Attendances (Multiple Merged Threads)

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Felt like a bigger crowd than 60,000 but from a matchday experience, there wasn’t nothing on. 

Agreed.

I was going to joke that Alex Simmons would be doing the fanzone then I realised he actually was.

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

No, tbh. 

As I said last night it was all very basic, generic even, from the RFL controlled side. Nothing particularly wrong per se, but nothing exceptional either. Even the fireworks and flames were all stuff Leeds do for games at Headingley. 

I think the reason for a lower crowd than normal is a bit of a perfect storm. 

- Cost of living - the narrative around energy bills is challenging, and it is now that we are receiving emails about prices going up next week and people are thinking of turning heating on. 

- Saints 4th time on the bounce - there is a natural shift with regularity of the same teams. That can't be avoided. I often make the point that those first couple of Wembley trips for Wire saw us take seemingly the whole town (probably 25k plus in reality), whereas I expect it was closer to 15k the last time, even against Saints. 

- World Cup - theast WC year here saw Wire v Wigan attract only 64k without some of the other factors. 

- No entertainment - I was free and available to go last night, but holding my money for the World Cup. A decent event may have made me jump on a train and have a couple of beers and go. They made no effort to get me off my sofa. I've been to a few finals as neutral.

I'd be more worried if I was looking at that gate clueless as to how we could grow things, or wondering why there were so many empty seats. But this does ultimately fall to RL to fix - we need to do things differently to counter many of the above. 

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, glossop saint said:

Something has to take a hit in the short term. There doesn't seem to be the self confidence to accept that in the hope of long term gain.

True, but if two of the games biggest clubs can just edge over 60k, is there even the short term benefit?

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

Agreed.

I was going to joke that Alex Simmons would be doing the fanzone then I realised he actually was.

There was a fanzone?! 

Genuinely didn’t even know there was. I can’t say I saw it advertised pre-game or around the ground. 

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

I think the reason for a lower crowd than normal is a bit of a perfect storm. 

- Cost of living - the narrative around energy bills is challenging, and it is now that we are receiving emails about prices going up next week and people are thinking of turning heating on. 

- Saints 4th time on the bounce - there is a natural shift with regularity of the same teams. That can't be avoided. I often make the point that those first couple of Wembley trips for Wire saw us take seemingly the whole town (probably 25k plus in reality), whereas I expect it was closer to 15k the last time, even against Saints. 

- World Cup - theast WC year here saw Wire v Wigan attract only 64k without some of the other factors. 

- No entertainment - I was free and available to go last night, but holding my money for the World Cup. A decent event may have made me jump on a train and have a couple of beers and go. They made no effort to get me off my sofa. I've been to a few finals as neutral.

I'd be more worried if I was looking at that gate clueless as to how we could grow things, or wondering why there were so many empty seats. But this does ultimately fall to RL to fix - we need to do things differently to counter many of the above. 

I agree, at least it couldn't be more generic and there is definitely room for improvement. That said, how does RL get around the cost of living crisis I'm not sure. I also think we can risk talking ourselves into that as an excuse far too easily, but perhaps that is for another thread.

I was actually pretty shocked at how basic it was. A few flags, some flame things and a person signing Jerusalem; we've had the same at Headingley for random league games. Aside from being at Old Trafford, nothing felt intrinsically special last night.

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, Jughead said:

There was a fanzone?! 

Genuinely didn’t even know there was. I can’t say I saw it advertised pre-game or around the ground. 

I only saw it on an email, i presume it was by the north west corner as there was nothing at our side at all?

[Mr Frisky]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

But still only 4 winners , if CAS,Salford and Les Cats had won those games then it would be different , but they didn't , we need a new winner 

You cant make a team win a sport to spread out the wins to keep people happy - the whole point of sport is to see who is the best team.

[Chrispmartha]

33 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You went.

Did it feel like a big event? The kind that you'd go to next year even if Leeds aren't there?

I went, as a ‘big event’ it was poor (not the game itself) 

it was more like a normal SL round just in a bigger stadium.

[Dave T]

15 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I agree, at least it couldn't be more generic and there is definitely room for improvement. That said, how does RL get around the cost of living crisis I'm not sure. I also think we can risk talking ourselves into that as an excuse far too easily, but perhaps that is for another thread.

I was actually pretty shocked at how basic it was. A few flags, some flame things and a person signing Jerusalem; we've had the same at Headingley for random league games. Aside from being at Old Trafford, nothing felt intrinsically special last night.

They seem obsessed with unfolding banners, I've grumbled about this for years. I can go to a laundrette and see that. I'm not sure why they think it's entertainment. 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Dave T

[Dave T]

7 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

I went, as a ‘big event’ it was poor (not the game itself) 

it was more like a normal SL round just in a bigger stadium.

Presentation of events is poor and I think is something for IMG to go at. 

I was thinking whilst watching on TV how tired it all looked tbh (I loved the match). 

I thought the branding looked cheap and garish (garish can be good). One of the things that stood out for me was the music choices for key moments are basically identical to 20 years ago (for example Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim was released 23 years ago). None of it feels contemporary. 

It feels like a bunch of old men are arranging a toddlers birthday party. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Presentation of events is poor and I think is something for IMG to go at. 

I was thinking whilst watching on TV how tired it all looked tbh (I loved the match). 

I thought the branding looked cheap and garish (garish can be good). One of the things that stood out for me was the music choices for key moments are basically identical to 20 years ago (for example Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim was released 23 years ago). None of it feels contemporary. 

It feels like a bunch of old men are arranging a toddlers birthday party. 

We were there....worst atmosphere in terms of build up and off pitch stuff in a long time 

Needs a big revamp 

 

[glossop saint]

33 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

True, but if two of the games biggest clubs can just edge over 60k, is there even the short term benefit?

Last night's attendance COULD be seen as worrying as it was 2 big clubs so should've been a good attendance. And with no long term benefit of having new clubs who have smaller fan bases. However as mentioned I think there are enough mitigating circumstances to make it acceptable this time around. The same 2 clubs getting a similar attendance next season would be a bit more concerning.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

11 minutes ago, Dave T said:

They seem obsessed with unfolding banners, I've grumbled about this for years. I can go to a laundrette and see that. I'm not sure why they think it's entertainment. 

Jesus! How big are the launderettes in Warrington ?

[RL Tragic]

57 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Maybe not, but if your club is in the Women's final and not men's you'd still have a hard core base that would go and support the club. 

Yes but it ain’t going to bring big numbers. And if we can’t sell out based on our principle product then something is seriously wrong . 

[Liverpool Rover]

With it being the 25th Grand Final you would have thought a big deal would have been made of it pre game, and with IMG on board now the RFL/ Super League should have been showing them what they can do.

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Liverpool Rover said:

With it being the 25th Grand Final you would have thought a big deal would have been made of it pre game, and with IMG on board now the RFL/ Super League should have been showing them what they can do.

I think they probably did show them what they can do. 

[Dave T]

This is one of IMG's guys. 

[Damien]

I can only comment on what I saw on TV but the pre match entertainment seemed to be non existent compared to years gone by and the event seemed to have lost that big match atmosphere. Even the gladiatorial feel in the immediate build up seemed to hace been lost with the bizarre choice of Terry O'Connor coming out with the trophy and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Sure when the match kicked off the game itself did the work but it seemed somewhat lacking up to that point.

The RFL seem to have stopped trying as they did 2 decades ago with the Challenge Cup.

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Damien

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

I can only comment on what I saw on TV but the pre match entertainment seemed to be non existent compared to years gone by and the event seemed to have lost that big match atmosphere. Even the gladiatorial feel in the immediate build up seemed to hace been lost with the bizarre choice of Terry O'Connor coming out with tge trophy and grinninglike a Cheshire Cat. Sure when the match kicked off the game itself did the work but it seemed somewhat lacking up to that point.

The RFL seem to have stopped trying as they did 2 decades ago with the Challenge Cup.

 

What was the reason Terry O'Connor brought the trophy? Was it simply because he played in the 1st HF, and presumably they didn't have to pay his travel as he was already in the stadium? 

If you were going to pay homage to that first GF, surely Jason Robinson was the obvious choice, and he links nicely to the RLWC as an ambassador too? 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Dave T

[Damien]

12 minutes ago, Dave T said:

What was the reason Terry O'Connor brought the trophy? Was it simply because he played in the 1st HF, and presumably they didn't have to pay his travel as he was already in the stadium? 

If you were going to pay homage to that first GF, surely Jason Robinson was the obvious choice, and he links nicely to the RLWC as an ambassador too? 

I cannot see one possible reason for it. The cynic in me simply thinks it was the cheap and easy option. He was never a star or big name player. He wasn't a household name. Bar his role on Sky, and the less said about that the better, he is pretty much indistinguishable from many others that have played the game.

[Chrispmartha]

It makes it worse that it was the 25th anniversary- surely they should have made more if that, get past players on the pitch do interviews etc etc

[Mr Frisky]

11 minutes ago, Damien said:

I cannot see one possible reason for it. The cynic in me simply thinks it was the cheap and easy option. He was never a star or big name player. He wasn't a household name. Bar his role on Sky, and the less said about that the better, he is pretty much indistinguishable from many others that have played the game.

Tez will always be a legend if only for being the man who took 8 straight punches to the face from Gordon Tallis and still coming out on top.

Best WCC moment ever..

As far as the attendance goes - agree with a few comments in that its WC year so 60k isn't bad and I thought the crowd and atmosphere came across great on TV.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

It makes it worse that it was the 25th anniversary- surely they should have made more if that, get past players on the pitch do interviews etc etc

Absolutely. That was such an obvious selling point now you point it out.

[RL Tragic]

42 minutes ago, Dave T said:

This is one of IMG's guys. 

Dear Lewis Wiltshire at IMG

please ensure the stand that’s on TV is full even if the one across is empty at all costs . At least let’s look like we can sell out a venue 

[JohnM]

33 minutes ago, Damien said:

I cannot see one possible reason for it. The cynic in me simply thinks it was the cheap and easy option. He was never a star or big name player. He wasn't a household name. Bar his role on Sky, and the less said about that the better, he is pretty much indistinguishable from many others that have played the game.

" A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless and therefore deserving of ridicule or admonishment."

No room for ambition in our game.

Edited September 25, 2022 by JohnM