Looked more than 9k in the ground today yesterday given the amount of Hull fans in the Western Terrace. That said, the Southstand wasn't that packed.

Its down, quite significantly [urlhttp://www.slstats.org/Attendances/[/url (see bottom two lines)



I think you'll find that most RU clubs face the same challenges of getting people to pay to come through the gates and the "defining social characteristics" is a nonsense phrase which is meaningless in the professional era, if you think that all RU crowds are public schoolboys let out on daddys allowance then, frankly, you're wrong.

My comparison was of the current RU World Cup and the forthcoming RL international series and the promotional prospects of both, even a fool would admit that one is cashing in on the opportunity while the other (on past history) will not.

I think it helps that the rights to the games have gone to a terrestrial broadcaster, and have been that way for the sport for many years. They have built up an anticipation about a game of rugby, even though IMO the product is pretty poor. The sport does a great job at promoting the product, wheras League have a great product, but don't seem to be able to generate any interest in the international game.

Thats all perfectly true.

It also helps greatly that they have a viable international product to sell to the broadcasters.

I'm fairly sure those figures are significantly incorrect; by my calculations the average is slightly up - again (by about 2% ignoring the Magic Weekend).

Yes but when has RL EVER been in the same league as RU internationally? It never will and no level of wishful thinking is going to change that. Will RL make its international series successful in its own right? I don't yet know but if the only way to measure it is by comparing it to another, much bigger and more media dominant sport then it is an impossible ask. Completely ignoring RL's historical and still to large degree current position as a niche and largely regional sport is irrational.

I don't ignore the Magic Weekend when compiling my own figures but I do take the daily official gate and divide it equally between the number of games played that day and use those figure within SL aggregate and average calculations.

2011 - SL Reg Rds (Aggregate 1,684,652) Average 8,914 (Increase of 2.8%)

While the aggregate attendance for the sport has increased by 45,828 over 2010, Bradford's own aggregate increased by 72,855 over the same period so it's fairly clear to see where the bounce originated (but you also have to offset the hopefully temporary decrease experienced by St Helens of 43,491.)

=#0000BFGainers: Home SL Reg Rds
Bradford 67% (Cheap Season Ticket Scheme)
Les Catalans 23%
Salford 14% (Last game at the Willows must have helped)
Wakefield 9%
Castleford 8%
Warrington 6%
Wigan 3%
Hull KR 1%

=#FF0000Losers: Home SL Reg Rds
St Helens -30%
Crusaders -27%
Hull -12%
Harlequins -7%
Huddersfield -4%
Leeds -2%

I'm surprised that ours have only gone down by 2%.
I expect that trend to continue unless we pick up good wins early on by playing attractive rugby.
Saints will definitely bounce back next year, Bradford's will plummet.
It will be interesting to see how Salford fare, I expect the away fans numbers to rise due to the novelty value.
Widnes should attract more than the Crusaders.
Wakey will be a major concern I think, but they will be better marketed. Let's hope the fans respond.

Quote ="Old Feller"Bradford's will plummet.'" Not necessarily.... www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ge_scheme/ Leeds also get the Easter Thursday game next season which might be slightly beneficial to us.

Quote ="Old Feller"Bradford's will plummet.'" Not necessarily.... www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ge_scheme/ Leeds also get the Easter Thursday game next season which might be slightly beneficial to us.

No, I think you're setting the desperado standard Odsal-wide.