This has to be a pee take.

For an away fan, it is the worst in Super League. It’s the only ground where the pitch is higher than the stand with a crap atmosphere.

Hmmm......22 years ago Harlequins were lucky to attract 3,000 to a game, Leicester led the charge with 6,000...22 Years ago the 5 Nations was still a mammoth in terms of viewers and attendances regularly filling the stadiums to capacity......so the question has to be asked, what is it that these clubs, who are all losing money in barrel loads, do NOW to attract these sorts of crowds?
Leeds v Castleford attracted 18,000 last year at Headingley......23,250 this year at Elland Road. Now, I am aware that Headingley is being refurbished, but surely there's a case to build on this fixture next year and try to fill Elland Road....or if Leeds believe there's more profit in selling out Headingley, why don't Castleford take their home game there? 11,500 at the Jungle or try to get 30k at Elland Road?

EVENT games do work......The Warriors double header at Mt Smart saw the place rammed over the weekend....twice our 2017 average attendance rocked up. It takes planning and a fair amount of hard work but the long term benefits are HUGE....Saracens, Harlequins and Now Bath take games to bigger stadiums and as a result, end up with larger season averages than their home stadiums.....perception is everything and if it looks like it's hard to get a ticket, then it looks popular and people want to attend.......




...in a nutshell THIS ^

Ken Davy is pumping MILLIONS into Huddersfield yet the good folk of that town can't be bothered, so why not take some games on the Road?
Colomiers is being touted as the home ground for Toulouse should they go up.....why not play Huddersfield v Catalans there and guarantee an 11k full house?
Salford is patently not working at the new stadium, so by all means take games to NYC.......it's not like the Americans are going to know or understand the difference between Salford v Catalans as opposed to Wiga v St Helens.....

.....but it's not easy and it might annoy some season Ticket holders, so let's not bother?

We have to earn the right though. Hopefully a slow rebuild is starting. On the attendances, very disappointingly across the board. Changes are needed.

Can't you and the other marketing geniuses on here get jobs with the RFL/SL Clubs and actually do it then so we don't have to repeatedly read it on here.

...and i'm supposed to take that seriously?

Very Droll......The RFL appointed a marketing GURU a few years back who claimed he'd made Manchester City a big name......lol.......I take it he didn't do to well because he makes no mention of his appointment on his linked in Profile......
[urlhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-lowery-4749a221/[/url

The RFL and most SL clubs are terrified of marketing......rabbits in the headlights......and a fair amount of that fear is because they'd rather spend the money staying up....so unfortunately, Marketing Professionals like myself will post on forums, because the RFL and SL clubs either can't afford us or simply don't care so long as they protect their £1,800,000 a year.......

It’s true. On the Western Terrace the lower steps are actually below the pitch.

It's a great view for observing players ankles

Agree with every word. Sadly with Sl clubs looking like getting more power, and an SL1 & SL2 with ten teams each seemingly gathering momentum, looks like the sport will carry on making the same mistakes. SL chairman would rather have 3 games against the same team with crowds of
4k each, rather than having one game, with an attendance of 10k and bringing money in other ways. Attendances are falling because the sport isn't great at the moment, and sadly some think the answer is to have more games against the same teams

Wintry conditions in Widnes

3,700 or so there....that is abysmal.
SL is tracking way behind the totals from 2017 so far.......so much for the changes in governance making us compete with Union as claimed by Pearson?

Maybe as someone already said you could use your Marketing skills to make it better, or preferably your other role as the man upstairs now that should do it .

Excellent post.

Is this idea gathering momentum? Which clubs support the idea of 10 clubs?

I thought we were likely to be moving back to 14 clubs, which would be the right thing to do IMO.

Classic RL fan apathy!

Out of interest which of these towns/cities/hamlets listed above boast a powerhouse Football club or 2 on their doorstep? (that's soccer to some of you lot) And which of the teams on the list are from a rugby stronghold area? I'd argue that only 4 or 5 of these teams are from football dominated areas and all bar 1 have a big enough fan base/catchment area (and silverware) to cope with the competition on their doorstep.

It's great crowing about how well supported your team are when in all honesty your ty little towns and villages have s0d all to do except rugby league and your club is the heartbeat of your community and is passed down through generations.

Salford doesn't have that, bar a few hardcore supporters who'll be there through think and thin (or thin and thin in reality!

). Throw in the fact that the RFL seem hell bent on shafting us at every opportunity with ridiculous fixture scheduling (Saints on Thu night in a fortnight being another prime example) and it's no wonder our already small crowds are dwindling.

Now I'm aware that the majority creaming themselves over this thread are trolls and I really shouldn't rise to it but just thought I'd put a few of you straight with some facts.

Leeds and Hull’s soccer teams are both well supported, yet the rugby league sides still get respectable sustainable attendances.

hull city were well supported until the Allams alienated themselves from the fans

some suspicious looking attendances announced that dont look right on tv screens and photos on social media

Hmm...FACTS you say eh?

Leicester Tigers.......one of the best supported clubs of either code in the UK share their city with a Premiership Winning soccer team.
Saracens and Harlequins share an audience with Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, QPR, Brentford, Charlton, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Millwall in the top 2 tiers of football and they all attract better gates than most of SL sides, whilst Quins and Sarries are 20k gate clubs.
Wasps. Coventry city average about 9k in the 3rd tier.....with Wolves and Birmingham on their doorstep...Wasps are a 20k club...and Coventry got 28k to an 'EVENT" game this year.
Bristol City attract 20k gates in the 2nd tier....only 14k in Rugby.....placing them only behind Leeds Rhinos........
Newcastle.....er....yep
Sale....er same stadium as Salford, same issues......more fans........and no local derbies against sides a bus ride away Like Wire, Widnes, Wigan or Saints......
I think Worcester, Bath, Gloucester and Northampton are the only clubs in the Aviva that don't compete with football/soccer clubs.......

In terms of best averages for a full season, it reads Leicester, Saracens, Quins, Bath Wasps LEEDS, WIGAN, London Irish, Northampton, Gloucester, HULL FC, Exeter, SAINTS, WIRE, Newcastle, CASTLEFORD, CATALANS, Worcester, LEIGH, Sale, HUDDS, WAKEY, WIDNES, SALFORD.........

24 TOP teams across both codes and League has 3 in the top 12.........all those League clubs with MAJOR soccer sides in them...which kind of makes your FACT pointless......Leeds United, Wigan Athletic and HULL City all attract bigger gates but the RL clubs do very well....Wakefield on the other hand have 325,000 people within 4 miles of their stadium.......and can't attract more than 1.5% of them to games.

The top 6 SL clubs in 2017 delivered 680,000 fans, the other 7 sides 510,000.......the clubs like Wigan, Hull, Leeds, Saints and Wire are the ones driving the competition.......Salford, Wakey, Huddersfield and Widnes are the ones holding us back in COMMERCIAL TERMS.......not historical or culturally......but for the game to grow and attracts fans and sponsors, we need to shed some of the deadweight.........

Wow, torrential rain in Wigan all day!

Wigan. The 5th best supported team in sl. If you listen to their fans they claim that ever kids first words are that god awful chant of “wi-gun, wi-gun”. Their average attendance is embarassing

Regards

King James

All the attendances this year SO FAR are a worry......less than an 8k average as of the start of April.....remove Leeds, Wire, Hull Saints and Wigan and it is 5,500



...that is truly awful!

So without Leeds, Wire, Hull, Saints and Wigan, the Super League average attendance is lower than Toronto’s average in League 1.

8750 is pretty decent for KR I believe, especially with a Catalans home game already thrown into that.

With the challenge for the Leeds game for next week going well with over 10k sold that average should rise further.

I would expect the Wigan average figure to increase as the season progresses as we still have Saints, Leeds and Warrington to play at home and they are traditionally the 3 biggest attended games.

On the flip side I can see the Saints average dropping as their current figure is supplemented by a full house against Wigan and probably only have a home game to come against Warrington that will get close to/over their current average.