Don't know what the problem is. Grand Finalists only get a week to plan their travel or get time off work etc.

When London get to the Grand Final - that will be worth mentioning.

Show off

It doesn't affect me it's a long time since my team were there - 1988.

I might go as a neutral and i'm happy to make a late decision, the cost and time of work won't be a factor.

Yes committed supporters can make provisional plans and most will do but such short notice will deter many many casual supporters from the towns of the competing finalists, just the people you need to stop Wembley feeling like a cavernous bowl.

I've tried to blank it from my memory.



Soaked, nilled and miserable.

Since we have returned to Wembley, finals have attracted crowds of:
2013 Wigan v Hull: 78,137
2012 Warrington v Leeds: 79,180
2011 Wigan v Leeds: 78,482
2010 Warrington v Leeds: 85,217
2009 Warrington v Huddersfield: 76,560
2008 St Helens v Hull: 82,821
2007 St Helens v Catalans Dragons: 84,241

The lowest crowd of these (Warrington v Huddersfield) was better than the crowd for any final held at Cardiff, Edinburgh or Twickenham or any held at the old Wembley since 1997 (St Helens v Bradford).

Clearly getting to London doesn't seem to be [ithat[/i difficult.

Anyone who's attended a recent final knows that the official attendances do not reflect the number of people sat in the stadium watching the game.

I was at Wigan v Leeds, 12000 empty seats? Yeah and the rest.

Club Wembley are counted in the total, which is why you get more empty seats than the total suggests. They are 10 year debentures I think, so they are due to come up?

Saints fans love a day out.

Or might just be that En-ger-land are kicking off versus Uruguay at 8 in the Footie.....

I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

I was at wire hudds, felt a lot less then 76k

I work in the motor trade. If tomorrow I sell ten new cars, one of which the customer puts away in the garage with no intention of using, should I only put nine towards my sales figures?

Whoooosh.

8 weeks between QF and semi.

2 weeks between semi and final.

Morons.

All west coast mainline services will be terminating (ironically) at Rugby on Cup Final day, so I would suggest finding alternative means of transports if you live in Lancashire.

That was my point.

I recognise the point you're trying to make, however noting that the capacity of the Millenium Stadium is 74,500 and CC crowds there were 71k, 73k and 74k, which represented a greater perecentage of full capacity against the 90k capacity of Wembley finals.

One thing I'd do to try and revitalise the cup final and to get more neutrals is allow the amateur clubs to sell tickets and keep 50% of the sales.

It could be tried as a two or three year experiment. If it succeeds the revenue to the RFL won't be hit and the amateur game gets a boost. If it fails the revenue to the RFL won't take a disastrous hit. Give it three years to see if the old tradition of attending the cup final can be restored.

This is what I would do if you wanted to still travel by train.

Train to Birmingham New Street. 5-10 minute walk to Birmingham Snow Hill and there are trains there to London Marylebone, some of these also may stop at Wembley Stadium Station.

You're bloody right it will, especially as I doubt we'll be in SL for a while.

You couldn't make it up.

Still don't get why they don't spread the rounds out more evenly, makes no sense at all.

It's a great idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if the commercial arrangements with Wembley prevent it in some way. Given the bunch of clowns that run RL I suspect the deal provides maximum benefit to Wembley and minimum benefit to the game.

It's not the final that needs revitalising, you know there's going to be 75k+ in attendance every year. The problem is every other round leading up to the final.

There was until about 6 weeks ago (when they woke up to the clash with the England game and moved Bradford v Rovers back 24 hours).