International Rugby League comes to the Hill Dickinson Stadium

Decent seats in the West Stand level to the try line (I'll explain later Danny) and it will make a pleasant change enjoying the experience without the usual match nerves.

I really don't care who wins but I'm expecting an Australian romp -- they are so much better than "we" are. Hopefully there'll be some Aussie fans around us -- they are always good company and good for friendly banter.

I'll be up again a week later for the Fulham game but for now I'm excited for this occasion. The last time I saw the touring Kangaroos was when Ellery Hanley and Great Britain beat them at Wembley.

I understand the need for revenue and everything else but rugby at football grounds I just don't like. I never liked seeing Old Trafford with all of those markings after the rugby had been there, but hey ho.

But here I am jerking the knee and twiching as I not only have to read this stuff but write the lead story also.

Can't wait for the combined Murphy O'Neill Match Report!

I'm wondering if we know about ticket revenue, matchday spending revenue, hospitality and so on.

I was sitting at the bar enjoying a drink by myself when, next thing, the door opened and in walked the most stunning woman I've ever laid eyes on. 5'-11'' tall, stunning blue eyes, silky blonde hair, an hourglass figure, barely covered by a tiny mini skirt and a flimsy cotton top. I could see she was not wearing a bra, and her incredibly firm breasts were on show.

After watching her walk in I turned back to my beer. No sooner had I taken a sip when I turn to see her pulling another bar stool up close to me and sat down. She said 'Hi', and I said 'Hi' in return. She asked how I was and took my hand and placed it on her perfect inner thigh, rubbing it up and down.

"So, does that make you feel good?" she asked. "I'll bet you feel good," she continued. "In fact, I'll bet you've never felt this good before."

"Well, I have," I corrected her. "You see, when I was 17, I was picked to play for the school 1st XV in the National School Finals in front of a crowd of about 3,000 and I felt really good."

I immediately felt a bit pathetic saying that and I thought she would get up and go. But she took my hand off her thigh and put it up the front of her top. Her nipple pushed into my palm as she massaged my hand into her pert, perfect breast.

"How do you feel now?" she purred.

"Okay," I replied. Again, she said, "I'll bet you do. In fact, I'll bet you've never felt this good before!"

Unbelievably, I heard myself saying, "Well, actually, I have. In that game, we were down by 6 points with about 20 seconds left in the match. The opposition kicked the ball deep into our half of the field, where I caught it. I ran up field, side-stepping past the first few defenders, handed off a couple of would-be tacklers, burst through a few forwards, chipped over their fullback, regathered and scored a try right under the posts with about 2 or 3 seconds 'til full time. We were still behind by 1 point, but I had a simple kick at goal to win the match.”

"Ahhh..." she growled between clenched teeth, more than a bit miffed, pulled my hand from under her top and thrust it down the front of her skirt.

She whispered, "Well, tell me this, Mr Rugby Man: Have you ever felt such a perfect twat?"

"I certainly have," I answered, "I missed the kick."

Very often more excitement in 10 minutes of Rugby League than in 90 minutes of football.

The ground will be full of Saints and Wigan supporters, coaches booked weeks ago.

But as much as I love Rugby League, and the Saints, I've never, ever gone through the mill, emotions-wise, as I do every game with Everton.

It's a great game and it's good to watch -- but it's not Everton.

"Rugby, bah! They'll be holding concerts and the like next."

Don't watch it if you don't like, its simple enough. It will be bringing more revenue to the club, what's not to like?

As far as the result is concerned, I'm afraid the Aussies will be too good for us again.

I am a lifelong blue and saw my first game at Goodison in 1960 and only a late convert to Rugby League (as a Wire). I agree with Les that Rugby League has far more integrity and endeavour but nothing puts me through the emotional turmoil as the Toffees.

No comparison emotionally.

What's not to like? I'm no rugby fan. But I'll be watching this.

Forward thinking, innovative and giving our club publicity. What's not to like?

Rugby Links at Goodison

I think you did well to initiate this news piece. It's about good news for the Everton stadium and indirectly (future income etc) about good news for Everton. Looking forward to going Saturday.

Anything that raises the profile of the ground, attracts people and helps the growing business scene down there is good news imo. Only curmudgeons can object. Rugby is not for me (scarred at school) but I hope this is the start of the ground/club hosting events outside football. My only concern is potential damage to the surface.

Meanwhile, when I arrived in New Zealand over 30 years ago, the first thing I watched on TV was the Aussie State of Origin game. It was mental. A full-on battle with both teams hammering the shit out of each other. What a laugh.

By the way, the video ref simply decides a) if a ball was actually grounded properly and b) whether a player was offside. Not much else. The ref makes all the other decisions and gets on with the game. Remember those days?

As we're a bit of a 'minority' in Premier League terms, he seems like the sort of on the ball type it would do our Commercial Department no harm to hire.

But I believe they will be very interested in the football, because they will have learned that buying a great club out of impending financial disaster and making it a winner again can be very, very profitable.

Fenway Sports Group paid $380 million to drag the RS away from the Hicks/Gillette precipice. The club is now worth $5.4 billion according to Forbes. That's an 18X return on investment in 14 years.

You can bet TFG wants to do just what FSG did. But to do that, you have to win games. And silverware. They know that. So they will invest.

He said of Rugby: "If you were supposed to pick the ball up and run with it, they'd have put a fookin handle on it!" :-)

Thanks Paul!

Great that we have the honour of hosting this international event at our new ground.

Onwards and upwards, on and off the park. NSNO.

Yep, found it but as a screenshot. The TMO is an advisory role and does not have the power to overule a ref decision. It's to complement the refs expertise, not overule it.

For those attending, keep an eye on the Aussie fullback Reece Walsh.

He's in a purple patch ATM after almost single handedly winning the grand final and then scoring 2 tries at Wembley the other day.

Liam #17 totally agree. And you will get some die-hard Aussies that will travel to see this game. Has to be a lift for the local economy.

What's not to like?

Hopefully everyone enjoys the day, and England can make a real game of it.

Agreed, I absolutely love this sport, the physicality, I'm really looking forward to this, I'd watch Rugby League above any football match except Everton of course.

Let's hope we turn up this week cos the Aussies were on a different level last week.

The ball spends a lot of time in the scrum downs as well — that's when the referee gets them to scrum down properly,

Rugby League is far more open to watch and is predominantly played in the North of England, don't know why it never took off down South.

So they just don't field teams that can be humiliated. Southern Jessies!

They won't be rolling about as if they have been shot.

I would like football to do what rugby does. Allow the physio on but the game keeps going. That would stop players faking injury.

It seems to work in rugby 'cos the play goes away from the injured player, dunno why? But a football is more mobile than a rugby ball so someone could just kick it towards the injured player and then what happens?

Rugby League was formed as the players wanted paying and the union committe was adamant that it was an 'amateur' game. So they got rid of the locks and reduced the scrum, to get round any legal challenge.

Link

I love the Geordie definition of down South. When you pass over the Tyne Bridge there's a road sign that says "South".

So us Sousers are Southerners!

Imagine it, Mark. You play for Everton so you must naturally be cheating, but you play for one of the big boys so you obviously must be hurt,

Okay, you can add time on but the player is still breaking up the play.

Could we not even have had blue and white seats spelling out EVERTON or just the name appearing somewhere in the stadium? Not one word!

Improved management, would the last Theatrical Entrepreneur have missed such an opportunity!?! Pathetic!

Might mean Beto or Barry could hit the target!

Oh, and there's a punch-up already! Come on, lads, it's only a game!!!

Tell ya what, though, you cannot drive within a mile radius or your in a jam for ages its mental... worse than when we play. I live next to it by the way.

The head of the rugby committee said we had only one choice for the north-west game and that was Everton. He said Wembley was flat compared to HDS.

American football next please.

Ref and VAR ref awful. VAR gut getting called for everything by Jonathon Davies and his co-commentator. Even saying he does not understand the laws of the game!

There are Pawsons everywhere it seems.

52k plus.

It was a full house of over 52,000, can't remember the exact figure but it was the only time Everton got mentioned, "The attendance today at Everton..." over the public address.

One of the Aussie commentators said that he had played in Liverpool, "at Anfield, the soccer ground" to which one of his Aussie co-commentators said, "There's a lot of history attached to that ground" and not one word about Everton.

Dame Edna was from Moonee Ponds in Melbourne and in her day it was AFL only.

Some commentator from Australia gets us upset?

Sometimes we search for something to whinge about.

He wasn't upset, mate, but it appeared to me that Everton missed an opportunity to have their name put about internationally... but if you think that is whinging, then you must lead a fairly miserable life.

A better effort although lacking some invention and skill.

The walk up to the ground drew admiring comments from the mixed crowd (I felt right at home with all them wool accents) and we’ve got a lot of Kudos from this event. The bars must’ve done a roaring trade as I had to give up pre match and at half time.

The in ground announcer played the Siren and Z Cars before the kick off and constantly referred to the ground as Everton - not HD nor BMD. He constantly raised the fans by asking “Everton, who are you supporting, England or Australia”??

I had lots of blues around me and we even got a decent “Everton, Everton” chant going.

People were allowed to take ale to their seats no problem.

Four guys sat in front of me work with the academy at Finch Farm and told me it’s thriving. They are being pushed for improvement by the new owners and Moyes and Baines are very much on board.

At half time I thought England might sneak a close game but they lost their discipline for Aussies first try and never re found their composure after that. Twice they were on the Aussie line with 12 men to beat and came away with nothing, au Cointreau, they even managed to concede.

But the Aussies are very much better than English RL so not unexpected.

Even so, the ref bottled some big calls there - 2 Aussies should have seen red - one in the first five!

Anyhow - back to normal next week. I’m in the Village seats with my boy Joe and looking forward to a rip roaring smashing of Fulham.

UTFT

Ps - nice touch on the train arriving into Lime Street from the Conductor.

“Welcome to Lime Street, Liverpool, where I would like to remind all passengers that Everton built all three football stadium in this city - have a nice stay in our wonderful, blue city”

I wore my Everton rain jacket and they treated me like visiting royalty.

Just had a couple of videos from my neighbour here in Huddersfield who went the game. Said the stadium is brilliant and the bars around the area are great.

People from outside the city are always amazed at the fact that most places have live music on. Even tiny pubs. It's simply not like that in most other places. We scousers get used to it, I think.

As for the return. Trying to get to Westminster Road, ended up in Breeze Hill. The council must get to grips with the traffic / parking issue.

I know of several people who have said that unless things improve dramatically, they will not be renewing their season tickets, which is a pity really, because there is so much to admire with our new ground.

I wouldn't say she loves it but she's massively changed her opinion to the extent that we're spending next weekend in town (I'll be at the Fulham game) with our boys (3 of them) and their girlfriends.

For me Liverpool has always been Dublin UK. The atmosphere on a Saturday night, even in little corner pubs, is welcoming, friendly and entertaining.

People who don't like Liverpool haven't spent enough time there.

Easy walking distance from town.

Not sure what people moan about.

People have to walk a bit... big deal.

Absolute Bullshit!

Everton was mentioned at least 5 times by the stadium announcer before and during the game.

Why should Everton be mentioned?

Not sure why Alan feels the need to say otherwise (or maybe he didn't hear the 1 million decibel stadium tannoy).

Nice to see different types of sports fans at the ground.

I've heard comments that it was the most unfashionable crowd ever to attend a game at an Everton stadium and also there was a ban open flames due to the ubiquitous presence of polyester.

But comments like that are just mean. Wearing the same clobber as people in Barnsley and Dewsbury did in the 70s shouldn't define a person.

Absolutely mate - I got the impression the announcer was making sure everyone knew it was Everton hosting this game.
Including the siren and Z-Cars that got 50% of the people around me cheering!

It was a good day for Everton FC

Not sure why someone would tell other Everton fans untruths.

He always predicts a loss; I smell a red!

To really like watching Rugby Union, you probably need to be the type who really enjoyed playing it. To enjoy watching scrums, you probably need to be someone who thrived in them.

Fortunately it's not my job to market Rugby Union to the masses. I feel it will always have some spectators because there will always be some people who enjoy the bits that a lot of people find unwatchable.

It is, more than most, a game for the players, not just for ratings. (Didn't all non-combat sports start out that way?) It accommodates more body-types and can be more inclusive for those who have lesser ball-handling skills.

Ideally, everyone would be a maestro. And it is played by people from across the whole gamut of classes (unless anyone wants to suggest Welsh miners and Cumbrian farm hands don't qualify as working class).

I very much admire Rugby League and enjoy watching that as well, but to me it's a very different spectacle. The differences exist but they diminish neither. I would say that a boring rugby league game (and they do exist) is probably the absolute nadir of entertainment because the game is so simplified in many regards.

Today I thought they gave us (Everton) enough coverage considering we weren't playing, including highlighting the allegiance of commentator James Graham who pinched a few blades of grass, and the persistent praise of the stadium was wonderful.

Okay, some people may not understand there are two football clubs in our city or have heard more about Anfield than Goodison, but most of them won't be particularly interested in football anyway.

It is up to the team to become good enough that everyone understands where our home is, not the other way round.

Nice one Ryan. There are a good number of people who post on here who cannot do that walk. There will be many more elsewhere who cannot do it. Many will need assistance.

What a nice empathetic chap you are.

'Big deal'. Possibly the most selfish and ungenerous comment I have heard on here for a while.

Still, if Ryan thinks that announcing it 5 times over the ground tannoy at an international match is enough promotion of our club, even if it isn't heard outside the ground, then I wonder who is misleading people?

All the stewards were in Everton FC gear and every gate had a club official wearing Royal Blue Everton tracksuits. Fans were taking photos of the fan wall, the stones, the crest and the ground in general.

I've been to the ground for two league games -- Brighton and Palace -- and apart from the mixed scarves and club shirts, it was as if we were at home.

On the walk back to town and the train back to London, the talk was about how awesome our new ground is and how it's much better than Wembley or Old Trafford for these games. I even got praise for it from Spurs fans on the tube in London (I was wearing an Everton coat). Everton won a lot of friends yesterday.

So that's 663 empty seats short of a sell-out. But who's nit-picking here?

Si -- I like watching Rugby Union as well but being a St Helens lad will always prefer League. My dad, the one who commented about the ball spending more time in the crowd, loved watching the Welsh team of the 70s with Barry John, JPR and JJ and Gareth Edward's etc.

I've asked the club why there are empty seats when so many are looking for tickets and they say they are corporate blocks of seats that aren't taken up for every game.

No doubt they will fill for the derby and the Manchester games but I think it's a shame that seats can be taken from the match-going fans in this manner. There must be a way of releasing these, perhaps through communication between the club and the corporate body?

I agree that it’s a shame that spare Corporate hospitality seats can’t be made available at short notice but I’m guessing the Corporate gang wouldn’t want any oik sitting next to them. I think Burnley tried that two seasons ago against us with segregation issues arising.

I went to the Rugby League test match yesterday. It seemed like a great advertisement for our club to me with lots of fans complimentary about the stadium. It was noticeable how few kids there were at the game though compared with an Everton home game. The pitch stood up to the game pretty well, I thought.

My daughter had a ticket but couldn't make it in the end so she unfortunately was one of the 663 empty seats.

Sorry for nit-picking.

You live in Australia (lucky you), so you didn't go yesterday but you feel the need to comment on the lack of Everton being mentioned. Yet those that did go heard Everton mentioned numerous times, the walk up to the ground has Everton branding, inside the stadium has some walls that are covered of Everton players, the stewards were in Everton uniform.

So you're commenting on nothing you have any knowledge of... Okay then.

The people to whom I was referring are all in their late 70s.

A game for thugs who like throwing things.

I'm talking about young lads moaning because they have to walk for 40 minutes.

My only issue on the way back is it's a long way to hold a full bladder at my age. Several lads were pissing Al Fresco but that's not for me.

The queue in the Railway reflected this...

2nd time we've taken a taxi from Lime Street. Under a tenner and both of them driven by Reds (locals, so a
okay... as opposed to tourists who we call Kopites).

Both got a tip - the first because he was nice, the second because he saw my phone fall out of my pocket and told me (and was also nice).

Both dropped us off at the junction of Sherwood Street and Great Howard Street, so an 800-yard walk to the ground.

2nd time we have walked to Sandhills, which is double the distance, but they are now sorting out the logistics and the trains back into the city are with and relatively little queueing.

Ground is excellent. But saw something I have not seen before inside an Everton ground. Because it was Rugby League and no segregation, we came down from Section 11 and there were two guys on the floor. Seems the one with blood everywhere had tried to separate two having a fight and got slammed in the face.

Felt sorry for the poor steward in his 60s or 70s trying to protect one of the other guys. Took a while for first aid to arrive and they were not very "proactive". 3 police also turned up as well as more senior stewards. We do not need thugs like this on our ground.

If anyone knows the guy who was acting as peacemaker and got lumped, then pass on our best wishes and hope he recovers quickly. No idea what the fight was about but there again drinking was allowed during the game so just goes to prove that football has it right and Rugby League also has its share of thuggish supporters.

In Thailand, there's a lot of Super Rugby and AFL shown from Australia and New Zealand which are good timings and get the crowds in the bars but I really only watch the national teams though, and the State of Origin.

So tours down under and their Six Nations equivalent are good timings, and if I'm in Thailand there's a place I go where I can request they put the recorded games on during the European Six Nations.

Rugby League doesn't really get advertised as much here though. I now have a mate in Pattaya who is a League man and has his own bar so I'm sure I'll get to see some games for the 2 months over the New Year I'll be there.

I don't know if that was because of the TV stations cutting some background noise out or if some of those announcements were made before the TV coverage started (here halfway through the British National Anthem) or at half-time, which was an ad break on TV.

I may have missed it but there was no mention of announcements on trains, banners on the roads upto the ground, or comments from those attending other than the commentators who, as I've said, mentioned Anfield more than Everton -- and neither did I see anything in the ground shown on TV that mentioned Everton.

I think that Everton could have done more to promote themselves by, say, inviting the Australian press and TV to the ground beforehand for a background briefing maybe including an explanation of the ground length as the in-goal area was often mentioned as being rather short... but then you'd know that as you like to think you know everything else.

Why do we need to promote ourselves? Well, our lovable neighbours got a mention and I don't think they were mentioned over the tannoy or on any street banners. But hey, you just think in your little area.

She got to see her name on the family stone we bought on the Everton Way. I saw St Helens legend Paul Sculthorpe trying to locate his brick. Got a photo with Chris Kamara.

I know lots of Rugby League fans, being from Wigan, and they all loved the stadium and would like to see Magic Weekend and the Grand Final hosted at Everton.

Were you a Birkenhead Grammar lad then?