Only 1,000 tickets left for Wasps RFC's derby showdown with
By Aidan McCartney, Coventry Telegraph.
April 29 2015
Leicester Tigers at the Ricoh Arena.
Wasps are on course for a Ricoh Arena sell-out when they tackle new neighbours Leicester Tigers in their final home game of the season on Saturday May 9.
There are only 1,000 tickets left for the game in the 32,000-seater stadium, guaranteeing the attendance will break the 28,254 record set for the club’s Coventry bow against London Irish.
The match is crucial to both side with Leicester currently holding fourth place – the final play-off berth – while Wasps are sixth and thus on course for European Champions Cup qualification.
Over 2,000 hospitality covers have bee sold for the game, with all executive boxes selling out months in advance. The 200 remaining hospitality places start at £80 +VAT and include a match day ticket and programme, a two-course meal in the Phoenix Suite and a complimentary half-time drink.
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The point I am trying to make is nobody, including you, have complained about that topic, but as soon as I put a topic under local rugby you have complained within an hour of it going live. The other website that I run has more about Wasps and local rugby. I felt this is news worth sharing as I guess there will be quite a few Cov supporters going along to Wasps against Leicester.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:04:29:20:13:25 by rustyroof.
Quote:eggshape
And people should not partake if it is going to annoy them rugby is rugby everyone is entitled to support who they want after all its a gentleman's game.
Slight correction eggshape. It's a hooligan's game played by gentleman.
My suspicion is that along with every free ticket given away there will also be a free 6.5% bond! The word 'bargepole' comes to mind.
Let's stick to National 1.
But this is a democracy.....
Quote:r hess
I have no idea why Wasps are being discussed on a Coventry RFC website. Until the takeover battle begins it is surely no more relevant than if we started discussing egg cups. (That subject is probably more interesting too.)
My suspicion is that along with every free ticket given away there will also be a free 6.5% bond! The word 'bargepole' comes to mind.
Let's stick to National 1.
Because it creates interesting debate? And love them or hate them, or don't give a s**t about them, their move to the Ricoh has certainly done that and does have an impact on Cov.
Are there any other egg cup enthusiasts or should we revert to Coventry's proper rugby club?
Will you be boycotting games in which dual-registered players appear? Or will you compromise, by attending the games, but not mentioning any of those players on this site?
I am being facetious simply because I don't think you realise how serious this actually is. If the 6.5% bond is successful ( which I actually doubt) then I would question whether Cov rfc will be with us in 2016/17.
The point will soon be reached whether an independent future (independent of Wasps that is) is the decision of choice.
Sorry to Job's comforter but it does appear pretty obvious to me, as long as Wasps survive, which I am not sure is a complete 'given'.
Quote:why is this inevitable? What does it give Cov that they don't get already from other clubs?Beer Today, More Tomorrow
Once the new Wasps training ground is up and running (sometime in 2016/17), it's pretty certain that a lot of Wasps players will have dual registration with CRFC.Will you be boycotting games in which dual-registered players appear? Or will you compromise, by attending the games, but not mentioning any of those players on this site?
Now answer the question: will you boycott any games in which dual-registered or loaned Wasps players are appearing in Coventry colours?
Slippy slopes etc
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:03:09:59:40 by r hess.
Quote:it's a stupid question. Anyone, DR or otherwise, turning out for Coventry is a Cov player. We loan players from Saints/Bath/Tigers, that doesn't mean that we want to read Saints/Bath/Tigers news on this Cov RFC site.Beer Today, More Tomorrow
So, that's all good.
Now answer the question: will you boycott any games in which dual-registered or loaned Wasps players are appearing in Coventry colours?
He will presumably also be turning his back on Cov, for doing a deal with The Devil.
He will presumably also be turning his back on Cov, for doing a deal with The Devil.
You've clearly got an axe to grind, BTMT. Unfortunately your posts are not doing you any favours or justice, and the point that keeps being made, namely that this board is for news and views about CRFC, seems to have become clouded in the mists of your ire.
When i say it could have an impact on Cov, it is from this perspective, 32000 tickets have been sold/given away for the Wasps game next week. I have no idea how many Leicester have sold, 10,000 maybe? another 10,000 to Wasps fans,5000 freebees, and 200 bought by Cov fans, that leaves a possible 7000 tickets which have been gathered up by Coventry people or people within a close proximity of the area, if 10% of these floating Rugby watchers were inticed to come to the BPA we would get a home gate well in excess of 2000 people per game, which would then equate to a bigger revenue and an increased prospect of promotion. Personally i think this is worthy of debate, but if it looks like and Ostrich, if it ignores the situation, if it burys its head in the sand, it will talk about egg cups.
I could not care a t**s about Wasps, see them as a terminal threat to Cov rfc and so completely disregard them as a subject for debate.
Of course they will try to give us DR players, I would too, if I were them. That is no more than a way of instigating integration.
This will soon become a short term benefit versus long term survival issue.
Anyway I'm off for breakfast. Guess what's on the menu moose magic.
Personally, I would love to see 3,000 supporters watching Cov every game, and honestly feel the arrival of Wasps is one of the main reasons our attendances have risen since they arrived at the Ricoh. I just hope they continue the upward trend and we can prosper, employ better, more experienced players and finally get back into the Championship.
To be fair they are impossible to ignore even if you wanted to, due to their fondness for regular PR announcements. I doubt that tickets for the Tigers match selling well was news to many.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:04:16:54:58 by rustyroof.
Quote:rustyroof
"but to believe that we can ignore them in the hope that they will go away ..."
To be fair they are impossible to ignore even if you wanted to, due to their fondness for regular PR announcements. I doubt that tickets for the Tigers match selling well was news to many.
Surely that presents a challenge to Cov to raise their own profile which harks back to previous posts about that very subject. To sell out the Ricoh after such a short time in the city is no mean feat and, despite thoughts to the contrary, I don't believe there were many freebies knocking around this time.
Wazeroonie, I'm with you in much preferring the Butts Park intimate atmosphere to the Ricoh....spread the word!
Young/first year academy players tend to go to national 1 teams then second year academy players go to championship teams.
For example Tom Collins (Saints) with us for a few games then following year at Moseley. Plus the Waller brothers/Adam Parkins, etc.
So I doubt we'll see lots of Wasps academy players DR with Coventry - in fact about the same in terms of DR numbers as previous years.
Those players, and their 'owning' teams want them to play and get experience - so are unwilling to put them out to teams where they won't get a game.
(Did I say that out loud?).
...I spent the first couple of months after Wasp's move very angry. My friends into rugby, who'd never shown an interest in watching Cov, were suddenly contacting me saying they had free tickets to see Wasps - offering them to me left, right and centre. I know and accept that they are now here to stay, although I secretly hope they fail to attract sufficient crowds, fail and disappear (their real fans have the amateur side to follow back in London who would rise through the leagues and find their level of given sufficient support - I have no ill feeling towards genuine supporters).
I would like to avoid DR players from Wasps because as soon as we become the junior partner in a reciprocal arrangement in our own city, our ambitions are permanently capped. I agree with the point above that this would be short term gain whilst risking our long term existence.
We moved to the Butts ten years ago with a view to one day hosting Premiership rugby here. I'm a dreamer and in my dreams we were eventually going to build up the other 3 sides of the ground (including a 'new cow shed' opposite the main stand). Imagine a 16,500 capacity, genuinely urban rugby stadium full of Cov fans - the appetite is apparently here in the city. Smaller, less traditional rugby towns have done it (minus the urban bit) when they've got the formula right - Northampton and Worcester for example.
Who should I direct my anger at? The club officials who let the club slip from the upper echelons of British (even World) rugby In the 1980's? The successive regimes who failed to keep pace with our peers when the game went professional? Or more recent administrations who have failed to reach out and market the club beyond the most loyal 1,000 regulars and left a vacuum for the Wasps scenario to occur? Or Wasps themselves for being here?
All I know is that Wasps being in town means the dream outlined above is practically impossible. Like I've said, I hope Wasps fail in Cov. I won't be going to their games. I hope it galvanises Cov to work harder and be better. Sounds like the ramblings of a mad man!!!
In summary, my preference is not to promote, finance or support the Wasps franchise in Coventry! To concentrate on ourselves, gain promotion, attract bigger crowds, avoid DR arrangements with Wasps and instead promote existing relationships. Make the Butts an amazing place to come and watch rugby (as it has been at times this year but there should be every incentive to continually improve) by improving our standard of play and facilities.
I've exhausted myself and I imagine you stopped reading ages ago!
First of all, DRs & loans. Nothing is permanent. Taking DRs from any club this year does not mean anything will be offered or taken next year, The RFU's rules on academies means that it is impracticable for a team at tier 2 or 3 to succeed without using players from tier 1 clubs 0 they simply cannot set up equivalent structures and keep quality young players themselves. To succeed, Coventry will have to use DR and Loan players, and it makes no difference where they come from. Until Coventry succeeds it will not be able to bring its own players through.
Secondly location. Wasps - and all the other teams at higher level tiers 1 & 2 will in time be in competition with Coventry, if Coventry succeeds, wherever they are located. Coventry were not getting 1500 crowds when Wasps were in High Wycombe, they got them when they started to win matches. Numbers attending are what would justify ground developments - over the past ten years we have not had the numbers to even consider expansion. If the numbers keep growing we shall have to - even if initially just of the catering facilities.
Finally getting angry. There's no point in it.
what's happened in thew past has happened, and most of those to blame are dead or nothing to do with the club. Getting angry with Wasps is pointless - they're out to help themselves, nothing more, and if we are angry and unpleasant they will see having anything to do with us as unhelpful to them. If you;re going to be angry, be angry with negative influences inside the club who have given up and decided that moaning is the only thing to do.
However, OldNick's posting is equally appropriate.
For my part, like you, I will not be supporting Wasps in anything. If I want to see a Premiership club, I will go to another ground rather than the Ricoh. I take offence at their "cuckoo in the nest" insidious tactics which, I feel, run the genuine, serious and provocative risk (intention) of compromising Cov and even of being in direct confrontation with the development of Cov. But my plan is too simply be laisez faire about them.
As far as the subject of DR or loan players is concerned, as OldNick says we have to accept that the arrangement is a fact of life. Like you, however, I don't warm to the idea of having them from Wasps.
Anyway, all heat-of-the-moment stuff apart, let's fervently hope for a brilliant season next season. I know we've said it before at the start of each season, but the future looks distinctly promising. Can't wait!
If true, then that fills up the war chest. Wasps still need infrastructure.
Stand by to repel all invaders.
To state my position - Im a member of a local WRFU club - I also played for Cov on occasion back at Coundon Road and watch them at the Butts when I can.
I am going today - no real affinity to either club but am looking forward to the atmosphere and a pretty good level of rugby if Im honest. Ive been a couple of times and its been a good day out (especially the Leinster match when I got back for 2nd half of the Cov game too!)
Its here to stay I think and I genuinely think Cov RFC will benefit in a number of ways. It has really energized the local population towards our great game, so many mates have started talking about rugby and are now more likely to agree to a day out at the Butts if asked.
The barbed comments about "free tickets" swelling the Wasps attendance are a little tiresome. If you were trying to engender support in a new fanbase - what would you do, You would surely do the same and hope that many of the lucky recipients would enjoy the day and consider purchasing for future games. I can assure you all other Premiership clubs have run similar initiatives, perhaps not on such a large scale (but in different circumstances).
I dearly hope Cov will continue to progress on an upward curve and be a Championship team in the near future - the region can support both sides. If you speak to the Cov players, ask them what they think - they love the fact the rugby is being talked about in our area more than ever before. I understand many seasoned Cov fans feel unnerved by it - I've found it all a bit odd, interesting but exciting. I havent lost my love for Cov though and I will be at the Butts as many times as possible next year!
To state my position - Im a member of a local WRFU club - I also played for Cov on occasion back at Coundon Road and watch them at the Butts when I can.
I am going today - no real affinity to either club but am looking forward to the atmosphere and a pretty good level of rugby if Im honest. Ive been a couple of times and its been a good day out (especially the Leinster match when I got back for 2nd half of the Cov game too!)
Its here to stay I think and I genuinely think Cov RFC will benefit in a number of ways. It has really energized the local population towards our great game, so many mates have started talking about rugby and are now more likely to agree to a day out at the Butts if asked.
The barbed comments about "free tickets" swelling the Wasps attendance are a little tiresome. If you were trying to engender support in a new fanbase - what would you do, You would surely do the same and hope that many of the lucky recipients would enjoy the day and consider purchasing for future games. I can assure you all other Premiership clubs have run similar initiatives, perhaps not on such a large scale (but in different circumstances).
I dearly hope Cov will continue to progress on an upward curve and be a Championship team in the near future - the region can support both sides. If you speak to the Cov players, ask them what they think - they love the fact the rugby is being talked about in our area more than ever before. I understand many seasoned Cov fans feel unnerved by it - I've found it all a bit odd, interesting but exciting. I havent lost my love for Cov though and I will be at the Butts as many times as possible next year!
This was the first Wasps game that i have attended and being a Cov season ticket holder i was interested in what the day had in store, however i would not have gone had it not been for the fact that many of my family were going and i was asked to attend and therefore did.
The glitz is fantastic, and Wasps have created something a bit special, but i still felt that some "feeling" was missing from the "new" Wasps fans and for all the waving of free flags, i still felt that the "home" support was somewhat flat, i am sure this will come in time, however Tiger fans did their job well.
Watching the game was strange, because being neutral i was not bothered in who won but more interested in the calibre of Rugby being played and the playing was better achieved by the Tigers than it was by the "Cuckoos".
Personally, I really enjoyed the experience and forsee Wasps being the biggest club in Europe in the next few years, the whole Ricoh experience was something special and Wasps have a fantastic PR machine, but for me, i felt a little sad that many Coventry people who attended the game had never attended the BPA and some were looking forward to the day when "Cov" would be added to the Wasps name as in Cov Wasps.
In summary a great day out but i felt somewhat like a gooseberry on a first date, would i go again, yes maybe, would i go again if Cov are playing at the BPA? Definately no.
Its big, its brash, its fun, but it ain't Cov!
The issue remains- where are wasps going to call 'base'?
The saints have an ideal set up, all training pitches, gym offices in one site.
Leicester took over Oadby Wyggestonians as their training ground as there isn't the space at welford road.
So, how are wasps going to address this issue? Train in London and play in Coventry? I don't think so......
Am I really the only person to see this?
They have the Ricoh, for 1st team games and now apparently lots of money following the bond.
They do not have any local infra structure in terms of training, gyms, offices, contacts, academies.
I have already made the point as to how the Tigers and the Saints have addressed this. The saints bought out a local northampton team, Trinity and Tigers bought out Old Wyggestonians.
You may be right and wasps will go and buy 20 acres somewhere and build their own facility. However, surely it must have featured in their thinking that cov rfc or broadstreet could provide the facilities and at the same time take out the opposition in terms of supporters.
Time alone will tell, but in the commercial world this sort of thing happens all the time.
Cov use a variety of gyms, other clubs' training pitches, and a non rfu academy through a local college.
Yes, Broadstreet could be a possible target, if Wasps were willing to go up against Worcester and the RFU but Coventry do not have sellable assets that could interest them.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:12:17:48:32 by OldNick.
Wasps have a band of drummers that sit behind the South stand goal posts. They play a certain beat and the Wasps supporters shout out and wave their flags (absolutely loads of them) throughout the game. I nearly had heart failure when they sent off the fire cannons as the players entered the pitch; it is not good for my heart at my advance age. It got the crowd going and the atmosphere carried on throughout the game.
Even at this early stage of being at the Ricoh you can see that Wasps have made great strides in attracting supporters. James noticed and mentioned how many youngsters were at the game, and he was right. They are the supporters of tomorrow and for years to come. Over the mic came the news that season tickets start at £195… surely that is a very generous price for premiership rugby. If I was a person who had no allegiance to a rugby team in Coventry, I would buy one, but I’m not, I am a Cov supporter and will be going to BPA next season. I will however take in the odd game when Cov are not playing.
Yes, I did enjoy the occasion, and it was superb to see so many England players playing right in front of me.
Quote:
Dixiewasp
All credibility in statements made by Wasps' management when they moved here was destroyed by Wasps when they announced their move to Saturday afternoon matches only a few weeks after moving in.
Your link is to an article written in October - one that therefore can be treated as discarded by their breach of trust.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:13:13:07:35 by OldNick.
I can find NO official promise that Wasps proposed to continue to play on
Sundays when they made their move to the Ricoh.
I can find NO official announcement that they will be playing matches on
Saturdays next season.
I can find NO reason why playing matches on Saturdays will invalidate the
official Wasp announcement that they DO plan to build a state-of-the art
training/sports/medical centre in Coventry
[www.coventrytelegraph.net]
will remind you of the announcement that was made 16.4.15 and related
consultations/considerations.
compliments
dixiewasp
They forfeited any trust by doing one only a few weeks after the other. That is what invalidates commitments from the time of the move.
If you are a Wasps supporter, and not just one of their PR team spouting flannel, you would also know that they have let down two generations of Wasps supporters by moving from London to High Wycomble, and from High Wycombe to Coventry.
Have you ever thought that some people are trying and succeeding in winding you up ?
covmick/Michael Carter
And it's coming from someone who was a Wasps supporter in his earlier years.
I'll just challenge nonsense before it gets established as fact by no one challenging it.
" .... they have let down two generations of Wasps supporters"
I've attach a potted Wasps timeline that you may find interesting.
Wasps have never been wealthy but very much a blue collar financially
hand-to-mouth club. You'll see the year it took to buy a home ground
and clubhouse, with players/members digging and installing the pitch
draining I the off-season. You'll see the speed with which Mr. Hall
at Newcastle contracted Wasps senior players and how within years,
both the Wasps ground was sold by QPR and then the share with QPR
was rescinded etc.
I'm not aware of two generations of Wasps support feeling they've
been let down. They've supported their club from their homes/clubs,
all over SE England - and most still can and do.
You may be surprised that as a London based, long-time retired,
public transport-dependent supporter travelling to watch Wasps
from my home in Kilburn NW London - a journey to Loftus Road,
Twickenham, High Wycombe and now the Ricoh takes me about
the same time [the supporters coach via the motorways to the door,
is great]. In London travel is discussed in minutes not miles.
End-to-end tube line travel takes approx 90 mins - equating in
distance, Leicester to Birmingham, with Coventry being around
Trafalgar Square.
my potted timeline
[www.rugbynetwork.net]
and you may also find this of interest giving you a
little insight into your recently arrived rugby neighbours.
Wasps Centenary Publication
eggshaped - "Wasps are a big business"
This time last season, our DiR was buying the players tape from
his own pocket, the players were paid late with the RFC briefly
helped out by a loan from amateur Wasps FC. but how things have
changed within five months !
Be reassured, Wasps have no ambitions to be a Coventry club, let
alone take over CRFC. They are based at the Ricoh - hopefully
attracting new support from all over the Midlands and beyond to
join us travelling old-timers, watching/supporting Wasps - relax !
build a stadium in London
The CCFC seem to be struggling to find land for a new stadium in
Coventry. With London receiving 100,000 new arrivals each year
and councils under pressure from the Government to build homes
on every vacant plot - to find/afford 20-30 acres and get council
planning permission is a bit of a dream. At present newly built
2 bedroom/tower block apartments anywhere in London = £1m a-pop.
Wasps RFC can't believe their good fortune to suddenly have their
own home - for the first time !
compliments
dixiewasp
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:13:17:07:48 by dixiewasp.
No need to try to teach me how to suck eggs.
I was brought up in Wembley, and used to walk or cycle down to their ground at Sudbury before they moved to QPR. I am very well aware of their history.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:13:20:28:16 by OldNick.
By comparison, Old Nick and I are quite happy to follow a local club that stays where it was founded. How quaint.
Ps. These are my views alone and should not be construed as representing Old Nick in any way. He is busy sucking eggs, which seems yet again to be a constant theme in this thread.
Quote:r hess
It is a complete mystery why anyone should want to support Wasps unless they actually enjoy constant travel, regular upheaval and a financial roller coaster.
Because, of course, following Coventry hasn't involved constant travel, regular upheaval, and a financial roller coaster over the past couple of decades.
It is a complete mystery why anyone should want to support Wasps unless
they actually enjoy constant travel, regular upheaval and a financial roller coaster.
a] The Wasps RFC move to the Ricoh is it's second move since formation at
the start of professional rugby.
b] The commitment/passion of following a team may often involved extensive
travel about the UK and mainland Europe. I've noted on this site Cov's pride
at the high numbers following their team's away games about England.
c] A Shrewsbury-based Wasp supporter who travelled to High Wycombe for every
home game by public transport for 12 years - is pleased with the Ricoh move.
I'm sure there are folk in Eastbourne living near their local park who then
choose to watch lawn bowls ....... because it's peaceful and convenient -
everyone to his own !
d] I guess the only difference between the two rugby clubs is, supporting
Wasps has nothing to do with municipal pride, but just a team/club that
attracts a wide-spread, diverse, cosmopolitan and dedicated following.
Beware - Wasps RFC now with their first home, financial security and an
end to upheaval .... may end up becoming a second Cov - less the name !
Just to tease may I hint at an Indian owned company, with global support
and a home in Coventry, which has had a roller-coaster financial past, but
is it still a Coventry company ?
dixiewasp
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:14:10:02:56 by dixiewasp.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:14:11:20:11 by Mums the word.
Quote:Jean H
Isn't it time to put this post to bed?????
I'll second that. Nothing more to be said and no good to come out of it. They are here, and all the negative comments will not make them go away. Settle down everybody.
