Didn't hear any passion from the wigan crowd today and looking around it is clear why given the age profile. What ever happened to the Brigantes? the colour, creativity and spark has completely gone from home games now and they at least tried to provide this.

It was a fad and was never going last. That is my opinion.

Why did we need some clique with a name like Brigantes do get the crowd going? No idea.

It's not as if at CP we didn't have different stands who attracted different kinds of people.

The DW is just a terrible stadium which makes it hard to create an atmosphere when half full (or less as the case was yesterday). There's no clear singing section and attempts to create one aren't likely to succeed. At home games the fans that do make a noise at away games are too spread out.

Don't remember the home games against teams like Cas having any atmosphere with or without the brigantes anyway. If we need a load of ed up teenagers to generate noise for us it really is a sad state of affairs

Yet the attendance will almost certainly be the highest of the round. The problem is specifically with the Challenge Cup and generally with the game becoming more and more a television sport which does not generate a crowd who pay on the day.

What I don't understand is why the league game next Friday will probably have around 15k attendance while the cup game only attracted less than 9k.
I don't know what the answer is.
Why did Wigan fans chose to have a week off watching their team play in what was billed as the game of the weekend.

Same reason as Leeds fans on Friday - season ticket holders unwilling to pay watch on tv.

Well, you cant say that about the Cas fans, they certainly turned up in numbers, I just hope they all come back this Friday.

You sound glad it's ended, you must be happy now it's a morgue every week.

The atmosphere is pi$$ poor, it's a sad reflection on our fans we get embarrassed on a weekly basis. The club deserves better, this batch of home-grown players certainly do. The club has never been in an healthier state, yet the fans turn up and don't show an ounce of passion those young players do for the badge.

I don't think the attendance was particularly bad, 8,736. Leeds only got 7,145, Widnes 5K... Wire vs Bradford won't be far off ours I imagine.

If you'd just been to an all you can eat chinese buffet, would you be hungry for chinese?

Wigan fans have been to all you can eat buffet of trophies, so it's understandable a little apathy would creep in, it's not like wigan haven't won the CC million times before.

There is apathy though out the game at the moment, not just at Wigan.

I've been away from the NW for two years.

Yesterday was my first live (non-SF/F) match in a long while. I was shocked at how subdued the atmosphere was yesterday.

Markedly different to how it was two years ago.

I love the new genteel atmosphere, let's have a string quartet at half time, and some chamber music rather than all that jitterbug stuff, so annoying.
Just let the noisy uncouth visitors get on with it,no manners, just ignore them.

The fact that you seriously, genuinely appear to have no idea why we need the type of fans who are willing to attempt to create some passion (usually by singing) tells me why we have a problem generating even an average atmosphere.

In answer to your question of 'Why did we need some clique with a name like Brigantes do get the crowd going?' - because apart from one or two hardy souls who try, no other *!%&$! can be bothered.

Challenge cup games are always poorly attended and obviously some of the season ticket holders don't go.

Maybe it's worth handing out more freebies to local schools, rugby clubs and business.

Aye.
Just over 5K at Bradford today.

What was at the Wigan v cas game?


If teams have few thousand season ticket holders that don't go, it will greatly effect the attendance. Also the fact all the games have been shown live on tv will have bearing on it.

I think all clubs should adopt the stance that any season ticket holder should get free admission to any / all home CC games. they'd certainly turn up instead of watching it on the box in my opinion.

I'm not even a ST holder, that is just my opinion and also I think part of the reason they don't attend is because, despite, being a ST holder, they feel they are being mugged into paying for another home match should they be drawn in the CC at home.

if wane is going to call out to the fans to ask us to turn up in numbers and show our support then the club (and RL in general) need to understand the reasons why we are still not doing; prices!

i'm sure there are more underlying reasons as to why this doesn't happen but take a step back and its simple really.

The ticket prices for the Cas game were very reasonable.

Disagree, unless the cost of the ST goes up and a portion is specifically carved out for cup games.

Reason being the cash these games generate for clubs - if you're drawn away in the cup, you won't get much cash if the majority of home fans are in for free!

I'm thinking more of the lower league and smaller SL teams.

Absolutely ridiculous. The Challenge Cup is a separate competition, it has nothing to do with the league so why would Wigan allow season ticket holders free admission for every round of the cup. If Wigan and all the other clubs allowed this to happen they would all lose money because only season ticket holders would turn up. Ticket prices for season ticket holders were spot on if you bought them before the game. £15 Adult £10 concession & £5 for Under 16's. What more can the club do?

I don't think allowing season ticket holders to get into CC games for free is the answer. Perhaps some sort of Wembley priority deal for people who attended earlier rounds is the way forward? I can't understand why people don't bother watching to be honest. In 2011 we got nearly 80k for the final at Wembley, but couldn't even sell out the Halliwell Jones for the semi against Saints or QF against Wire (both 12-13k attendances). We could offer even cheaper tickets or group deals I suppose but I'm not sure rugby crowds are particularly responsive to ticket price changes, we seem to get the same crowd whether tickets are £10 or £25

It is a difficult one and I'm not really sure the club can do much more. A priority system for final tickets would work if final tickets were more in demand, but as it stands anybody who wants one is able to get one, either by waiting for general sale through the club or buying off the RFL. Priority ticketing, like what is seen in football for cup games, only really works if there is a risk of missing out on tickets for the bigger games altogether.

The only real excuse for Saturday's attendance was the clash with amateur fixtures, but even taking that in to account a large number of ST holders/regular attendees simply wont have bothered going. There is simply very little interest in the CC until the final, and I'm not really sure there's much the club or the RFL can do about it, it's down to the attitude of the fans. Giving tickets away isn't the answer, that completetly devalues the product and loses revenue for the club, ATEOTD 8000 people paying £15 is better than 12000 paying nothing, regardless of how poor it looks on TV.

my response was in relation to a large number of season ticket holders who did not attend or by the sounds of things did not attend and also in reply to Wanes war-cry about wanting a big turn out.
I still think it is a good idea, I'm sure you had the option in the good old days to attend a free CC match with a season ticket?
and surely for it to work then the ST prices may need to increase slightly, yes, I don't deny that, in which case all the RFL has to do is pump more money into the competition and clubs by way of better sponsorship deals. away teams would still get their cut from the initial ST sales and any additional sales on the day. share and share alike.
I suppose its easy for me to say, much harder if not impossible to apply. just a passing thought!