Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:16 am  

Interesting that Wire's attendances are down c800 on last year when the biggest drop in the crowds can be clearly seen in the West Stand ie- the away support. With very few exceptions, that has been more than half empty all year. Even for the usual sellouts v Wigan & Saints, there was plenty of space in the West.

It's also been the case that I've seen fewer Wire fans at away games ....... could it be simply that home attendances have stayed bouyant and it's travelling support that's dropped off? Not surprising as it's obviously more expensive/more susceptible to disruption due to Sky moving games ..... Has anyone at Red Hall tried to finish work at 5:30pm and travel over the M62 on a Friday/Monday night to get to an away game on time? .... Getting from Warrington to Wigan can be a pain at 6pm but from say, Leeds to Saints or Hull to Widnes !!! Not even worth setting off.

Wouldn't take a genius to ensure weekday games are 'localised' .... anyone at Red Hall in MENSA?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:15 am  

JonB95 wrote:

There are only 5 Australian clubs in Super Rugby... ALL of which are suffering falling crowds last year.. whilst the A-League has 10 clubs as opposed to NRL's 16. Hardly comparable. Club rugby union is becoming so embarrassingly irrelevant in Australia it's scary.

Only one Australian RU club has decent support
Queensland Reds 31,962
New South Wales 15,651
ACT Brumbies 14,450
Melbourne Rebels 11,998
Western Force 11,937

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:02 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

Only one Australian RU club has decent support
Queensland Reds 31,962
New South Wales 15,651
ACT Brumbies 14,450
Melbourne Rebels 11,998
Western Force 11,937

To be fair, they all get higher than the SL Average, also Rugby League in the UK wish they had a club averaging 32,000 a game.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:58 pm  

I see that the first week of the Premiership football this season has seen an increase in attendances, which throws further doubt that 'the economic climate' is responsible for the drop in attendances at Super League games.

I think it's clear from William Eve's figures that attendances this season are down. I think it's also clear that the main reason for this is the league structure/8 team play-offs. The top teams are taking it easy for large parts of the season, and there are more 'meaningless' games than ever, played at a really low intensity - so people are saving their money. As a result, people are getting out of the habbit of attending games, which would also play a role why the Challenge Cup and play-offs are poorly attended.

I think we're at a really important crossroads for rugby league in this country. The RFL have obviously recognised this with their re-org plans for the league, I just hope they come up with the right answers. (And I dont believe a re-org is the only action needed)

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:08 pm  

Superted wrote:

I see that the first week of the Premiership football this season has seen an increase in attendances, which throws further doubt that 'the economic climate' is responsible for the drop in attendances at Super League games.

I think it's clear from William Eve's figures that attendances this season are down. I think it's also clear that the main reason for this is the league structure/8 team play-offs. The top teams are taking it easy for large parts of the season, and there are more 'meaningless' games than ever, played at a really low intensity - so people are saving their money. As a result, people are getting out of the habbit of attending games, which would also play a role why the Challenge Cup and play-offs are poorly attended.

I think we're at a really important crossroads for rugby league in this country. The RFL have obviously recognised this with their re-org plans for the league, I just hope they come up with the right answers. (And I dont believe a re-org is the only action needed)

I think people just coming up with the conclusion 'it's because of the structure/format' is incredibly lazy.

If so why are Widnes, Wakey and Leeds showing an increase? The results need to be individualized to each club. The reasons that Wigan are down will be very different to Salfords reasons, Saints will have different reasons to London etc.

As a Leeds fan I heard quite a few fans before AND after the GF win say they wouldn't be attending as much during the next regular season and some have stuck to that.....yet we're up so far with 1 game remaining so we must be getting new people through the door.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:14 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Only one Australian RU club has decent support
Queensland Reds 31,962
New South Wales 15,651
ACT Brumbies 14,450
Melbourne Rebels 11,998
Western Force 11,937

The people of Canberra are very strange.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:29 pm  

BogBrushHead wrote:

Has anyone at Red Hall tried to finish work at 5:30pm and travel over the M62 on a Friday/Monday night to get to an away game on time? .... Getting from Warrington to Wigan can be a pain at 6pm but from say, Leeds to Saints or Hull to Widnes !!! Not even worth setting off.

I'm not from the RFL but I've done it dozens if not hundreds of times - only once with any real difficulty.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:57 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Only one Australian RU club has decent support
Queensland Reds 31,962
New South Wales 15,651
ACT Brumbies 14,450
Melbourne Rebels 11,998
Western Force 11,937

Figures I have for S15 2013 are as follows:

Brumbies 14,287
Tards 16,960
Farce 12,427
Rabble 11,947
Reds 31,848
Total Average, 17,494 down 9% on 2012.

The average for the whole comp is 20,242 over 120 regular season games down 2.5%

Australian Union is in real trouble at the moment. They talked themselves up after the 2003 RWC, but in reality, they have gone backwards ever since. The Lions cash from this years tour will paper over cracks, but in reality, they need to rely on the Wannabees and the end of season tours up north together with touring sides coming south.

The sport that is making the most gains in Australian attendance numbers is soccer 18% up last year and a whopping 35% up on 2011. Soccer has a pretty clear run at the sporting $ with mainly big-bash cricket being the only other big time sport, but it is growing at an alarming rate....The Western Sydney Wanderers averaged 12,466 at Parramatta Stadium last year...Parramatta eels average 11,160....

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Aug 20, 2013 4:55 am  

ThePrinter wrote:

I think people just coming up with the conclusion 'it's because of the structure/format' is incredibly lazy.

If so why are Widnes, Wakey and Leeds showing an increase? The results need to be individualized to each club. The reasons that Wigan are down will be very different to Salfords reasons, Saints will have different reasons to London etc.

As a Leeds fan I heard quite a few fans before AND after the GF win say they wouldn't be attending as much during the next regular season and some have stuck to that.....yet we're up so far with 1 game remaining so we must be getting new people through the door.

True, I have no doubt the reason for HKR's dip is the lack of the north stand whilst it was rebuilt. If anything the closeness of the comp this year with a number of teams battling for 4th-8th spot and a playoff position should mean even more meaningful games and bigger crowds. There still isn't the mentality in SL of making the playoffs=good season, failing to make playoffs=disaster. Until that develops the batlle around mid table will not be as attractive as it could be.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Aug 20, 2013 7:57 am  

ThePrinter wrote:

I think people just coming up with the conclusion 'it's because of the structure/format' is incredibly lazy.

If so why are Widnes, Wakey and Leeds showing an increase? The results need to be individualized to each club. The reasons that Wigan are down will be very different to Salfords reasons, Saints will have different reasons to London etc.

As a Leeds fan I heard quite a few fans before AND after the GF win say they wouldn't be attending as much during the next regular season and some have stuck to that.....yet we're up so far with 1 game remaining so we must be getting new people through the door.

I don't think it's lazy at all. Yes, there will be a number of things that affect attendances, however, the poor quality that is being served up on a regular basis during the weekly rounds has to be the main reason. And I dont just pluck that reason out of thin air - It comes from discussions I've had with plenty of people from in and around the rugby community, whether that be people at the games, mates/blokes in the pub or lads that I play rugby with. The most common reason people are losing interest in Super League is that the regular season games are not of decent quality. Leeds have shown for the past few years, that the form of the top teams throughout the regular season means nothing, and they can afford to pick and choose what times of year to play well and raise the intensity. This has de-valued the regular season in many peoples eyes.