The RFL really needs to look at the atendances in the lower leagues, even for teams doing well they are rubbish. When i think back to the early eighties when i started watching the crowds were much better everywhere in the second division. My own team Donny used to get 1500-2000 at the end of the eighties, Swinton similar, Oldham 3-3500, i could go on.
I think we need to cut our cloth to suit the crowds we are getting now and only pay what we can afford.
I fear for the future with so many of the CC clubs struggling, not that the RFL Care about anyone outside of SL.

I wonder if a reserves game could be switched to allow a double header to try get folk in earlier.

It will be interesting to see if we get any new faces on a saturday.

The players are doing their best and anyone not impressed by sundays game must be crazy, just hope the stay aways make the effort too.

I think the club need a good crowd this weekend more than any other home game so far this season.

Not because Toulouse will bring very few, but I feel Gary will be shilling out some winning pay for the lads.

Prediction

Cougars 28 - Toulouse 12
Danny's record to continue to 51 games.
Jamaine to be denied his 7th perfectly good try of the season.
Crowd 778

Cars Clamped - Nil

I hoped the topic would have been how can we get the stay away fans back make it positive not negative.

Saying that the post has created debate.

I agree with Mickey we will beat Toulouse.

Im afraid to say that other than the die hard fans who turn up week in week out, the price of admission is a bit steep to attract new faces down. I know quite a few who would come down, but then when i mention the price, they assume im joking. Im just wondering what would happen if the price was dropped to a fiver say, for one game, ideally against the french on a saturday night, to see how many would come down. It would have to be properly advertised in the town and press though.

Cougardave has a good point but lets say for example the club did this and it had no real impact on the crowd they would make a substantial loss which no club can afford to do.

The idea is very good though would be interesting to hear view from club.

I can't make it that week as doing 3 peaks..... then again I should be done.....then again we pass through Keighley on train on way home....then again I would need a shower....hmmmmm

What we do know is that the Status Quo isn't working.

Any strategy to improve things will have an element of risk to it be it financial, alienating more fans etc.

It needs a detailed look at what worked when we and other clubs had 3-4 times more fans and what's changed since not just at club level but at the RFL.

Here's what factors I think are now different and could be changed for the better.

1. Very little for clubs/fans to aspire to as regards promotion to Super League.
2. Admission price have almost doubled in the last 15 years or so, wages haven't.
3. The "Rugby League is a family game" mularchy, it's killed the atmosphere in grounds.
4. "The Biff" when I was a kid I loved it when Joe Grima started a 26 man brawl every other week.Now they throw the book at them for it.
5. We don't play enough games.

What does everyone else think?

A nice idea but even if we doubled the crowd on this night the club would be out of pocket.

Not necessarily Mike

Twice as many people in the ground also means you're likely to double your revenue from merchandising, pints, pies, crossbar challenge tickets etc.

In theory 2000 paying £7 in is a lot better than 1000 paying £14.

But the figure quoted was £5 and our crowd would not double.

How do you know our crowd wouldn't double, or even treble for that matter?

For what it's worth.

If 1000 pay £14 in and spend an average of £5 in the ground (which isn't unreasonable)it equals £14k on the gate + £5k merchandise = £19k

If 2000 pay £5 in and spend an average of £5 in the ground it equals £10k on the gate + £10k merchandise = £20k

If it was marketed right, something I think the club is weak at doing, I think you could get loads down

Bill it as Keighley vs. The French, get posters up in every shop in town, Silsden and Skipton, get flyers in the target, send out an event on facebook and get every member of the Green Army to invite every one of their friends down.

Sometimes you have to take a calculated risk in order to get a reward.

This looks like a good opportunity to do so.

Well, its never gonna happen, but it would have been a useful experiment against the french.

I understand the club dont want to lose money, so for that reason the french game would be the one to do it against, or perhaps the Whitehaven game 3 weeks later. The last game against Widnes would be no good as they are well supported away from home, so we need to maximise revenues.

I think that the low attendances across the board in the Co-operative championship are something that needs looking into across the board. A lot from Keighley have turned to the Bulls and Rhinos for only a few quid more on the gate, this is to watch some of the best players in the country, well maybe not at the bulls!!!

I will always support my local team, but wish that something could be done about the attendances. Try something new.

We need to create interest within the club and the town.The way to do that is to sign a good ex super league player who probably has a couple of seasons left in him.Someone like a Robbie Paul or a good play maker.People will then start talking about the club and maybe come down to watch the ex superstar.I hear you say "but where will the money come from to pay his wages". Simples,the directors will have to put their hands in their pockets and pay the wages,it happens at other clubs so why cant it happen at Cougar park.

I think you are right.
Something needs to be done.

Mind you people knowing, we had 9 points taken of us didn't help did it.

The clubs need to stop thinking like charities , and start thinking like businesses , ideally successful ones

Hit the nail squarely on the head there.

It seems most club directors' think that the only way to make a small fortune out of Rugby League is to have a large one to start with.

The club chairmen are not alone in this assumption , the RFL see it as the ' model ' for the future as well

Success of a club begins on the field,if your not getting the results or have;nt got the quality of players needed then your doomed.Look at the attendance at the bulls over the last couple of seasons.I know there is no easy answer but money needs to be put into a venture to reap the rewards.You cannot carry on with new board members following on from the last ones.There was talk of super league in 3 or 4 seasons time, well we certainly dont meet any of the criteria so far,so its time to stop trying to come up with new ideas of how can we make a few hundred quid.It is not going to happen,or if it does it wont make much difference.The club needs a substancial cash injection from the directors to make a difference.Forget about bums on seats or standing,that will only happen with a successfull team.I know we would be furthur up the division if it had not been for the points deduction,but the club is static and thats no good for supporters paying £14 a time.

find ways to fund their clubs that are not dependant on success on the pitch , not influenced by other bigger local sports clubs , and can be used to guarantee the future survival of their clubs

To do this they need to sit down and start to work together

As I said they need to open their eyes , ears , but most importantly their minds

Until they do this they are sat on the same merry go round they have been for the last 20 years of decline

I dont think i am missing the point Starbug if success on the field means tipping more money down the black hole then so be it.Being content with what we have is not good enough and we must always be determined to improve. Dont get me wrong Barry has done an excellent job with the squad,but major investment is needed to improve.Its not just on the field,the bar and other areas are very "tired" and the changing rooms are not much better.Its called Continuous Professional Developement.If people dont have the drive and determination to take the club forward and are happy to stay as it is then i;ll give it 2 years.

First and foremost the club needs to sustain itself without the need of cash injections.

If we're losing money, there's 2 ways of dealing with it, raise more money or cut costs.

I don't want us going in to debt ever again, this should be considered a complete no-no by the board wether it to a bank, the taxman, or directors' pockets. I'd rather us be competing with the likes of Doncaster and be a healthy club than go bust because of another deluded pipe dream.

We as fans should ask what can we do for Keighley Cougars? Can we bring another friend to the game, can we dig deep and have 1 more pint in the ground

.

Personally I think the club needs to think about it's image "brand Keighley Cougars™" so to speak. Get the name out and about, sell fashionable merchandise that people want to buy and would be proud to wear out and about town, advertising the brand to other folk, a shirt with a massive cougar head on it or a fruit of the loom polo shirt with the club badge embroidered on it might have looked good 20 years ago but doesn't now. Find out why people don't come to games, is it because it's too expensive? Is it because they think we're cr*p? Are they disenfranchised after all that's gone on in the past? Is it poor facilities or negative perceptions of the club etc.

Starbug's right, why can't clubs put their on field rivalries to one side and help each other off the field? . If Glasgow Rangers and Celtic (amongst the top 5 biggest arch rivalries in football) can come together to sign a huge shirt sponsorship and kit supply deals I'm sure semi-pro Rugby League clubs can manage it.

So you are happy for someone else to ' tip money down a black hole ' for what you call success on the pitch ?

Nobody is suggesting that any club should be ' content with what they have " , but no amount of investment in ' RL ' will achieve anything , you cannot support a sports club with money made from the sport

' Continuous proffessional development '

You still dont understand what it is I am saying

If you have a business that due to changing circumstances can no longer finance itself , what do you do ?

Change the nature of the business or go bust!!

As someone has said winning certainly helps, only the money pit becomes bigger.

We need to find ways/methods/reasons that make people want to come to Keighley Cougars and part with cash. Winning is one of those but if it is the only one we will only end up see-sawing up and down ad infinitum.

I actually think the directors have started on this path with their excellent work in the community which appears to be baring fruit already, but we have a very long way to go. The key is surviving the rough bit. We have heard a lot of nice sound bites about future plans but at some point we need action not words.

The Bulls bandwagon was all formed off the back of our success, so because they did not do the original thinking that gave them their rapid success, they struggled to sustain this in adversity. This was aggravated because the clever people that took Cougar Mania and turned it into Bull Mania were poached by others and not replaced with similar quality - oh and they became very complacent - the one thing that kills all businesses.

Cougar Mania II (the cat strikes back) anyone????

Now we're getting somewhere

Diversification , 20 years ago a bloke called Ted Moult was on the tv dropping a feather down past a window in a TV ad , the company was Everest double glazing , that company is now Everest home improvements , they sell 20 odd products from garage doors to solar panels

Why dont they still just sell double glazing ? , because if they did they would not be able to make enough money to survive

They have found new products to sell to new and old customers

Problem is that no single club is strong enough or has a big enough profile to be able to sell something else . 20 clubs on the other hand workling together would have enough of a profile and enough support to make it work

As you say , complacency is the death of any business, ' evolve ' or die