Essential Reading.

[Bill W (2)]

Now we know what Randrew does all day.

http://www.rfu.com/AboutTheRFU/~/media/ ... -p031.ashx

[Easty]

What were the first 74 points about? justification of his position by any chance?

[GrumpyDad]

Gee, what a wonderful & insightful read that was!! Full of wool & "we want this we want that" statements but not much substance.
There is one statement that seems to put the brakes full on to the vast majority of the Div 1 (oh sorry, Championship ) sides with the requirement that entrants to the premiership should have a ground capacity minimum of 15,000 by 2011/12!
How wonderful that must have seemed for the more ambitious of those clubs when they found out that they had to provide grounds that had a larger capacity than most of the incumbent Premiership clubs, what an atmospere that's going to have, a stadium with capacity of 15k and crowd of 3,000. That will be look good when the TV cameras come to town, a bit like watching one of those football Blue Square League games on the night that Sky can't find a decent game to show.
If the current members of the Premiership don't have to provide that capacity, or even commit to doing so why should the new boys? , and where are the people going to come from?

The whole report resembles those small dangly things that shan't be named, & in this case full of waffle and very very woolly.

Come on Mr Andrew, pull your finger out, give your audience some substance as to "How" rather than providing yet another dose of flowery flannel.
Earn your crust for once!

[kevf]

sorry its just not english is it we are aiming far to high... it will all end in disappointment...

we need to be aiming at beating spain at a maximum and a minimum beating holland...

anything above that is a bonus...

[GrumpyDad]

I especially liked paragraph 75 which, in a nutshell said, "England aim to win the RWC in 2011 & 2015 .......", but we'll be happy if we get third or fourth

[fleabane]

The ambitions smack of a man under pressure to me. "We want, we want...!"

No real indications of how, though. If he's trying to stitch up Jonno, I really don't fancy his chances when it comes to tallying up the scorecard!

[kingol22]

Does it mean that the premiership teams need to increase there grounds to more than 15000 as well?

[Longshanks]

Does it mean that the premiership teams need to increase there grounds to more than 15000 as well?

If so, what's the point? The only grounds which should expand capacity are the ones which currently have insufficient and sell out - it just wouldn't make business sense to cater for a demand that isn't there. The alternative is to do what Nigel Wray and Saracens are doing - buy their way into some big venues and see if an increased market can be created - but this is probably an opportunity unique to Greater London.

[GrumpyDad]

Longshanks,
I understand that Saracens lost about £30,000 on that recent trip to Wembley, what with hiring the venue & the pre-match entertainment etc. The commitment to invest that amount of money with a long term dream to recover it by increasing the gate at general home games & eventually selling out Wembley about 6 times a year takes massive guts & very deep pockets, & I applaud them for that, but not everyside has got a benefactor prepared to bankroll the club in the way that Nigel Wray has done over the years.

What I could not understand (alongside where did the first 30 pages go) is HOW & WHAT will be done to increase the number of people coming to club games week in week out to pay for the development that the report seems to demand?
More spin than Shane Warne, pity.

[Longshanks]

......takes massive guts & very deep pockets.....

or perhaps just an act of supreme vanity? I don't know the man but I do wonder whether this expensive experiment passed any kind of cost-benefit analysis.

[GrumpyDad]

......takes massive guts & very deep pockets.....

or perhaps just an act of supreme vanity? I don't know the man but I do wonder whether this expensive experiment passed any kind of cost-benefit analysis.

Long term benefit with increased crowds, plus the fact that it's now south african money involved not just his? I think that suggesting it might be vanity or ego is a bit harsh. When he was interviewed the other week there was a bit of a hint that without the new investors, that Sarries might have been in the deep brown stuff.
So, if Sarries lose money when getting a gate of in excess of 40,000 (albeit hiring an expensive piece of concrete), where does the money come from to make the investments in stadia that Mr Andrew suggests are needed?

[Bill W (2)]

Longshanks,
I understand that Saracens lost about £30,000 on that recent trip to Wembley, what with hiring the venue & the pre-match entertainment etc. The commitment to invest that amount of money with a long term dream to recover it by increasing the gate at general home games & eventually selling out Wembley about 6 times a year takes massive guts & very deep pockets, & I applaud them for that, but not everyside has got a benefactor prepared to bankroll the club in the way that Nigel Wray has done over the years.

What I could not understand (alongside where did the first 30 pages go) is HOW & WHAT will be done to increase the number of people coming to club games week in week out to pay for the development that the report seems to demand?
More spin than Shane Warne, pity.

The first 30 pages and the final pages can be accessed from here


http://www.rfu.com/AboutTheRFU/~/media/ ... -p171.ashx

[GrumpyDad]

Thanks Bill, I'll look at that tomorrow, enough ranting for one day I think.

[Bill W (2)]

Thanks Bill, I'll look at that tomorrow, enough ranting for one day I think.

Have a strong cup of coffee first. It is not inspiring reading! IMHO

[Don.Reid]

it made me smile when it stated the RFU wants accreditation to ISO9001:2000. The latest standard is ISO9001:2008 and yes, I do know what I am talking about!