Attendances (Multiple Merged Threads)

[daz39]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

Maybe their attendances would be worse if they hadn’t had those games in town. Though as Meast, Daz & Co correctly point out, their attendances aren’t that bad. 

As i've said for years we have always been judged on the amount of empty seats there is rather than our actual crowd numbers.

We have a stadium of similar size to Hull and Wigan but crowds of about half of there's, no-one bats an eyelid when there's 15,000 empty seats at those stadiums but stick another 4,000 on and apparently we have no one there.

Put our crowds in Wakefield, Salford, Castleford, or Hull Kr and the perception changes, those grounds would be close to or over half full then.

FWIW i don't like the stadium we play in, i tolerate it to watch my team and as a lub we don't help ourselves by having our crowds spread out over 3 stands.

[Eddie]

40 minutes ago, daz39 said:

As i've said for years we have always been judged on the amount of empty seats there is rather than our actual crowd numbers.

We have a stadium of similar size to Hull and Wigan but crowds of about half of there's, no-one bats an eyelid when there's 15,000 empty seats at those stadiums but stick another 4,000 on and apparently we have no one there.

Put our crowds in Wakefield, Salford, Castleford, or Hull Kr and the perception changes, those grounds would be close to or over half full then.

FWIW i don't like the stadium we play in, i tolerate it to watch my team and as a lub we don't help ourselves by having our crowds spread out over 3 stands.

If you stuck them all in the stand opposite the camera and behind the sticks on rows 5-25 everyone would be saying how amazing it looks. 

[daz39]

9 minutes ago, Eddie said:

If you stuck them all in the stand opposite the camera and behind the sticks on rows 5-25 everyone would be saying how amazing it looks. 

Problem there is over 50% of our season card holders sit on the Kilner bank side and a lot would rather stop going than move seats therefore the club wouldn't want ti risk losing fans by telling them they have to move.

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

Not official but seen 3,442 mentioned as the Widnes v Barrow game.

 

 

 

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

But the point I have made (three times) is that if Huddersfield had an 8 k stadium or 10k then the John Smith´s doesn´t cease to exist, it can still hold big games just like Bradford could play Leeds at Valley Parade. It doesn´t stop internationals being played at Huddersfield or anywhere else. 

It just means that for 90% of games the product doesn´t look dire on telly. Again, I would murder for Bulls to have an 11-12k stadium, ram it every week then take Leeds to Valley Parade. 

Lose all their on the day income for the biggest game of the year?

Seems like a half baked strategy at best, that.

[meast]

On 08/03/2022 at 08:50, HawkMan said:

Really? Clubs outside Premier League that get at least 80% capacity each home game;

Fulham,  Nottingham Forest,  WBA, Cardiff, QPR, Sunderland,  Derby, Sheffield United,  even Luton and Blackpool. 

We can't keep blaming bad weather,  cr#p food or poor alcoholic beverages for disappointing attendances. Do you think  Premier league grounds sell out because Heston Blumenthal is doing the catering or everyone gets a free miniature bottle of Dom Perignon  

There's some football clubs at level 5 and below getting crowds that would put most RL clubs to shame.

But we need to stop fretting over the crowds that RL attract, and stop looking to football for comparisons too, for a non national sport, we don't do too bad.

[Eddie]

4 minutes ago, meast said:

There's some football clubs at level 5 and below getting crowds that would put most RL clubs to shame.

But we need to stop fretting over the crowds that RL attract, and stop looking to football for comparisons too, for a non national sport, we don't do too bad.

We do amazingly, what other regional sport in Europe gets 8k average crowds in their top division and can draw 70k+ for a cup final?  If you consider that the population of the heartlands is say 5m it’s incredible. 

[gingerjon]

11 minutes ago, meast said:

There's some football clubs at level 5 and below getting crowds that would put most RL clubs to shame.

But we need to stop fretting over the crowds that RL attract, and stop looking to football for comparisons too, for a non national sport, we don't do too bad.

Except that rugby league is a national sport. International, even. There's a World Cup this year and everything.

Hull, Newcastle, Toulouse and Whitehaven aren't in the same region, however much you need them to be to make your point.

We do well, sometimes. Could do better, most of the time. 

[meast]

16 minutes ago, Eddie said:

We do amazingly, what other regional sport in Europe gets 8k average crowds in their top division and can draw 70k+ for a cup final?  If you consider that the population of the heartlands is say 5m it’s incredible. 

I always use the likes of GAA, Bandy etc as an example that RL could follow.

They are fairly regionalised sports played in front of a core fanbase and seem to do alright with it.

We need to accept that unless we get a huge influx of money into the sport, we are never going to compete with football, we are sadly miles behind RU and forms of cricket and darts in terms of spectator sports/events.

 

[Scubby]

11 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Except that rugby league is a national sport. International, even. There's a World Cup this year and everything.

Hull, Newcastle, Toulouse and Whitehaven aren't in the same region, however much you need them to be to make your point.

We do well, sometimes. Could do better, most of the time. 

Samoa won't bring many away fans to Newcastle. That's for sure!

[meast]

12 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Except that rugby league is a national sport. International, even. There's a World Cup this year and everything.

Hull, Newcastle, Toulouse and Whitehaven aren't in the same region, however much you need them to be to make your point.

We do well, sometimes. Could do better, most of the time. 

National sport as in we are predominately based in 3 regions of the UK as opposed to all over the UK.

[gingerjon]

6 minutes ago, meast said:

National sport as in we are predominately based in 3 regions of the UK as opposed to all over the UK.

I think the point to be made is that we do have national visibility and we've historically been able to draw supporters to our biggest club games, and our internationals, from outside those regions.

In terms of our status, I think we're pretty much unique but I don't think it is a fair reflection to call us a regional sport.

[Eddie]

15 minutes ago, meast said:

I always use the likes of GAA, Bandy etc as an example that RL could follow.

They are fairly regionalised sports played in front of a core fanbase and seem to do alright with it.

We need to accept that unless we get a huge influx of money into the sport, we are never going to compete with football, we are sadly miles behind RU and forms of cricket and darts in terms of spectator sports/events.

 

I don’t even think we’re miles behind RU at club level, considering the level of investment and media coverage and the population in their heartlands their crowds are only around 50% higher than ours on average in the top flight, and in the second and third tiers our crowds dwarf theirs. 
 

[JonM]

43 minutes ago, Eddie said:

We do amazingly, what other regional sport in Europe gets 8k average crowds in their top division and can draw 70k+ for a cup final?  If you consider that the population of the heartlands is say 5m it’s incredible. 

Yorkshire is over 5 million population by itself. How much of that you call "heartland" is another matter, but it's already higher than Ireland, Wales or New Zealand, and only marginally lower than Scotland.

[HawkMan]

45 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

And also those well supported FL clubs are bankrupt money pits that have been paying inflated salaries on a soon to be sliced tv deal. 

Don't expect a downturn in football tv deals any time soon. Below , copied and pasted from Daily Mail online. Whether individual clubs have a proper  business plan to avoid bankruptcy is of course another question entirely. 

The Premier League's 20 clubs have approved the £4.5billion three-year contract extension with Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime that will run through to 2025.

And as reported by Sportsmail, the Premier League have agreed to pay an extra £100million to lower division and grassroots clubs in order to secure Government backing for a new three-year domestic television deal. 

That decision came after being told that the price of avoiding a competitive tender would be increased funding for the rest of the sport. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by HawkMan

[Moove]

Looking good for a big crowd at Saints on Friday. 350 left home standing, single seats in the two main stands. Should be on for anywhere between 15k and capacity depending on last minute sales and how many Wire are bringing.

The light show and pyrotechnics from the opening game are back and there's all the Tonga stuff going on too.

Can't wait 

 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

I don’t even think we’re miles behind RU at club level, considering the level of investment and media coverage and the population in their heartlands their crowds are only around 50% higher than ours on average in the top flight, and in the second and third tiers our crowds dwarf theirs. 
 

They have also managed to grow their crowds on the darkside however.

[Tommygilf]

In terms of profile, tv value and attendances, I tend to liken RL to Scottish football (without the behemoths of Celtic and Rangers on the attendances side).

That is pretty alright, but we should be targeting a far larger (potential) fanbase than Scottish football to capitalise on.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

Yorkshire is over 5 million population by itself. How much of that you call "heartland" is another matter, but it's already higher than Ireland, Wales or New Zealand, and only marginally lower than Scotland.

I’d say a lot of Yorkshire isn’t heartland. But anyway even if you compare it to Scotland what sport in Scotland other than football gets club attendances anywhere near what RL gets? Certainly not rugby Union. 

[DimmestStar]

Hull KR's next home game vs Warrington is now guaranteed to be a sell out with just 1,000 tickets remaining and over 3 weeks to kick off.

The previous capacity of 12,500 is now just 10,500 because of the 'Craven StrEAT' occupancy of the south end but it will be great to see the ground packed out. Wire fans are welcome to enjoy the live entertainment and street food of 'Craven StrEAT' before taking their seats in the North Stand.

Thanks to Cas for the idea of cheap tickets for friends/relatives of season ticket holders it is a great way to fill the ground.

[RayCee]

34 minutes ago, DimmestStar said:

Hull KR's next home game vs Warrington is now guaranteed to be a sell out with just 1,000 tickets remaining and over 3 weeks to kick off.

The previous capacity of 12,500 is now just 10,500 because of the 'Craven StrEAT' occupancy of the south end but it will be great to see the ground packed out. Wire fans are welcome to enjoy the live entertainment and street food of 'Craven StrEAT' before taking their seats in the North Stand.

Thanks to Cas for the idea of cheap tickets for friends/relatives of season ticket holders it is a great way to fill the ground.

That will please Scubby who seems obsessed with full stadia. 

[redjonn]

1 hour ago, DimmestStar said:

Hull KR's next home game vs Warrington is now guaranteed to be a sell out with just 1,000 tickets remaining and over 3 weeks to kick off.

The previous capacity of 12,500 is now just 10,500 because of the 'Craven StrEAT' occupancy of the south end but it will be great to see the ground packed out. Wire fans are welcome to enjoy the live entertainment and street food of 'Craven StrEAT' before taking their seats in the North Stand.

Thanks to Cas for the idea of cheap tickets for friends/relatives of season ticket holders it is a great way to fill the ground.

Sounds great, plus I note the earlier comment about the upcoming Saints v Warrington.

Is it something about Warrington and the perception of the way they play and the perception of the "stars" they have that make them a must see game.

 

[Josef K]

5 hours ago, Moove said:

Looking good for a big crowd at Saints on Friday. 350 left home standing, single seats in the two main stands. Should be on for anywhere between 15k and capacity depending on last minute sales and how many Wire are bringing.

The light show and pyrotechnics from the opening game are back and there's all the Tonga stuff going on too.

Can't wait 

 

This news has surprised me i didn’t think there would only be 350 tickets left in the West Stand. I’ll have to get there earlyish so i can mingle with the drunkards and the other undesirables.
I speak to people who say “no wonder fan’s are turning away from the game”, but the gates in the top tier have held up quite well so far. Some RL fans just love sticking the boot in to the game, a lot of them would love the game to completely fold and then they can say to everyone “TOLD YOU THE GAME WAS DEAD”. But then if it did they’d have nothing to watch or moan about. 

[Josef K]

28 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

I am delighted after last year gloomy post covid stuff, crowds are actually doing excellent and we are on FTA. 

 

Yes there was a lot of doom & gloom about would fan’s come back to matches, and they seem to have been turning up so far. I love going to a match because i can forget about my humdrum sad depressing miserable life for 80mins. I meet up with mates we have a few pints and a good laugh and watch some exciting RL. If we win that makes my weekend even better, if we lose then so be it i won’t be jumping on the fans bandwagon blaming the official’s and the RFL. 

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, Josef K said:

This news has surprised me i didn’t think there would only be 350 tickets left in the West Stand. I’ll have to get there earlyish so i can mingle with the drunkards and the other undesirables.
I speak to people who say “no wonder fan’s are turning away from the game”, but the gates in the top tier have held up quite well so far. Some RL fans just love sticking the boot in to the game, a lot of them would love the game to completely fold and then they can say to everyone “TOLD YOU THE GAME WAS DEAD”. But then if it did they’d have nothing to watch or moan about. 

Championship gates have been good too in most cases. No idea about the NCL (would be interesting to know) but hopefully League One will be the same, there’s no reason why it won’t be.