I think a fair summary is that the best team won on the day, it was actually a pretty good game, but the late August bank holiday weekend is no longer a good time to hold what should be a prize event. Personally I went as a neutral, as I do pretty much every year, and really enjoyed it, as I do most years. But it has lost a bit of its sparkle.

I would move it to June, whilst the soccer and RU seasons are on break, before the great summer getaway gets underway and before Network Rail shut down large swathes of the rail infrastructure (on Saturday Euston was closed and most of Waterloo and London Bridge stations were closed). Shutting down the rail network drives people on to motorways already crippled by active traffic mismanagement systems and hundreds of miles of road(not)works.

The attendance has been struggling for a while. The Club Wembley issue has masked it for a few years. Now these are on general sale that mask has slipped. I also agree with those people annoyed with endless trips to the bog/kiosks, it is becoming a bit like Australia in that respect. However, there's no chance of it being addressed as the stadium relies on this behaviour for commercial reasons.

One final point, London's most widely read newspaper is the Evening Standard. It occasionally covers RL, but on Friday there was absolutely nothing. After the semifinals the RFL should have been hitting it with ticket promotions i.e. comps to win free tickets as well as ticket promotions.

On the face of it 65-70k is decent considering we have arguably a bigger final being played a little over a month later, something we never used to have.

Its crying out for Millenium stadium end of May for me.

I took a newcomer to the game. He thought the game was good (a first - most games I take people to have proved boring and turned them right off). Three things that he commented on - the half empty stadium and two others he found ridiculous and utterly comical - the 'water carriers' carriers on the pitch every few minutes and the 'man in the suit' on the pitch - Robbie Paul after tries. It's not good when people come with an open mind but find things to laugh at is it?

All the free/cheap tickets are seriously devaluing the game, hence why people who have always paid full whack in advance chose to turn up and pay a fiver to a shady character to sit in Club Wembley.

I'd say that there was at least 200 sat in front of us (prime seats) clearly on a free ticket because their kids were doing the obligatory dance. If you have to give them tickets, surely put them up top and sell the premium tickets to genuine punters?

We need to have the confidence in our product to be able to sell it at the right price. Instead we have the ridiculous situation where a league game at Belle Vue costs more than any of the 'marquee' events.

Other sports manage to pull in big crowds for such occasions, despite the fact they have little interest in the sport itself - at least not to start with. What is it about RL that makes it so unfashionable? To me, the obsession with targeting families is a flawed approach. It might upset the traditionalists who want to turn up an hour before kick off with a flask of bovril and a tatty looking corned-beef barm then be home for the One Show; but, the way to bring in new crowds is to pull in younger people with disposable income who want to be seen "checking-in" at the fashionable event of the day.

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That all be must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

60? You cheeky fugger

Spot on. Add to that, being told by the clunky online ticketing-system (which is useless on mobile devices) that the block of your choice is unavailable, only to see rows of empty seats on the day.

Robbie Paul on the pitch does my head in. I don't understand why he feels the need to run across the pitch during the game. You don't see it in any other sport. Just another way of down grading our game. Even in the amateur leagues no one is allowed on the pitch!

68k including the empty club Wembley seats is an utter embarrassment.

Regards

King James

Wembley is the home of the Challenge Cup Final. It should never be moved, that really would be the death of the competition.

I'd rather have 68k there than in the Principality Stadium or anywhere else.

Until such time as we get genuine full houses ticket offers should be part of the mix. Football clubs and RU clubs do use them if they know they'll have significant spare capacity. I do however agree that premium seats shouldn't be given away. At a ground like Wembley there aren't any really had seats anyway. FWIW I'd paid £40 months ago for my Club Wembley ticket as part of an early bird deal.

It's time for the Cup final to go on the road IMO. Plenty of local councils would be willing to bid for it, put it out to tender to Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Newcastle, Edinburgh etc and bring some money into the game. Wembley and other stadiums in London should be used for International games not club games.

Correct. An embarrassment for a tedious yawnion troll who can't get his facts right.

No he didn't he stopped in his tracks if he had seen nothing he would have gone with the play

Considering most Hull fans are perceived to be on the dole I think that's a good attendance

It was once a great place for RL no doubt. Twin towers and all that history, great atmosphere too in the old one. It's not the same now though, and i personally don't have near the same affections for this new version and don't think i ever will which is a shame. moreover, Watching a cup final being played out in a stadium barely 2/3rd's full is sad to see and an embarrassment for the game when being shown to a national audience and plugged as the games premier cup competition.

I don't agree either that moving it will be the death of the competition. We would pretty much fill cardiff every year with the crowds we get currently, although it does need a bit of a revamp and moving to earlier in the year imo.

I'm not sure RL supporters are attending as neutrals anymore.
No atmposphere, high ticket prices and increased travelling costs have made it an expensive day unless your team are playing,

I disagree, where i was sat there were 4 Giants fans in front of me, a family of Wakey fans, one of Bradford fans, one lot of Saints fans, a group of Fax fans, i also saw Cas, Fev, Leigh, Dewsbury, London Broncos and Leeds shirts in the concourse near me as well as plenty of amateur shirts too.

I've been to Wembley a few times now and it still amazes me how many people stand in awe and excitement at the top of Wembley Park station steps and get their phones/cameras out, i dont know them personally but you can tell who are new to the experience and not 'regulars'.

I was lucky as i won tickets and got a lift so my entire day cost me less than £30 and as a neutral i thoroughly enjoyed it.

It would have been even better had those Hull fans what had to do their community hours at the weekend had been allowed to go.

High ticket prices? I've never been to the cup final unfortunately as Wakefield are usually quite crap but everyone on here nevet stops whinging about tickets being too cheap.

Simple question Daz, would you have gone without the free tickets and a lift as a neutral?
At one time all the supporters mentioned above would have gone down in coaches' for the weekend, not anymore because of the expense involved and the sad fact that RL is on the decline is why your talking about counting out individual supporters.

I disagree that you don't see as many neutrals any more, but I would argue that you see fewer and fewer 'club trips' at Wembley.

The RFU has a big focus on marketing itself within the amateur clubs - it's often the only way you can actually buy tickets. I wonder if the RFL is reaching out to our amateur clubs in the same way. I'm sure that with the right incentive (a decent kick-back on ticket sales), most decent amateur clubs could fill a coach - they certainly used to do.

Or perhaps this already does go on, and the falling numbers is a symptom of falling participation?

My only issue with Wembley is that, because London is so huge, fans before and after are very spread out until they hit the stadium.

At Cardiff or Edinburgh, they all hit the town. They're all together. Makes it special.

We went for a walk around the Wembley on Friday night and apart from some posters on the underpass as you come out of the tube station you would not have known the final was on. The stadium was shouting out England football and Tottenham v Burnley on Sunday with hardly a mention for the rugby.