Summer Bash attendance

[newbe]

Heard that they wanted Hemel to play Bradford as a curtain raiser. Needing Bulls supporters to help the crowd figures. 

[paulwalker71]

3 hours ago, newbe said:

Heard that they wanted Hemel to play Bradford as a curtain raiser. Needing Bulls supporters to help the crowd figures. 

I wouldn't put it past them, but I'm glad that didn't happen. Why should Hemel lose out on their one day to have a decent crowd just so the RFL can milk the Bulls fans (again)?

In the end, they went for the 'soft option' of getting the Bulls ladies team to play, in some sort of vain hope of getting Bulls fans to show up. I'd be interested to know just how many tickets the Bulls shop sold for the Summer Bash? I'd imagine it wouldn't have been many...

[Rach]

Killing the ipro cup hasn't helped ...a York / Bradford / Keighley / Oldham / Donny final could have added another 2000 to the attendance ..if your team's in a final chances are all your fan base will show up even more so if you can celebrate / commiserate by the seaside 

 

[Mumby Magic]

The concept is here it needs to stay. We can't, like we have done for the last 30 years, keep chopping and changing because one attendance maybe poor or a coach or CEO disagrees with something. Yes this w/ends wasn't the best but was a high attendance expected. Who's to say next years won't be 18000? I feel our game now is heading in the right direction but we only need to tweak a few things, not make wholesale changes again.

With the women's game a welcome addition we could have "feature" games each gameday. Examples could be: BARLA international, GB Legends game, NCL cup final, Malta VS Greece international (just an example), Womens SL, Bring the league one cup back, the opportunities are endless.

[Adeybull]

19 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

As people have said, next year could be a totally different story.

Replace Toronto and Toulouse with Widnes and Hull KR; replace Swinton and Rochdale with Bradford and York - and all of a sudden you could have four teams with big support replacing four teams who barely brought a coach load between them.

Imagine if Summer Bash 2019 was

Day 1

Sheffield vs York

Featherstone vs Halifax

Bradford vs Hull KR

Day 2

Dewsbury vs Batley

Barrow vs London

Leigh vs Widnes

Could the RFL fill Bloomfield Road with that line-up with a decent marketing push? If not, then it is probably time to call it a day with the concept...

Agree your point, but NO WAY the pairings! Need to pair teams of a similar standard, or we get a repeat of the nonsense we Bulls and others have suffered from in the past - on the altar of the RFL manufacturing "attractive" games regardless of the impact of serious mismatches on the final table?

Hull KR should get Widnes, and Fev London. Bulls should get York, and so on.

[West Leeds Riviera]

57 minutes ago, Rach said:

Killing the ipro cup hasn't helped ...a York / Bradford / Keighley / Oldham / Donny final could have added another 2000 to the attendance ..if your team's in a final chances are all your fan base will show up even more so if you can celebrate / commiserate by the seaside 

 

The League 1 clubs voted to scrap it due to having big gaps between rounds I think. I think the Northern Rail cup should be brought back for Championship and League 1, play the final at Blackpool or before CC at Wembley

[moorside roughyed]

I went to the summer bash on the two occasions we played there and both times we fluffed it.I still enjoyed the occasion and atmosphere even though we lost both times.But yes the ground did look a little empty,it probably didn't look very good on TV.It maybe time to try something else.

[paulwalker71]

1 hour ago, Adeybull said:

Agree your point, but NO WAY the pairings! Need to pair teams of a similar standard, or we get a repeat of the nonsense we Bulls and others have suffered from in the past - on the altar of the RFL manufacturing "attractive" games regardless of the impact of serious mismatches on the final table?

Hull KR should get Widnes, and Fev London. Bulls should get York, and so on.

Come on, Adey you know full well that the RFL will pair the Bulls with the team that they think will make for the best TV pairing, regardless of playing strength

I'm calling it now - next years Summer Bash will be Bulls vs whichever of Leigh / Widnes / Hull KR is there!

 

[Adeybull]

1 minute ago, paulwalker71 said:

Come on, Adey you know full well that the RFL will pair the Bulls with the team that they think will make for the best TV pairing, regardless of playing strength

I'm calling it now - next years Summer Bash will be Bulls vs whichever of Leigh / Widnes / Hull KR is there!

 

I'm not calling it...given we have the little matter of actually getting promoted to contend with first!

Although, if you are right, surely they won't make us play THREE games at the Bash...?  But given past RFL form, I guess you could not rule even THAT out?  I suppose it would depend on what new cruel and unusual punishment they had already dreamt up for us next year, since they've already tried most of the obvious ones on us...

 

 

[duffymoon]

Promote it as a festival of rugby league,dont host it so close to Magic weekend and have no other games inc amateur scheduelled for that weekend.

[Sick39ed]

2 hours ago, Rach said:

Killing the ipro cup hasn't helped ...a York / Bradford / Keighley / Oldham / Donny final could have added another 2000 to the attendance ..if your team's in a final chances are all your fan base will show up even more so if you can celebrate / commiserate by the seaside 

 

Killing the Ipro Cup killed the Sumer Bash.

[duffymoon]

2 hours ago, Rach said:

Killing the ipro cup hasn't helped ...a York / Bradford / Keighley / Oldham / Donny final could have added another 2000 to the attendance ..if your team's in a final chances are all your fan base will show up even more so if you can celebrate / commiserate by the seaside 

 

My club Swinton sold over 700 tickets when in the Ipro Cup Final in 2015, more than weve sold for any of our appearances ar Summer Bash

[moorside roughyed]

I don't think it's just the summer bash.The game as a whole is contracting,attendances seem to be dropping across the game.But the RFL will be typically heads buried deaply in the sand as per usual.

[Just Browny]

5 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

I wouldn't put it past them, but I'm glad that didn't happen. Why should Hemel lose out on their one day to have a decent crowd just so the RFL can milk the Bulls fans (again)?

In the end, they went for the 'soft option' of getting the Bulls ladies team to play, in some sort of vain hope of getting Bulls fans to show up. I'd be interested to know just how many tickets the Bulls shop sold for the Summer Bash? I'd imagine it wouldn't have been many...

I see (again) that 'milking the Bulls fans' = trying to make games attractive enough for Bulls fans to attend.

[gittinsfan]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 7:29 PM, Blue Pike said:

Oh dear your main rival Dewsbury on 7 points have beaten you . Your thoughts please.

 

[JoneslessBishop]

Why not merge Magic and the Summer Bash over the bank Holiday weekend in Newcastle? The top 4 Champ teams get to be part of Magic, so 4 games a day there on Sat and Sun, then the 4 other Champ games on Monday at Kingston Park. Bank holiday and reason to stay will kept more fans at Magic and prevent the Sunday drop off. We’ll get good cross-sell across both events, but still probably enough SL fans heading home Monday morning that the Champ games will get good viewing figures. 

[Adeybull]

4 hours ago, Just Browny said:

I see (again) that 'milking the Bulls fans' = trying to make games attractive enough for Bulls fans to attend.

Bulls fans do not need anyone trying to make fixtures “attractive to attend”. The Bulls away following, in League 1, is greater than that of some SL clubs. The authorities should be spending more effort in getting “home fans” to attend matches of numerous other clubs, instead of trying to rely on travelling support to contrived fixtures. 

[Just Browny]

6 hours ago, Adeybull said:

Bulls fans do not need anyone trying to make fixtures “attractive to attend”. The Bulls away following, in League 1, is greater than that of some SL clubs. The authorities should be spending more effort in getting “home fans” to attend matches of numerous other clubs, instead of trying to rely on travelling support to contrived fixtures. 

The Bulls' attendances at home and away are very creditable.

Which are the contrived fixtures? I remember a few Bulls fans moaned when they were asked to play Newcastle away at their ground in Newcastle, but that struck me as an odd argument at the time.

[JoneslessBishop]

8 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

Because Sky want 2 events.

Though i would argue if they want two. Give them more.

Every Saturday during the summer. 3 NRL games up to 12pm, championship double header at 1pm finishing at 5:30pm. Les Catalans or Toulouse at 6:30pm, and (with some smart scheduling most weeks) Toronto at 9pm. Sky just take the feed from the NRL, French and Canadian games, Super league double header Sunday.

The RL summer series, 8 weeks in June and July, finishing with a all-league 9s weekend the week before the football league starts.

Gives em 3 bigger days of action. Doesn’t preclude you scheduling rest of the summer though. 

[Adeybull]

1 hour ago, Just Browny said:

The Bulls' attendances at home and away are very creditable.

Which are the contrived fixtures? I remember a few Bulls fans moaned when they were asked to play Newcastle away at their ground in Newcastle, but that struck me as an odd argument at the time.

A contrived fixture would be one where the normal location was moved to help create an RFL event - such as in the suggestion flagged up earlier that Hemel vs Bulls should have been moved to the Summer Bash. 

Thge only thing contrived about the thunder/Bulls match was the timing, not least because it made life difficult for the Bulls travelling support being a Friday evening. That was the cause of (some) Bulls fans complaining, not that the fixture was contrived.  I suspect most Bulls fans though saw the logic in what was done, and were pleased to see thunder get the opportunity for a large home gate.

 

[henage]

What are spectator numbers like for others team sports .

Take football and union out of the equation and I'd imagine league does quite well against most sports . 

[superten]

Just try something new instead of the same old same old . The magic weekend and summer bash should be moved to later in season . Just play the fair 22 round regular season before split. The magic weekend could be used in super 8s so each team would play 3 home games 3 away and magic match which makes it fair. Same with middle 8 3 home 3 away and summer bash weekend at Blackpool. As table stands at moment you could have St Helens v Wigan , Warrington V hull fc , Castleford v Leeds and Wakefield v Huddersfield . With summer bash being Catalan v Toulouse Hull Kr v Featherstone , Widnes v Salford . London v Toronto . With more at steak I am sure these games would get the crowds they deserve.      

[JonM]

26 minutes ago, henage said:

What are spectator numbers like for others team sports .

Take football and union out of the equation and I'd imagine league does quite well against most sports . 

You don't need to take union out of the equation. Not many clubs in their second tier getting regular 4-figure crowds.  We're certainly ahead of county championship cricket, ice hockey, basketball, speedway etc.

What we possibly lack is the big one-off events that sports like athletics, golf, motor-racing, tennis etc. have. E.g. very few people watch live tennis regularly. A much bigger number attend one event per year.

[Dave T]

FWIW, I thought it was a very enjoyable event watching on TV, and the atmosphere came across well, even thouugh there are empty seats - it's just the type of event it is.

Considering two clubs with strong support were missing from previous years, I thought the crowd held up pretty well and there is a clear reason why it was lower than previously. 

[fevtom]

1 hour ago, henage said:

What are spectator numbers like for others team sports .

Take football and union out of the equation and I'd imagine league does quite well against most sports . 

 

30 minutes ago, JonM said:

You don't need to take union out of the equation. Not many clubs in their second tier getting regular 4-figure crowds.  We're certainly ahead of county championship cricket, ice hockey, basketball, speedway etc.

What we possibly lack is the big one-off events that sports like athletics, golf, motor-racing, tennis etc. have. E.g. very few people watch live tennis regularly. A much bigger number attend one event per year.

 

Premier League Football - 38297

Championship Football - 20496

Rugby Union Premiership - 15065

Super League - 8568

League One Football - 7933

Cricket T20 Blast - 6639

League Two Football - 4752

Cricket County Championship - 3562

From the latest complete season in each sport Super League is the fourth biggest league in the country by average attendance (Including only predominantly English competitions). The Championship is probably beaten by a couple more of the lower football divisions not on that list and about the same as the Rugby union championship but these can depend on which teams are currently in them.