27 replies to this topic

[Lee]

Saints v Warrington play off........14632....league game......17500

Huddersfield v Crusaders play off....5869..league game....5339

Hull v Hull KR play off...........17699..........league game....20079

Wigan v Leeds play off..............9987...........league game....17883


Huddersfield the only one to see an increase in league to play off attendance, Wigan is way lower than i expected and the other 2 games a couple of thousand down.

Any reasons we thinking for lower attendances, is it just down to paying for the play offs?

Be interesting to see next weeks attendances at Warrington and Wigan.

[Jerry the Berry]

Season tickets out of the equation, and the play-off format being that there could be the same fixtures in week 3 of the play-offs.

Not bad attendances IMO for the first round games.

[guess who]

Huddersfield the only one to see an increase in league to play off attendance

Come on Lee, the only reason that happened is Crusaders took more than a bus full.

[1976PMJwires]

Come on Lee, the only reason that happened is Crusaders took more than a bus full.

unless a few Shudds came out of the closet

[Lee]

Come on Lee, the only reason that happened is Crusaders took more than a bus full.

My point isnt about us Jim

Just generally there down on the league games

I'm more surprised Wigan, Leeds couldnt break 10k

[StevieM13]

Qualifying play offs and a Sunday evening kick off. No excuse for elimination games to draw lower home support other than fans being too skint.

[Exiled Rhino]

Season tickets out of the equation, and the play-off format being that there could be the same fixtures in week 3 of the play-offs.

Not bad attendances IMO for the first round games.

Nothing further required.

[giwildgo]

Seems to be a bit of confusion about the crowd anyway - being reported as 9000+ on the internet and was announced as 12 177 on the scoreboard. Having been there, the latter appears more accurate when compared to similar attendances during the season.

[High Peak Rhino]

Seems to be a bit of confusion about the crowd anyway - being reported as 9000+ on the internet and was announced as 12 177 on the scoreboard. Having been there, the latter appears more accurate when compared to similar attendances during the season.

Sky also showed it as the 12k. From the TV the ground looked half full not a third.
Who gets the revenue from these games???

[Exiled Wiganer]

12k is a decent effort. I thought Lee didn't care about attendances yesterday?

[Lee]

Wouldnt bother me if one man and his dog turned up

Just a general discussion, theres so few of them around

[my missus]

deffo 12000 if not more for tax purposes i can estimate the crowd at wigan no prob and thought about 12500, actually not a bad turn out from leeds about 1500.

[Maximus Decimus]

Season tickets are the only reason.

The RFL gets the money and it needs to decide whether it wants this money or it wants full stadia for its showpiece events.

With ST's I've no doubt we'd have saw sellouts at Hull and Saints, with 18k odd at Wigan. Hudds would have even probably hit 8-9k.

Next week we'll see 9k at Wire and probably about 10k at Wigan. It would be a fair bit of revenue lost for the RFL but surely there has to be a solution to the problem?

[Allan Marsden]

The play offs are a failed marketing gimmick.

You get all these posters on here saying oh everybody is in favour of the play offs look at the crowds blah blah blah. Those figure tell you people do not believe in the play offs and are not supporting them.

If a Hull Derby cannot sell out what hope is there. Wigan's attendance was awful, Saints not impressive given they have the last games at KR as a booster to selling tickets and Huddersfield was the only one boosted by the one positive, Crusader away support.

Stupid concept

[Maximus Decimus]

The play offs are a failed marketing gimmick.

You get all these posters on here saying oh everybody is in favour of the play offs look at the crowds blah blah blah. Those figure tell you people do not believe in the play offs and are not supporting them.

If a Hull Derby cannot sell out what hope is there. Wigan's attendance was awful, Saints not impressive given they have the last games at KR as a booster to selling tickets and Huddersfield was the only one boosted by the one positive, Crusader away support.

Stupid concept

Are people not in favour of the Challenge Cup?

Is that a failed gimmick?

[Maximus Decimus]

The play offs are a failed marketing gimmick.

You get all these posters on here saying oh everybody is in favour of the play offs look at the crowds blah blah blah. Those figure tell you people do not believe in the play offs and are not supporting them.

If a Hull Derby cannot sell out what hope is there. Wigan's attendance was awful, Saints not impressive given they have the last games at KR as a booster to selling tickets and Huddersfield was the only one boosted by the one positive, Crusader away support.

Stupid concept

Hull KR-Wigan (9,007) regular season 2009. Sky 174k
Hull KR-Wigan (8,162) first round playoffs 2009. Sky 224k

Saints-Wigan regular season 2009 (15,563). Sky 218k
Saints-Wigan (13,087) playoff semi-final. Sky 296k.

Why are these viewing figures way higher if people aren't supporting the concept?

Crowds are lower because take today's Wigan game, they have already sold 10,000 tickets before the regular season game kicks off. Today they are starting from scratch and sad as it is, people don't want to pay.

[Allan Marsden]

People won't pay because they do not care about the play offs. The season ended when the league ended.

The Challenge Cup is struggling similarly

So you have to ask is RL heading in the right direction? Are the RFL capable of marketing the sport / driving it forward or are two finals all we can manage?

We had a sport where we were able to attract several / many large crowds, walk up pay on the day attenders. The RFL/SKY then told us Summer rugby, a salary cap, a play off system, a franchising system would lead to a boom in RL. Where the RFL / SKY wrong?

[eddo]

I think we are all finalist supporters at the seasons end . Simple parallel to the challenge cup

[Allan Marsden]

I think we are all finalist supporters at the seasons end . Simple parallel to the challenge cup

it was never that was previously and if that is all we are why not bring back more competitions

[ParisSurtout]

Either the English are somewhat impoverished and tight with their money, or they lack deep passion for their club and their game.

The best way to see this is by looking at the the comparison of England and Australia for the first weekend of the the finals.


Finals Weekend 1 SL crowds:


St Helens vs Warrington 14,632

Hull FC vs Hull KR 17,699

Huddersfield vs Crusaders 5,869

Wigan vs Leeds 9,987

Total: 48,187




Final Weekend 1 NRL crowds:

Gold Coast vs NZ Warriors 27,046

Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters 33,315

Penrith Panthers vs Canberra Raiders 16,668

St. George Dragons vs Manly Sea Eagles 15,574

Total: 92,605


So the NRL attracted nearly double the crowds of the Super League.

It is true that Super League has nothing like the mass media publicity of the NRL. But that does not explain why there were only 9,987 at the Wigan vs Leeds game. All the fans of the two best supported clubs knew the match was on. But they just failed to show up.

Moreover the NRL games were all live on terrestrial television (Channel 9). No one had to pay to watch the TV.

Clearly there are more Aussies who follow rugby league, and they are more passionate about their clubs than people from the northern so-called heartlands of English rugby league. That is why Australia is number 1.