Out of the 31 games played to date only 8 have had a crowd of greater than a 1000.................the death knell is near

ours have been poor but hopefully when weather picks up they should creep up overall in the league & cups. On our deffence our NRC home attendances have consisted of us & the odd away fan (very very few) not nearly as bad as other clubs have been so far

I reckon the weather is playing a big part in it too,think the crowds will pick up for the NRC in the latter stages .

No they won't, because it will be all to pay.

From what was said at the Launch Event this competition is going nowhere, especially seeing as Northern Rail extended their sponsorship. The format needs tweaking however as clubs can't survive on sub 500 gates. Perhaps we need to split the pools up geographically and you play everyone once with the top 2 in each comp going into the Semis and then Final?

Try lowering the admission charges to draw in people

Think the weather has definitely had an effect on things, though personally I think the group stage has almost been [itoo[/i short; we're only just getting back in the swing of things and we're down to the group deciders already.

They've had the feel of glorified friendlies, even more so than usual this season. The ridiculously complicated structure, alongside the fact that the formate changes each year, hasn't helped

I wondered about whether the league could start when the NRC normally starts, then have a break in the middle of the league season (around May) to run the NRC while weather is better?

Would that just mean the start of the league season would get poor crowds instead though?

Featherstone played Rochdale tonight and the attendance was..........770

How about 4 groups of 5 teams (arranged by region, as far as possible) with a mix of weak/strong teams in each group.

Every team plays everyone else in their group over the course of 5 weeks (with one team having a bye each weekend, on a rota) but, to reduce costs, both group games take place at one ground (as a 'double-header') at 1pm then 3pm on Sunday afternoons (for example).

Groups might be something like;
Grp1: Widnes, Leigh, Blackpool, Swinton, Rochdale
Grp2: Barrow, Whitehaven, Workington, Gateshead, York
Grp3: Hunslet, Featherstone, Doncaster, Sheffield, London
Grp4: Halifax, Dewsbury, Batley, Oldham, Keighley

The teams play each other, for example Grp1 might be;
- Wk1: Widnes v Leigh AND Blackpool v Rochdale @ Leigh (Swinton bye)
- Wk2: Widnes v Blackpool AND Swinton v Rochdale @ Widnes (Leigh bye)
- Wk3: Widnes v Swinton AND Leigh v Blackpool @ Blackpool (Rochdale bye)
- Wk4: Widnes v Rochdale AND Leigh v Swinton @ Rochdale (Blackpool bye)
- Wk5: Leigh v Rochdale AND Blackpool v Swinton @ Swinton (Widnes bye)

- Wk6

- Wk 7: Winner Semi 1 v Winner Semi 2

That way, as a fan, you'd get 1 home game and 3 away games (plus possibly semis and final) but each for each game you attend you could watch 2 for 1.

It may not increase total attendance but it would make the attendance at each ground higher, and hence more financially sound. Also 'double-headers' may be a more attractive option to SL/other RL fans whose own teams don't have a game.

LOWER THE ADMISSION TO A DECENT PRICE UNTIL THE SEMIS






















£10 ADULTS KIDS------------ FREE

Start the league season in December, 2nd game boxing day, 3rd new years day.16 club NL1, 15 home games.
Hold the NRC Aug/sept. GF august. Oh we tried that didnt we, I recall great crowds early doors and the GF winner having time to recruit properly for SL.

Its all about the pricing, the NRC should be used like pre season friendly opportunities to catch new fans before the upcoming season. For 2 adults and 2 juniors to watch Melbourne V Leeds it costs £40 for the same to watch a Leigh in a home match it will cost £42. I know the issue is with the LSV but surely if tickets where £10 Adults £5 juniors the attendances would go up meaning the revenue would go up in the shops and stalls within the LSV. Apologies if we do a family offer like the world club challenge but I don’t know about it and doubt the majority of others will.

I bet the World Club Challenge doesn't sell out either.

Yes they will because there'll be more at stake in the later stages and the weather will be much better (hopefully) lol

Btw is that a bitter season ticket holder talking?

IMO it is showing that RL at this level is dying.

We have had Keighley, Doncaster, Gateshead recently experiencing an insolvency event - i.e. administration etc.

Rememeber not that long ago - us, Widnes, Oldham, Whitehaven got big crowds on a regular basis.

Now - only Widnes really - Barrow and Halifax occassionally?

It'll be interesting to see if they go up for the league games - i suspect they will but not by many.

Play off games used to get massive attendances....recently they have also been poor

People are losing interest IMO...and fast...

How about sacking off the group stages entirely. Run the comp like they used to do the Transvestite cup.
Play out half the league fixtures (so you play everyone once) results will also transfer to two 'conference leagues' (split basically East & West....with non-heartland clubs divvied up to equal them out.)
Then have a three week break - the top 2 from Champ & Champ1, in each conference, go through to a last 8 knock-out tournament....played as two 'double-headers' over our own 'Magic Weekend'....semi's following week, final week after - to up the intensity a bit!! (tickets to all these knock-out games no more than £15 for the double-header, and £10 for the semi's/Final....to encourage decent gates.
Re-introduce the county cups (first round over 2 legs to recover one lost home fixture...which would usually be a 'local' derby......depending on how the 'expansion' clubs are divvied up!!).
Also.....how about the RFL and SL use a bit of lateral thinking!! All Toulouse/Catalan and Skolars/Bronquins home fixtures to be played on same weekends.....and try to tie-in with sides that are local to each other were possible. For example:

We play Toulouse same weekend that Catalans play 'humbles'.......and RFL offer 'sponsored' transport packages

ditto Widnes/Warrington or Hudds/Fax or Bradford/Keighley or Leeds/Batley/Dewsbury, etc

and similar sort of thing for games in 'the smoke'!! Quins v Leeds (Skolars v Hunslet) for example

Just trying to think outside the box a bit!!!

Has the format changed over the past few years? I looked at LE and it seemed a different group structure.

Here's what they should do; expand/merge the Chp to about 16 teams, the weakest teams can be restructured into an amateur conference system aimed at getting clubs prepared to make a step up to semi pro, teams like London Skolars can do their own building without getting stuffed by 60 every week.
30 league fixtures and the NRC is straight knockout. I like..do you?

I have been advocating something similar too.

I also think franchising is a mistake though so without promotion and relegation I do not think it viable.

Success should be rewarded and a team finishing bottom of a Non Relegation league should be demoted.

We will probably never agree on that which is why there would not be a lot of point if teams full of imports are fasttracked at the expense of heartland sides.

More local derby's might increase crowds
Right side of the pennines plus Toulouse
Yorkshire side plus London
Play home and away and top 5 in each league play the top 5 fron t'other league home and away (based on previous seasons positions) - 20 teams each playing 13 mathes home and away plus cupties.
More matches - leigh v Swinton will attracr more than leigh v london
Two equal divisions and top 4 from each in play off at seasons end = our top v their 4th and so on so first two in each league have home advantage.
As for N R Cup - play it like the Challenge Cup with Final at Huddersfield on Monday of CC weekend - our squad can cope with two matches in three days!!!

Like your thinking - in principle - but got a bit confused with with your 'cross county' fixtures to make up the numbers of home games!!! Oh - and I make it 22 teams. Still splits as two 'conferences' of 11 (if we take the French/Welsh and the Tykes take the Geordies/Cockneys!! that would be ten home league games (as now - but more 'local' derbies). Then maybe the even numbered finishers in our 'conference' could play the 'odds' in theirs - and vice versa - to make 5/6 more home games each..... to which could be added a revised 'county' cup comp....obviously you couldn't call them the Lancs and Yorks Cup - with a 2-legged 1st round (thats another home game against 'local' opposition) - you are looking at a minimum 16/17 home games per season.....most against 'local' opposition.



Nice One !!



Maybe trains cup arranged along the lines I indicated in previous message....but I'd sooner the final not be on CC weekend - it's got to be promoted in its own right. - and I'd be tempted to take the final 'On the Road' - different venue each year (Lancs/Yorks/Cumbria/Wales/France - criteria for hosting it has to be ground with min 10k capacity - but NOT a current SL ground.....and non SL clubs should be allowed to try and negotiate broadcasting rights on their own - not tied to a deal that we get very little benefit from just to keep SKY happy!!

I've always advocated something like this in SL, expanded, including teams like Barrow, yourselves, Halifax et al
It would certainly be interesting to see at Chp level and the playoffs would be fantastic

Sounds good to me.
Dec 26th and Jan 1st will always see decent gates regardless of clashes with football fixtures.