The English Rugby Stadium/Attendance thread

[Patchey]

Talking of resistance from existing clubs: http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/featured-post/18451/worcester-will-fight-wasps-plan-to-relocate/

I knew I'd read about this somewhere, not just dreamt it up.


Even without a tonne of complaints, the RFU will hopefully look at the overall fan reaction and maybe have a dig around the alleged use of Wasps as a vehicle to get the Ricoh.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Talking of resistance from existing clubs: http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/featured-post/18451/worcester-will-fight-wasps-plan-to-relocate/

I knew I'd read about this somewhere, not just dreamt it up.


Even without a tonne of complaints, the RFU will hopefully look at the overall fan reaction and maybe have a dig around the alleged use of Wasps as a vehicle to get the Ricoh.

The rfu don't have to sign off if wasps just play their games there. It's only if they move their academy and catchment area and those things that the rfu get involved.

 

[Peat]

Tom Varndell telling fans to wait for the press conference tomorrow, should be interesting...

I think wasps moving will draw players in. Playing in Coventry gives players the chance to live in the lovely villages which arn't too far away.

I can't see many players leaving at all. They will be building a new base for years to come. Players will surely be drawn to that

I'm not being funny but if players want to live in a lovely little village, then they've probably already had the chance to move to a club offering such a thing already, probably one that already has a base and doesn't play in front of 3 men and their dog in an oversized stadium that's more of an away trip for them than it is as more of an away trip for them than it is for about a third of the Premiership.

Predictions of Armageddon are (sadly) overdone but for a couple of years at least, the split base and empty stadium is going to offer one of the worst set-ups in the Premiership. Put yourself in a player's shoes and compare that to a compact localised set-up with a passionate fanbase that get behind you in the stadium. Some players won't have options. Some will.

 

[Patchey]

Tom Varndell telling fans to wait for the press conference tomorrow, should be interesting...



I'm not being funny but if players want to live in a lovely little village, then they've probably already had the chance to move to a club offering such a thing already, probably one that already has a base and doesn't play in front of 3 men and their dog in an oversized stadium that's more of an away trip for them than it is as more of an away trip for them than it is for about a third of the Premiership.

Predictions of Armageddon are (sadly) overdone but for a couple of years at least, the split base and empty stadium is going to offer one of the worst set-ups in the Premiership. Put yourself in a player's shoes and compare that to a compact localised set-up with a passionate fanbase that get behind you in the stadium. Some players won't have options. Some will.

That 'some' being all of the players in key positions, with considerable experience and the most talent.

Again, you'd think that from a club that was so recently in a terrible place they'd know better, which adds more fuel to the 'in it for the stadium' theory.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I fail to see what can come out of the news conference that will appease anyone.

 

[Patchey]

Maybe thats just the line he's been ask to pedal by the club PR man?

Unless the conference message is 'We're moving to his massive, expensive stadium miles from home while we build a new one at Adams Park' I fail to see how it will appease anyone.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I imagine the conference will be along the lines of:

"Home games will still be at Adam's park!*

*This season....with some of the bigger games/euro games being shifted to the Ricoh.....we'll get back to you later WRT next season/the future. Don't worry though, we'll be running cheap coaches from Wycombe to Coventry."


Edit:
When you look at the location of the clubs around Cov, it really is just crazy that they're moving there:

I know Birmingham is on that top left corner and supposedly "untapped", but Birmingham, generally, ain't too fond of Coventry so it's not like they'll be swarming there for a "true West Midlands top flight side", especially when they've already got the most successful/biggest club in the Country, in Leicester, having major major roots in the whole area - basically all the way up to Stoke, where Sale's grassroots takes over.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I think it'll be more along the lines of "we had no choice, £30million quid can't buy a 10k stadium near London you mentalists".

 

[Patchey]

I imagine the conference will be along the lines of:

"Home games will still be at Adam's park!*

*This season....with some of the bigger games/euro games being shifted to the Ricoh.....we'll get back to you later WRT next season/the future. Don't worry though, we'll be running cheap coaches from Wycombe to Coventry."


Edit:
When you look at the location of the clubs around Cov, it really is just crazy that they're moving there:

I know Birmingham is on that top left corner and supposedly "untapped", but Birmingham, generally, ain't too fond of Coventry so it's not like they'll be swarming there for a "true West Midlands top flight side", especially when they've already got the most successful/biggest club in the Country, in Leicester, having major major roots in the whole area - basically all the way up to Stoke, where Sale's grassroots takes over.

Add Bedford to that as well I guess?

 

[psychic duck]

So how many will they get to a 33,000 stadium where many of the locals may already support Worcester or Northampton?

More or less than London Welsh? Teams who are or perceived as plastic don't tend to be popular.

 

[Peat]

Yeah, that sort of thing, just I'm curious as to what excuse...

And yup, it's about the last place you'd put a pro rugby in the country short of the Severn. I mean, you can spin and say it's proper rugby country... but it's someone else's proper rugby country. Still, that's where the stadium is, shame it didn't happen somewhere like Southampton.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I could see them getting a few thousand - certainly don't think it'll be anywhere near as bad as LW - Coventry is more than twice the size of Oxford.
How successful they could be there isn't really the point though...

 

[LittleGuy]

Add Bedford to that as well I guess?

And Moseley.

So there moving to an area, that within perfectly acceptable driving distance, there are already three premiership and two championship teams?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

And Moseley.

So there moving to an area, that within perfectly acceptable driving distance, there are already three premiership and two championship teams?

Birmingham & Solihull Bees, despite their fall from grace (from Championship to getting relegated twice on the trot) have a reasonable following as well - as do Coventry RFC who have a chance of being promoted to the championship (they're league below atm, and have started the season reasonably well).

Nottingham, while a little further afield, has a decent fanbase too.

The Midlands really does have quite a few sides all within an acceptable driving distance.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

At my gym this morning (in Coventry) and everyone is excited about wasps and want to go watch them!!! Lots of our clubs fans just want to watch easy rugby.

Living basically in cov is it a trek to go to the other Midlands clubs. I don't think you guys realise

 

[Patchey]

Your gym is clearly full of mentalists though, because they were awake and active before 7am!

 

[Mumbles119]

Here I am.
The loyal Wasps fan.
Just waiting for the 'official press conference'.
Hoping for some fantastical and exciting new plan to be revealed.
But really, in my heart, I feel sad.

 

[welshglory]

I'm sure there are plenty of enough people in the west midlands area who want to watch top premiership rugby, and a side that plays attractive, attacking rugby.
London Welsh not being any of those, plus what self respecting Englishman wants to go watch a side called London Welsh?
The west midlands is one of the most populated areas in the Uk, i don't think they're all watching Northampton, Leicester and Worcester contrary to belief.

Staying at Adam park was not an option full stop. If they passed up on options in london then fair enough, but i don't think we know enough of the storey yet...

As some say this could be just a brief stay, like someone wrote in that forum why would they have invested so much in the playing squad if they were going to just use them as a pawn.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I'm sure there are plenty of enough people in the west midlands area who want to watch top premiership rugby, and a side that plays attractive, attacking rugby.
London Welsh not being any of those, plus what self respecting Englishman wants to go watch a side called London Welsh?

Oxford isn't the Midlands, though. For all intents and purposes it's as hard to get to as Adam's Park.

The west midlands is one of the most populated areas in the Uk, i don't think they're all watching Northampton, Leicester and Worcester contrary to belief.

You say that, but you (presumably) live in Wales, whereas the people who live in the West Midlands are saying the opposite....

 

[Patchey]

Rugby World reports Wasps will play their first 'home' game at the Ricoh in December...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

So that'd be Castres or Irish.

The Mad Jet Ski is a lot closer to Adam's Park than the Ricoh, so I don't think they'd get much in the way of away fans, even with the novelty of a new stadium, and I doubt there's gonna be that many Castres fans making the trip for that game.
It's a shame, for them, that their home game vs Tigers isn't until May - that'd be the perfect one.

 

[ratsapprentice]

So... as expected nothing at all to appease fans.

 

[goodNumber10]

well this is all thoroughly depressing, though they are talking a good game in the press releases...

also this is now live: http://www.waspsnewhome.co.uk/

 

[ratsapprentice]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rug...oving-club-to-wigan-or-worcester-9781812.html

 

[welshglory]

Oxford isn't the Midlands, though. For all intents and purposes it's as hard to get to as Adam's Park.


You say that, but you (presumably) live in Wales, whereas the people who live in the West Midlands are saying the opposite....

So they're probably trying to tap into a different support base. The London based support obviously haven't been coming out in their proved to adams pram

Who's saying the opposite? The small amount who go to watch east midland sides and worcester, and/or the paltry numbers that watch the lower league sides who are never going to be promoted?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Obviously the London based support haven't been traveling en masse to High Wycombe.
You don't build a London fanbase by not playing in London.

I don't doubt that this is potentially going to be quite successful, it doesn't stop it from being wrong.

 

[welshglory]

Wrong or not they couldn't bloody play in london!
If the london supporters loved wasps so much then they should have gone to support them. Now they won't be able to, tough...

Edit:
Even when they have events like the stinger they don't really attract many fans relatively. I say they should do what ever is best for the club, staying in adams park isn't an option, they don't want to be in the same situation they were in a few years ago and this ricoh opportunity is here now, whether it was planned long before or not as some are saying...

 

[Peat]

If Saracens could find a London home, there is no reason Wasps couldn't.

Nobody is saying they should stay and wither away.

But there is no reason to believe the Cockroaches' current owners definitely couldn't have kept the club in or near London or that they have tried in the slightest.

 

[j'nuh]

Since the move is in December 2014, what does this mean for all the season ticket holders that cannot afford the trip?

 

[HenryChinaski]

Wrong or not they couldn't bloody play in london!
If the london supporters loved wasps so much then they should have gone to support them. Now they won't be able to, tough...

1) High Wycombe is NOT London. Adams park is a poor venue and not ideal for many people - this is why for quite some time wasps fans have been holding out for a move back to actual london. Therefore as Rats said, I don't get why you're trying to judge potential attendance in London by actual attendance in Buckinghamshire. In any case, the capacity at Adams Park is the lowest of any premiership side when last I looked, so we couldn't even accommodate that many more people in the event of increased demand.

2) With Wasps seemingly on the up, with a stronger squad and better performances on the pitch, the atmosphere at the ground has been improving and attendances have been pretty good. rightly or wrongly, many people are fickle and therefore I believe more people would have attended as the club gets stronger and stronger. Many perhaps London or around who used to go but stopped a couple of season back when things got dire. This was another argument for increasing capacity while keeping it within sight of London. In other words there's no way you can claim Wasps have maxed out on their potential London/around fan-base.

3) No club should ever overlook the people who cheer on the club each week. No amount of pragmatic long-term thinking should decide that the fans of 5 / 10 / 20 / 30 years are less important than the potential new fans who perhaps at this point don't even watch rugby. Maybe they're not even born yet; that's how long-term and by extension cold and calculating it seems to long-term fans.

4) This affects players as well as fans. Guys from overseas probably signed with the draw of London in mind; there's no guarantee Wasps will be able to keep hold of key players with such a change which apparently even players have not been fully aware of. If you're Alapati Leiua with all the talent in the word and have just moved to London, would you make the same decision again if you knew you were moving from Wellington to Coventry?

Location and fan base are a key part of club identity. I presume you yourself would not be satisfied with the business argument alone if, to pursue an extreme example, Ospreys decided tomorrow to move to Abu Dhabi simply because potential attendance and financials would be stronger. Yes it's an extreme and exaggerated example but it's still the principle of business over people.

Since the move is in December 2014, what does this mean for all the season ticket holders that cannot afford the trip?

An email has been sent round offering Season ticket holders a refund on a pro rata basis.