I only know of 4 people who are not season ticket holders who went to watch the Wakefield game...my brother, a friend, my nephew and his friend. Having spoken to them all subsequently, they all have told me they won't be going on Friday night. If this is repeated with other casual fans, Friday's match will only be attended by season ticket holders.

There was always this danger at some point. Wigan fans have been loyal way beyond the normal expectation. That said, the club is well aware of this.

to be fair its fans like that we dont need they are the fans that week after week are on these boards moaning

On the flip side, one of my work collegues came upto me today asking where to get tickets for a group of six for Friday night. One of the younger lads has got some kind of scholarship at Key 103 in Sports reporting and the main reason why they want to go to the game.

Personally I always think that if you are put off by not winning or not playing well that makes you somewhat of a fickle fan. The sort of fan who would go week in week out when things are going ok and would never admit they did not go when things were not so great.

While I agree in principle, in order to boost attendances above the norm, you have to win over people who don't go routinely. That isn't easy when your team is serving up bilge each week.

This is a big concern I have about the Noble era in general. While the backroom people at the club have been doing great things to promote us - in terms of marketing, etc - we're not playing attractive football. I can live with playing unattractive football and winning, but when you're playing unattractive football and losing, that's a recipe for eventual crowd reduction.

Good post and I do see the side to it that you mention.

5 drives and a kick is not the sort of Rugby that will keep the more casual fan coming back time after time, especially if wins are not being chalked up.

How can you say we don't need fans like that. These people might not have been to many matches before, if the game was played with a bit more passion. Played like the way it got us hooked then maybe they would become season ticket holders. Which if i remember is one thing IL wants and would be better for the club as a whole.

a lot of fans pay to be entertained and if they are not getting what they pay for then they wont pay it, simple

So we dont need the 2-3k casual fans every home game

If that was the case we would be averaging less than 10k - which is not good enough.

A mate of mine is a Wigan fan and he is trying to sell his season ticket already.

Now that is fickle.

Maybe so, can't really blame them though with the $hite that people are paying to watch.

In order to boost attendences these are the kind of fans we need to attract and then hopefully get them adicted to the product so that they do become season ticket holders this is how the season tickets bought grows.

It is something i touched on in another thread. Given the fact money is tight at the moment and some people like myself who cannot get to every home game pay there hard earned cash on the door to be entertained. I have to admitt my knee jerk reaction to the Wakefield game was that i will not be back in a hurry and it was especially disapointing as it was my lads first Super League game, and while i did not expect him to be hooked on the rugby i thought the atmosphere would keep him entertained, Prior to the game he loved it the buzz around the stadium the noise and excitement, and for the first 10 minutes he sat happy as larry listening to the crowd etc, but given it quickly became evident that the on field product was poor and the fans lost that buzz, he started to lose interest fast as the atmosphere was lost.

I will get bak over when work and other comittments alow as soon as i can but i will not be bringing my lad while the standard of entertainment is so poor.

Given there are other options available such as the Latics i think there is a real threat that while we continue to play this dull rugby non season ticket holders will explore other options and could very well be pushing floating fans towards the latics, regardless of what the marketing people do to try to retain them.

So I guess the main difference between him and most of the rest of you lot is that he actually had one in the first place.

I assure you they are not fickle but highly intelligent and know when they are not getting value for money. I have a season ticket and won't miss a match but if I was in their shoes then I would seriously consider it but probably go in the end.
I see that Widnes have terminated McCormick's contract because O'Connor says they are not playing attractive rugby.

Like I said earlier in reply to Cruncher I can see where the more casual fan is coming from as at the best of times we are not pretty to watch.

I remember walking away from Odsal in 2004 and saying to my wife about the Bradford way of playing "thank goodness we dont have to watch that sort of sh*te everyweek". I guess I should have kept my trap shut with that one



Somebody before did say that we do need to attract the 2-3K casual fans to the games. If it was just season ticket and hardcore fans only then our attendances would take a notable dip.

It is just a shame that now the club has for the most part got the off field side of things right it is the stuff dished up on the pitch that causes concern for a lot of people, not just if it is win or lose but the style in which we play.

You are so dead wrong there.

Every Rugby League Club needs every fan it can get.

Worst comment ever.

You cant blame them? After 2 games? Dont talk so wet

True, I dont attend every game and I'm not going to the game on Friday but thats more down to the fact I dont want to book it off work, to spend money to watch us play an average team, when I could save my money and watch us play Quins away and Bradford at home in a few weeks.

Whoever said we dont need fans like this well...

Our support remains at early 90s levels despite poor form. Not quite sure why.



The thread title is flawed. Crowds have risen since 2003 despite zero trophies.

I was merely referring to an imminent dip. It wasn't the fact that they lost it was how they lost.
I know quite a few who began watching them again when it was a backs to the wall fight against relegation. They felt that the team needed them.

While in reverse, we have posted only slight increases (and a decrease) despite silverwear for the past five seasons.

The fact is though that times are hard. Those who don't have season tickets have a decision every week whether or not to fork out and for many it simply isn't affordable. People are having to pick and choose games so of course they're going to pick the more attractive ones. Looking back at the past few seasons proves it's not to do with results or attractive rugby as a whole.

I can only go to a few games a season when hubby is off work to babysit and already have had most of them scuppered because when he's off it's the games that are too expensive to go to (cats away, magic weekend) so I'm looking at my only game this year being Hull KR away at this rate.

I'm still cheering the team on it's just not affordable for me to do it from the stands much this year.

If Noble is going to continue with the same game plan then no you can't. This isn't just based on the 2 games so far but last season aswell. I'm sure others will agree that the rugby we have had to watch over the last year has been very poor and nothing has improved yet. I put the 2003 season review on last night, it shows how much we have gone backwards in playing ability. We didn't even win anything then but there was alot of promise being shown and we had the ability to win games with skilfull players, the same can't be said for this team.