The English Rugby Stadium/Attendance thread

[ratsapprentice]

Don't know where fans will go TBH - there aren't all that many that attend games at the moment anyway.

This does have a big bearing on where future fans (i.e Londoners who don't follow a team/the sport yet anyway) will go.
I suspect, like me, a lot of NW London fans who supported/would have supported Wasps because they are historically the local team will be quite inclined to support either Sarries or Quins.
You'd have to suspect that if anyone is going to gain from it, it'll be Quins - particularly as they are looking to increase their capacity significantly in the next few years.
They now have the whole of the city to themselves - no-one else in the top flight is actually located inside the city, and they are the only team to have really marketed themselves as a city team.
Twickenham might be quite a "leafy" part of the city, but I'd suggest it's more a part of the city than Barnet/Mill Hill is - in spite of the post codes.

In the lead-up to and wake of the RWC I'd expect to see a lot of marketing focused on that angle from Quins.

Just to add to that: difficult as it may be, Quins (and the other successful clubs around the country) have shown that it's possible for a rugby club to survive (nay, thrive) in London.
Buy a plot of land and stay there - as they say... "build it, and they will come..."

Since I'm at it (and I know this is pure fantasy) - wouldn't it be awesome if someone like Mittal/Branson invested in Blackheath.
Nice stadium overlooking Greenwich park (with that view), an academy to service London, Essex, Kent and East Sussex.

Just me...?

...Not a ****ing chance of it happening mind.

 

[Peat]

There's been a bit of talk of founding an "AFC Wimbledon" type club - or going to Wasps FC and turning it into that.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Oh, ****!

I've actually just had a quick look at Branson's wiki page and he's from ****ing Blackheath!
And he's invested in RL in London before.

Someone make this happen!

 

[Peat]

Let's bombard him with letters :lol:

Not sure you could develop Blackheath's stadium into the real deal - but I would move heaven and earth, if I had the money, to put a London non-Saracens club into the Crystal Palace athletics stadium if it could be done.

 

[McTallshort]

Coventry itself is a dump but just outside you have Kenilworth and Royal Lemington spa not to mention the West Midland as a whole has some very wealthy areas to think somehow leaving London is moving to plebsville sums up the ignorance of some people on this foram.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I play rugby in Nuneaton which is just by the Ricoh and the majority of our players don't ha e a team they support.

After having a on mass conversation today at the club about half the players said they'd be going to support wasps, especially since they will play Sunday.

So they can play rugby saturday and watch rugby Sunday!

It sounds like a lot of midlanders buy into the whole Coventry wasps thing at the moment

 

[Peat]

Coventry itself is a dump but just outside you have Kenilworth and Royal Lemington spa not to mention the West Midland as a whole has some very wealthy areas to think somehow leaving London is moving to plebsville sums up the ignorance of some people on this foram.

It's not London though, is it?

For a lot of people that's a good thing, for a lot it's a bad thing, but it's definitely a thing. There's nothing like it in the UK, or even Europe really.


Also I really envy people who can play Saturday and watch Sunday. I don't get why this isn't the norm across the country tbh. Are Cockroaches going to have every game Sunday though?

 

[Mumbles119]

I would totally get a new team if I were a Wasps fan. Not necessarily because of the distance (I've never lived that close to Kingsholm), but rather the way that the owners have handled this.

It'll be interesting to see how attendances change at the other London teams next year - who will the ex-Wasps fans flock to?

Even though I am a Wasps fan (man and boy). Even I considered changing teams after this announcement. Mainly due to the lack of consultation with fans and players.
I considered who my new fanaticism should be aimed at:

Quins? No my wife supports them, and I am not a fan of stripey blazers and wine.

Saracens? Just no

London Irish? Being Reading Irish, what's the point!

London Welsh? Again as Oxford Welsh, what's the point, and they will more than likely disappear.

So I knew my choice would always be Bath, as I supported them with my Mum when I was very young. But if I am willing to support a club that is further away, then there is no point changing.

So after my brief internal counselling session, I am still a Wasp, always will be, even if I do have to to Coventry. Loyalty is the make up of a fan, thick and thin.

 

[Tony Manx]

Even though I am a Wasps fan (man and boy). Even I considered changing teams after this announcement. Mainly due to the lack of consultation with fans and players.
I considered who my new fanaticism should be aimed at:

Quins? No my wife supports them, and I am not a fan of stripey blazers and wine.

Saracens? Just no

London Irish? Being Reading Irish, what's the point!

London Welsh? Again as Oxford Welsh, what's the point, and they will more than likely disappear.

So I knew my choice would always be Bath, as I supported them with my Mum when I was very young. But if I am willing to support a club that is further away, then there is no point changing.

So after my brief internal counselling session, I am still a Wasp, always will be, even if I do have to to Coventry. Loyalty is the make up of a fan, thick and thin.

Good for you!!! Well done

 

[ratsapprentice]

Coventry itself is a dump but just outside you have Kenilworth and Royal Lemington spa not to mention the West Midland as a whole has some very wealthy areas to think somehow leaving London is moving to plebsville sums up the ignorance of some people on this foram.

Completely ignores that a lot of players (not all, obviously) play for Wasps because it's a London club.
I'm fairly sure Gaskell, Miller and Myall all specifically wanted/needed to live in London.

 

[McTallshort]

Really? theres me thinking the players played for Wasps because they are paid too.

 

[Tmartin995]

London Scottish are currently third in the Championship with 4 wins and a loss, level on points with Worcester. There is a chance that they could get promoted, but does their stadium meet requirements?
And in National One, 4 of the top 5 are within the M25 I believe. There definitely are clubs that with a bit of Bristol-esque investment could make a push for the Premiership over the next 5 years or so.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Really? theres me thinking the players played for Wasps because they are paid too.

Oh yeah, I forgot players just play for whoever calls them first - no other decision decision making process at all.

 

[Peat]

Really? theres me thinking the players played for Wasps because they are paid too.

At least some of their players had a choice on who to play for.

They chose Wasps over say, Sale, for a number of reasons. A lot of the possible reasons for this move would be linked to them being in London.

When you consider that Wasps aren't a fantastic platform for winning trophies and international caps at the moment, and that the expense of being in London probably makes playing for other clubs more lucrative, then lifestyle's actually likely to be one of the bigger reasons for moving there.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I've got family in Kenilworth, so spent a lot of my childhood there/in Leamington....are either really selling points for the Midlands?!

I mean Kenilworth Castle is all right for an afternoon out if the weathers OK, but other than that...

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I've got family in Kenilworth, so spent a lot of my childhood there/in Leamington....are either really selling points for the Midlands?!

I mean Kenilworth Castle is all right for an afternoon out if the weathers OK, but other than that...

There's loads to do in the Midlands and lots of lovely areas to live just outside Coventry. It's a nice lifestyle..... But not a city lifestyle which might be the problem for some players

 

[Peat]

There's loads to do in the Midlands and lots of lovely areas to live just outside Coventry. It's a nice lifestyle..... But not a city lifestyle which might be the problem for some players

Yup. End of the day, if the Midlands were a real issue in attracting players, Leicester and Saints probably wouldn't be doing so well.

It might cause some turnover but that's all. The prospect of a half-empty stadium/the uncertain situation with the training ground and where they'll even be seems more likely to be an issue. The biggest one will be whether Dai Young can persuade people that they're a place to hunt success from.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Pretty good article: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...e-to-send-themselves-to-coventry-9789348.html

 

[Patchey]

Joe Launchbury has just signed. New contact with Wasps.

Maybe we we're all wrong?

 

[Peat]

No reason they can't make it work. Just a lot of reasons why it could.

And a lot of hope that it will.

Understandable of him if mildly disappointing.