Leyther_Matt

Wasn’t Sheffield v Wigan only 100 or so extra than that? (Not making any point as such, just feels a bit odd given you’d expect Wigan to have taken a lot more fans than Fax)

They have slightly more logistical issues to deal with, I suspect.

As much as I thought our support was maybe 500 light on what I’d have hoped for, 30 mins between the dream is an absolute dream. I drove from Leigh to Wrexham on Tuesday for the Bolton game in a quicker time than I got from Leigh to Wigan on Thursday. Not even kidding.

It’s literally the reason this forum exists. Probably even rugby league as a whole. Linked to the Twitter thread, it’s one again well worth pointing out that the Hope & Glory book is well worth a read. I was at primary school when the switch to summer happened so I do at least have memories of going to pre-SL games, but little memory of the political side of things and how it all panned out. We even had Leigh’s head coach of the time, Ian Lucas, coming in to a school assembly to sell us the benefits of being able to stand in the sun watching RL with an ice cream. Can’t say it’s happened too often! As much as I’ve been positive on other threads as to how much exposure Super League is currently enjoying and in particular the widespread increase in crowds, it doesn’t feel like we’re going to see any current players pitching up on Emmerdale any time soon.

No idea where I’d seen 21,478 rather than 21,748 but it had been a long evening!

Fantastic game. The standards were incredible, and for every RL fan bemoaning the lack of tries, I’ve seen tweets from newbies who were enthralled by the whole contest and the incredible fitness levels. Not seen the stats, but must have only been 4/5 penalties and I don’t recall any set restarts? Waited years to see a 1-0 at Wigan. Definitely wasn’t expecting Leigh to do it before Bolton

21.478 so yea just short Tbf 4,800 is a big sell by anyone’s standards, was probably about 2,600 in the end. But more fool those who stayed away because they thought we’d get stuffed! (Oddly we took significantly more in 2005 when we lost 60-6)

I don’t think there are enough words in the English language that would do justice to the commercial and PR suicide that would be a deciding Test at Headingley If Elland Road is unavailable then I think Bramall Lane would be an acceptable Yorkshire version that would still look good even if we’re already 2-0 up in the series (Nurse!)

Won’t be anywhere near the need for Leigh fans to spill round that far, and it looks like Wigan will need it for their own fans at this rate

It’s happened a few times in football tbf, especially with the EFL Trophy

Was much higher than that by the sounds of it and looking at the pictures

That’s a shambles of a crowd, and one entirely of their own making with a negative attitude from the outset. Kick off time wasn’t great, and they have a valid point to hope to be compensated, but it might have given them a chance to try something different for people who might not be able to make a Sunday game etc

Tbf I hadn’t realised it was such a big gap this time. In which case I review my moan and say the gaps between rounds are too long to build momentum (I do think there’s a valid point in getting the games arranged as soon as possible, particularly as there’s absolutely zero second guessing on who could be playing when because of the spread of SL games this season)

Don’t think anyone can deny it’s bloomin’ daft to have to wait so long for the draw. Or, more to the point, wait so long to find out when your team might actually be playing. And then we’ll have page after page that the Challenge Cup is dying when in reality nobody has been given any time to actually arrange going to the game.

The video of the crowd at West Hull looks incredible! Don’t suppose we’ll get an official figure given they literally ended up opening the gates because the queues were so big Glad to see a decent crowd at Haven too

Great turnout on what was a freezing cold night. 400ish Leigh fans I reckon.

Great news. Happy for them to lose every week but never wanted them going bump. Some career path for Chris Irwin, too. The last time I spoke to him, he was working behind the bar at Eccles RL! Seems he’s only been at Exeter for a couple of months

That’s literally more than I pay for actual Sky Sports

Bet I’ll still end up missing kick off

Then the advert isn’t doing its job

We’re now heading in to the territory of fans will be spending their money on club RL and, even when it’s finally announced, thoughts of international RL will be very much on the back burner. Absolute sin not to have had tickets on sale before Christmas.

Tbf there’s a quote in Hope and Glory: Rugby League in Thatcher's Britain that suggests Lindsay was very much responsible in getting an vastly increased offer from Sky, even after the original deal had been agreed.

Tbf those inside RL must be cleaning up their act if that’s the best that the Daily Mail can come up with these days compared to the drugs, booze, wife beaters and betting scandals of the past.

One of my favourite RL traditions, this. Not least because it usually means the new season is on the horizon. Sky hugely under appreciate RL and I think there’s a valid conversation to be had around that. There are hours and hours of archive content that has never seen the light of day, but likewise the clubs need to have a look at themselves as they simply don’t provide enough written or visual content to keep up with a 24 hour media. In terms of the distribution, Our League, The Sportsman and to a certain extent Sky Sports+ at best just hide the game away from any sort of potential audience and at worst actively damage it. Matches being filmed on a potato, buffering streams and generally poor broadcast standards that does nobody any favours. I happily pay £420 a year for my Sky Sports package because I enjoy being able to turn the TV on and immediately see live RL in HD with analysis, multiple camera angles and a consistently high standard of delivery. I happily did the same with Premier Sports (and still do, in fact) but you could give me an ‘in house’ subscription for free and I wouldn’t watch it, simply because it’s a faff to access it in the first place and then from there the whole product is just completely sub-standard. The Amateurish RL account would have to become a full-time account if we decided the main visual delivery of our sport would be delivered in-house after years and years of failures and #### ups in that sphere.

The voices in his head (again)