1:58pm Thursday 8th April 2010
By Simon Fitzjohn
For a lesson in the art of shooting yourself in the foot, one could do little better than take a look at Harlequins RL.
Over the years the club have mastered the skill of wrecking what appears on paper to be a grand idea, and this weekend is no different.
Having screamed at the club for months to try something different, the Stoop finally responds with the great suggestion of a cross-code ‘double-header’, with the union side facing Leeds before Quins RL host St Helens.
So far so good, and a real reason for applause.
But dig slightly below the surface and suddenly you realise that, again, the club have somehow managed to get things wrong.
Tickets for the dual feast come in at £25 - excellent value if you are a fan of the 15-man code, for which this is the regular price.
Excellent value even if you consider that offers you the chance to take in two top-level professional sporting contests.
But what of the dwindling rugby league fans?
Well, having to fork out £15 for their usual tickets, they are now being asked to pay an extra £10 for an extra game, which, in all honesty, very few of them will watch - especially considering the fact that there is a two-hour gap between games.
Yes, the majority of Quins fans are probably season-ticket holders, but that does not help the ‘floating’ supporter.
Even worse, from a PR point of view, is that traveling St Helens fans, who will probably not even arrive in the capital until after the union game has finished, are being asked to cough up double the amount Hull KR fans were charged just five days earlier.
No wonder the fan forums are awash with threads along the lines of ‘rip-off Quins’.
My conversations with Harlequins RL people have drawn a blank, with a steadfast refusal to admit anything is amiss.
I have had various stats and figures thrown in my face, quips about category-pricing at football matches and the like.
All this despite my simple suggestions of colour-coded tickets, set entry times, etc - all of which could have eased the pressure.
The simple truth is that crowds for league games at the Stoop this season are down, and depressingly so, with the opener against Wakefield the only time the figure has crept over the 3,000 mark.
That is something the club should be concerning itself with, not trying to pull a fast one to impress bigwigs at the RFL.
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