Yep, I remember that period. We didn't know if we were coming or going.....the players must have received 'shell shock'.

A schoolboys final at Central park years ago drew over 16,000. I have a pic of it from back then . It was either the 1930's or 1940's period.

It was for the Daily Despatch shield.

Firstly, I was one of the 5k last night. Thursday nights are horrible for attendances, no kids due to school the next day, match on Sky etc, and games where season ticket holders have to pay for are usually poorly attended. This is the first year where we have had to pay for play off games.
But the main factor I feel is general apathy with the game, not just at our place where the rugby has been very poor for the last half of the season, but across the league. Just watching the televised games isn't as entertaining as it used to be.
Out of interest, what are they charging at your place for the game tonight. Last night, Wire were giving £5 off for season ticket holders. So for us in the south stand it was £17 for adults, £11 concessions. But non-season tickets holders aren't going to pay £22 for that. Seating prices will be even higher.

Felt good about our crowd tonight till it was announced as 9,200. If that’s right then we must’ve had less then 7,000 actually on the ground on a few occasions this year.

About what you'd expect for a play off game unfortunately but what an atmosphere, by a country mile the best all year.
Cracking effort from the Salford fans.

You've made a fundamental error trying to reason with him

2113 from Salford tonight in the away end.

Just over 7k Wigan fans
Decent effort

What about giving season ticket holders a voucher that gives them free entry to one playoff game? Tough for fans to pay out for match tickets 3/4 weeks consecutively.

If on average each adult paid £10 less and each child £5 less then we would possibly have brought in around 80/90k less

We would need to have had nearly 18/19,000 on at those prices just to be level with what we got tonight!

Yeah, great idea!

Horrible is correct mate, Cas sold 751 tickets which is magnificent the way we have been treated
We have had 3 home games switched to thursday nights this season and 6 away games. Its ridiculous to expect fans to keep coming over the pennines for these games.

So we would be around 200k down on receipts tonight.
Hows that going to work?
How does that make things better?
Hiw does that incentivise people to spend money on tickets further down the line when you've basically give them something for free and then ask them to pay £20/25 week after or 2 weeks later.

Here's a novel idea, let's get more people in paying the same amount of money.

I thought there were more than 9k on tonight. It looked like Salford had brought 2k.

2113

Yes this always happens at play-off time. Clubs don't report the actual ticket sales as some of the cash goes to the RFL/SL. Another broken system. I reckon at least 10,500 there tonight.

Completely get your point, but at the same time - how about running tonight as a lost lead? It was a poor standard, but a good game.

It's not hard to imagine that in two weeks we might see a repeat of the match. If, and it's a big if, there's any neutrals left out there then tonight might have lured them in and we could have milked it in 2 weeks.

Its just living in dreamland to think that will somehow happen - its been the same pattern with playoff games for 20 years. Particularly for the earlier games. So unless something significant is done it won't change.

I acknowledge what you're saying about the financial implications and the game will have to decide whether it can afford to make adaptations. But if none are made, then without question season low crowds will continue to be the norm for the most important games. Negative impact on the sport's reputation and the matchday experience plus the players deserve better.

Fantastic support from the Salford fans tonight. Without them the atmosphere in the stadium would have been next to non existent.

The west stand was empty, south stand barely half full and the east stand (which I was in) felt like it was rammed. I said to my mate on the way home that I don’t see why play off games aren’t part of the ST. That game should have drawn 12k+.

Funnily enough I was sat in the centre of the South. West & East stands were much less attended than our usual home games. The South 'felt' pretty full but you're saying less than half full.

Atmosphere was good tonight. Salford following was very good, will be interesting to see if they show up in numbers at home against Cas.

That’s what it looked like to me but you’re also saying that the East stand wasn’t as well attended as usual which was the opposite to what I felt. Semantics I suppose!

I guess its because you can't guarantee playoff rugby.

How do you charge people for a game that may/may not happen? A perfect example is - was that our last home game of 2019? No one knows, as you don't know what will happen next week.

I know. It’s not an easy fix but the attendances last night and tonight were horrific for two play off games. It needs sorting.

Without a shadow of a doubt.

I don't want to belittle Salford, but if that was Vs either Leeds or Warrington tonight you probably would have seen an extra 2K on the gate. Salford deserve tonight, but more casual Wigan fans would have come for Wigan vs Leeds or Wigan Vs Wire imo.

That's why it's key that the top tier teams perform. The top tier rivalries is what makes our sport. If you don't have that then the crowds plummet.

Well I went and it was worth every penny. Not really sure what the fuss is about paying tbh. Why do people expect things to be free? I just don't get the thinking. I bet half the people complaining wouldn't think twice about buying 20 fags, half a dozen pints of beer or paying for concert tickets or similar. Why is rugby expected to be discounted all the time?

Great atmosphere at the ground tonight and kudos to Salford who brought a sizable and vocal crowd. I can guarantee that it was better to be at the ground tonight than watching on TV.

Isn't that point only relevant if you support a top team. To the other thirty odd teams that play RL, but only see one of 3 or 4 teams in with a chance of getting to Old Trafford ,the play offs are completely irrelevant & their supporters probably couldn't give a toss. As with the CC.

I thought that playoff games were a RFL event, where prices were set by the RFL and clubs had no say. That would explain why both Warrington and Wigan ST holders received the same £5 discounts - did Cas & Salford ST holders also receive a discount? The clubs' hands are tied when pricing these fixtures.

That said, which looks better on TV? 9000 in a 25,000 seat stadium generating £X or 18,000 in a 25,000 seat stadium also generating the same revenue because ticket prices are halved? The RFL need to speculate to accumulate, otherwise you will continue to get 33% full stadiums for these supposedly "massive" games.