GB Lions Tour on sale today + Eden Park schedule confirmed

[Burns]

I don't think Mascord has as much influence as you guys think he does

RL is more than capable of coming up with regressive throwback to the future ideas without him telling them to.

I agree, but he was fairly well connected to Wood. Still appears to have some degree of ‘influence’ around the International game.

 

[morningstar]

Will be good to see his justification for this. I remember him for years going on about it on Twitter and running those weird unofficial GB Lion pages.

Doubt you will see a justification. Remember his almost evangelical support of Moore Sports before the Denver Test...not a peep since they shafted the RFL & NZRL.

 

[Arucard]

Told you to prepare for a shocker........
Eden Park isn't far in front of it either....

 

[Springs09]

A Lions Tour isn't necessarily a bad thing, the way everything has been handled around it is what's f**ked. Bringing it back purely for nostalgia was never going to work.

 

[yakstorm]

Told you to prepare for a shocker........
Eden Park isn't far in front of it either....

At least Eden Park still has another week and is ahead of Hamilton...

We might get lucky and England will knock out the All Blacks, the Kiwis will beat the Kangaroos and Tonga puts on a strong performance against GB...

Best thing for Duco to do at the moment is start printing off tickets and handing them out to everyone in the Tongan community... At least if there is a good atmosphere and crowd at Hamilton, those same people might back up the following week...

 

[taipan]

I scratch me head at times, when it comes to scheduling with rugby league.
I could get a 12 year old to look up competing code's schedules around a certain time, and from that organise a schedule.
I hope V'landis gets well and truly up some of these nonces.

 

[jim_57]

How much has the "Tongan invitational XIII" branding damaged interest. Are they even official tests any more?

Playing any game on RUWC Final day in NZ is 100% incompetent.

 

[morningstar]

At least Eden Park still has another week and is ahead of Hamilton...

We might get lucky and England will knock out the All Blacks, the Kiwis will beat the Kangaroos and Tonga puts on a strong performance against GB...

Best thing for Duco to do at the moment is start printing off tickets and handing them out to everyone in the Tongan community... At least if there is a good atmosphere and crowd at Hamilton, those same people might back up the following week...

Do you have any info on the agreement between Duco & the NZRL Yak? Are they at risk or are Duco carrying the can for any losses?

 

[BuderusIsaBeast]

Similar to the players a lot of the Tongan fans used to be NZ fans. Big events such as the World Cup run will attract more casual fans. Normal tests we’re relying on rugby league fans who are being split between supporting NZ and Tonga.

 

[adamkungl]

A Lions Tour isn't necessarily a bad thing, the way everything has been handled around it is what's f**ked. Bringing it back purely for nostalgia was never going to work.

Give me this international season...
Exact same as now but the GBL playing a proper series v Aus, and 4 teams and a final in the top tier of the Oceania

Lions, Oc Cup A, Oc Cup B, Tests

-oct
NZ v Aus, ....., ....., Fij v PNG
GB v Aus, NZ v Fij, Sam v CKI, .....

-nov
GB v NZ, Aus v Ton, PNG v Sam, .....
GB v Aus, Ton v Fij, ....., NZ v CKI
GB v PNG, Aus v Fij, ....., Ton v Sam
GB v Aus, NZ v Ton, CKI v PNG, .....

-dec
....., Final, Final

 

[roughyedspud]

In consecutive weeks we should have had..

England in the 9s
Tonga v England at MT smart,
3 tests v NZ ( or Aus in future tours)
PNG v england

It was really that simple....

 

[yakstorm]

Do you have any info on the agreement between Duco & the NZRL Yak? Are they at risk or are Duco carrying the can for any losses?

My understanding is the NZRL's only risk is player fees, which originally everyone hoped would be covered by the profit the tour and Oceania Cup matches would make.

The NZRL should get a cut from the Wollongong match and my understanding is that the mid-year Test was profitable, however I'm not sure as to whether Duco is paying out per event or at the end.

If it's at the end, I don't see the NZRL collecting any cash, but at least they shouldn't need to shoulder the other event costs.

The bigger impact in all this will be Rugby League's relationship with government bodies like Auckland, Christchurch, etc. Unless there happens to be 3K-5K worth of GB supporters flying over, can't see them being happy with their ROI, which hurts future NZ Tests

 

[roughyedspud]

I'll tell you now there won't be 3-5k flying over.....it'll be 500 tops plus ex pats

 

[adamkungl]

Let's all hope England pump the All Blacks tomorrow night haha
It might be the only hope of salvaging this mess.

Although, England being in the WC final basically cancels out anyone buying tickets to support GBL

 

[Burns]

N

Let's all hope England pump the All Blacks tomorrow night haha
It might be the only hope of salvaging this mess.

Although, England being in the WC final basically cancels out anyone buying tickets to support GBL

No one is supporting GBL, let’s be real here

 

[yakstorm]

Considering how few tickets have been sold for Eden Park, the sales strategy for the ground is strange...

If that may tickets have been moved for 404 - 408, you would suggest they open up the other end of the ground, otherwise why are they starting to sell so far back?

 

[Usain Bolt]

All the players have been posting on their social media links to tickets so it’s obviously not selling well, probably would have been better to play these games at Bankwest

 

[taste2taste]

I wonder why international league fails to capture sports fans attention ?
The product is very good, actually... imo brilliant ( I much prefer internationals to Origin ) we have 4 competitive teams and Samoa are only a few players committing away from being a 5th.... That's more than Union

So, why don't people bother turning up ? I realise there is scheduling issues with this game but even without the RUWC the crowd would still have been poor. I know league is a tribal sport and at its best at club level, but these crowds are embarrassing!
I'm sure it would be better played in mid season rep weekends but while the NRL is dictated too by Fox and Nine chasing ratings that'll never happen.

 

[Springs09]

All the players have been posting on their social media links to tickets so it’s obviously not selling well, probably would have been better to play these games at Bankwest

Play NZ v GB at Bankwest?

 

[siv]

I wonder why international league fails to capture sports fans attention ?

Two nations not playing in their home nation

Direct clash with RUWC in a RU loving nation where the venue chosen is a few hours out of town

Then you look at typical RL crowds at that venue

And then the issues around the admin of Tonga RL

Then we have the modern over pricing of a halfway line ticket

Eastern side should revert back to GA $10 ticketing