https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ev ... ed-to-2023 Any ideas?

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ev ... ed-to-2023 Any ideas?

The rankings in the link are based on change vs. previous season. The numbers emphasise just how much the previous year's performance impacts upon the next season's attendance. Saints were up in 2024, I expect that they'll suffer a big drop off in 2025 based on both finishing position and their new style of rugby.

This, has Smiffy said already fans are fickle. If the team is not winning or performing fans stop going. I saw it at the back end of the Smith era fans around me were disappearing and not coming back.

Now I personally don’t have a problem with that, you pay you choose. I have always said people will go if the team is doing well it’s the nature of sport is why I have always hated the gimmicks to get fans in, build a winning culture and they will come. Sorry for field of Dreams reference was not intended. Yes there are the people that go to games come what may and that is good as the club needs them but income wise for a professional sports club you need the winning culture.

There will be some that dislike that and I get that argument. Remember 2009 Wembley most the town went to that final but there were people asking where are they week in week out we were a mid table team back then. Leeds, Saints and Wigan get bigger crowds because they are the successful teams. We need to get on a successful run not gimmicks. Gimmicks are fine as a reward for loyalty I don’t know.

The attendances as a whole are driven largely by season ticket sales which will be influenced by a) the previous season performance and b) excitement for the next season based on signings c) How attractive Rugby League remains to the watcher. Walk up sales will be affected by current form, weather, opposition and day/time of game.

After 2022 and 2023 I am not surprised our attendances are down for 2024. They deserved to be. I am sure we will see a bounce for 2025 but we will be some way behind the 12K average from a decade ago though.

There are a die hard rump of fans who will turn up loyally come what may, but a large number who pick and choose. Some call these fickle - I don't think that's the correct term, people are free to do as they will. If they are not coming to the game that's on the club - not the individual. Personally, I am now in the latter group. I watch every Wire game on TV but it will need to be special to get me to pay for the family to go and stand on the terraces and endure the environment.

It's the why Wire have gone down whilst other clubs have gone up ... that concerns me. It is obvious why Hull have struggled but we had a good season last year & I was hoping the "big Sam" factor would pull 'em in. God help us if we have a bad season.

Well if it’s a bad season it will go down. What’s already been said regarding attendance it’s all about results and performance for some people and economics for others and I guess a combination of both.

Wire71 nailed it you have the diehard faction that go come what may and you have fans that will go if the team are doing well. In fact you have said it yourself regarding Hull. Although Hull have been in a mess for years and I get their fans enough is enough. We have a season like last season I expect at end of 2025 our average attendance will have gone up.

The weird thing is that 2023 ended as a bad season, but the spirits were high until about half way through, and even then we finished in the playoffs with a narrow loss at Saints. Prior to that we'd had a terrible 2022, so you'd expect the big drop to come between 22-23, not a year later.

I think it may psychological. We'd bigged up Powell as the guy to change everything, and even after a terrible 2022, we cleared out the playing roster and promised a new culture. By the second half of 2023, I think the general consensus was that we were a lost cause as a club, and it didn't matter who we brought in or what we did, we were destined for the same old also-ran status at the end of every year.

I'd argue that as a club, our supporter base (including potential new fans) is more prosperous and has more disposable income than most other clubs. Warrington isn't a run-down, struggling former mining community. There really is no excuse for the club not to exploit this spending power. To counter that, there's probably much less of a historic 'community' aspect to our club, which would create a certain loyalty and sense of duty (irrespective of rubbish performances).

I'll be interested to see if the Big Sam factor has changed anything.

Definite hangover from Powell was a factor - personally sat through two seasons of Powell (worst two seasons in 40 years IMO) and couldn't bring myself to renew for Mr Burgess due to what had gone before.

I think we can all see we're heading in the right direction and crowds will grow.

Thanks for this. I live outside the area but get back home a lot. I don't see any lack of spending power where I go around Warrington ... in fact it's the opposite.

I think the 2002 Steve Anderson season was worse than 2023 and on a par with 2022.

Yes I can see that but there was expectation with Powell and just never remember being THAT frustrated during the Anderson debacle.

Was it Anderson who brought the underwhelming Aussies over ?

I didn't bother going at all last season due to poor vision, meaning i miss a lot of what happens on the pitch ,which i can see on tv & mobility issues getting to & from the ground & climbing the terraces. I love standing to watch the match & can't do with the horrible plastic seats with people squeezing past every few minutes.

We have come a long way from 2002 and expectations went up, least that’s how I see it. This is a club with a decent stadium good facilities and good finances so for me we should have won the big prize by now.

Now after the Powell debacle and what the club is doing with appointing a DoR and putting more in to the academy I think we are now on the right track. We just need show some patience as this is not an overnight thing, just hope we don’t fall back in to old ways.

We wasn’t dealt a particularly good hand of derby loop fixtures and Saints were so poor their travelling numbers were about half.

Plus, didn't I read somewhere that our tickets are priced dearer than most? (Or am I making that up?)

We have quite a few fans who are Wigan season ticket holders so I'm ot necessarily surprised they don't make it to Wire home games.

It would be interesting to see how many Thursday night games we had compared to other clubs. I seem to remember attending a few with a pretty sp south stand, obviously missing the kids.

We had 2 home games on a Thursday night ... Hull KR and Leeds. Both teams usually travel with biggish numbers so to play them on a Thursday must have hit us hard.

Thursday nights games should have a bigger sky premium to the club affected and perhaps look at derby’ish fixtures, although it’s probably relative anyway. A derby may still have a significantly greater attendance on a Friday or weekend day time than Thursday,
Perhaps affecting attendance more so.

It which case, I’ve just written a pointless post. And not the first time.

I'm the same as you Wires71, i just watch the games on TV now. I used to go alot as it was the only way to see the games. But i go on my own as my family and friends are all just in to football, so now i don't have to go on my own like a pleb i don't.

2002 was easily the worst I can remember. Paying good money to watch the likes of Gary Hulse, Dave Alstead, Leon Felton, Tom O'Reilly, Dale Cardoza, Danny Halliwell and Kevin Crouthers, plus of course our 'star import' Matt Rodwell, was soul-destroying.

You forgot "The Sturminator", Dean Busby and Warren Stevens who Cullen described "as the best forward in the Championship".

Least we got Westwood and Wood in midway and Darren Burns and Fozzard were decent.

Sid Domic too was good for us that year.

He was indeed. Just to nudge the thread back to the subject of crowds, our average home attendance in that 2002 season was 6,270. The highest 'gate' was 9,105 (when we played Widnes), which is still well below our average home crowd for 2024. Shows how times have changed.

Yes, he was the good side of average.

He wanted to stay but we didn’t offer him a deal. He went to Wakey.
Who was it we brought it to force Domic out?

I don’t like to dwell much on that period of our club.