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London Irish are playing Wasps today in the Zurich Rugby League Premiership.
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20,000-plus crowd at The Madejski
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NMH
Banned
perhaps they can buy some rugby players and a manager off some more successful team with less money and not as 'expensive' facilities.
Does Brighton have a rugby team for them?
Does Brighton have a rugby team for them?
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
A football ground that gets more fans for out of area rugby teams than Readings home games. Even worse as the game is on TV which was Reading's fans excuse for less than 12,000 for a home game a week or so ago .
No doubt it's more money for Reading FC but how
Could be a good idea for Falmer as well. Who could we entice to play there? Wasps??
No doubt it's more money for Reading FC but how
Could be a good idea for Falmer as well. Who could we entice to play there? Wasps??
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Reading Posh
Sophisticated rhetorician
Just got back from the game, thousands of plastic paddys singing in their best 'oirish' and drinking iffy guinness 
marvellous afternoon of entertainment.
I suspect the big crowd was down to a local derby and the Web Ellis trophy making a personal appearance
marvellous afternoon of entertainment.I suspect the big crowd was down to a local derby and the Web Ellis trophy making a personal appearance
We had 6100 yesterday folks , so people in glasshouses.........
Wilts
New member
Icy Gull said:A football ground that gets more fans for out of area rugby teams than Readings home games. Even worse as the game is on TV which was Reading's fans excuse for less than 12,000 for a home game a week or so ago .
No doubt it's more money for Reading FC but how
Could be a good idea for Falmer as well. Who could we entice to play there? Wasps??
To be fair the catchment area for the Rugby team is a place just down the road with nearly 9,000,000 people. Slightly bigger than Reading!
A % of the money for today's game goes to Reading FC. Very nice indeed and helps to pay for Kitson (at £150k).
Wasps play at Vicarage Road, BTW... can't have them. Saracens play at Adams Park (I think)... you can have Bracknell Ladies (word used loosely) Rugby Club if you like, they're looking for a new home! Beware, most have large muscles and tattoos of skulls on their arms.
Reading Posh
Sophisticated rhetorician
Actually they now play at Wycombe's Causeway Stadium, formerly Adams Park.
Saracens play at Watford.
BRIGHT ON Q
Well-known member
- Jul 5, 2003
- 9,204
El Presidente said:
Yeah and when we tried to get tickets itwe were told it was sold out.What has happened there then?
Braders
Abi Fletchers Gimpboy
whats it like
whats it like
whats it like to be sold out
whats it like to be sold out
whats it like
whats it like to be sold out
whats it like to be sold out
NMH
Banned
BRIGHT ON Q said:
Very likely that the away area was not filled with Wycombe fans, and some 'seasoned' ticket holders probably were either away on Christmas trips or with families that 'wouldn't understand' at this time of year - a few may have decided that the game would be dull without our one striker (hohoho on them!)
There's an empty seat or two at every game I'm sure, as getting 6,800 people to meet at the same time every week has an inherent logistics difficulty.
I don't expect we'd sell out Falmer every week though, until we are doing well in the 1st or in the Prem.
berkshire seagull
New member
just typical when in a rush to get home yesterday to go out i catch the fu-cking rugby traffic grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
London Irish
Well-known member
Saturday was a great day for my dear old club. A sell-out 20,318 crowd, and many more could have been sold, loads of people turning up without tickets, buying programmes and just heading back home.
Only five seasons ago, London Irish were lucky to play in front of about 3,000 people at our ground in Sunbury, south-west London, which although homely, made Withdean look like the Nou Camp.
This was the largest crowd for a league game at the Madjeski Stadium this season, rugby OR football. The Royals needed Chelsea's help in a cup game to get the one bigger one.
The Madjet holds 24K, but because of unreserved seating cutting the numbers and an Irish band taking up half of the North Stand (yes, really), the capacity was cut.
But in our forthcoming St Patrick's weekend match with Bath, the band will be playing outside, and we will be able to sell all the seats. On that day, Reading are dead certs to lose their own stadium attendance record to their tenants!
Royals fans have constantly told us how we will rattle around in the Madjet once the new tiers are built to accommodate their Premiership team. Seems like Mr Madjeski might have to build the new tiers for the egg-chasers instead
Ok, but what relevance has this to the Albion I hear you ask?
The experience of L Irish's move convinces me that Falmer will be more successful than even its biggest supporters dare hope.
If a team with zero roots in the Thames Valley can sell out the Madjet in just 4 years, imagine how quickly Brighton will sell out Falmer.
There are two factors at play here - those living in the South-East of England Home Counties outside London are actually starved of opportunities to watch top-class sport, yet more and more people want to devote their leisure time to just that. The example of Irish moving to Berkshire and Wasps to Bucks and both experiencing huge crowd growth is evidence of this.
But the other crucial factor is that these new fans will only come if there are state-of-the-art stadium facilities available for them. Irish would never have succeeded with the new fans in Berkshire without the magnificent Madjeski stadium. The Falmer stadium will provide the same excellence and the people of Sussex will respond in droves.
The idea of a professional rugby team playing at Falmer is interesting. It can only be a help to the Albion for this to happen, around half of the professional rugby clubs are now "piggy-backing" on football's stadium infrastructure and there has been no instance yet of the football club suffering lower attendances because of that.
Big stadiums cost money and we hand Mr Madjeski about £20K a game for his trouble. If a professoinal rugby club could be found to help pay for the Falmer debt, that could only be a good thing for everyone.
I doubt, however, if it would be one of the existing top-flight rugby clubs, because all are now reasonably well settled in their current locations (eg. our Reading contract goes up to 2011).
But the current success of professional club rugby in England (a record 80,000 crowd for the 6 Zurich Premiership games last weekend, approaching Nationwide Division 1 levels) means that it is likely more professional teams will be created in years to come.
Sussex ticks all the boxes as the ideal area to set one up when Falmer arrives.
There will be state-of-the-art stadium ideal to "piggy-back" the sport of rugby on; there is strong support in Sussex for the England national team; there is the same kind of affluent social mix of people that have flocked to professional rugby in Berkshire and Bucks; there is a strong network of amateur rugby clubs to locate local talent; and there is even a local club that has finally become the first Sussex team to join the national leagues, a club which could well act as a catalyst for the creation of a professional team.
Haywards Heath were promoted to National League 3 South only this past season by beating Reading in a play-off watched by about 1,200 at their ground in Whitemans Green. Now they are three promotions off the Premiership. Sadly, I've not been to their ground because following both Irish and the Albion means I have to fit in some time to see the girlfriend and 11-month-old daughter. 
Of course it will take some multi-millionaire to come along and fund a professional Sussex team, but rugby does not lack well-heeled benefactors. More and more will come out of the woodwork if England continue their current success.
Only five seasons ago, London Irish were lucky to play in front of about 3,000 people at our ground in Sunbury, south-west London, which although homely, made Withdean look like the Nou Camp.
This was the largest crowd for a league game at the Madjeski Stadium this season, rugby OR football. The Royals needed Chelsea's help in a cup game to get the one bigger one.
The Madjet holds 24K, but because of unreserved seating cutting the numbers and an Irish band taking up half of the North Stand (yes, really), the capacity was cut.
But in our forthcoming St Patrick's weekend match with Bath, the band will be playing outside, and we will be able to sell all the seats. On that day, Reading are dead certs to lose their own stadium attendance record to their tenants!
Royals fans have constantly told us how we will rattle around in the Madjet once the new tiers are built to accommodate their Premiership team. Seems like Mr Madjeski might have to build the new tiers for the egg-chasers instead
Ok, but what relevance has this to the Albion I hear you ask?
The experience of L Irish's move convinces me that Falmer will be more successful than even its biggest supporters dare hope.
If a team with zero roots in the Thames Valley can sell out the Madjet in just 4 years, imagine how quickly Brighton will sell out Falmer.
There are two factors at play here - those living in the South-East of England Home Counties outside London are actually starved of opportunities to watch top-class sport, yet more and more people want to devote their leisure time to just that. The example of Irish moving to Berkshire and Wasps to Bucks and both experiencing huge crowd growth is evidence of this.
But the other crucial factor is that these new fans will only come if there are state-of-the-art stadium facilities available for them. Irish would never have succeeded with the new fans in Berkshire without the magnificent Madjeski stadium. The Falmer stadium will provide the same excellence and the people of Sussex will respond in droves.
The idea of a professional rugby team playing at Falmer is interesting. It can only be a help to the Albion for this to happen, around half of the professional rugby clubs are now "piggy-backing" on football's stadium infrastructure and there has been no instance yet of the football club suffering lower attendances because of that.
Big stadiums cost money and we hand Mr Madjeski about £20K a game for his trouble. If a professoinal rugby club could be found to help pay for the Falmer debt, that could only be a good thing for everyone.
I doubt, however, if it would be one of the existing top-flight rugby clubs, because all are now reasonably well settled in their current locations (eg. our Reading contract goes up to 2011).
But the current success of professional club rugby in England (a record 80,000 crowd for the 6 Zurich Premiership games last weekend, approaching Nationwide Division 1 levels) means that it is likely more professional teams will be created in years to come.
Sussex ticks all the boxes as the ideal area to set one up when Falmer arrives.
There will be state-of-the-art stadium ideal to "piggy-back" the sport of rugby on; there is strong support in Sussex for the England national team; there is the same kind of affluent social mix of people that have flocked to professional rugby in Berkshire and Bucks; there is a strong network of amateur rugby clubs to locate local talent; and there is even a local club that has finally become the first Sussex team to join the national leagues, a club which could well act as a catalyst for the creation of a professional team.
Haywards Heath were promoted to National League 3 South only this past season by beating Reading
in a play-off watched by about 1,200 at their ground in Whitemans Green. Now they are three promotions off the Premiership. Sadly, I've not been to their ground because following both Irish and the Albion means I have to fit in some time to see the girlfriend and 11-month-old daughter. Of course it will take some multi-millionaire to come along and fund a professional Sussex team, but rugby does not lack well-heeled benefactors. More and more will come out of the woodwork if England continue their current success.
Great post from Irish there (and I remember that old ground at Sunbury well, it was er...compact).
There is such a dearth of first class sport in Sussex, it can only be a matter of time before some rich geezer thinks that rugby could be a goer. I don't see why a new club has to be set up though, why wouldn't he pump money in Haywards Heath?
Brighton (and the surrounding area) is one of the largest growing areas in the country and, we learned last week, the most transient population. Those people will want something to do: could be football, could be cricket, could be rugby - there are massive opportunities for a new stadium in Falmer.
Now, can we have the Tigers back as well?
There is such a dearth of first class sport in Sussex, it can only be a matter of time before some rich geezer thinks that rugby could be a goer. I don't see why a new club has to be set up though, why wouldn't he pump money in Haywards Heath?
Brighton (and the surrounding area) is one of the largest growing areas in the country and, we learned last week, the most transient population. Those people will want something to do: could be football, could be cricket, could be rugby - there are massive opportunities for a new stadium in Falmer.
Now, can we have the Tigers back as well?
Wilts
New member
London Irish... good post above. Just a few points though which should be noted.
Having seen/heard of the mass crowds at Waterloo, Paddington, Clapham Junction, and on the M4 eastbound, and the still apparently lack of interest in rugby in East Berkshire, I'd have to say that most of those 20,000+ fans came from London or within a little more than the usual travelling distance.
They were there purely to see the world cup on display, which is an excellent idea as hopefully some of those 20,000 are now likely to go back again after having experienced a good day out.
It helps being only 22 minutes on the train from Paddington to Reading... which is quicker than most Readingites getting from their suburb to the Oracle.
Pretty much none of Berkshire, Bucks, Hants, Surrey is any more converted to rugby all of a sudden. What is more likely is that those within about 30 miles of Reading turn up for the normal games, whereas those within about 100 miles decided to turn up last Sunday for the Wasps game. Probably including a great deal of Sussex, Kent, Essex, Northants etc that are easily reachable.
Gwylan, you already have a first-class sport in Sussex, with your cricket! P.S. No prizes for guessing what the fastest growing area in the country is.
Having seen/heard of the mass crowds at Waterloo, Paddington, Clapham Junction, and on the M4 eastbound, and the still apparently lack of interest in rugby in East Berkshire, I'd have to say that most of those 20,000+ fans came from London or within a little more than the usual travelling distance.
They were there purely to see the world cup on display, which is an excellent idea as hopefully some of those 20,000 are now likely to go back again after having experienced a good day out.
It helps being only 22 minutes on the train from Paddington to Reading... which is quicker than most Readingites getting from their suburb to the Oracle.
Pretty much none of Berkshire, Bucks, Hants, Surrey is any more converted to rugby all of a sudden. What is more likely is that those within about 30 miles of Reading turn up for the normal games, whereas those within about 100 miles decided to turn up last Sunday for the Wasps game. Probably including a great deal of Sussex, Kent, Essex, Northants etc that are easily reachable.
Gwylan, you already have a first-class sport in Sussex, with your cricket! P.S. No prizes for guessing what the fastest growing area in the country is.
Brady's Old Lady
New member
I think Newcastle Football and Rugby teams, along with their local Basketball team are all centrally managed, as one big sporting club. Similar to the situation in Europe where a number of Basketball teams are affilliated to football teams, eg Real M., Barca.
We could do that with the right facilities. Would'nt want Rugby players tearing up the pitch at Falmer though. Maybe they could develop Withdean for a local Rugby team. The locals would probably even let them park their range rovers!
We could do that with the right facilities. Would'nt want Rugby players tearing up the pitch at Falmer though. Maybe they could develop Withdean for a local Rugby team. The locals would probably even let them park their range rovers!
I would love to see professional Rugby Union at Falmer. We can't have this lovely, state-of-the-art stadium and only see it used 20 odd times a year.
So what do we do? Nick someone else's team (like Milton Keynes)? Or try and get Brighton RFC and Hove RFC to merge?
PS Gwylan, totally agree with you about the Tigers! Hopefully they can play at the proposed Ice Rink on the Black Rock site.
Tigers, Bears, Sharks, Seagulls and <insert Rugby name here>. Sussex first for sport!
So what do we do? Nick someone else's team (like Milton Keynes)? Or try and get Brighton RFC and Hove RFC to merge?
PS Gwylan, totally agree with you about the Tigers! Hopefully they can play at the proposed Ice Rink on the Black Rock site.
Tigers, Bears, Sharks, Seagulls and <insert Rugby name here>. Sussex first for sport!
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