Attendances (Multiple Merged Threads)

[EggFace]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

You have the local leagues playing at that time as well as the 2 NCL Premier teams Wath Brow & Egremont who attract a good following playing at home today.

Thats mental and fans shouldn't complain about lower attendances when the powers at be let pro games play the same time as the amateur leagues are playing hence I like how the my local Union club the Falcons have games mostly on a Sunday or Friday night and as Punch and Judy said " Thats The Way Do Do It".

[Eddie]

8 hours ago, EggFace said:

i posted on and another topic but it's so bloody stupid having pro/semi pro games kick off at the same time as the amateur as it's the most thickest thing any sport can do...shot yerself in the foot .....BONKERS

Tbf it’s been happening in football since the dawn of time and hasn’t hindered them. Though yes in RL it’s bonkers. 

[Eddie]

8 hours ago, EggFace said:

Double post

[Tommygilf]

Seen reports of sub 6k at Headingley yesterday

[EggFace]

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

Tbf it’s been happening in football since the dawn of time and hasn’t hindered them. Though yes in RL it’s bonkers. 

So the only games you could go to if you played would of been mid week games which I think Wednesday and Thursday evenings games and that been going on since the 1920's or something but crowds were low.

I wonder what other sports have separate days for amateur sport and professional/Semi Pro sport.

 

[Dave T]

I wonder if we are just going to carry on delivering these kinds of cup crowds until they dwindle to nothing and the cup gets scrapped. 

We saw when these games are included in season tickets (not necessarily free) that the crowds are good. 

This isn't working. 

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wonder if we are just going to carry on delivering these kinds of cup crowds until they dwindle to nothing and the cup gets scrapped. 

We saw when these games are included in season tickets (not necessarily free) that the crowds are good. 

This isn't working. 

Something has to be done or why bother? The semi-finals seem like an attempt to round up fans in the last 4 to pump them up to following their club to the final. It seems anything outside this is being left to wither away.

The Challenge Cup rounds are basically games for TV. It also seems the game doesn't give a #### about the 1895 Cup either - a competition they artificially invented themselves. Sorry state for a great competition.

[Chrispmartha]

26 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wonder if we are just going to carry on delivering these kinds of cup crowds until they dwindle to nothing and the cup gets scrapped. 

We saw when these games are included in season tickets (not necessarily free) that the crowds are good. 

This isn't working. 

I really don’t understand why its not heavily discounted for ST holders, the wire crowd looks terrible

[Eddie]

I don’t know why crowds are so low for cup games tbh, if I still lived up North and was a regular RL attender I’d just as happily go to a cup game as a league game, probably more so actually. 

[Tommygilf]

27 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I wonder if we are just going to carry on delivering these kinds of cup crowds until they dwindle to nothing and the cup gets scrapped. 

We saw when these games are included in season tickets (not necessarily free) that the crowds are good. 

This isn't working. 

Indeed, this isn't just a one club problem

[Tommygilf]

26 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I don’t know why crowds are so low for cup games tbh, if I still lived up North and was a regular RL attender I’d just as happily go to a cup game as a league game, probably more so actually. 

Paying for tickets different to normal is a big factor. If people haven't got them they often won't bother and Season ticket culture in RL is strong.

Its a bigger issue than anyone club but the lethargy is becoming almost palpable.

[Josef K]

The CC lost its spark years ago, changing the date of the final didn’t help. I always find the draw’s exciting from round 1, but i don’t think id be that arsed if i missed a Saints final now(if they got there). The RFL/SL have treated it appallingly.

[bamfordsbeans]

Going back in time Challenge Cup ties often had bigger gates than league games.

Although the BBC does a good job these days,the lack of atmosphere that comes over due to sparse crowds does the game no favours.

[Eddie]

I wonder if the devaluing of the FA Cup somehow had a knock on effect to the CC in people’s minds. 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Josef K said:

The CC lost its spark years ago, changing the date of the final didn’t help. I always find the draw’s exciting from round 1, but i don’t think id be that arsed if i missed a Saints final now(if they got there). The RFL/SL have treated it appallingly.

I don't think they have treated it appallingly. I think its just a competition that was created at a time when knock out cups were the most popular ways to watch sport and that basis is just not the same any more. Like the FA cup its a bit of an anachronism and like the FA cup it has declined in a similar way. People like to win it, but it isn't the be all and end all.

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I wonder if the devaluing of the FA Cup somehow had a knock on effect to the CC in people’s minds. 

Its all in the same sphere. 

Knock out games used to be the biggest draws in sport, now its not so much.

[Leyther_Matt]

So refreshing to see the buzz at Whitehaven and Barrow to be hosting SL teams. Just shows how mental it is to have the virtual Championship only round in the previous round. 

Also has the knock on effect of SL teams having to win so few games to get to the last two stages which in itself means there’s no chance to build any sort of ‘cup run’ momentum

[Toby Chopra]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Its all in the same sphere. 

Knock out games used to be the biggest draws in sport, now its not so much.

Totally agree. Also, both in football and rugby league, up to the late 80s very few league games were even shown on TV, so the opportunity to watch a cup game on TV (Europe/league cup in football's case) added to the prestige of the tournament. 

Now, there's so much league football and rugby being shown, the cup doesn't stand out. It might be that putting Superleague games being on terrestrial - which is 100% a good thing - might be the final straw. 

Like most on here I grew up watching the Challenge Cup, and as a southerner, Saturday RL on Grandstand was crucial for getting hooked on league. But even I'm struggling to really get excited until the semis or so. 

There are so many structural reasons why the cup is fading, and they're not all bad ones, so it's hard to say what could turn it around. I very much doubt putting SL clubs into the last 32 would do it, there'd just be more embarrassing spankings.

But calling it a day on the cup feels like sacrilege. 

[Toby Chopra]

10 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

So refreshing to see the buzz at Whitehaven and Barrow to be hosting SL teams. Just shows how mental it is to have the virtual Championship only round in the previous round. 

Also has the knock on effect of SL teams having to win so few games to get to the last two stages which in itself means there’s no chance to build any sort of ‘cup run’ momentum

Interesting post. It feels like fans of superleague clubs really struggle to get excited by the cup, especially this early in the season when there's so much still to play for in the league. 

But for Ch/L1 clubs it's still a big deal. Maybe the 'Superleague clubs away' idea could work? 

[bratman]

The Challange Cup lost its appeal years ago, the Grand Final is now the bigger event for fans IMO.

Crowds for the 2019 were pretty rubbish so no surprise they still are now, e.g. for 2019 QFs:

Hull F.C.	51–8	Catalans Dragons	30 May 2019, 19:35	KCOM Stadium	Ben Thaler	4,832
Hull KR	22–28	Warrington Wolves	31 May 2019, 19:35	KCOM Craven Park	Robert Hicks	3,311
St. Helens	48–10	Wakefield Trinity	1 June 2019, 15:15	Totally Wicked Stadium	Chris Kendall	6,453
Bradford Bulls	16–20	Halifax	2 June 2019, 14:45	Odsal Stadium	Scott Mikalauskus	6,591

[EssexRL]

2 hours ago, Toby Chopra said:

Interesting post. It feels like fans of superleague clubs really struggle to get excited by the cup, especially this early in the season when there's so much still to play for in the league. 

But for Ch/L1 clubs it's still a big deal. Maybe the 'Superleague clubs away' idea could work? 

I saw reports of 1500 St Helens fan travelling yesterday - I'd imagine that there would be an appeal for SL fans travelling to a different ground (must be boring having the same few grounds to visit every season). Obvious tweet would be to have SL teams play away for the round that Championship teams join.

[Dave T]

55 minutes ago, bratman said:

The Challange Cup lost its appeal years ago, the Grand Final is now the bigger event for fans IMO.

Crowds for the 2019 were pretty rubbish so no surprise they still are now, e.g. for 2019 QFs:

Hull F.C.	51–8	Catalans Dragons	30 May 2019, 19:35	KCOM Stadium	Ben Thaler	4,832
Hull KR	22–28	Warrington Wolves	31 May 2019, 19:35	KCOM Craven Park	Robert Hicks	3,311
St. Helens	48–10	Wakefield Trinity	1 June 2019, 15:15	Totally Wicked Stadium	Chris Kendall	6,453
Bradford Bulls	16–20	Halifax	2 June 2019, 14:45	Odsal Stadium	Scott Mikalauskus	6,591

We do need to be careful with the narrative of saying it has lost its appeal. I don't think that is true. 

If Netflix put their next big show on with a £5 fee on top of their subscription I expect viewers would be massively down. 

The constant ignoring of how RL fans purchase tickets will kill off the Cup - and the next thing will be the playoffs. 

[Leyther_Matt]

6 minutes ago, EssexRL said:

I saw reports of 1500 St Helens fan travelling yesterday - I'd imagine that there would be an appeal for SL fans travelling to a different ground (must be boring having the same few grounds to visit every season). Obvious tweet would be to have SL teams play away for the round that Championship teams join.

 

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

Interesting post. It feels like fans of superleague clubs really struggle to get excited by the cup, especially this early in the season when there's so much still to play for in the league. 

But for Ch/L1 clubs it's still a big deal. Maybe the 'Superleague clubs away' idea could work? 

I think it’s something that has to happen organically to a certain extent rather than necessarily guaranteeing home ties, but bringing the SL clubs in earlier would increase the chances of those lesser seen match ups rather than SL teams facing each other umpteen times a season. 

[Dave T]

10 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

 

I think it’s something that has to happen organically to a certain extent rather than necessarily guaranteeing home ties, but bringing the SL clubs in earlier would increase the chances of those lesser seen match ups rather than SL teams facing each other umpteen times a season. 

Yes, they have pushed the seeding too far. I mean look how good this Barrow v Hudds game is. 

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Yes, they have pushed the seeding too far. I mean look how good this Barrow v Hudds game is. 

The previous round set up is beyond bizarre. Complete non event.