Re: : Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:42 pm  

Wadski wrote:

I have suggested to Bill Eve that he gets himself a clipboard and canvases Huddersfield town centre on a Saturday. Sounds like a little army could be involved, everyone seems to want to know why the attendances are down.

I've been in contact with Huddersfields sponsors and they will loan you clipboards FOC.

You can make this happen Bill.

All Joking aside, I moved to NZ in 2009......the then Harlequins RL have all my contact details (UK address which I still own, emails) but have never once contacted me with anything other than a blanket offering. I had purchased tickets and merch on-line and in the case of the new broncos, had it delivered to my UK address for forwarding as they didn't do international delivery ....still, nothing to encourage me back to the stoop.
I am sure some clubs are on the ball with this kind of stuff, but to me, it seems strange that the RFL aren't offeing advice to those clubs in trouble.....as well as doing it themselves.

I bought tickets for the Wembley double header in 2011 for a mate from Leeds for his birthday.....I also requested Free tickets from the Broncos for the same guy for the Castleford game that year....both with him as the delivery address in London and my credit card address in Brentford....neither of us have received anything from the RFL since.

The days of sticking posts in the ground and announcing a KO time are long gone....somebody needs to sack the lover with the penchant for drawing cartoons and hire a DIRECT MARKETING COMPANY to get fans back through the turnstyles....IMHO that is!

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:56 pm  

as I have said before and will say again, yes our support is pretty dire. but taking into consideration that from the late 70's right through to the late 90's, Huddersfield were a lower league club, struggling with financial troubles, not knowing from one week to the next whether we would survive or not. surviving on gates of hundreds rather than thousands.

most other super league clubs throughout that period were regular top flight clubs,enjoying the odd success here and there, and maintaining a fan base that was already in place. most clubs had a hardcore support of around 5,000 ish give or take, ours were 500.

most fans of other super league clubs watched their teams in the top flight year after year and then their kids started watching them, the their kids started watching them,it was part of normal family life for lots of people.

in Huddersfield,we didn't have that. our hardcore support were the diehards from the 60's and 70's still clinging on until the end ( although thankfully that never did come!) we had to literally build our supporter base up from scratch, people got into watching Huddersfield, like me, through word of mouth not through family ties.

when we did finally get into the top flight and started getting beaten heavily most weeks, people who did have a interest in rugby league went to watch leeds and Bradford not Huddersfield, so again, we had to more or less start from scratch.
considering it has taken us 30 years to play catch up with the rest of you, I don't think we are doing that bad.
yes we would all like to see us pull in 10,000 each week, warrington don't, even with their pedigree and recent success so I cant see how we would be expected to.

our crowds are poor yes but you also have to take into context and compare with other clubs who have always had a decent fan base.

I wouldn't expect Doncaster, Rochdale or swinton to suddenly start pulling in crowds 10x what they were 20 years ago if they were in the same position.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:06 pm  

When our crowds are the talking point its cos our team are usually doing well.....for years you lot had the fact we were crap to beat us with ...now we're not you've had to find another stick !! You lot carry on moaning about our crowds and our happy bunch of 5000 fans will carry on watching our team destroy yours

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:17 pm  

Leeds vs Cas 2012 - 10,582
Leeds vs Cas 2013 - 17,035

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:24 pm  

UPDATE...
SL Round 18 attendances - comparison to same fixtures last year

Leeds V Castleford in 2013 = 17,035
Leeds V Castleford in 2012 = 16,153
% increase = +5.46%

Hull KR V Huddersfield in 2013 = 6,963
Hull KR V Huddersfield in 2012 = 7,616
% decrease = -8.57%

Widnes v Wigan in 2013 = 6,528
Widnes V Wigan in 2012 = 7,357
% decrease = -11.27%

Well done to Leeds and Castleford fans for proving that beautiful summer rugby weather can be a key factor in establishing an increased attendance. One can only assume that the weather conditions in Hull and Widnes today were arctic in nature.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:31 pm  

Charlie Sheen wrote:

Leeds vs Cas 2012 - 10,582

Your agenda is duly noted

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:57 pm  

GIANT DAZ wrote:

When our crowds are the talking point its cos our team are usually doing well.....for years you lot had the fact we were crap to beat us with ...now we're not you've had to find another stick !! You lot carry on moaning about our crowds and our happy bunch of 5000 fans will carry on watching our team destroy yours

Didn't do too much "destroying" tonight! Better away support than usual from your lot I thought tonight about 150 in the well?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:09 pm  

GIANT DAZ wrote:

When our crowds are the talking point its cos our team are usually doing well.....for years you lot had the fact we were crap to beat us with ...now we're not you've had to find another stick !! You lot carry on moaning about our crowds and our happy bunch of 5000 fans will carry on watching our team destroy yours

What happened tonight.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:17 pm  

Charlie Sheen wrote:

Leeds vs Cas 2012 - 10,582
Leeds vs Cas 2013 - 17,035

It wasn't 10,582, BBC printed Warrington's attendance from that day on the Leeds game by accident.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:20 pm  

i can't believe this thread is up to 115 pages.