Nah swathes of empty red seats with a half d attempt at covering up with large club flags is better.



Fair enough. I thought it was low key compared to 2009 and even 2012, and in a different world from 1990.



Not so sure on that. Hull vs Wigan in 2017 only managed 68K and they are the 2 and 3rd best supported club sides in RL.

Let's be honest here ,we have core support for RL 200 miles away from Wembley ,rail closures ,road works ,weekend holiday traffic, & if you can find a rail route to the capital ,the prices are daylight robbery. Coach travel of nearly 5 hours to get there & four coming back is thankfully just an occasional experience. Is it any wonder people are not travelling in numbers when they can watch at home in glorious HD ? I'm sure if rugby league was a favourite of the south then it would sell out Wembley every year.

There were 3 mid 20’s men in front of me who were clearly not rl fans. Listening to 1 of them trying to explain to an Irish lad what the rules are...I had to intervene. But the lack of atmosphere at the end I was sitting In definitely led to their attention wandering.

This is a fair point.

How many Warrington fans would have paid all the money and dealt with the logistical difficulties to watch Catalans v another team in the final. Most of us would have been "nah, give it a miss this year, thanks".

can you imagine if the final next season was contested by Catalan v Toronto.rl expansion sounds good on paper,but the reality is these overseas clubs don't bring the speccies through the turnstiles.championship has already noticed this.blackpool bash this year was about 8000 down on previous years.hull kr and Bradford bulls were replaced by Toronto and Toulouse.i also do think the final could also be marketed better.when you get an idiot in charge dave woods saying the cup final is behind the magic weekend in importance are we surprised.thank god they paid him off.

I can understand all points of view, from the last few pages, about filling the ground.
If the game has been reasonably/well marketed in the London area, since the finalists were known, then the RFL have done their job. As I don't live in London, I couldn't possibly say if this is the case, but you can't FORCE people into stadia, no matter how good your promotion.

By this time, last week, the RFL SHOULD have had a rough idea what the attendance figure was going to be. On Saturday, we had a whole tier SHUT. By this time, you don't need to be Mystic Meg, to predict it's going to be a small crowd. Is it beyond the wit of man at the RFL to get a load of posters printed, and put in several London youth clubs/community centres for [ia lad and his dad, in for a tenner[/i to occupy a few blocks of the upper tier? They can be picked up at a designated pick up point, on the day. That way, the RFL get a bit more Dosh, and the stadium looks that bit fuller. Quite easy, really.

Here's a question, if Matchroom Sport were promoting the Challenge Cup do you think the attendance would have been higher, lower or the same?

I think we all know the answer to that one
The one that got away

Just don't let granddad Trotter hand the flyers out Lefty !

I can just picture him shuffling up Wembley Way with a P&B jester's hat on (instead of a trilby), shouting "They're buying 'em, Del"

I live in London, and I didn't see any marketing anywhere of the Challenge Cup Final, other than the emails I got from the RFL because I've bought tickets for RL events before.

When the NFL are playing games in Wembley the coverage of those games is huge. Through the year there is always a constant chatter in the London press about NFL and Wembley and future plans for an English franchise etc, they are very good at keeping it talked about.

Surrey County Cricket Club are also very proactive in marketing their T20 games, and I've been to a few of those and they seem to have done very well in attracting a non-cricketing audience.

Then the RFL need to be de-bagged and raddished.
They should've been all over the London marketing of the Final, when they announced that the semis were going to be a double header.

Even if Saints beat Cat's, it's still not going to be a sell out

For me, there are two things, there are hardly any play makers left, and the game is so repetitive in five drives and a kick. Unfortunately, as Catalans have done it so effectively and successfully during their challenge cup campaign, I can only see this continuing. The last world cup final lacked any quality with ball in hand as well, ending in a 6-0 scoreline.
Dave Solomona was overweight with the best years behind him when he played for us, but his short spells contained more creativity and interest than in some entire games these days. Are superleague attendances dropping I wonder?

The CCF MUST stay at Wembley, even if Saturday's attendance was poor.
It's been it's home for nearly a Century, and it's probably the sport's greatest exposure each year.
The only changeswe need, is in the sport's marketing, particularly for one of it's showpiece events, and it's position in the calendar..
The RFL hierarchy should be ashamed of themselves, if it's not been marketed in the London area. Pathetic

Whilst the attendance was down,do you think the usual club wembley members would have put up with the queues to get in and running out of wine at one of the kiosks pre game.Also thought i was back at the HJ watching the inept attempts to serve drinks at half time

Stick it on groupon was the only thing they did