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#Post#: 90898--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: Rocker
Date: May 31, 2022, 2:42 am
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Only because it's deemed worthy. Championship rugby is often of
a better quality.
Reduce the premiership to 10, have a fully Pro second tier of
also probably 10 funded and televised properly. Get interest
going and you could have a situation like in France where two
clubs who have come from ProD2 have just won the 2 European
cups.
#Post#: 90899--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: May 31, 2022, 3:05 am
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I think women's rugby is worthwhile but it's going to take a
long time before it comes close to the men's game for revenue
generation at club level.
#Post#: 90903--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: Brown Bottle
Date: May 31, 2022, 4:22 am
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--- Quote from: poorfour link ---
>
> Two things
>
> Firstly, I made that point in the first paragraph of my post
> Secondly, if you really can’t see any value in women’s rugby,
then I feel sorry for you because the likelihood is that it will
take up a growing share of rugby coverage.
>
--- End Quote ---
Ok, fair point re. RFU but I didn't say I couldn't see any value
in women's rugby, although I concede my comment was a little
blunt. I just don't see the relevance of it regarding the
organisation of the men's game.
#Post#: 90905--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: poorfour
Date: May 31, 2022, 4:54 am
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--- Quote from: Brown Bottle link ---
>
> Ok, fair point re. RFU but I didn't say I couldn't see any
value in women's rugby, although I concede my comment was a
little blunt. I just don't see the relevance of it regarding the
organisation of the men's game.
>
--- End Quote ---
The relevance for me is that with some investment in promotion,
women's rugby is a potential way to square the circle of needing
to reduce game time for the (male) players while having enough
games overall to support clubs' revenues.
Clubs need to stage games to earn money, but it's increasingly
clear that players need more time off to recover properly and
reduce the risk of long term health problems. The usual options
proposed are that we could move to a Pro14 style model where top
players only play in some games, or we could have fewer games in
the season while holding or raising ticket prices to compensate.
But there's also the option of having fewer men's games but the
same or more games overall by using women's games to take up the
gaps in the schedule. That would need investment to ensure that
there's a large enough pool of female pro players to support it,
that the games are high enough quality and that the fanbase is
there.
That fanbase inevitably won't overlap completely with the
fanbase for the men's game - there are some people who just
aren't interested - but there's also evidence that there's a
decent base out there given the response to the W6N and some of
the higher profile club matches.
I could imagine a time when a Quins season ticket included, say,
12 men's games rather than the 16 today but also included 12
women's games staged to a similar level at the Stoop on weeks
when the men weren't playing there. The attendance would
probably be lower initially, but if it could be built up to a
steady 8k plus it would probably be sustainable and value adding
to the club as a whole.
#Post#: 90911--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: Monte
Date: May 31, 2022, 9:29 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> I think women's rugby is worthwhile but it's going to take a
long time before it comes close to the men's game for revenue
generation at club level.
>
--- End Quote ---
Problem is many of us are not local and driving an hour or more
is not realistic might just as well watch my local rugby club
who have just been promoted to National 2.
#Post#: 90912--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: 22 Dropout
Date: May 31, 2022, 9:32 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> I think women's rugby is worthwhile but it's going to take a
long time before it comes close to the men's game for revenue
generation at club level.
>
--- End Quote ---
Mens Prem yes, but I think it will surpass equivalent
Championship numbers very quickly, meaning that on a marginal
basis it is capable of making a more meaningful contribution
more quickly.
#Post#: 90913--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: May 31, 2022, 1:00 pm
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--- Quote from: 22 Dropout link ---
>
> Mens Prem yes, but I think it will surpass equivalent
Championship numbers very quickly, meaning that on a marginal
basis it is capable of making a more meaningful contribution
more quickly.
>
--- End Quote ---
I hope you're right! But I would also say that Championship
numbers would also be fairly disastrous for Quins - far fewer
people paying far less money for a ticket.
It's really difficult to find the attendance figures for women's
rugby. Wasps played at home against Loughborough in February and
seemingly the attendance was... 150 people. Bristol got 4101 in
for the game against Quins the other day, which sounds good, but
Bristol are apparently selling women's season tickets for £50 a
pop for next season so I doubt they were charging much if
anything. Last season they were charging a fiver for adults per
match.
I really don't think women's rugby is going to fill the hole in
the finances any time soon. Poorfour envisages a time when 8k
come to see Quins women. I think that's a reasonable aim in the
next decade. But I don't think it's a reasonable aim if you hope
to sell those tickets for the same amount as for the men.
Women's club football, which is some way ahead of women's club
rugby at the moment, is nowhere near that 8k mark. Chelsea
lifted the title at home, beating Man Utd, and 4,378 people
watched them. Most of those tickets are around £12, with £25 as
a more expensive option. That's compared to watching Chelsea
men, where you'll pay north of £75 for a basic adult ticket.
I don't think there's a shortcut to having women's sport bring
in anywhere near a comparable amount of money in ticket sales,
unfortunately. But then, there's always the question of value
for money, and how much the team costs to run in the first
place. So I don't necessarily think it's even a fair ask to have
them 'fill a hole' in the finances of the club.
#Post#: 90914--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: Mayor West
Date: May 31, 2022, 2:04 pm
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The womens Premiership has only been going for a few years and
is quickly evening out the spread of talent amongst the teams.
This brings a more competitive league and as has been
mentioned, some very good attendances. The popularity of the
International team has seen games sell out this year. It’s in
its infancy at the moment but growing at a very promising rate.
If we could get half the attendance of a mens game for the
women then I would say it was successful and self sufficient. I
think it could work as poorfour says, with the right price
tickets and good promotion. The BBC has done its bit so far.
#Post#: 90915--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: May 31, 2022, 2:34 pm
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Right, but half the attendance of the men's game with women's
ticket prices is not going to do much for the club financially
speaking. The whole conversation is around having the women's
game fill in the revenue gaps for Harlequins as a whole, not
just what determines success purely from the perspective of
women's sport. Attendance figures are only half the story
(possibly even less when talking about pure revenue) and while
people should be proud of how the women's game has grown, and
optimistic of what the future holds, that doesn't mean we should
ignore the pricing side of things.
#Post#: 90924--------------------------------------------------
Re: Clubs will lose England players for half the season
DIR By: Rocker
Date: June 1, 2022, 3:17 am
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My daughters and I went to the womens international against
Canada at the Stoop earlier in the season with their rugby club.
The tickets were bargain basement and the East and West stands
weren't anywhere near full. I don't think you can expect to
charge top dollar for womens matches anytime soon. Womens rugby
is just a bit niche I think. We are really struggling to get
numbers for the girls teams, no similar problems with the boys.
It seems despite the promotion in local schools that there just
aren't that many girls interested 🤷 My daughters have
been Quins season ticket holders and rugby watchers for years so
they don't see it as unusual. In fact they like playing rugby.
Most of their friends however don't want to know, they already
have netball or hockey.
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