Quinssa AGM Report 6: Away Support & Broadcast

By Prof
June 16 2006

In this sixth report from the Quinssa AGM 2006 Mark Evans answers questions about away supporters and the broadcasting of Guinness Premiership games on the radio.

On away supporters

Q: Now that we’re back in the Premiership where will we be putting away supporters and are we likely to be able to get a block of tickets at away games?

A: We will provide 500 tickets to the away club but there isn’t really much of a tradition of away travel in rugby other than internationally or in Europe. In ND1 it was easy to turn up on the day and still get a ticket. The tickets we give out won’t be in the best part of the ground, they’ll probably be in the South Stand. Then again if you get a ticket at Bath they give you a seat in Shepton Mallet!

In most grounds like Bath, Leicester and Sale on a Friday night they tend to sell out so you’ll get stuck in the corners but in the big football grounds like Saracens and London Irish it could be different.  And isn’t it just fantastic that we’ll be playing Newcastle away on a Friday night!

I would love it if we could get 500 supporters to go to every away game next season. The best away support we’ve seen at the Twickenham Stoop was Worcester,  they brought about 1,000. I wonder if they’ll do the same next season or will the novelty factor wear off? There is this myth that Leicester have a huge travelling support which is absolutely rubbish.

It will be interesting to see what will happen when we have more capacity.

 

On the broadcasting of GP games

Q: For the last three or four years all Broncos/Quins RL games have been on local radio. Is there a way to get Quins games on the radio next season, especially the away games?

A: I think in five or ten years all games will be available on broadband TV and in five years time all games will be broadcast on the radio and soon you should be able to download all of the old games. In the US you can already get all of the Currie Cup, Six Nations, Tri Nations, Super 14 on your desktop for $130 a year, but you can’t get it here yet.

BBC Radio 5 Live has the rights to the Guinness Premiership but there aren’t any rights to Super League so Radio London can cover the Quins RL games. I think Saracens have a deal with Three Counties Radio but one thing I don’t think you’ll see soon is Radio London sending a team to broadcast from Bath.

We get all games streamed down on a Monday so we can watch any of the GP matches.

Don’t think I haven’t thought of the idea of Harlequins TV!