RLWC2017 Crowd Watch

[morningstar]

Where do you get 385k from? My figures from wiki have it at 349,107 with a sell out?

He's right, we're at 333,428 now.

Plus 52,500 for the final gets you to 385k.

 

[adamkungl]

Where do you get 385k from? My figures from wiki have it at 349,107 with a sell out?

It's currently at 333,428 (according to wikipedia and by adding it up individually)

 

[Perth Red]

It's currently at 333,428 (according to wikipedia and by adding it up individually)

That’s including the double header crowds being counted twice.

 

[morningstar]

That’s including the double header crowds being counted twice.

No it's not.

 

[adamkungl]

That’s including the double header crowds being counted twice.

Add em up...

groups

aus v eng 22724
fra v lebanese 5492
aus v fra 12293
eng v lebanese 10237
aus v lebanese 21127
perth dh 14744
nz v sam 17857
cairns dh 9216
nz v sco 12130
sam v ton 18156
nz v ton 24041
sam v sco 4309
png v wal 14800
png v ire 14800
fij v usa 5103
tville dh 7732
fij v ita 6733
png v usa 14800

events 18 (games 21)
total 236,294
average 13,127

finals

aus v sam 13473
ton v lebanese 8309
nz v fij 12713
eng v png 10563
aus v fiji 22073
ton v eng 30003

events 6
total 97,134
average 16,189

 

[miguel de cervantes]

let's be honest, if we can't get a full stadium to the two best, most advanced rugby league nations playing in a world cup final in the city with the highest NRL crowd average then there is a serious problem. like, a serious problem.

yes, ticket prices are expensive, but I get the feeling there are deeper issues at play here. league fatigue, economic, public perception of the game on the slide etc.

 

[Perth Red]

My mistake! Still 500 out somewhere but close enough lol


Australia
Aus v Eng (opener) Melbourne 22,274
Fiji v USA Townsville 5,103
Ire v USA (dbl header) Townsville 7,732*
Ire v Ital (dbl header) Cairns 9,216*
Sam v Sco Cairns 4,309
lebanese v Fra Canberra 5,492
Fiji v Ita Canberra 6,733
Aus v Fra Canberra 12,293
Eng v lebanese Sydney 10,237
Aus v lebanese Sydney 21,127
Eng v Fra (dbl header) Perth 14,744*

Qtrs
Aus v Sam Darwin 13,473 (sold out)
Eng v PNG Melbourne 10,563

Semi
Aus v Fiji Brisbane 22,073

Total crowd for Australia 165,369*
Game avg 11,812

* not inc second game in dbl header

NZ
Nz v Sam Auckland 17,857
Nz v Sco Christchurch 12,130
Sam v Tong Hamilton 18,156
Nz v Tong Hamilton 24,041

Qtrs
Tong v lebanese Christchurch 8,309
Nz v Fiji Wellington 12,713

Semi
Tong v Eng Auckland 30,003. (Sold out)

Total crowds for Nz 123,209
Game avg 17,601

PNG
Png v wal Port Moresby 14,800 (sold out)
Png v Ire Port Moresby 14,800 (sold out)
Png v USA Port Moresby 14,800 (sold out)

Total crowds for png 44,400
Game avg 14,800(max capacity)

Total crowds 332,978
Game avg for tournament 13,874

 

[johnny plath]

You can’t compare tournaments in different hemis. Clearly English fans are more committed to the game than Australian fans.

I assume you mean more committed to the international game, considering Super league crowd averages are around 8000 for a 12 team competition. Why are club attendances so low, but international tournament attracts crowds... is it because like other posters have mentioned that in Australia and NZ we see the majority of these players around 200 times in a season, whereas in England, it is actually an event to see players that you don't normally get to see regularly. It harps back to the need for the northern hemisphere to develop genuine star power that people will come and see if they know that they may not get many opportunities to. People watch the socceroos because A league is crap - its an opportunity to see the best players - thats the point of difference with international league atm.

 

[Perth Red]

let's be honest, if we can't get a full stadium to the two best, most advanced rugby league nations playing in a world cup final in the city with the highest NRL crowd average then there is a serious problem. like, a serious problem.

yes, ticket prices are expensive, but I get the feeling there are deeper issues at play here. league fatigue, economic, public perception of the game on the slide etc.

Like I said we have just come of the lowest nrl crowd avg for a decade. The game is totally stagnant at the moment, at best, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it has translated for games held in Australia. We should be thankful Tonga has ignited NZ, if we were relying on nz fans only it could have been a lot worse.

The RLWC performance in Australia is just symptomatic of how the game is travelling here at the moment.

 

[Springs09]

To get Australians to care about the World Cup, we need a QLD origin like period of international dominance. 10 years of England, NZ and Tonga winning all major titles would make people actually want the kangaroos to win.

I’m cheering for an England win, just as I cheered for NZ in 2008 and 2013.

If even a hardcore league fan like myself doesn’t want Australia to win, no wonder the average punter could give a F.

That's more the other way around.

The hardcore league fans want what's best for the game. The average punter wants Australia to dominate everything they can (cause f**k the poms and kiwis), we've seen this in both league and cricket. The far more dominant Roos teams of the 80s-00s were more supported than the Roos team of 2017. Same with our cricket team where winning every test at home was a foregone conclusion for 25 years or so.

NZ becoming more competitive from 2008-15 and taking the No. 1 spot off Australia seemed to make our casual fans less interested somehow.

 

[Perth Red]

I assume you mean more committed to the international game, considering Super league crowd averages are around 8000 for a 12 team competition. Why are club attendances so low, but international tournament attracts crowds... is it because like other posters have mentioned that in Australia and NZ we see the majority of these players around 200 times in a season, whereas in England, it is actually an event to see players that you don't normally get to see regularly. It harps back to the need for the northern hemisphere to develop genuine star power that people will come and see if they know that they may not get many opportunities to. People watch the socceroos because A league is crap - its an opportunity to see the best players - thats the point of difference with international league atm.

Do you know how many people live in places like Castleford and St Helens?
Hull has a population smaller than Canberra yet significantly bigger crowds when you combine FC and KR
Leeds half the size of Auckland yet better crowds
Etc etc

But yes I was talking about supporting the international game

 

[adamkungl]

Did this WC make any progress?

Measured against the last one in Aus in 2008... crowds are worse on average.
against the last WC, in 2013... crowds are worse too.

The weird thing is, it feels like there is more fan interest and media positivity around internationals than there was 10 years ago. Why hasn't this translated into bigger numbers?

Fail by the organisers.

 

[Springs09]

Like I said we have just come of the lowest nrl crowd avg for a decade. The game is totally stagnant at the moment, at best, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it has translated for games held in Australia. We should be thankful Tonga has ignited NZ, if we were relying on nz fans only it could have been a lot worse.

The RLWC performance in Australia is just symptomatic of how the game is travelling here at the moment.

Yes but the World Cup has carried over what's wrong with the NRL and Origin. Scheduling and ticket prices have been atrocious. It's not just 'oh that's just the way it is'. Why would you follow the NRL/Origin strategy after the awful year we've had? We failed to get big crowds for big games, we failed to sell-out the Broncos semi (outdrawn by Parramatta), we failed to sell-out the Grand Final, we failed to sell-out Origin I in Brisbane.

The game isn't stagnant, the NRL is. And it's like that because of poor organisation. Just because the same thing happened in the NRL this year doesn't mean the RLWC should be immune from criticism.

The game could be flourishing if they weren't committed to screwing over fans.

 

[johnny plath]

Do you know how many people live in places like Castleford and St Helens?
Hull has a population smaller than Canberra yet significantly bigger crowds when you combine FC and KR
Leeds half the size of Auckland yet better crowds
Etc etc

But yes I was talking about supporting the international game

I know, thats kind of the point I was trying to make - people come from far and wide to see something worthwhile that they don't get to see regularly - unfortunately atm this particular world cup is a reverse of that - people see these players every week, and outside of the England team, the northern hemisphere hasn't brought enough to ignite enthusiasm to audiences who see most of the worlds best players weekly.

 

[Perth Red]

Did this WC make any progress?

Measured against the last one in Aus in 2008... crowds are worse on average.
against the last WC, in 2013... crowds are worse too.

The weird thing is, it feels like there is more fan interest and media positivity around internationals than there was 10 years ago. Why hasn't this translated into bigger numbers?

Fail by the organisers.

I think it has, the spread of venues for one thing is a massive improvement. Look at the venues for 2008 and it smacks of an east coast only sport. This time we had pretty much everywhere except Adelaide, plus NZ and PNG. That alone is a big maturing for the game.

Sure avg per game is down but this is the most watched RL tournament of all time in this part of the world so not all bad news. Some better administration (and let’s be honest how many times have we said that about RL!) and it would have been spot on. But then again it is very hard to change Australian apathy.

 

[Perth Red]

Yes but the World Cup has carried over what's wrong with the NRL and Origin. Scheduling and ticket prices have been atrocious.

Not for 17/25 games they haven’t. It was very reasonable to watch the pool games.
If you can go and see an international for $20 ($16 if a Telstra customer) you can’t say it was too expensive and put people off.

I agree scheduling of some but that’s the compromise when you have cities willing to bid big $’s to host games, something we should be very pleased about.

 

[adamkungl]

I think it has, the spread of venues for one thing is a massive improvement. Look at the venues for 2008 and it smacks of an east coast only sport. This time we had pretty much everywhere except Adelaide, plus NZ and PNG. That alone is a big maturing for the game.

Hm. Good for Perth, PNG and NZ.
But 3 games each in Townsville, Cairns and Canberra was a massive own goal seemingly to spite the NSW Government.
Townsville and Canberra both actually drew far worse crowds than 2008, despite similar 'minnow' games.

The spread of venues might be better but the actual venue selection was horrible and panned out exactly as critics predicted.

 

[hutch]

Did this WC make any progress?

Measured against the last one in Aus in 2008... crowds are worse on average.
against the last WC, in 2013... crowds are worse too.

The weird thing is, it feels like there is more fan interest and media positivity around internationals than there was 10 years ago. Why hasn't this translated into bigger numbers?

Fail by the organisers.

There is far more interest and positive media this time around. Why it hasn’t translated to crowds I don’t know. I remember the 2008 wc very well, it was bagged in the media and channel 9 only showed the super pool games. And of those only the Aussie games live and on the main channel. Tv ratings have been huge but if it wasn’t for tonga and png I don’t know if this tournament would have been a success at all.

 

[Perth Red]

Hm. Good for Perth, PNG and NZ.
But 3 games each in Townsville, Cairns and Canberra was a massive own goal seemingly to spite the NSW Government.
Townsville and Canberra both actually drew far worse crowds than 2008, despite similar 'minnow' games.

The spread of venues might be better but the actual venue selection was horrible and panned out exactly as critics predicted.

Yep,those would be the venue poor outcomes, along with Christchurch imo, but again they paid big money to host games so that has to be accounted for.

If nsw govt actually backed it’s main sport then we would have seen some,
of those games in Newcastle, Gosford and Wollongong and a semi in Sydney. Blame the nsw govt not the organisers. I think it’s a big step up that the tournament is now seen as a valued sporting event and cities are willing to pay big money to host games.

 

[adamkungl]

Yep,those would be the venue poor outcomes, along with Christchurch imo, but again they paid big money to host games so that has to be accounted for.

If nsw govt actually backed it’s main sport then we would have seen some,
of those games in Newcastle, Gosford and Wollongong and a semi in Sydney. Blame the nsw govt not the organisers. I think it’s a big step up that the tournament is now seen as a valued sporting event and cities are willing to pay big money to host games.

I think QLD paid big money to host the finals and a few extras were thrown in because the organisers couldn't think of anything better to do with them than spite NSW.

I'm happy to blame them as much as the NSW government. If you can't sell Rugby League to someone in NSW your competence surely has to be questioned.