Attendances (Multiple Merged Threads)

[Scubby]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

There are some contradictions knocking around on here. 

We've spent the last 25 years berating Wakefield for their ground, and are now saying that even an improved ground would be unlikely to attract bigger crowds and corporates. So why are we bothered about the ground then?

In reality, Wakefield v Hudds on a Thursday night in an absolute dump for £25 when you can watch it on TV is a really tough sell for anyone. I cannot accept that there would be little upside in that same offering in better facilities. I accept the point that for Wakefield to realise their potential it may take very different leaders, but even on a basic level, if we believe facilities are important then we have to see growth on that number with improved facilities.

It is a golden opportunity with new facilities to work with. I am sceptical that the leadership can take advantage, however.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Scubby

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

They were handicapped significantly last time and were down by the time crowds could roll in. I think they would be alot more competitive and be chipping in with 5k , so no worse than two other teams. 

Maybe, but you pretty much have an owner who treats the club like his hobby and is happier stacking his squad with misfits than actually building a fan base and customer experiences. Leigh are dipping under 3k far too regularly for a club like theirs. 

[Dave T]

21 minutes ago, Scubby said:

It is a golden opportunity with new facilities to work with. I am sceptical that the leadership can take advantage, however.

I agree mate, but I think even if nothibg else changes the better facilities has to be better for fans than what was on offer last night. 

[Scubby]

Just now, Dave T said:

I agree mate, but I think even if nothibg else changes the better facilities has to be better for fans than what was on offer last night. 

People can joke because Wakey has been a joke, but growing up there I know the potential. Wakefield has some serious pockets of affluence and there is no reason it couldn't tap into it's family and corporate offerings like Leeds and Catalans do. The problem is the perception is really difficult to change.

[Scubby]

25 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

 

Population of just over 41k getting an average of 2.8k in Champ isn´t bad. 

Sums P&R up really

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

 

Population of just over 41k getting an average of 2.8k in Champ isn´t bad. 

Pre pandemic we were at just shy of 3,500 , so a bit of catching up to do , IMO if you've got one empty seat , you haven't tried hard enough 

[Scubby]

20 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

So you´d franchise then I´d take. 

There's a distinct possibility that one of these clubs may get into serious financial difficulties by the end of the year. The numbers don't add up for the club that misses out.

P&R is like pigeons fighting for scraps. I'm done with the licensing v P&R debate - the game is intent on self destruction and cannot look past the here and now.  The underlying question is how does the game grow and generate more money? At the moment we seem to be spiralling towards a re-run of the 2007 Championship season. That ended well. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Scubby

[JohnM]

In the dim and distant days of Sunday afternoon games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I went to numerous Wigan games home and away because each game was an occasion of sorts. Meeting friends for a pub lunch, go to the game in daylight, shout "offside" and "forward",  listen to the build up and sum up on Radio Manchester.

Those days are gone and never to return.  So much in society, technology etc has changed and (r)evolutionised  the following of our sport. I doubt if crowd numbers will ever return to the levels of that time. Purely subjective view of course and no figures to back up my assertion. 

Edit: That's why for me and my wife Magic Weekend in Newcastle has been so attractive.  Currently unable to make it this year, though.

Edited April 29, 2022 by JohnM
Magic Weekend added

[meast]

It was the 2nd lowest attendance at Wakefield in the super league era, only the 2,837 who turned up in July 2001 was lower.

And it was the 3rd lowest attendance between these 2 sides this century.

[daz39]

12 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

A new stadium with modern facilities to attract greater income to be more competitive, which will go a long way to aiding the experience.

Its the first of one developement as i understood it. Isnt there anyone else who thinks that crowds and income will grow for Wakey with the new stand? 

Not really no, building a new stand will hardly make thousands of uninterest folk in Wakefield want to go to the rugby, just like 4 of them in Huddersfield hasn't for us.

[fevtom]

10,988 at Saints tonight.

[Barley Mow]

13,333 at Headingley v Hull KR

[daz39]

10.100 at Wire v Wigan, jeez that's pretty poor on a bank holiday Friday for one of the comps prestige fixtures.

[Cameron Highlander]

Hi all.  I have followed this thread from the beginning with much interest.  And, I do not want to derail the thread subject matter at all, at all.  But I've just read the last 3 pages (~75 posts) and ~90% of them are all to do with Wakefield Trinity and it's attendance last night relative to whether the new stand will help increase attendances or make no difference to them.  Ancillary to this discussion are views on the state of the rest of the facility and how that will not change, the washroom facilities on offer, and how to market the team to the 41K residents of the Town/City with a view to increasing fan attendance.  There were even a couple of posts about prawn sandwiches, and, I regret to say that I do not know if they are "high-end" or "low-end" fodder but they would seem to hold some importance in the grand scheme of things.   Then we got into the pros and cons of whether it would be better if Wakefield were replaced by either one of Fev., or Leigh, or York and whether any of them could better the Wakefield attendances.  My impression on that is that perhaps marginally but pretty much a saw-off, apples for apples.  We are talking here about whether they can get 4K, or 5K, or 6K, or more in crowds.  This competition is the Creme de la Creme of Rugby League in the Northern Hemisphere for goodness sake.  Now here's the bit where I allude to not wanting to derail the subject matter.  I'd like to point you to the thread called "Wow just wow" with the last post yesterday at 3:17 by Dunbar.  It has had 2.2K views so I'm sure that most of you have viewed it.  But I would ask you to really study, really think about, and really absorb the ramification of following the process(es) described in "The Sydney Morning Herald" article that are being used just for talent development and tracking by the Penrith Panthers of the NRL.   These kinds of management tools are what are being used all over the world by the top teams in all major sports.   Now, I ask you, are the top teams in our NH Rugby League, Saints, Wigan, and Leeds using tools like Penrith are for a similar purpose?  I sense not and the reasons will be that we don't have the money for this, or we don't need to do anything like this.   I'd absolutely be delighted if Super League were able to rival the NRL in status in the Rugby League world, and I ask would you folks on here like to see that happen too?    But, it seems let's all just discuss the relative pros and cons of prawn sandwiches.

Rant over......  I'll see myself out....

Edited April 30, 2022 by Cameron Highlander

[Josef K]

4 hours ago, fevtom said:

10,988 at Saints tonight.

That was a decent gate. 

[Josef K]

4 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

13,333 at Headingley v Hull KR

That was an excellent crowd, id imagine Rovers took a good following. 

[Tommygilf]

3 hours ago, Josef K said:

That was an excellent crowd, id imagine Rovers took a good following. 

The did, but Headingley was busier than I'd seen it for some time too. The Student varsity game before will have added a few onto the gate as well.

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

The did, but Headingley was busier than I'd seen it for some time too. The Student varsity game before will have added a few onto the gate as well.

You might have had a few - just a few - from the corporates at the cricket deciding to stick around as well.

[Tommygilf]

5 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You might have had a few - just a few - from the corporates at the cricket deciding to stick around as well.

Were they the one's doing the salutes and the funny walk?

[Tommygilf]

6 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Still the biggest team in the country.  Got some winnable games coming up and bit of momentum as the footy season ends. 

Salford and Wakefield now look very winnable games. I think most fans expected nothing from last night and just wanted it to be kept respectable so the buzz of a hard won victory and the prospect of players returning should be good for attendances going forwards.

[gingerjon]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Were they the one's doing the salutes and the funny walk?

As sober as judges, I'm sure.

[Dave T]

So, here's my regular moan about the Wire clubs efforts off the field. 

Once again, this was a, nothing event. They made it a retro shirt night, which seemed to get announced just a few days ago, and purely based in the fact we had two retro kits to sell. 

We arrived an hour early and sat in the sun in our seats. There was a junior game that finished around 7.15, and literally nothing else pre-match. No dancers, no DJ, no flame throwers as they walked out, no light show, no entertainment in the bowl - all things that used to be standard. 

Once again, we opened the doors and played a game. 

I was also disgusted pre-match, as we were in so early there must have been 5 if us in the concourse as we'd just grabbed a drink to take up. A Wire employee marched along the concourse, youngish, clearly power mad, and he shouted at the top if his voice "how old are you... You, how old are you?" to one of the shell-shocked agency kids working behind the bar. It was an appalling way to speak to staff, and an appalling way to speak in front of customers. How you treat the lowest paid in an organisation is a good reflection of your business values. The guy was a scumbag and I'm afraid I'd have been telling him where to go if it was me. The group of kids working looked shell-shocked, and a lady spectator also present was shocked, and exchanged looks and head shakes with us. It sounds like a minor point, but I was pretty disgusted tbh. 

[gingerjon]

12 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I was also disgusted pre-match, as we were in so early there must have been 5 if us in the concourse as we'd just grabbed a drink to take up. A Wire employee marched along the concourse, youngish, clearly power mad, and he shouted at the top if his voice "how old are you... You, how old are you?" to one of the shell-shocked agency kids working behind the bar. It was an appalling way to speak to staff, and an appalling way to speak in front of customers. How you treat the lowest paid in an organisation is a good reflection of your business values. The guy was a scumbag and I'm afraid I'd have been telling him where to go if it was me. The group of kids working looked shell-shocked, and a lady spectator also present was shocked, and exchanged looks and head shakes with us. It sounds like a minor point, but I was pretty disgusted tbh. 

I'd contact the club about that.

[Dave T]

28 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I'd contact the club about that.

I will be. Proper little nasty bully he was. 

[Scubby]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

I will be. Proper little nasty bully he was. 

Fair play

Can he play in the pack?