Tah'd not feathered

[Burgs]

Tah'd not feathered

By Iain Payten
January 19, 2008

THE Australian Rugby Union has moved to win back lost fans after crowds deserted the code in 2007.

The ARU on Friday unveiled cheaper Test tickets and the Waratahs are poised to step up a marketing blitz next week.

After poor attendances against Wales last year, the ARU has cut ticket prices for Tests against Ireland and France this winter in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Quality seating at the venues, say the ARU, will be available at levels not offered for a top-tier Test since 2001. It is hoped the measures will help lure back disgruntled fans after crowds dwindled in an underwhelming year for rugby; a walk-out felt hardest by the provinces.

The Waratahs posted their record lowest attendance in 2007 and have continued to feel the effects of their cellar-dwelling season.

NSW report 15 per cent of existing members - around 2000-3000 - have not renewed their membership for the 2008 season.

But in a 'front foot' bid to win them back, and attract new fans, the Waratahs will next week launch their first-ever TV ads as part of an extensive marketing push.

The 'Get Tah'd' ads will complement signage across the state, as well as concerted letter and phone campaigns asking fans to give Ewen McKenzie's team a second chance.

Waratahs CEO Jim L'Estrange said the lessons of the 2007 - which saw the average attendance drop from 33,740 in 2006 to 21,817, and a sub-20,000 crowd for the first time in the professional era - have been heeded.

"We realised very quickly we had a lot to do to regain the trust of our supporters. We have to earn their support, not expect it," L'Estrange said. "We have to work really hard to get in their minds again that it is going to be a good season."

Though the Waratahs have always prided themselves on having loyal supporters, L'Estrange admitted hesitancy from members about re-committing their dollars.

"We have been working the telephones a little bit," L'Estrange said.

"Some of the older members are waiting to see proof in the pudding. But very few of them said, 'We're out of here, we're over rugby' because we have a very solid base.

"Clearly they're saying, 'We're not going to sign up yet ... we are just wanting to see a little bit more'.

"A few of them are my mates."

Balancing the loss of old members is a 15 per cent rise in new membership, the Tahs boss said. L'Estrange, a former Star City executive brought in last year to replace Fraser Neill, said the Waratahs' emphasis in 2008 would be on providing entertaining events.

"I think we have appreciated the need to entertain and give value to our supporters," L'Estrange said.

Curtain-raisers are to return, and he added that the introduction of the more fan-friendly Experimental Law Variations in the Super 14 will be very welcome.

"We're confident the first game will attract a big walk-up and then those people will recommit to their memberships," L'Estrange said.

Waratahs tickets go on general sale on Monday. Tickets to the Wallabies' Test against France in Sydney on June 28 begin at $49 for adults. Gold tickets are $84 and family tickets range from $98 to $138.

[oxleymoron]

Anyone caught on illicit drug possession charges in Sydney will be given free tickets to all tahs home games. The NSWRU have thought that those in a drugged state are the only ones who could endure the pain of another tahs season:-)

[fulvio sammut]

And in Queensland they get to play.

[slomo]

And in Queensland they get to play.

no fulvio, thats the afl.....

[Harry]

Does Perth get a Test this year? Hopefully it is better than the Fiji game we got last year.

[travelling_gerry]

the Boks 19th July

[frontrow]

Should be a beauty i reckon, hope i am not working...

[Burgs]

Hopefully somewhere in Davis, California will have it on

[GIGS20]

I wonder if the ARU will be dropping ticket prices for the Boks test, since the crowd figures were less than impressive for the Fiji test (I recall it being somewhere on the embarrassing side of 20000 wasn't it)

The ARU are really going to have to step up the quality of tests played in Perth now that we have a S14 team, I mean come on Ireland Followed by Fiji.....give me a break

Even Hong Kong gets a Wallabies Versus All Blacks game!

[Burgs]

I know the better the opposition the better the match etc, but at the end of the day I go to Tests to watch and support Australia, regardless of who they are playing.
I'd still head down if it was Romania or Namibia because it is the Wallabies and it wasn't so long ago they never came here at all.
In terms of opposition, I'd also get bored of having the Springboks for the next five years straight too, variety is the spice of life they say!
That said, for fixtures like Fiji perhaps they should look at sweetening the deal for the fence sitters by having an Australia A PN match as a double header?

[GIGS20]

I'm just saying that many people in Perth will make a decision based upon the quality of the spactacle versus the dollars out of the pocket. I know I was forced to make that decision last year, and will probably be in a similar boat this year. In terms of what I have to give up, with the knowledge that I'm still going to be able to see the match on TV, I won't go to a test match unless it's going to be a good game. In the future, when I have more free cash (Say interest rates go DOWN for a change) I'll have a different priority system, but right now, I just don't have the dough to spend on Australia vs Fiji.

Now Australia vs New Zealand.....I'd give up a lot for that!!!!!!!!!!!

[oxleymoron]

Even Hong Kong gets a Wallabies Versus All Blacks game!

The Hong Kong venue holds about as many as subi, around 40,000. But we all know the ARU will never allow a Bledisloe match in Perth. Sydneysiders have been bitching and moaning about not having the Bledisloe for the past two years. Hence when there are two home games, like this year, Sydney will get one and Brisbane the other, because Melbourne hosted it last year and they are trying to promote the game in Melbourne because they missed out on the S14 licence.

So it comes back to our fault for being passionate about rugby in WA.

Even if the S14 licence had gone to Melbourne, the excuse coming from the ARU would be something like "Perth doesn't have the rugby following or suitable venue for the marque games during the tri-nations". That means that the biggest wallabies fixture that will be played in Perth is the boks game, followed by one of the poorer 6n sides and Fiji, etc.

[Burgs]

Personally I think we have had a pretty good run since Tests where introduced to Perth considering the stadium we have.
Sure the last two have been sub par but there was a fair string of Boks matches and a doozey of a World Cup match too.
I'm a big voice for equality at the S14 level but I don't think we should be making too much noise just yet about Test Match allocation, at least until we have a decent venue that won't cost the ARU money to host the better matches here at the expense of a far greater population in the East.

[GIGS20]

I'm not suggesting a Bledisloe cup match. There wasn't a question about the Hong Kong match being Bledisloe eligible was there? I would have thought it scheduled as a 'Friendly', couldn't we have the same?