Attendances have been disappointing as they normally are in the play offs.

I think the amount of televised games over the super8 n middle 8s is a factor in this, and would create the same issue in winter or summer

I would suggest that the biggest single event that has affected our game for the worse is Rugby Union going professional. At a stroke we have been deprived of a source that has in the past provided many of the we have been thrilled to watch. Where are the Sullivans, Bostons, Offiahs, Botticas et al? They were the sort of players that pulled in the crowds. Now if we produce any stars they are off where the grass is greener.

It dodn't though did it.

Attendances are higher now than in the last 20 or 30 years of winter rugby even during Wigans glory spell 85 - 96.

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as ever, redoubtable bilko has the evidence

Ok, stop now... Facts are inadmissible as evidence!!!!

The difference is the Super 8s count on a season ticket, whereas the old top 8 games didn't.

I think as big a factor as any that hits attendances is when fans have already watched the visiting team at home once already in the same season.

Perhaps the attendances had something to do with the fixtures only being promulgated on 29 July, 8 days before they took place.

If the remaining 6 are all down (Millwall excepted), then there's an issue, but I think the lower crowds were more down to the short-notice of who is playing who when.

I was slammed on here for criticising the new format but as expected I for one have not seen any difference irrespective of what sky pundits and others say. Biggest game in 10 years for Leigh according to sky with a team of a generation and they still cant pull 4k If it wasn't for the fact that I want my sons to continue to support the game I loved I would stop going after nearly 40years.

You do know a lot of people are on holiday, right?

Attendances are always down in August compared to May.

didn't affect premiership attendances?

why not take a break until September and begin the 8's comp then?

Too early to tell.

Wigan down 1,000 for a short notice Thurs v Fri sounds a decent effort.

Wire travelling support well down for a Friday night game arranged at short notice during summer holidays the week after a demoralising defeat, with their opposition saving up for Wembley and anticipating a comfortable win.

Hull = season over and the game was screened on Sky Sports Xtra (was the corresponding game on Sky?)

All of the elitists on here who couldn't care less about smaller clubs gave me stick when I suggested that no one would be interested in watching the same old teams week in and week out.

We go to Leeds on Friday for the fourth meeting in about five months with every possibility of more to come at the end of the season. Sky are killing the sport with too many games against the same opposition. The top three is already decided and all that remains to be decided is for the whipping boys in fourth place.

Quite simply people are bored with the whole competition. And the crowds prove it.

What on earth does it have to do with Sky? An RFL report identified the new structure and the clubs voted for it. Sky had to OK it as they are the game's largest commercial partner but they hardly initiated it.

I can accept that for the Wigan game particularly it being the Thursday game, but both the Leeds and Cas attendances were down by around 25%

Looking at just our own situation in isolation, our attendances have been on the slide consistently since 2012, so it's difficult to say how much the new structure is or isn't being bought into. I think a lot of fans were disillusioned by how we had a such a consistent season then two dodgy semi final performances meant we ended up with nothing. The new structure is definitely better than what we had 2009-14 but it was never going to improve attendances over night.

I agree with the poster who said playing the same team too many times in a season gets monotonous, we could easily end up playing Leeds 5 times this season and it could've been 6 if we'd stayed in the cup. Changing the format of the Magic Weekend goes along way to solving that IMO, it either needs to become a neutral fixture within the Super 8's or overhauling completely into something like a standalone 9's tournament; either way it definitely shouldn't be an additional fixture during the pre-split part of the league.

Thursdays definitely haven't helped either, most obvious example of this is the Wire fixture. It had 20k+ on for 4 consecutive seasons between 2010-13 and the last two seasons have been 16k and 14k when it's been played on a Thursday.

There are other factors as well, e.g. the downfall of the "Brigantes" and (rightly or wrongly) the attitude of some fans that we're selling all of our best players and feeling like they're buying in to an inferior product.

I do think IL has shot himself in the foot with this London game idea. It seems no one wants it apart from him. We desperately needed a "glamour" home tie against Wire, Saints or Leeds during the Super 8's to boost the average. The fact arguably the biggest home game we have got during this stage (Hudds, 3rd v 4th) attracted 11k says to me that the club should be concentrating on getting bums on seats at the DW rather than pushing this pointless trip to Millwall.

Winter Rugby is the only solution

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Quote ="The Mustard Tiger"Winter Rugby is the only solution'" It's been proved to you that it doesn't/didn't work. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"It's been proved to you that it doesn't/didn't work. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489'" Don't rise to the troll.

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"It's been proved to you that it doesn't/didn't work. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489'" Don't rise to the troll.

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"It's been proved to you that it doesn't/didn't work. wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489'" No it hasn't, it's only your opinion

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Which he's backed up with cold hard facts.

I think the loss of the Brigantes was huge. The DW is a morgue these days.

It's been generally better this year than last, albeit not by much. The Brigantes did bring a lot of noise, but it was hijacked & ruined by a minority of morons.
A discussion that's been done to death on here several times.

I think a collective nervousness as to which team is actually going to turn up isn't helping. With error strewn displays & inconsistent thinking on the park, regardless of the fact that we've not lost at home for ages, there's a pervasive sense of jitters that hums around like a distant murmuration.

Thursdays don't suit a lot of people (me included) and for those on shifts, not knowing in advance what the fixtures are going to be in these last games makes it impossible to get to the stadium for a not insignificant number. And I think this factoid crystallisation might well have an impact on at least early ST sales for next year. How many games is it that you have to miss until the season ticket becomes the reverse of what it's supposed to be?

Add all that to school holidays & people saving their pennies until (or if) we get to OT, I don't think it's at all surprising that the casual walk-up supporters aren't, and the majority of the bums on seats are die-hards.

Yeah, agree with most of that. As a long-distance fan, I've just been looking at the remaining fixtures. Normally I'd go to Headingley on Friday, but I've got something on locally on the Saturday which pretty much counts that out. Then, like a lot of folk, I'm on holiday for two weeks. I have nothing planned, but will go away for a few days 'on spec', depending on weather etc. So I might get to Warrington. Maybe. I'll probably go to the Millwall game as it's *only* 100 miles away, and I could meet up with my son. Then, maybe, maybe one out of two of Hull or Saints. Saints is the more attractive fixture, but Hull is last game at the DW. Decisions, decisions. And the Saints game could be pretty much a dead rubber if the four are cut and dried by then.

I agree with WarriorCraig that the new format is an improvement on what we had. But as he says, it's no panacea.