2024 attendance thread

[M j M]

3 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Leigh V Hull final for me

That'll be news to Hull!

 

[Taffy Tiger]

3 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Leigh V Hull final for me

Wow , that would be a remarkable turnaround . Only avoiding finishing bottom on points difference to reaching the GF 

[daz39]

4 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Leigh V Hull final for me

No chance that will happen.

[JonNgog]

2 hours ago, JM2010 said:

I’m assuming Hull KR is going to be a sell out?

Just a few hundred seats in the temporary stand remaining, it will sell out.

[JM2010]

9 minutes ago, JonNgog said:

Just a few hundred seats in the temporary stand remaining, it will sell out.

I think if Hull KR had a bigger stadium they’d be pushing to be one of the best supported clubs

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, Taffy Tiger said:

Wow , that would be a remarkable turnaround . Only avoiding finishing bottom on points difference to reaching the GF 

That’s what can happen now if you have good social media presence and a big catchment area. 

[Damien]

18k sold now at Wigan, definitely the best play off crowd for well over a decade.

Edited October 3 by Damien

[Archie Gordon]

Question for the marketing pros.

Do these 'tickets sold' messages boost attendances? My naive view is that they are having a bit of an impact. If they are, why don't we use the tool more often?

[Damien]

11 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Question for the marketing pros.

Do these 'tickets sold' messages boost attendances? My naive view is that they are having a bit of an impact. If they are, why don't we use the tool more often?

Wigan have done it before. The thing is it only really works for the big games that have that demand, like this game, and Saints and Penrith previously from memory. You just won't get that demand or FOMO at most other games.

Edited October 3 by Damien

[Archie Gordon]

18 minutes ago, Damien said:

Wigan have done it before. The thing is it only really works for the big games that have that demand, like this game, and Saints and Penrith previously from memory. You just won't get that demand or FOMO at most other games.

Yeah, I agree. But, for these big games, does it turn an 18k crowd into a 20k crowd?

[Damien]

11 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Yeah, I agree. But, for these big games, does it turn an 18k crowd into a 20k crowd?

You can't quantify it but I certainly think it helps to create that sense of urgency and fear of missing out which will get some people attending who may not otherwise. 

Edited October 3 by Damien

[Worzel]

3 hours ago, JM2010 said:

I think if Hull KR had a bigger stadium they’d be pushing to be one of the best supported clubs

No I think we’re close to the market limit now to be honest, when the East Stand extension takes us to 11,500.

We’ve still got a scope to grow our revenue through higher priced seating options and more corporate facilities, but that needs a new West Stand. 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

You can't quantify it but I certainly think it helps to create that sense of urgency and fear of missing out which will get some people attending who may not otherwise. 

It also has the intangible - especially when it turns out to be true - of creating a feeling that this is an event, and that has an impact on how supporters behave and the match atmosphere.

[JM2010]

1 minute ago, Worzel said:

No I think we’re close to the market limit now to be honest, when the East Stand extension takes us to 11,500.

We’ve still got a scope to grow our revenue through higher priced seating options and more corporate facilities, but that needs a new West Stand. 

Over 11000 would still be a decent average. 

[Fly-By-TheWire]

8 minutes ago, Worzel said:

No I think we’re close to the market limit now to be honest, when the East Stand extension takes us to 11,500.

We’ve still got a scope to grow our revenue through higher priced seating options and more corporate facilities, but that needs a new West Stand. 

Has there ever been a case in history of fans in Hull switching allegiance from West to East due to one team being say, in the division below, or just plain rubbish for a while?   Or would this never happen?   I know that a significant number of Widnes fans defected to Saints after the Super League war.

[WN83]

1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

Question for the marketing pros.

Do these 'tickets sold' messages boost attendances? My naive view is that they are having a bit of an impact. If they are, why don't we use the tool more often?

I'm not a pro at anything but I think they do have an impact. Wigan have used them in bigger games this season and I think it's just got interest going and given people a hurry up. 

Interestingly I think they used them while telling a few porkies first thing Monday morning. They said 10,000 had been sold but there was nowhere near that amount sold on the live ticketing site and Leigh hadn't put their tickets on sale. It seemed a bit of a make believe figure (which they knew they would get past comfortably) to then get the ball rolling. They only announced sales hitting 15k yesterday afternoon, when Leigh had then sold 4,500 tickets, so none of the maths added up but who cares?! it's helped build up a buzz and now sales are through that 18,000 mark and it looks on course to have a crowd of around 20,000 come kick off. 

It's really pleasing to see play off crowds bucking the trend this season and the sales sound very strong for the final as well. 

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

58 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

   I know that a significant number of Widnes fans defected to Saints after the Super League war.

Never knew that.

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

Has there ever been a case in history of fans in Hull switching allegiance from West to East due to one team being say, in the division below, or just plain rubbish for a while?   Or would this never happen?   I know that a significant number of Widnes fans defected to Saints after the Super League war.

I think it’s more of a generational thing, it takes far longer to have an impact. There’s no doubt that in the period between 1990 and 2006 kids would have supported Hull FC that would have more “naturally” supported Hull KR, whether by location or by family tradition. 

What you’re seeing at Hull KR over the last 3 or so years in particular is teenagers and young (<25) adults attending like never before. Honestly, pre 2017 promotion from the Championship the demographic was very different indeed. The youngsters we’ve sucked in during recent years will be the loyal fans in future fallow periods (which always come)

Not just fans either. These will be the club sponsors of the future when they start local businesses, and eventually club owners of the future. It was vital Rovers tapped into a new generation of fans, and thank God we have. Neil Hudgell and Rob Crossland, whose money saved the club from extinction, didn’t just appear out of thin air. They existed because of Rovers success in the early 80’s when they were kids, which sucked them in and made them do irrational things with their wealth. 

[Fly-By-TheWire]

2 hours ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Never knew that.

Some were family of the girlfriend I had at the time. 

Interesting that they never entertained the idea of Warrington , although I do know Widnes fans who have come to the HJ to watch some big SL games as a neutral.

[sweaty craiq]

One of the challenges of being a RL town outside SL is that kids want to be like the players on TV. Leigh got plucked by Saints Wigan and Wire for many years - what has been achieved in just a few years is incredible, never seen as many kids in Leopard tops. If you look at our crowds we attract a lot of families often multi generations, these days as it’s a proper day out

[ATLANTISMAN]

8 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

One of the challenges of being a RL town outside SL is that kids want to be like the players on TV. Leigh got plucked by Saints Wigan and Wire for many years - what has been achieved in just a few years is incredible, never seen as many kids in Leopard tops. If you look at our crowds we attract a lot of families often multi generations, these days as it’s a proper day out

I have some brilliant photos of these fans standing at the popular end that the club forwarded me.

It helped clinch a couple of deals in the USA:)

[JonM]

11 hours ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

Some were family of the girlfriend I had at the time. 

Interesting that they never entertained the idea of Warrington , although I do know Widnes fans who have come to the HJ to watch some big SL games as a neutral.

I've never met anyone who did that. I suppose if you're going to switch allegiances, it makes sense to to switch to one that wins the league from time to time, rather than to Warrington

We often used to go to watch Saints or Warrington as neutrals when I was a kid. It's certainly the case that Halton Farnworth Hornets highlight on social media their ex-players doing well at St. Helens or Wigan, so I think "craiq"'s point about kids wanting to be like the players on tv is very valid.

Different clubs have different demographic challenges. Barrow's ground on Sunday was full of kids and families, I think Widnes do ok in terms of age profile of fans too. There are clubs like Swinton, Hunslet or Rochdale where the fanbase seems mostly to be 60+. We have places like Widnes or St. Helens where a good percentage of people who grew up there will leave at 18 and don't move back vs places like Warrington (or Leeds or York) where there's a good percentage of people moved there from elsewhere in the country.

[Fly-By-TheWire]

12 minutes ago, JonM said:

vs places like Warrington (or Leeds or York) where there's a good percentage of people moved there from elsewhere in the country.

This is a big factor in Warrington, especially in the south of the town.   And it's one that I think hasn't yet been fully exploited.  If rugby league can ever get itself into the limelight as a popular sport with the media, I'm sure that a Warrington team (championship winning?) that's trending on X could a gain a few more thousand fans at each home game.   North Cheshire has it's fair share of Union fans who just need to be convinced that it's not the 70s anymore and you can watch a bit of league without having to go full flat cap and ferret in front of your Sale brethren.

[JonM]

3 minutes ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:

North Cheshire has it's fair share of Union fans who just need to be convinced that it's not the 70s anymore and you can watch a bit of league without having to go full flat cap and ferret in front of your Sale brethren.

Not convinced there's that many union fans there, tbh, certainly not in comparison with the number of LFC/ City/ United fans.

My sister and family live in Chester, brother and family in Knutsford and previously Northwich. I know people living in Helsby, Frodsham, Ellesmere Port and Lymm. People still tend to look to Chester as the main town in the area, in spite of Warrington being way larger, having much better travel links etc. Or if not Chester, then Manchester. Would be huge if Wire could slowly change that, but not necessarily easy.

[Fly-By-TheWire]

39 minutes ago, JonM said:

Not convinced there's that many union fans there, tbh, certainly not in comparison with the number of LFC/ City/ United fans.

My sister and family live in Chester, brother and family in Knutsford and previously Northwich. I know people living in Helsby, Frodsham, Ellesmere Port and Lymm. People still tend to look to Chester as the main town in the area, in spite of Warrington being way larger, having much better travel links etc. Or if not Chester, then Manchester. Would be huge if Wire could slowly change that, but not necessarily easy.

Going eastward from the south of Warrington it's all Union on the 'stockbroker' belt, very little football.  Interestingly though, a wealthy landowning family from the Hale area seems to have a few Warrington fans!

Chester used to have a league team tied to Warrington, shame it hasn't seemed to develop into anything.