ON the face of it, the Ashes series was a commercial success for English rugby league even if not a sporting one.
Indeed, Rugby League Commercial were particularly eager to trumpet the cumulative attendance of 132,418 across the three matches in London, Liverpool and Leeds as eclipsing the 2003 Kangaroo Tour’s total of 70,892 when games were played in Wigan, Hull and Huddersfield.
That was no doubt aided by the second and third Tests at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium home and AMT Headingley respectively selling out, plus a UK Ashes-record 60,812 being at Wembley for the series opener.
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That still, however, left Wembley nearly a third empty for the match – and was nearly 3,000 fewer than the official attendance for this year’s Challenge Cup final – which left former England head coach John Kear questioning whether other southern venues should be used for future internationals.
“Everton has obviously got a future, [but] I think there has got to be some debate about Wembley,” Kear told the League Express Podcast.
“I know the Australian players love playing there, but an international should have a full house. You should take that as read, really, and if we can’t fill Wembley we’ve got to be realistic and accept that, and look elsewhere.
“Even if you want to play a Test match down south, there are venues of 40 or 50,000 which we could fill.
“I just think it’s a better look for the game, but Headingley was sensational.”
Even so, the attendance at Wembley was still the highest for an international match outside of a Rugby League World Cup, behind the finals of 1992 and 1995 at the old venue, and the 2013 semi-final.
That 1992 final is the closest either the old or new Wembley has come to being full for a rugby league international too, with 73,631 watching Great Britain take on the Aussies in what was then an 82,000-capacity venue.
Smaller venues outside of rugby league’s heartlands at the likes of Vicarage Road and Loftus Road have been close to capacity, while internationals at larger non-Wembley venues have tended to be in in the mid-30,000 to mid-40,000 range.
Kear pinned the blame for the somewhat flat atmosphere at Wembley partly on the stadium only being two-thirds full as well, although that is hardly a unique phenomena at England games.
The two-time Challenge Cup-winning head coach believes a lack of engagement with the wider public by the hosts, who barely left the confines of their training base at Wigan or the traditional national team headquarters at Worsley Park, played a significant part too.
By contrast, the Australians won praise for doing so in each of the host cities, which included holding an opening training session at Headingley ahead of the third Test.
“I’m going to really pay compliment the Australian hierarchy and players because they gave people time, and they engaged with people,” Kear said.
“Reece Walsh must have been sick of having a selfie taken with every man, woman, kid and the dog, and he never once seemed to turn it down. A superstar of the game giving up time like that is very rare and I think we can learn from that.
“I believe that’s might be one thing England learn for for next time, don’t just take your squad in Wigan and train there when the Test match is in Leeds. Make sure you get and engage with the local people there, and get used to the Headingley ground as well.
“I think we have to be more approachable and sell the game more like that. I think it’s the duty for everyone who is representing the game at the highest level.”