Always a Wasp

Quote from: SilverShire on October 18, 2022, 10:20:16 AM

NWW, I was thinking somewhere like Oxford could be a good location. Roughly 1 hour drive from Henley and Lemington Spa, 45 min train from Cov, 1 Hour trains from London, and ~1h30 drive from Surrey/Kent. Location ticks a lot of boxes.

Not suggesting it's even a possibility, but the Kassam Stadium where Oxford United play holds 12,300. Which feels about right for a rugby team...

And Oxford United want to build a new ground in Kidlington which might leave the kassam empty.  Land and stadium not owned by the footie club though and is getting quite run down.  Not sure if it's planned for demolition and more housing.

Let's face it no one is buying the rugby club  they want the real estate. Let it all go into administration and buy debt free. No brained.

The usual implosion. Saints fans with me in shock just can't believe what happened. I can

Just pulling the sofa forward to hide behind for the second half.  Can we, ssssssshh no can’t say the words………..not loose. 15 guys playing for the shirt tonight for sure.

One thing the RFU could do is look at league and why is league so popular. It cannot be because it does not have any competition from other sports because soccer is big across the M62 band of the country.

One thing about league is it does not stop as much. Scrums are almost inconsequential; play does not really continue on the ground so no rucks/mauls. One of the frustrations with Union is scrum resets just get so boring. Penalties are awarded for minute offences in a ruck or maul which if you are sitting on the opposite side of the field, you have no idea what has happened. First and foremost, we need to allow new fans to understand the game by explaining it more clearly.  Currently the game is a mystery of laws that if you do not know what they are then you lose interest quickly in the play and the stoppages on the field.

A couple of simple and quick changes that could be tried.

Big screen to work all game and to explain as far as possible why the game has stopped or what an infringement is.

Give ref links away free so fans can follow the game and the play. Can you even buy a reflink at CBSA? It often does not work anyway. New fans will at least understand or have the opportunity to know why something has happened or why a TMO decision has been made. (I know I enjoy and can follow the game more when I know why a try wasn’t given or a penalty has been awarded?  Last week I did not know why Joes try had been ruled out and yet we had penalty advantage.

Fan engagement – fan villages of the type seen previously at CBSA cost huge sums and are not sustainable. What do other clubs do?  You need something to allow young fans to engage with the sport and the club.

Engage fans with music. Purists will hate it. Where have the drum crew gone at the CBSA? the brass section also roused noise albeit it in a very soccer style but kids enjoy it.

Most of all create atmosphere. Yes most of that comes from what happens on the field but the CBSA is cold cold place with no noise, no music and a game continually stopping without explanation.

Seemed to me some of the younger players lost their heads and started to panic after the second glaws try, lead to more and more ill discipline, the yellows and game momentum went, crowd were up. Could have sneaked it at the end perhaps but shouldn’t have been in that position.

It’s not actually that good a deal if you are a STH and have BT Sport. As a STH I will attend all PR home games. I suspect 3 maybe 4 away games will be on BT Sport so the £50 pass may allow access to 8 games maybe less. You can get a game by game pass for £5 a game. It might be just a good deal if you don’t have BT sport but even then only just.