I think you are massively missing the point.

I agree that anyone who would really like to go but hasn't got a ticket because they aren't season ticket holders and only go occasionally with season ticket holding friends doesn't deserve sympathy - but then I expect the vast majority won't expect any either and will be happy to watch on TV. That's not the point. The point is that a Cup semi-final ought to be one of the biggest matches of the year. Everything that can be done to encourage people to attend should be done. Any obstacles (real or perceived) to attending that are put in the way will only result in lower attendances.

It's not sympathy for those happy to watch on TV I'm looking for - it's a healthy sport with healthy clubs. That goal will always be harder to achieve the more we discourage people from attending matches.

You can't compare it to Wembley, Wembley is an event in itself, some people go before they know who the finalists will be.

The 1 ticket rule though is a little miserly though i agree.

The way the CC ticket sales are going i would have just let people buy as many as they wanted.

Fully agree. I'm saying I expect all 30,000 to attend the semi. But more then 1 in 5 isn't much to ask is it? 1 in 3 would give 10,000 - reasonable I would have thought?

What do think is the reason for the apathy then? Finance?

We have sold 6000. Excuding the allocation that we have just received how many had we been allocated ?

Try watching football teams where a few thousand LESS fans attend the final than the semi - at the same ground - in the FA Cup because off allocation.

I personally know a poster on this forum who went to the FA Cup semi final (and indeed all previous rounds in the competition) then had to pay over £300 for his final ticket because he got unlucky in a ballot. I was in the same position but got lucky in that same ballot and had the honour of buying a ticket for the face value of merely £85.

There's no "wait for general sale and get seats together with your mates" option there!

I know it's not the same thing, but nonetheless it's worth pointing out as a comparison because RL fans - who can easily get tickets for ANY game and pay at the turnstile for most of them - really don't know they're born sometimes.

As for the idealism of having it in a bigger ground to increase the size of the event. I DO see the point, and I acknowledge that if it was played somewhere like Wigan for example the attendance would be bigger than it will be in Salford even though Salford is unlikely to sell out. I understand the reasons for that and I do see what you're saying.

On the flip side of that though, say the crowd was around 15,000 in Wigan - making it about 5,000 bigger than I expect in Salford - would 10,000 empty seats create a bigger spectacle? I imagine it would also cost more to host the game there and operating costs would be much higher. Swings and roundabouts.

I see what your saying, i also think a lesser crowd making a smaller stadium looked packed will look/sound better and make for a cracking game.

We should be making our big events bigger. We really need to forget about this silly idea of non rugby league fans caring what the attendance looks like on tv. I have never seen any mention of it anywhere.

They should have both been in 20k stadiums with offers galore for season ticket holders to bring friends and family etc etc.

I knew this wouldn't sell out but what is the harm in going all out to fill a bigger stadium? I mean god forbid we aim up.

Agree with all of this to be honest but you have to think of us poor Salford fans. This will be our only opportunity to see the stadium full before Sale move in!

Exactly...!!

Ive never seen one single post on here pointing out how shambolic the NRL is when Souths Play in the ANZ stadium in front of 13,000 fans and 70,000 empty seats week in week out

During a particularly amusing episode of the Simpsons; Bart was sent to a school for gifted children. During his first lesson he was asked to give an example of an oxymoron. Wikipedia will tell you that an oxymoron is a ’figure of speech that combines contradictory terms’ One of the simplest examples would be the phrase ‘living dead’(now you all know what it means).

Bart’s example was ‘you’re dammed if you do and you’re dammed if you don’t’. His teacher accepted that this was an oxymoron.

I am reminded of this episode as I think Bart Simpson is far more insightful an intelligent that some that post on here. The ticket sales would indicate that the RFL got this one spot on. But there will always be those that would see an alternative as preferable. The most abhorrent part of this is that they don’t actually care what the alternative is.

1. Small stadium = not ambitious enough, should be aiming higher.
2. Big stadium = Not enough people, looks empty, .

Pick one of the two, and argue both at the same time, you oxymoron.

Edit: Sorry, I'm as surprised as you that embarrassin isn't a real word. That's how me and me crew say it. Google instant says it should be embarrassing. That's like 12 letters, when am I ever going to need that to spell posh shgit

There it is again, looks empty. Seriously, who cares?

Put some innovative offers on, get people talking it will almost sell itself out. I'm not saying that this was a poor choice. I would just like to see us try a bit harder.

i don't care got my ticket, got one for my son! wouldn't care if it was just us 2 watching in a 120,000 capacity stadium as long as i was there!

That sums it up for me ! Me and my daughter are going to watch our club attempt to win a place in a showpiece Wembley final. There is as much excitement in getting to Wembley as actually going to Wembley

I'm still not having that the ground holds 12,000 anyway.

I must say i was a bit concerned at the way that terracing was moving & the stand wasn't even full. There seemed to be a lot of wasted space at Salford which gave the impression from the outside that the ground was bigger than it was inside .

I think Salfords ground is great, its only the result when we went there that was poor.

What is annoying are the empty "Club Wembley" / corporate tickets. Spoils the look on a great stadium.

When was the last time a stadium sold out for a CC semi-final ?

Did Wire v Catalan sell out?

No think the att was 10,500 ish

There's club Wembley seats at Salford?

very near the attendance was 12,265

Wire v wigan 2009?

13,350 capacity. attendance 12,975