Crowd at the Stoop in 2009....: 12,360Yes, I, too, struggle to understand why the Aus/Kiwi game wasn't scheduled for London again. I'm sure it would have sold out and generated a fantastic atmosphere.
No it means people who don't normally watch RL because they're from an AFL state or they're just not RL people but will go along to watch because it's Australia and NZ won't go so it denies potential new fans for the game. Anyone who went at Warrington would go to RL every second week. There were 17,000 at Loftus Road and that also shows how stupid the RFL were for playing it at the Stoop last year. The other stupid thing is, the RFL are putting everything into promoting Wembley, yet playing a trans-Tasman game in London a week out would do more for getting a crowd than anything else. Anyone who went to that game would have probably backed up and gone to Wembley too, especially if they did a ticket offer for both.
Meanwhile they reckon there were 10,300 in am 11,000 seat stadium at Leigh.
http://www.leighsportsvillage.co.uk/the_leigh_sports_village.php?village_id=9
Looks like union isn't the only sport that lies about these figures. On top of claiming there was 23,000 at Wigan last time when there were empty seats everywhere the game is looking like a joke when these clearly inflated figures are made up to make the organisers look half competant.
England are making the international game look cheap.
remind me again how NZ v PGN in rotorua went in 2010
6,000 rattling around in a 34,000 capacity stadium
good going that well done
The whole game just looked cheap.
Cheap, crap looking 13k stadium. Not good enough for the worlds 2 best teams.
Sign writing freshly done, players ending up with paint all over them. That looked cheap.
Cheap pom ref.
Cheap commentary (This one is SKY NZ's fault though, the audio just sounded terrible, a lot of hiss. And you could hear Phil Clarke's sideline commentary in the background. But then again Eddie and Stepho always sound cheap).
Typical cheap pom short in goals (robbing Nightingale of that amazing try assist)
England are making the international game look cheap.
I'm very happy with the crowds so far.
A neutral game more or less sold out and England vs a minnow more or less sold out.
5 years ago, the England game wouldn't have reached 5 figures, and add onto this the recent French resurgence for internationals, why complain?
Hopefully 50,000+ this week and we are laughing.
Yes i'm over the moon with what we're seeing in France. Not only are the crowds on the up but playing numbers are also increasing. Well done French rugby league.
I also have the impression that if the French had another coach, one with a better pedigre, they would more than compete with the likes of England.