Hows ticket sales going for CCF

[daz39]

1 minute ago, Fevrover said:

Good ,funny how they flock to Football but not RL. Hope you win.

Not at all, football will always be king annoying as it is, I think them getting through has hindered us as the floaters would have probably gone to Tottenham otherwise but will now choose Wembley cos 'Footie' is more trendy. 

[Fevrover]

2 minutes ago, daz39 said:

Not at all, football will always be king annoying as it is, I think them getting through has hindered us as the floaters would have probably gone to Tottenham otherwise but will now choose Wembley cos 'Footie' is more trendy. 

Plus it's expensive for fans to go to both games ( although some will).

[Dallas Mead]

8 minutes ago, daz39 said:

You do realise that's more or less our entire home support in a weekend where our larger, much well supported football team are playing 24 hours later in a cost of living crisis? last I heard Wigan, Leigh and Fev were all more or less the same or were Huddersfield supposed to sell more non supporters than the others? 

Cut it whichever way you like, it’s a terrible number.

[daz39]

5 minutes ago, Dallas Mead said:

Cut it whichever way you like, it’s a terrible number.

So what would be acceptable to Huddersfield? 250% of our home crowd, 500%?

us selling 4,500 is only the same as Wigan selling 11,000, we have a much smaller fan base so of course our numbers are going to be smaller 

No one would expect Wigan to sell 40,000 but think we should sell 12,000 + which based on average attendances/fan bases etc is the same. 

 

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Dallas Mead said:

Cut it whichever way you like, it’s a terrible number.

No. 666 is a terrible number. Its the number of the beast. 

Number of the beast - Wikipedia

[David Shepherd]

2 hours ago, Dallas Mead said:

Cut it whichever way you like, it’s a terrible number.

Is it though?

As others have said, it's about their average home crowd. Where do you think these other sales are going to appear from? Especially with their Soccerball team playing in what is arguably a much bigger game

[WN83]

7 hours ago, Scubby said:

The 4 finalist of both matches still have 1000s of tickets unsold on their allocations alone. Hudds allocation is selling every other row as it the RFL.

Wigan’s allocation being sold through the club looked to be down to about 300-350 earlier on, although I have just logged in and a couple of hundred tickets, really central behind the posts, have become available. Shame as I know people who would love to have sat there but ended up elsewhere as there was no availability.

Its impossible to judge how sales are going overall because when you see sections with every other row on sale, it gives the impression not all tickets have been put on sale. I can’t say I’m expecting much above 40k. 

[Dallas Mead]

As above, forget average attendances, %s, the price of petrol, town sizes, shoe sizes……the actual numbers sold for both Huddersfield AND Wigan for a cup final are so poor.

[Man of Kent]

It’s utterly normal for clubs to take more fans to London than their usual home gate so I don’t see why Huddersfield should be any different.

Circa 5K Giants fans would seem desperately poor. Hopefully it’s more than that as I can’t believe a rugby area like Kirklees would be so disinterested. It’s not like they are regular visitors. 

[meast]

There will be around 40,000 people going to London from Huddersfield this weekend, but sadly most of them will have little interest in the Giants and will all be watching Town try and get back into the premier league, so they can watch Man United, Man City and Liverpool again.

Had Town not made it to Wembley, a lot of those casual sports fans may have come to the challenge cup final, but when it's up against football, sadly, there's only one winner in Huddersfield.

And as Daz says, we're in the middle of a huge financial crisis where money is tight for lots of people, a weekend in London costing £250+ pp isn't affordable to a lot of people.

It's the way it is, Huddersfield isn't a big rugby town, the Giants aren't a big supported team, I've explained why and how a few times over the years on here, but people can't or won't accept that and insist Huddersfield should be pulling in more fans is baffling and strange.

Why not just be pleased for us small numbered but loyal fans that we may finally see our team win the cup!

[Scubby]

9 minutes ago, meast said:

There will be around 40,000 people going to London from Huddersfield this weekend, but sadly most of them will have little interest in the Giants and will all be watching Town try and get back into the premier league, so they can watch Man United, Man City and Liverpool again.

Had Town not made it to Wembley, a lot of those casual sports fans may have come to the challenge cup final, but when it's up against football, sadly, there's only one winner in Huddersfield.

And as Daz says, we're in the middle of a huge financial crisis where money is tight for lots of people, a weekend in London costing £250+ pp isn't affordable to a lot of people.

It's the way it is, Huddersfield isn't a big rugby town, the Giants aren't a big supported team, I've explained why and how a few times over the years on here, but people can't or won't accept that and insist Huddersfield should be pulling in more fans is baffling and strange.

Why not just be pleased for us small numbered but loyal fans that we may finally see our team win the cup!

I've been to both finals the Giants were in this century. The Huddersfield fans were great, loud and proud and maybe this weekend they will get the prize.

It's not the Giants fault the RFL can't shift tickets for a showpiece.

[Mr Frisky]

39 minutes ago, meast said:

There will be around 40,000 people going to London from Huddersfield this weekend, but sadly most of them will have little interest in the Giants and will all be watching Town try and get back into the premier league, so they can watch Man United, Man City and Liverpool again.

Had Town not made it to Wembley, a lot of those casual sports fans may have come to the challenge cup final, but when it's up against football, sadly, there's only one winner in Huddersfield.

And as Daz says, we're in the middle of a huge financial crisis where money is tight for lots of people, a weekend in London costing £250+ pp isn't affordable to a lot of people.

It's the way it is, Huddersfield isn't a big rugby town, the Giants aren't a big supported team, I've explained why and how a few times over the years on here, but people can't or won't accept that and insist Huddersfield should be pulling in more fans is baffling and strange.

Why not just be pleased for us small numbered but loyal fans that we may finally see our team win the cup!

Why can't fans go to both games??

[David Shepherd]

18 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Why can't fans go to both games??

I know one who is. Fev & Town fan.

He Can't afford to stay overnight in London, so is on a bus at 5:30 to Tottenham, back home on same bus. Then on a bus from Hudds on Sunday morning to Wembley. It's still costing him about £300 all in with tickets, food & ale etc.

Now imagine you're a family of 4 wanting to go.  Does that explain why the casual fan will prioritize their spending?

I'm going down for the rugby only, I'm only really interested in the 1895, but will probably stay for the Challenge Cup. I'm fortunate enough to be a position to make a weekend of it. Plenty of others aren't.

[Dave T]

11 hours ago, Scubby said:

I've been to both finals the Giants were in this century. The Huddersfield fans were great, loud and proud and maybe this weekend they will get the prize.

It's not the Giants fault the RFL can't shift tickets for a showpiece.

I agree that the RFL can do far better here on this, but we do have some rather unfair expectations on how many neutrals should attend this match. 

It is interesting that you give a free pass to the finalists for not selling tickets but not the RFL. 

If the two finalists sell only 15k between them (I do expect it will be much higher) then the empty seats will be because of them. It is what it is, but I'm mot sure why there is the expectation that the RFL just goes and finds an extra 15k neutrals to fill the seats that the finalists couldn't. 

For all the talk of event crowds, there are more events than ever for people to spend their money on, and that also goes for RL fan neutrals. Particularly this year when we have a huge World Cup to spend our money on instead. 

Crowds fluctuate depending on finalists, there does always seem to be an unrealistic demand on the RFL that they should just fill them with neutrals - it was the same with the Catalans finals. 

[Scubby]

Just now, Dave T said:

I agree that the RFL can do far better here on this, but we do have some rather unfair expectations on how many neutrals should attend this match. 

It is interesting that you give a free pass to the finalists for not selling tickets but not the RFL. 

If the two finalists sell only 15k between them (I do expect it will be much higher) then the empty seats will be because of them. It is what it is, but I'm mot sure why there is the expectation that the RFL just goes and finds an extra 15k neutrals to fill the seats that the finalists couldn't. 

For all the talk of event crowds, there are more events than ever for people to spend their money on, and that also goes for RL fan neutrals. Particularly this year when we have a huge World Cup to spend our money on instead. 

Crowds fluctuate depending on finalists, there does always seem to be an unrealistic demand on the RFL that they should just fill them with neutrals - it was the same with the Catalans finals. 

I am giving the Giants a free pass because they are taking 5k and Wigan 10k. If 15 years ago Wigan took 25k then it seems the problem is the perception of the occasion/events and achievement to latent fans in the towns and not individual clubs. That comes down to the prestige of the event IMO. 

[Dave T]

Just now, Scubby said:

I am giving the Giants a free pass because they are taking 5k and Wigan 10k. If 15 years ago Wigan took 25k then it seems the problem is the perception of the occasion/events and achievement to latent fans in the towns and not individual clubs. That comes down to the prestige of the event IMO. 

Again, a free pass to the clubs so you can bash the RFL. 

[Damien]

I think it should be noted also that many fans of the finalists don't just buy tickets from the clubs. Many buy from the RFL too. The clubs may have only sold 15k or so but the true figure will be much higher.

[WN83]

It’s so tough to out numbers on what we’d have taken previously and what we’re taking now because we’ve no way of knowing what we’ve sold through the RFL. I speak to friends and family and it feels like for every person who bought through the club, a similar amount has gone through the RFL.
 

The club have sold around 8,500-9,000 and when you factor in sales from the RFL to Wigan fans, I’d guess you’re looking at there being about 15,000 Wigan fans there on Saturday. If I compare that to our most recent final against Hull, I doubt it’s that far off. If I compare it to 2002 at Murrayfield, it’s probably a few thousand up (Wiganers don’t like the thought of losing) but if I then compare it to numbers at finals in the 90’s, or to Grand Finals, it’s well down (probably 10,000+ down on those cup finals in the 90’s). 
 

There’s a responsibility on the game as a whole to increase crowds at the cup final IMO. Yes we can bag Wigan, we can bag Huddersfield but there used to be 30,000-40,000 neutrals at cup finals IMO and the game should be able to absorb a team with a smaller fan base like Huddersfield getting to a cup final and still get a very good crowd on at a ground like Tottenham, with a capacity of only 63,000. Times are tough, I get that but what are we doing to make the game an event? What engagement do we have with the community game for example, to help facilitate those clubs bringing their young players to an event that should fuel their excitement for playing the sport. It feels like the sole strategy the RFL has is to pray 2 well supported clubs make the final. 

[gingerjon]

18 minutes ago, Dave T said:

we do have some rather unfair expectations on how many neutrals should attend this match

Going on 'tradition' then you'd expect around half the crowd to be neutrals. That may not be realistic now but we're never going to come close to filling a Premier League soccer ground exclusively with fans on the teams involved, whoever they are.

[Chris22]

43 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Long term this shows why market for event like these has to be southerners.  That means aiming as much around the event to their tastes.  

I think an issue we have in pushing the cup final to southerners is that they have no emotional connection at all to the participants, so are less inclined to buy tickets. On some occasions, they won't have even heard of the towns where these clubs are from.

I'd go quite heavily down the route of discounted tickets for schools, junior sports teams to sell on, prizes for the most sold etc. The lure of going to Wembley etc is still a selling point for local youngsters, I'm sure.

Without getting on my soapbox again, more internationals in London, where locals have a team to get behind is still the best approach for me.

[Scubby]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Again, a free pass to the clubs so you can bash the RFL. 

Again you have misconstrued. My guess is that if the Giants make the GF they will take double the number of fans to Old Trafford than they will on Saturday. That is not just locality but the prestige of the event isn't it? They have weeks to plan for CC Final but a few days to plan for OT. For Huddersfield Town fans the value of this Wembley play-off 90 minutes is everything to the club, for the Giants they needed to beat Barrow, Hull and Hull KR.

That is life now for cup competitions.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Scubby

[Leyther_Matt]

52 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Going on 'tradition' then you'd expect around half the crowd to be neutrals. That may not be realistic now but we're never going to come close to filling a Premier League soccer ground exclusively with fans on the teams involved, whoever they are.

Might have a chance if we held Magic at Bournemouth? 

[Dave T]

53 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Going on 'tradition' then you'd expect around half the crowd to be neutrals. That may not be realistic now but we're never going to come close to filling a Premier League soccer ground exclusively with fans on the teams involved, whoever they are.

Absolutely, and we'll see plenty of neutrals this weekend. 

[Damien]

46 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Going on 'tradition' then you'd expect around half the crowd to be neutrals. That may not be realistic now but we're never going to come close to filling a Premier League soccer ground exclusively with fans on the teams involved, whoever they are.

I think its fair to say we have traditionally had a high percentage of neutrals going to the Challenge Cup final and that is one of the key target audiences that has declined. I certainly think there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that this is the case. I know from my experience at the new Wembley the first final had the most neutrals but that has certainly declined on each of my visits there. All the old stuff like spotting RL fans on the tube over the weekend has just got rarer and rarer.

People don't see the Challenge Cup final as a pilgrimage like they once did and there is no doubt it has lost prominence. Amateur clubs don't turn out like they once did, school trips don't seem to happen any more, work trips don't happen like they once did, pubs have died a death and pub trips don't happen like they once did. I think we don't engage with the London audience as much but accept that is less clear cut. That's a lot of factors at play.

Maybe we shouldn't just expect neutrals to go but they have always been a key part of the Challenge Cup final throughout its history. If we are to restore the Challenge Cup to anything like it was then re-engaging with them is a key part of that. If not, and as you suggest, we will have to accept 60k or less crowds instead. I absolutely think the RFL could do much more when it comes to amateur clubs, schools and appealing to the South East event crowd to build the Challenge Cup up again.

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Again you have misconstrued. My guess is that if the Giants make the GF they will take double the number of fans to Old Trafford than they will on Saturday. That is not just locality but the prestige of the event isn't it? They have weeks to plan for CC Final but a few days to plan for OT. For Huddersfield Town fans the value of this Wembley play-off 90 minutes is everything to the club, for the Giants they needed to beat Barrow, Hull and Hull KR.

That is life now for cup competitions.

I partly agree, as per the other thread I agree the event could be better, but I think you are overstating prestige over the likes of logistics, competition and cost. 

I don't think there are fewer Huddersfield fans this year because they only won 3 games over 4 last time. The way you have presented the difference in the Playoff and the Cup Final is agenda driven guff with respect. 

The reasons for lower crowds in the cup final are many imho, but there will be thousands of neutrals this Saturday.