are points the NRL/ARL should be noting for future reference in terms of how to promote League games.

Good point Bengal. The amount of "big" games the AFL seemed to have this year, at least in the media, was a great success for them (ie. Sydney vs Collingwood). By comparison, the only NRL game I can think of apart from the finals series that was hyped at all was Bulldogs vs Roosters, and that was hyped by the media. The NRL promotions department need to have a good hard look at themselves.

Back to the topic of the RWC, roopy I went to Aussie Stadium on Sunday night because I love rugby. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, despite the lopsided scoreline because of the skill of the Irish (even if O'Driscoll was terrible by his standards) and the courage of the Namibians. The atmosphere was great, and I will be attending at least 4 other world cup matches in the next week.

I did not buy these tickets for a chance at the ballot, I bought them because I actually wanted to see the games. And to whoever said there were only pockets of fans there, if you were there you would know it was more or less packed to the rafters, and the game was not boring. But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

 

[Tidus_Raider]

So - how was the actual game? Exciting? Skillful? Close?

It's not the game remember. It's the spectacle :lol:

 

[Mango]

This is a Rugby board. What is threatening on a RUGBY board about a RUGBY fan stating his opinion that it IS FANTASTIC that a minor game in the RWC is sold out and despite the terrible climatic conditions the majority of those that purchased expensive tickets still fronted. There were many air conditioned venues in the city with personalities of the code and massive TV screens and beautiful women and grog on tap where the game could be enjoyed live. I'll say again....FANTASTIC.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR POSITIVE COMMENT ABOUT RUGBY, STAY OFF RUGBY FORUMS.