Taking Competitive English Sports Matches Abroad

[dubai_phil]

OK there was a lot of talk some time ago about the PL playing matches overseas.

 

This evening the egg chasers beat Soccer to it by holding an LV Cup match Wasps V Harlequins in Abu Dhabi.

 

Match was staged on "Man City's" training pitch at the Emirates Palace, a temporary Grandstand and standing, tickets were 18 quid to stand & 36 quid to sit. I (of course) only went because I blagged a freebie VIP/Dignitary ticket from a mate.

 

Crowd of around 5,000 - all knowledgable Rugby "fans" from around the world - and Sky (who had thrown the kitchen sink at the event), but most important there was probably no more than 80 or so TRUE fans of either team who had come out to watch.

 

And it was soulless bilge.

 

Honestly, I've heard more atmosphere at a Sports Centre Cricket Match in the summer than at the event.

 

Organisationally, the floodlights were poor, the "Whip up the crowd" DJ had no idea what was going on, no scoreboard, no announcements, Quins won but no idea still what the score was.

 

My point is that these things (like the PL Abroad idea) are a Marketing Man's dream, but the players weren't on their top game - how CAN you get worked up when the only sound is the cash registers in the bars and people answering their mobiles.

 

I'm glad I was able to watch a proper game of Rugby, but at this level, sport HAS to be about passion and atmosphere. The idea of travelling to Abu Dhabi in a few years time to see Man City playing Bolton just fills me with horror. It must NEVER be allowed to happen.

 

Rant over, I'm sure Sky have been bigging it up all evening, but it was krap. If ANYONE in Football ever tries to re-create the idea, find them and to be honest duct tape their mouth shut. It sucks

 

ps hope the lad stretchered off in the first few minutes is OK looked really bad and this place is a long way from home if he has to go to hospital

[Kingsland Nick]

You can't compare a LV%& Cup game with a Premier League game. Both teams were missing several players on international duty, and other first-teamers were rested, mainly by Wycombe, despite them being the home team. The competition itself is meaningless - the teams in pool 1 play the teams in pool 4, the pool 4 teams have won most of the games, so you could easily have a situation where the team that wins pool 1 has fewer points than the team that finishes bottom of pool 4.

 

I would be more worried about the latest rugby idea being copied by football. Harlequins have been drawn at home to Wasps in the Amlin Cup quarter final (similar to Europa League, but less important) on a Friday evening in April. Harlequins are selling tickets at normal prices (plus £3 booking fee), but once 10,000 tickets are sold, prices will go up by £5, and once 13,000 are sold they will go up by another £5. The OS is predicting a sellout, but 8,000-9,000 would be more realistic, especially if the team is still in contention in the league. Normally, many fans would wait until nearer the time before deciding whether to buy tickets, but a cynic would say that the club is trying to panic fans into buying tickets now in case the price goes up.