: Thu May 07, 2009 3:35 pm  

Great weekend. Ate, drank and was merry, plus watched lots of rugby (some of it quite good). Only downside - the sun in Scotland doesn't actually seem to give off much/any heat...fecking frozen by game 3 on each day...loved the whole thing.

: Thu May 07, 2009 3:46 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

59749 over two days to watch seven matches gives an average for each match of 8535, I'd say thats pretty good for a stadium thats at least 200 miles away from any major fan base and required either a very long day or an overnight stay for most.

The RFL are saying only that they had SALES of 6236 tickets in Scotland, no mention of freebies, but even if the whole of those had been given away then what is the problem ?

Part of your idea for taking the whole round of games to an area of the country where you may want to promote your game is to promote it to the locals, your fan base pays for the event and you get to give away tickets to your target market, as an advertising concept its brilliant in its simplicity, the only thing they did wrong was not to give away 20,000 tickets to the Scots.

Advertising is very expensive for any business, the customer who is not yet a customer is the most expensive customer you'll ever have to speak to - MM is an ideal opportunity to give them a sampler while your regular clientele enjoy the weekend away - win/win.

I agree with you that the average attendance is not bad considering its 200 miles away but that is not my point. My understanding is that the average per match was down about 2000 (15000 for all 7 matches compared with normal SL round) therefore this loss of revenue has to be equated with the promotional benefits of attracting 6000 locals to the event. My other point is that the majority of the total income for the weekend will have gone out of our game.

I fully agree with you that we should have given away 20,000 tickets to the Scots including all Scottish RU clubs. The same mistake was made in South Wales over the last 2 years where there was a more defined target with Celtic Crusaders entry into SL

But like I said its a good weekend away.

: Thu May 07, 2009 4:33 pm  

Juan Cornetto wrote:

I agree with you that the average attendance is not bad considering its 200 miles away but that is not my point. My understanding is that the average per match was down about 2000 (15000 for all 7 matches compared with normal SL round) therefore this loss of revenue has to be equated with the promotional benefits of attracting 6000 locals to the event. My other point is that the majority of the total income for the weekend will have gone out of our game.

I need my brain refreshing here, but is the MM weekend an extra week of fixtures to the competition or is it a part of the original fixture format ?

I have a nagging thought that it was introduced as an extra round of games, in which case trying to compare the same fixtures to what they would have attracted if they had been played at the normal local grounds is actually irrelevant - as long as the weekend makes a profit then its a bonus all round and some free advertising.

I could be wrong though...

[Matt_Horton]

: Thu May 07, 2009 4:38 pm  

Stopping in Dunfermline is the future.

Had a fantastic night out there on Saturday despite some rather disappointing opening hours. I mean, closing at 2am. What's all that about?

: Thu May 07, 2009 5:12 pm  

I like Edinburgh but:

I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Edinburgh. It's the only time I've actually thought I was going to die - not wished to die (I've wished to die many times with hangovers), but genuinely panicked that I was not going to make it to the next morning - and that was the night after I had been on the lash and I'd been in bed all day. That was when I was grown up and working for a living.
First time was at Uni when we had a "field" trip to several agricultural research stations during the Easter hols. We had a night in Leeds before getting the coach in the morining and the last thing I remember was downing half a pint of irish malt whiskey in one and someone breaking a wooden tray over my head (one of my "mates"). Luckily another of my mates always carried smelling salts as he fell asleep in bars and couldn't be woken up any other way. I then set the world continous vomiting record. We arrived several hours later at Leith Nautical college where we were bunking. The warden was a large jocular man who took the p1$$ out of me for looking shocking. I wiped the smile off his face by handing him the half full bin liner I was carrying and asking if he could get rid of it for me. It took a second or two before he realised what it was half full of and the look on his face still gives me a warm feeling.
I couldn't even sniff alcohol for the rest of the week and the one girl I pulled turned out to be the niece of legendary Scottish forward Jim Calder -so no funny buisness there.

Last time I was there was to watch Leeds lose to the Dulls in the CC. I can't say I have too many happy memories.

: Thu May 07, 2009 5:55 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

I need my brain refreshing here, but is the MM weekend an extra week of fixtures to the competition or is it a part of the original fixture format ?

It's an extra round of fixtures in addition to the basic home and away format. It's also an all pay event (except at the discretion of the RFL with targeted freebies.) Any comparison to an average round of fixtures that are covered by season tickets is an odd one.

A more reasonable comparison between the close on 60,000 all pay attendance in Edinburgh could be this weekend's eight ties in the Challenge Cup 5th round. Although again not ideal as only nine of the fourteen SL clubs remain in the competition.

: Thu May 07, 2009 7:13 pm  

Dave Heron's Moustache wrote: I like Edinburgh but: I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Edinburgh. It's the only time I've actually thought I was going to die - not wished to die (I've wished to die many times with hangovers), but genuinely panicked that I was not going to make it to the next morning - and that was the night after I had been on the lash and I'd been in bed all day. That was when I was grown up and working for a living. I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Barbados, and I was grown up and working there too. I think the stories are told somewhere out there in the blogisphere but one involved illicit substances and an out-of-body experience which was really scary (I had two sets of arms at one point, weird) and the other involved a flock of pigeons in my hotel room eating my vomit off the sheepskin rug like all the animals did for Snow White when they cleaned up the dwarfs house for her. Late edit : http://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/the-one-about-the-birds/ http://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/another-drinking-story/

Dave Heron's Moustache wrote: I like Edinburgh but: I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Edinburgh. It's the only time I've actually thought I was going to die - not wished to die (I've wished to die many times with hangovers), but genuinely panicked that I was not going to make it to the next morning - and that was the night after I had been on the lash and I'd been in bed all day. That was when I was grown up and working for a living. I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Barbados, and I was grown up and working there too. I think the stories are told somewhere out there in the blogisphere but one involved illicit substances and an out-of-body experience which was really scary (I had two sets of arms at one point, weird) and the other involved a flock of pigeons in my hotel room eating my vomit off the sheepskin rug like all the animals did for Snow White when they cleaned up the dwarfs house for her. Late edit : http://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/the-one-about-the-birds/ http://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/another-drinking-story/

: Thu May 07, 2009 7:15 pm  

tvoc wrote:

It's an extra round of fixtures in addition to the basic home and away format. It's also an all pay event (except at the discretion of the RFL with targeted freebies.) Any comparison to an average round of fixtures that are covered by season tickets is an odd one.

Thats what I thought - so from a marketeers point of view the comparison to the equivalent fixtures being at the relevant SL grounds in order to assess the fall-off in attendees is a non-starter, its a stand-alone event that should make a profit and provide a terrific marketing opportunity for uneducated locals.

Still a shame that the RFL didn't spot that.

: Thu May 07, 2009 8:24 pm  

I got thinking about this today


How many other sports can take a round of fixtures to one venue over a weekend where all the fans from all the teams get on with each other and happily drink,eat and watch games with fans from other teams?

why would anyone want to scrap that?

: Thu May 07, 2009 8:31 pm  

we had a great weekend. edinburgh has so much to offer tourist wise, shame the rugby got in the way,although it gave the women a chance to go shopping.

already booked for next year