Average Attendances

[HomeOfTheTubularBandage]

Why does it have anything to do with the Council? It's not the council's job to run or house rugby clubs. It's a business like any other. If your local chippy doesn't get enough trade, or is badly run, or makes chips....no one says the council should relocate it, or fund it or teach it to make better chips.

If you want council support then the club has to make sure it pays the council it's rent and business rates on time. Becomes part of and supports wider council initiatives. Get's higher attendances and becomes more relevant to voters. And most importantly...get fans to stop slagging off the council. If there are only 600 out of 150,000 voters watching games and they all hate the council anyway...what's the point in doing what they want.

If you want to play at Boundary Park then you have to do whatever the owners of Boundary Park demand for that right. I suspect that means pay a lot more money than is paid to Bower Fold. So ticket prices and merchandise prices and program prices etc etc will all go up....considerably.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

Why does it have anything to do with the Council? It's not the council's job to run or house rugby clubs. It's a business like any other. If your local chippy doesn't get enough trade, or is badly run, or makes ###### chips....no one says the council should relocate it, or fund it or teach it to make better chips.

If you want council support then the club has to make sure it pays the council it's rent and business rates on time. Becomes part of and supports wider council initiatives. Get's higher attendances and becomes more relevant to voters. And most importantly...get fans to stop slagging off the council. If there are only 600 out of 150,000 voters watching games and they all hate the council anyway...what's the point in doing what they want.

If you want to play at Boundary Park then you have to do whatever the owners of Boundary Park demand for that right. I suspect that means pay a lot more money than is paid to Bower Fold. So ticket prices and merchandise prices and program prices etc etc will all go up....considerably.

Although i do agree to a certsin point, there is a slight difference, ever so slightly. And that is a sporting team represents the people of the borough. I guess your of the age tat remembers when the Latics were at Wembley and we were so nearly there on the same weekend. The town was buzzing. Workplaces were full of people with smiles on their faces. I'm sure its possible that output increased. Oldham was on the map. It was a great advert for the town. Now when i meet people from elsewhere ,all they remember is the riots. So an investment in the sporting arenas of the borough is an investment in the town and it's people.

[higgy]

Why does it have anything to do with the Council? It's not the council's job to run or house rugby clubs. It's a business like any other. If your local chippy doesn't get enough trade, or is badly run, or makes ###### chips....no one says the council should relocate it, or fund it or teach it to make better chips.

If you want council support then the club has to make sure it pays the council it's rent and business rates on time. Becomes part of and supports wider council initiatives. Get's higher attendances and becomes more relevant to voters. And most importantly...get fans to stop slagging off the council. If there are only 600 out of 150,000 voters watching games and they all hate the council anyway...what's the point in doing what they want.

If you want to play at Boundary Park then you have to do whatever the owners of Boundary Park demand for that right. I suspect that means pay a lot more money than is paid to Bower Fold. So ticket prices and merchandise prices and program prices etc etc will all go up....considerably.

This is nothing to do with chips or votes. I stood at a meeting all them years ago when the then chair of the council John Battye promised that the council would provide Oldham with a ground on the provision that the sale of Watersheddings went through,on which they renegaded. You mention ticket prices going up at Boundary Park if you add the cost of travelling expenses to and from Bower Fold to the ticket price there I would be surprised if there was any difference. Surely its not to much to asked the council to help in negotiations to bring us back in town.

[Dave Naylor]

We'd have been all sat on one side at Boundary Park.  I really don't like that.  

 

At Bower Fold you can swap ends and it's a great venue to watch the sport.  I totally grok the desire for an Oldham team to play in the borough but in the absence of a suitable venue, 5 or 6 miles down the road isn't too bad.  

 

Having said that, every home game is a 75 mile round trip for me.  Maybe I should support Hunslet (Joke).

[TOSH1960]

I don't know the figures that Latics wanted for this season but it was deemed to be too high with limited availability. I can't compliment Stalybridge enough for their welcome and the quality of the venue. Like others i'd like it on the doorstep but as a family we have all enjoyed Bower fold. Is anyone aware of any improvements to Whitebank? This is for information and not a dig at anyone. 

[Oldham Forever]

Bower Fold is a fabulous little stadium - perfect for us! The fact that it's 2 miles out of Oldham is hardly a reason not to attend. There's always an excuse for some folk, being at Boundary Park would not have increased gates plus there would have been little or no atmosphere. I love watching rugby at Bower Fold and in my humble opinion long may it continue. And I totally agree with the above posts. Shame on Oldham Council for not providing a 'community stadium' and making sport in general a priority as it should be especially for the younger generation

[OutsiderLookingIn]

I've had our resident techy guru do a stats table of the rough population of a town against the average attendance at matches to then get a % of the population that attends the match.

This is a ball park approximation based on a similar thing someone had done on Facebook for the superleague teams. I realise that people may come from out of towns to watch the rugby, so please bear that in mind

[HomeOfTheTubularBandage]

Hey I want a community stadium, but you guys seem to think that Councils pay for them.

There has to be evidence facilities will be used before they are built. There is no evidence at the minute to suggest it is worth it if you are the council. Simple cost benefit analysis.

Oh and higgy....anything the council does ALWAYS has to do with votes. Always.

At a time when all councils have lost nearly half their government funding over the last 5 years, when they are making people redundant and have a load of money earmarked for big capital projects (mistakes by the way)...the last thing on their mind is where 600 fans watch 26 blokes play rugby.

I'm a rugby fan. I want a community stadium. But this is the harsh reality I'm afraid. It's up to the club to make itself investable. Stay in this division. Do more community engagement. Develop a higher profile. Bid for money from the many sources available.

Don't just sit there asking for favours from the same people we slag off, cos that's never going to work.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

Double post

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

I've had our resident techy guru do a stats table of the rough population of a town against the average attendance at matches to then get a % of the population that attends the match.

This is a ball park approximation based on a similar thing someone had done on Facebook for the superleague teams. I realise that people may come from out of towns to watch the rugby, so please bear that in mind

So,using those figures, the average percentage attendance is 2.92%. If we could get 2.92% of oldham attending then that would mean an average of 6,567 per match. Therefore there are 6,000 missing fans.

[HomeOfTheTubularBandage]

I've had our resident techy guru do a stats table of the rough population of a town against the average attendance at matches to then get a % of the population that attends the match.

This is a ball park approximation based on a similar thing someone had done on Facebook for the superleague teams. I realise that people may come from out of towns to watch the rugby, so please bear that in mind

These figures aren't right OLI. O.52% of the population figure you quote would be 1,169. For Oldham the figure is approx 0.36% I think.

[Dave Naylor]

My bad.  Got the formula wrong.  Stand by.

 

 

[HomeOfTheTubularBandage]

Fev and Leigh are still Rugby towns. And although Bradford have big problems on and off the pitch and a fairly low percentage, attendances well over 4000.

[moorside roughyed]

All the people that don't attend have missed a real rollercoaster of a season. It's been gripping stuff whatever the outcome. But you can't force people to show up. That's not having a go at anyone, everyone will have their reasons and they're entitled to them.All I hope for is to stay in the championship. Simples. I enjoy Bower Fold,it has a great atmosphere and I thank Celtic for letting us stay there.

[moorside roughyed]

Also I am under the impression that crowds in rugby league are smaller in general than they were say 25 years ago.I think the sport is in general shrinking. Salford's attendances are shocking for a team in the elite division. You see gaps at Wembley that wouldn't have been there years ago.

[Dave Naylor]

Why bother going to watch the thrills and spills of competitive sport when you can wander round staring at your iPhone trying to capture cartoon characters.  What's not to like?

[moorside roughyed]

Well said Dave.

[Connor mcb]

Why bother going to watch the thrills and spills of competitive sport when you can wander round staring at your iPhone trying to capture cartoon characters.  What's not to like?

maybe we could get more fans if we had Pokemon inside bower fold

[The Baron Mk11]

Chris Hamilton.... you are pokemon I claim my £50.... or is that Lobby Ludd?

[OutsiderLookingIn]

Also I am under the impression that crowds in rugby league are smaller in general than they were say 25 years ago.I think the sport is in general shrinking. Salford's attendances are shocking for a team in the elite division. You see gaps at Wembley that wouldn't have been there years ago.

this i agree with, my nan and gramps used to go Wembley every single year, regardless of who was playing, they were part of a group that got coachload together every year, and they were always jam packed, full of people with flags, home made rosettes (whatever happened to them?!?!) home made paper/decorated hats, woolly hats and scarves made by your nan, footy rattles...the whole shebang. Wembely was always packed to the rafters and heaving.

 

I remember for years when I first started courting Phil (many MANY moons ago!!) Halton Transport would get a bus up to go to Old Trafford for the finals, again, always rammed full.

 

You dont see much of any of that any more, people making a day of it, its get in, get out, get home.

[moorside roughyed]

Spot on Outsider. Every game was an event, when I went to sheddings it was the highlight of my week to watch the team and mix with the players after.I once got talking to Charlie McAllister, I thought I'd met God.He was my favourite player.It doesn't seem to be like that anymore. Oh by the way"courting " very old fashioned :-) .Seriously I do worry about the lack of kids watching the game,you don't see many at Oldham, they are the future.