i'm not at Toulouse fan - i'm a Saints fan (since 1967) ok ? but essentially i'm an RL fan ok ?

TO13 is the nearest RL club to me which represents a seven hour round trip for each home game which enables me to see a good level of rugby IMO with TO plus all the other Championship teams that come down.If I can be bothered to follow RL travelling long distances each time surely the locals can be expected to make some kind of effort to travel a few miles in your part of the world ?

my comment wasn't flippant,as you put it - I stated a fact which was that 606 for a Championship game is unacceptable IMO especially when certain C1 fixtures attracted many more spectators ie Donny.

Hunslet & York earned their right to play in this division and full credit to them but it doesn't warrant certain other posters criticising french crowds when the so-called english heartland clubs can't get their own act together.

Could you afford to go to Toulouse every other weekend?

The only reason tolouse are in this league is becuase sky want to try and get them in super League for Expansive Rugby, Remember they should have been down in championship one already, Oh but no they dont have to get releagated because of RFL politics, Would toulouse get the crowds then ?. Would the RFL have paid for Championship 1 clubs to travel to france, Somehow i think not. You cant go judging other clubs when Tolouse are getting a easy ride of the RFL with their double standards.

I agree entirely mate - i'm not here to defend TO13,just stating a fact about an attendance figure that's all.If you find 606 acceptable for a match in the second tier of uk RL then fine.
The french LER often get crowds far superior to the Championship but what does that help prove ?
The RFL want 'expansion' because they believe it is the way forward - I don't make the rules any more than you do.I believe they shouldn't have be exempted from relegation FWIW.
If you have a gripe with the system then have a go at the RFL,and don't whinge to me ! I'm not the whipping boy for french rugby......

I dont personally think 606 is an acceptable crowd figure for the second tier of rugby league, but then again I dont think 1900 is an acceptable figure for the first tier of rugby league (rfl obviously do). It will be interesting to see the crowd figure for Friday nights game Crusaders v Catalan.

could be a new all-time low figure ?

FWIW the attendance at the Catalan v Crusaders in february pre-season friendly was 5000 plus - which was great.This included about ten Cru fans.

It's comparable to the shocking figures produced by some clubs in our elite competition.

in other words - our great game is in a right "two and eight " !

At some levels yes. SL is probably OK as a 12 team comp. The struggle to get out of the M62 corridor still remains and simply planting clubs in areas where RL isn't viable isn't working. Areas outside the corridor will only be attracted to RL if it is seen as a strong sport, both attendance wise and financially in the current heartlands.

agreed,but a major factor seems to be the lack of progression within the M62 corridor, witness the reduction on crowds generally within the english RL heartlands,especially in the lower leagues.Hunslet being just one example.If the sport has problems within it's traditional catchment areas then it needs to expand further afield.If this wasn't the case the RFL wouldn't be perservering with the french,welsh or southern clubs.
The french LER has either stabilised or has shown increases in attendances in it's respective heartland areas.
This doesn't imply the quality is any better or worse between english & french RL simply that there are lots of positives down here with apparent reticence in the engllsih system for whatever reason.

Re the Union jack flag in the Fax colours behind the posts at the clubhouse end.It was left in the Melting Pot if you want to reclaim it pm me and i will see if i can get it to you

??? I think you mean "Danke Schön/Schoen"!

it's all double dutch to me mate ! I blame the red wine

As one of the few people actually at the game, if there was 500 there it was on the top side, it was a very disappointing night apart from having a few drinks with fellow fans!
In reply to you Haighy, this was a [ivery average Toulouse [/iteam even missing one of their best players too, it was a game we were never going to win after they got their noses in front, you could just tell. Heads went down and as always we just cannot cope with teams that work hard.

I believe that belongs to "Fax4Life" may be wrong though.

Poppycock mate, firstly I was in Toulouse on Saturday and the crowd, or lack of was a shock, there was NEVER over 1000 there, I mean never as I counted the fans in the stands and got to 'around' 400 plus the few in the bar and just in front I would say the crowd was 500, yer okay we only took about 50 this time (we took more the first year I went it was around 500) but its March and as was proved , still poor for weather, so not as appealing for people to go, my family did not go this time plus the 'novelty' has worn off.

The game has to build from where it is strong or more 'was' strong as due to the RFL the game is sadly dying in placs it used to be well supported 'in their day' places like Oldham, Workington, Keighley, Hunslet even Rochdale used to get fairky decent crowds back in the 80's. Even in Leigh, Halifax and Fev there is not the support for the game there was in the 80's and early 90's which is a huge worry.
You saying forget these and go for places where they do not and never will be fans of RL in big numb ers???
It just won't work.

No way as I have put elsewhere was there that many, no way.
We got in the ground with about 20 mins to ko and there was about 50 people there, by ko there were a few in the stands as it was chucking it down plus us in front of the pavilion and some stayed in the bar, 500 tops!

So is 500 in Toulouse!

You sound just like your coach,a bad loser - your lads expected to turn up and take the three points and totally disregarded the opposition - I don't think i've seen such a deflated coach at a press conference.For some reason the swagger and confidence at the corresponding game last year has disappeared ! Visiting Toulouse was great when you were winning then wasn't it ? All of a sudden it's "not so appealing",I wonder why ?
Regarding the crowd - I didn't bother to count them personally,silly me ! I asked in the club office after the game when MC was trying to get a dvd copy and this was the figure announced to me - don't whinge at me if the figure is correct or not,ok ? To say there were 500 is a complete joke - stop with the sour grapes please.
If our great game game is dying in the english heartlands then what else can we do ? I'm sure the RFL would love to survive with the game in it's traditional areas if only to save money on ventures like france etc but the truth is it isn't doing very well so you have to look for business elsewhere.If you people in the heartlands don't want the game then what is the RFL supposed to do ?

How come, the French League teams are well supported, getting large attendances reportedly, yet TO are only getting a crowd of at most around 1500?

Not a dig, just a question.

you're quite right mate - I don't know either.

many of the LER games get between 1000- 2000 crowds regularly especially in the non-RU areas with the games played on the sunday - even at Carcassonne the LER crowd is often higher than the RU - witness 7000 for the visit of Limoux the other week.
Stade TO played on saturday afternoon and are really well supported plus the international on the telly etc plus the weather,which wasn't hospitable,certainly not good enough to tempt the fair weather fans.Plus,times are pretty hard for the average french person also nowadays with a higher cost of living in france than in the uk and people just don't have the money available. I have just been made redundant after 15 years with the same company so I don't see how I can go to many more games this season
An important factor is the way the system works over here - in france,saturday is classed as an official working day within the 35 hour (39 for many) hour week plus the vast majority of shops are closed on the sunday so most families do their shopping o the saturday.It's a different culture.

The LER games (99%) are played on the sunday so TO13 would attract more paying customers if the matches were played on the sunday.This however,would be more difficult or the visiting teams I suppose with the travelling & general logistics etc.

I am very dubious about the 1021 official crowd reported.But that was the official figure announced to me post-match.

This was our third year at Toulouse, the first year was great, it was a novelty, we won, the weather was ok and we had hundreds of supporters. What a great weekend.

Last year the weather was fantastic, not as many supporters, we won. What a great weekend.

This year, the weather was poor, the rugby was poor very few supporters. What a great weekend.

Next year?

But the fact remains, there were barely 400 Toulouse supporters there, same as the first year, same as the second year. And I say exactly the same now as I did after the first year.
What is the point of having Toulouse in the league?

PLEASE,this is scandalous ! I was also at these games including saturday

the official average for 2010 was 1900

2010 - the official crowd was 902 v Fax (clashed with a Stade Toulousain fixture also shown on national telly)
2009 - the official crowd was 2697 - the following day many of the Fax fans were at Perpignan - with great respect there is a slight difference between your estimation of 400 and 2679 is there not ? I suggest sir,you are a prize p*****k !

last saturday the Fax performance was poor - give some credit to TO13 please !!! they outplayed them in every department - I though Holroyd was excellent and tried to inspire a very lacklustre bunch of team mates with only Dylan Nash showing any real fight - the Fax fans were almost silent - didn't hear a peep from them except at the post-match p**s up with a few drowning their sorrows following the catastrophic loss ! Plus of course all the usual whinging about the ref etc etc.
The team,along with staff & other hangers on just down for a freebie beano no doubt left early,most of them without even bothering with the post-match meal etc which was the height of bad manners IMO.I can't ever recall a visiting team bus leaving so quickly.
All in all a bunch of bad losers all round.

Good luck for the rest of the season though - you will still be up at the top despite this small hiccup.

You write. "2009 - the official crowd was 2697 - the following day many of the Fax fans were at Perpignan - with great respect there is a slight difference between your estimation of 400 and 2679 is there not ? I suggest sir,you are a prize p*****k !"

Firstly I see no reason to be so rude and ill mannered,

Secondly there were NEVER 2679 at the 2010 game.

Toulous support is dwindling.

Quote ="halifaxjohn"icon_motor.gif You write. "2009 - the official crowd was 2697 - the following day many of the Fax fans were at Perpignan - with great respect there is a slight difference between your estimation of 400 and 2679 is there not ? I suggest sir,you are a prize p*****k !" Firstly I see no reason to be so rude and ill mannered, Secondly there were NEVER 2679 at the 2010 game. Toulous support is dwindling. '" yes,TO13 support IS dwindling - congratulations,you got something right - problem is I can't see things improving much at TO13.Even a table topping team would be lucky to get 2000 at the moment with many french feling the pinch,just like you lot no doubt.The ticktes aren't cheap in france. if you care to read correctly,you will ee sI noted 2009 as the year with 2679 NOT 2010 ok ? saturday 18th july 2009 www.cooperativechampionship.co.u ... php?s=2009 which looks pretty good against the official figure of 2128 (same page) for the return at The Shay on the 5th september or don't you believe that either ? by the way I didn't intend to be rude - 'p*****k' is a term of endearment - no offence meant.

Quote ="halifaxjohn"icon_motor.gif You write. "2009 - the official crowd was 2697 - the following day many of the Fax fans were at Perpignan - with great respect there is a slight difference between your estimation of 400 and 2679 is there not ? I suggest sir,you are a prize p*****k !" Firstly I see no reason to be so rude and ill mannered, Secondly there were NEVER 2679 at the 2010 game. Toulous support is dwindling. '" yes,TO13 support IS dwindling - congratulations,you got something right - problem is I can't see things improving much at TO13.Even a table topping team would be lucky to get 2000 at the moment with many french feling the pinch,just like you lot no doubt.The ticktes aren't cheap in france. if you care to read correctly,you will ee sI noted 2009 as the year with 2679 NOT 2010 ok ? saturday 18th july 2009 www.cooperativechampionship.co.u ... php?s=2009 which looks pretty good against the official figure of 2128 (same page) for the return at The Shay on the 5th september or don't you believe that either ? by the way I didn't intend to be rude - 'p*****k' is a term of endearment - no offence meant.