Cook Islands v Tonga RLWorld Cup

Hopefully the attendance will be boosted by some of our York and West Yorkshire cousins - it's not that long a trip. It would be a shame if the game is played in an empty stadium. OK, it's not a sport many people are interested in, but at £25 for a World Cup game I'd go along if I was in the UK just to be part of it with a 'local' team to get behind.

The MFC article from 2 days ago - about the only mention I've seen.
www.mfc.co.uk

Cook Islands Welcomed At Rockliffe

Riverside World Cup contenders make their base...
www.mfc.co.uk www.mfc.co.uk
 
I have a short piece in the fanzine today. Always good to have an international tournament at our stadium. And at £25 it is comparable to going to what I paid for the Commonwealth Games early rounds.
It is a shame we only have the one match but Cook Islands are staying and training at Rockcliffe and will be doing lots of community events. It would be fantastic for the islands if they could build bridges along the lines of the unlikely association between North Korea and ourselves that persisted long after the 1966 World Cup. Tourism is extremely important to Cook Islands. And while it is an awful long way to go on holiday it would be fabulous if the pen friending that is now starting between our schools led to actual meetings in yours to come.

The actual Tonga v Cook Islands match should be very interesting, Tonga rated 2 in the world on form. Cook Islands have a lot of experience in the ranks, mostly drawn from the NRL the main league in Australia and New Zealand. They could well prove too strong for Wales and then they have qualification from the group as their target. But you can also see that they really fancy have a go at Tonga. There is "local" rivalry around that match.
 
Rofesleg said:
Being the second best team in a sport which I'm not interested in still doesn't make it interesting I'm afraid.
Especially if they are going to win about 97-0.
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Cook Islands did better than I expected I suppose.
Still, no matter how it was dressed up - it was a mismatched, overpriced game in a relatively unpopular sport (in Teesside).
A crowd of 8k wasn't too bad under the circumstances.
 
Really enjoyed today. 8,300 in attendance. Fans mixing, yes there were some genuine Tonga and CI fans in attendance. What was strange but refreshing was how people could and did bring a beer up to watch the game. Big proportion of the South Stand I was in having a drink whilst watching the game. No aggro, no chew, no spills. Very civilised and grown up. Game a total wipeout - you wonder what might have been if the CI didn’t have a try ruled out - very harsh. Great day out and as anticipated the best I have felt leaving the Riverside in quite a while.
 
Duffman said:
Really enjoyed today. 8,300 in attendance. Fans mixing, yes there were some genuine Tonga and CI fans in attendance. What was strange but refreshing was how people could and did bring a beer up to watch the game. Big proportion of the South Stand I was in having a drink whilst watching the game. No aggro, no chew, no spills. Very civilised and grown up. Game a total wipeout - you wonder what might have been if the CI didn’t have a try ruled out - very harsh. Great day out and as anticipated the best I have felt leaving the Riverside in quite a while.
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I said this to the Mrs when we were leaving - "its not often I leave there feeling entertained".

Shame about the Cook Islands try being disallowed early on, I thought it was for a knock on in the tackle but apparently offside was given. After that, there was only one team in it unfortunately however it was great to finish with Arona managing a try in his last professional game. Even managed to knock over the conversion.

I would definitely welcome more events like this at the Riverside. The pitch looked no worse than it does after a football game either at the end.
 
One minor gripe was the stewards chucking out a young Tongan lad after Tonga scored their second try and he scaled the advertising hoarding and was running along the astro-turf. Thought it was a little unnecessary given where he has probably travelled from. A word of warning in his ear might have sufficed.

I get the "incursion team" have a job, but a little common sense might have been a better option.
 
FatFrank said:
One minor gripe was the stewards chucking out a young Tongan lad after Tonga scored their second try and he scaled the advertising hoarding and was running along the astro-turf. Thought it was a little unnecessary given where he has probably travelled from. A word of warning in his ear might have sufficed.

I get the "incursion team" have a job, but a little common sense might have been a better option.
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Completely agree. Over the top but he had probably travelled from Leeds.
 
Such a shame only just shy of 9,000 fans were there. Is there no appetite for these games or were the ticket prices a bit high?

I would have gone but I was away sadly. Please the people who were there saw plenty of tries.
 
MolteniArcore said:
Such a shame only just shy of 9,000 fans were there. Is there no appetite for these games or were the ticket prices a bit high?

I would have gone but I was away sadly. Please the people who were there saw plenty of tries.
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Ticket prices too high in my opinion. I would have liked to have gone with the family but wasn't going to pay the prices that were being asked. If I could have took the family for less than around £60 I'd have gone.
 
MolteniArcore said:
Such a shame only just shy of 9,000 fans were there. Is there no appetite for these games or were the ticket prices a bit high?

I would have gone but I was away sadly. Please the people who were there saw plenty of tries.
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Think they had plenty of reasonably priced tickets in the end but as we have seen with this tournament the crowds have been disappointing all over particularly in the rugby league heartlands - you expect to see it at Coventry and Middlesbrough I suppose.

I am going to the Emirates to see the potential semi between Eng and Tonga. Will be interesting to see what crowd we get.
 
The tickets were priced too highly, it's not a particularly popular sport to begin with, played in an area with little rugby league exposure and it was between two countries that most people in the UK probably didn't even know existed.

The attendance was higher than the average home attendance of 8 of the 12 Super League teams this season, which I think shows the ceiling in this country.

I was offered a ticket to go but I didn't fancy it with there being no real connection for me.
 
TeaCider said:
The tickets were priced too highly, it's not a particularly popular sport to begin with, played in an area with little rugby league exposure and it was between two countries that most people in the UK probably didn't even know existed.

The attendance was higher than the average home attendance of 8 of the 12 Super League teams this season, which I think shows the ceiling in this country.

I was offered a ticket to go but I didn't fancy it with there being no real connection for me.
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Such a shame you turned down the opportunity to attend a World Cup international in your own town. How often do these things come around?
I paid more than this to watch Commonwealth Games sports table tennis and badminton at Birmingham. I have little affinity for either sport but being part of an international event is always special.
Forget the higher pricing for a minute, paying £25 to watch a World Cup event in any sport is not bad I do not think. In your own backyard.
 
fmttmadmin said:
Such a shame you turned down the opportunity to attend a World Cup international in your own town. How often do these things come around?
I paid more than this to watch Commonwealth Games sports table tennis and badminton at Birmingham. I have little affinity for either sport but being part of an international event is always special.
Forget the higher pricing for a minute, paying £25 to watch a World Cup event in any sport is not bad I do not think. In your own backyard.
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It was an international between two very small countries in a sport I'm not massively bothered by.

I'd have went to see England.
 
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