So with about 200 Sheffield fans at most we get just over 6,000, best next crowd about 4,500!! Salford - Wakefield at 3,500 is pathetic. Discuss........

I didn't think there was that many Sheffield fans. When they scored in the first half I reckon about 30 started cheering

Don't think there was anywhere near 200 from Sheffield. I don't actually recall seeing a single Sheffield fan. I did see Jamie Langley before the game, but whether he counts as a fan, I'm not sure.

We should hopefully get 7000+ in the Salford and Widnes games, with both of them bringing a few hundred, and hopefully a few more Bulls fans given we're up against SL opposition from 2015.

Same reason the Championship needs us then, bringing money and support into the other clubs

Only way Super League needs us if we are able to compete on the pitch, we have no more right to be there than anyone else, whether it is crowds or history

We're iconic....
And the RFL still own our ground!

Absolutely spot on. It is complete arrogance to suggest that because we have more fans then we are "needed" in the top flight.

There are massive teams, in all sports, playing at lower levels than they could be because they were not doing the business ON the park.

If size of crowd dictated the league position then we should just return to the closed shop that franchising gave us.

What they said...

Makes me cringe reading or hearing people Super League needs Bradford... It's the kind of arrogance Leigh have! As mentioned, crowds are great, especially for champ but that does not have an effect on our "right" to be in Super League. How the club performs from the board of directors to the coaching to the players and to the fans turning up in numbers... with many factors in between is how we earn the right to be in Super League.

And I am optimistic we can be there in 2016!

SL doesn't need Bradford but RL isn't a big enough sport to have a relative sleeping giant out of the top tier for too long. So whilst we aren't needed we'd certainly add something to the league if we came up.

Of course SL needs Bradford, and only an idiot would fail to see why. It is not arrogance to point out that SL in some places like Salford and Wakefield is dying on its arrrse, and that is why a very well supported club is needed.

The incontestible reason SL needs Bradford is the finances. And just to be clear, I don't care that it happens to be Bradford SL needs - if the team concerned was some other team anywhere else at all, if it had the same pulling power then SL would need that too.

The point is RL doesn't need Bradford [ispecifically[/i, it just needs more clubs [ilike[/i Bradford. But outside SL there aren't any.

Can I just close by saying that SL might not "need" Leigh in quite the same way, it could certainly do with Leigh, as there is a club on the rise, and heading in the right direction. And would improve SL whether they replaced Wakey or Salford (as those clubs now stand).

Good comments FA, RL needs a strong Bradford as you are one of only a few who can draw the big gates (Leigh Fan) that raises the profile of the sport. The only other clubs able to do that are Hull, Leeds, Wire, Saints, Cats and Wigan. The other 5 clubs have very little between them and if this structure sees a constant movement of one of those 5 with one from the championship it keeps the interest licensing took away. All I want for my club is that opportunity if I get more then its a bonus

Whether or not SL need Bradford or not, the irrefutable reasoning is that there is only one big City club in SL who can now boast a catchment area with well over 500k population, ie Leeds? However Bradford-Sheffield-London with a pop. of over probably 2 million, along with Birmingham don't warrant any effort by the RFL. That's what I call brilliant Marketing.
So would the world of RL be better if they sold the game properly may be the question we need to ask>
At least the Bulls showed the way from 1997 when the brand became a National if not internationally known sporting club, by the use sound marketing ideas.

There are things that the Bulls could add to SL but saying they are needed is wrong. This is a sport so being able to compete on the field is paramount, a good crowd helps this by giving increased revenue. As one poster said having Leigh in SL would probably be a better thing as it then opens the promotion pathway which the sport has been massively derided for during the franchise years, though some of the Leythers attitudes could do with clipping a bit.

Would in the end be good if 2 teams went up but I think that would be a really big ask. So far results gone as expected though only just, all good excitement.

Qué sera sera, Norm, qué sera sera.....

The answer is a resounding NO.

When will people like you realise that the game of RL is about what happens on the pitch - end of - and you were "pathetic" against the most "pathetic" Trinity team in years (apart from today when they were almost decent).

Well thanks for that insightful post! Nobody is saying Bradford [ideserve[/i to go up because of their gates. The sentiment is more that SL would benefit from Bradford going up. Also, from our recent history, it's clear that performance on the pitch is NOT the only thing that matters. Bradford nearly went out of existence recently, and not because of on the pitch matters. It gives me no pleasure to suggest that in spite of winning your cup final today, you might want to be careful to cut your cloth accordingly lest you suffer a similar fate...

Super League needs Bradford Bulls because if they don't get promoted Eddie Hemmings and his pals will start crying. Just like today when Wakefield spoiled the Bradford Bulls love in.

It's almost like they have wanted Wakefield out of Super League for years............wait a minute.

Maybe the Sky team will be happier next week when the other team that should be in SL will turn Wakefield over.

Win enough games and you will be promoted simple. Hull Kingston Rovers my club spent years outside the super league won promotion and our first season beat Salford to see them relegated. Then they brought in franchising doing away with relegation ???????
Now the opportunity albeit hard is back to gain a place in the elite. Yes you have good support but even outside super league so did we, did they want us back at that time the powers that be wanted a single team from Hull. !!!!!

Super League wants us back as the new whipping boys.

Oddly enough, I said pretty much the same as this on your board the other day yet you chose to ignore it.

Yet again you have been shown to have more faces than a town clock. And more hands.

Bit like last week with the sky teams love in with Leigh only for rovers to spoil it

You don't want four points a season off us then?