WRU Take Note... Friday night Internationals - Good or Not Good

Discussed on another thread, but thought I'd put out a poll to see actual feelings on Friday night games amongst Rugby Fans...

Please cast your vote Yes or No depending on whether your a Welsh fan or not so we can gauge the true feeling of the fan, to either back-up or dispute the WRU statement that the Welsh Rugby followers "like" Friday night games.

I would love a Friday night fixture at Murrayfield.

Or equally I would love to see a Scotland Wales international on a Friday night in Cardiff, or any venue to be honest.

That means you can get the jars in on the Friday, and have a more relaxed day on Saturday watching the other games knowing you have all day Sunday to get home for work on Monday.

I'm 100% supportive of the Friday night fixtures. I dunno what all the fuss is about.

Agree with Rugger. I love the Friday games. It's the Sunday matches that need scrapping! They suck the life right out of the 6N!

MarcusHalberstram wrote:Agree with Rugger.  I love the Friday games.  It's the Sunday matches that need scrapping!  They suck the life right out of the 6N!

You would love em, you only have to get to Penarth, I have to find my way all the way back to Merthyr.

Well, so far I'm surprised (still early days yet)... This isn't the result I was expecting. When I talk to most fans (in real life or on forums) I get the impression that Friday night games are hated. Accept most are happy with Sunday either.

I wont change my opinion, but I do believe in democracy, so lets leave this poll run and see if it swings the other way...

Cheers to those bothered to vote...

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I would love a Friday night fixture at Murrayfield.

Or equally I would love to see a Scotland Wales international on a Friday night in Cardiff, or any venue to be honest.

I would love a Friday night at Murrayfield just now, as I live in Edinburgh, but as someone not originally from Edinburgh (and not meaning Dunfermline - that is Edinburgh commuter belt...) I think it is a bad idea. There simply is not enough time to actually get to the game after work. Can you see all the employers in Scotland letting staff leave at lunchtime for the rugby? Personally I'm not allowed to even take annual leave between January and March!

Even from Aberdeen, being reasonably well connected (hourly trains) to Edinburgh you'd need to leave by 4 to be comfortable of getting there in good time for a 7.30 kick-off.

I think we've seen that Edinburgh alone can't fill a stadium... a lot of people come from further afield. The good thing about travelling from further afield for the rugby is making a day of it and Friday night rugby would not make that such a viable option.

Visiting fan and voted no. No consideration for the 0.0001% of viewers who live on the left side of the Atlantic . Time zone differences mean tomorrow's kicks off at 1.05pm here and work is stupidly busy so it looks like I can't escape for the afternoon. Using holiday/ calling in sick just causes work to be even busier upon return.

I can see the point of the poster who argued about Sunday games sucking the life out of the championship. Although I only went to a couple of Sunday domestic games work on the Monday was always at the back of my mind. That's changed now though, Sunday 6N games are an 8am kick off usually with full cooked breakfast upon the final whistle!

Dowlais - I know it's easy being in Penarth, but I was answering from a purely selfish POV. I can quite understand why people want away with Friday games, and I wouldn't lose sleep if they went (and would probably support this from a utilitarian view) - but personally I love them. Wales France last year was one of the best atmospheres I've experienced pre-match.

I can't understand how/why we still have Sunday games.

Great for TV audiences/the pub - not sure though if I'd like it if I was actually going to the stadium.

I can't imagine how much cardiff pubs lose by playing an home international on a Friday . paticularly only the Ireland game being at home

I live about 25 miles away, and I couldn't get home after the game travelling by train and bus, I could only do it by car, the same applies to practically everybody living more than 3 miles away from any station on the South Wales Railway network, unless they are prepared to hire a Taxi.
It is just another money grabbing initiative (TV) by the Dodger, it still cannot be soon enough to see the back of him for me.
I voted against.

Like I said on the on the other thread, I want/need 3 games in a row on Saturday afternoon/ early evening. It's part of the 6N experience. When I go to a game I can at least get away watching all the other ones before or after much much more easily

whocares wrote:Like I said on the on the other thread, I want/need 3 games in a row on Saturday afternoon/ early evening. It's part of the 6N experience. When I go to a game I can at least get away watching all the other ones before or after much much more easily

Have to agree with that, absolutely love the 3 games in a row experience. That's the reason why i don't like 6N on Sunday too.

The only bad thing with the Friday night game is getting home afterwards (as mentioned).
I think the atmosphere is much better than a Sunday game and I'd rather one game on a Friday night each 6Ns round than a Sunday game.

LordDowlais - I used to live in Dowlais not so long ago and getting from Cardiff to that part of Merthyr was a pain I'll grant you that. You should try getting to Beaufort though

After 30 years the wife just about accepts that Saturday is a rugby day and that I am allowed to do no DIY and have a drink. Try and stretch this to Friday and/or Sunday and its dinner in the dog time.

I would love to see all the matches on Saturday, but for TV reasons, matches spread out over the weekend mean more money. The last round should also all be played at the same time, so that teams do not necessarily know what they need to do prior to playing. However, I appreciate that Bill Maclaren is long gone and so are my wishes.

Sitting home and watching on tv, the Friday nights are OK. But an unmitigated disaster for a visiting fan. That is unless one is fortunate to get a £1000 per night room at the Hilton.....

The England Wales WC game is also an 8pm KO albeit on a Saturday but getting out of Twickenham is just as bad.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-v-england-idiotic-fans-8599135

http://www.rugbyonslaught.com/2015/02/england-fan-shows-what-he-thinks-of.html

Yeah, Friday night games are great

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/11788521.CHRIS_KIRWAN__WRU_must_take_the_lead_in_setting_the_tone_of_international_matchday_in_Cardiff/



WHEN I moved to Wales I made sure that I got my family tickets for the next visit of Scotland to the Millennium Stadium in the Six Nations.
It was a chance for my mum from the Highlands to cheer on the boys in blue and my dad and brother to experience the famous Cardiff atmosphere on international day.
They didn't have a bad time despite the result – part two on Wales' journey to the 2008 Grand Slam – but the occasion was slightly sullied by the frequency of those around them getting up around them for drinks while it was an afternoon kick-off so thankfully they only saw the tipsy build-up to the drunken mayhem on the streets of the capital.
So to quote John Toshack quoting Bill Shankly, the only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised when it comes to the debauchery at the England game last Friday.
It has been coming for years and the current atmosphere has been actively encouraged.
There is always a danger of romanticising past decades and I don't speak from experience like many of you as my youth was spent at Welford Road and my only trip to the old National Stadium was to watch Brive dish out a Heineken Cup final hammering in 1997.
But I have seen a shift in the eight years that I have been covering internationals and can see that Wales is in danger of losing the very thing it is famous for; a genuine rugby welcome.
Go to clubs (rugby, not night) and you will hear from plenty of folk that say that the Millennium Stadium is no longer a place for them.
It can be a different kind of loud, brash and with booming music during breaks in play rather than Calon Lan, while the behaviour can be mystifying (one man, beer in hand, seem surprised when his autumn singsong of "If you all hate Fiji clap your hands" failed to catch on).
You certainly cannot pin all of the blame on the Welsh Rugby Union because there are greater social issues at work here and the scenes at the southern end of St Mary's Street will be horrendous tomorrow evening, just as they were last Friday.
But the governing body ARE in a position to shift the emphasis of international matchday back towards the 'organic' atmosphere of years gone by. They can set the tone.
It is often said in disparaging terms that Wales games are full of event-goers yet that should always be the case, it’s just that at the moment it’s the wrong sort of event

The day went well then? Maybe not.