Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:49 pm  

The Devil's Advocate wrote:

Well at least your attendance competition is going down to the wire, unlike the real thing .

However, I don’t think a dead rubber, albeit a derby game, will attract the numbers needed to propel Wakefield to the top.

Well done to Leeds though, I wonder if they will get an increase next season if they fail to win the G.F?

I'd expect Leeds home attendances to drop significantly next season if they fail to win the Grand Final. The bandwagoners will jump off faster than they climbed aboard. Leeds can thank Wakey fans for turning up to Headingley in huge numbers in Round 22 for an attendance of 18,387 which was a whopping 49.83% up on the 12,272 attendance for the same fixture in 2012.

The less said about the 9,044 attendance for the play-off fixture last season the better!

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:10 pm  

William Eve wrote:

Aye lad... things were backwards around 20 years ago. GB underook a full tour which included PNG, Aus and NZ. There were 103,000 in attendance at the three ashes tests... 41,000 in Sydney, 31,000 in Melbourne (famously won 33-10 by GB) and 32,000 in Brisbane for the decider won by Aus 16-10. Then there was the RLWC Final at Wembley attended by 75,000. Then there was the 140,000+ attendances for the Ashes Series not long after... 57,000+ at Wembley, 44,000+ at Old Trafford and almost 40,000 at Elland Road.

Wigan won the 14 team Championship on points difference ahead of St Helens, who got their revenge by beating Wigan in the Top 8 Premiership Trophy Final 10-4. Leeds finished 5th (no surprises there) but weren't rewarded for their mediocrity back then... Around the same period, Castleford thrashed Wigan 33-2 in the Regal Final, Widnes thrashed Leeds 24-0 the year before... is it any wonder a Leeds fan like you despises that era? ... Wakefield won the Yorkshire Cup and Featherstone earned promotion on merit by finishing top of Division 2.

blah blah...

How come you didn't post the league attendances?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:05 pm  

So what have we learnt from this fabulous thread???

That SL is on the slide because the overall number is down from previous years?
That Bradford & Salford contribute to around 70,000 less between them, a figure which would've seen the '09, '10 & '11 totals beaten I think this is a pretty loose suggestion.


That Leeds being the team that took the regular season least seriously and highlighted that you should only turn up to the games that matter were at the heart of the problem?
Erm, Leeds crowds are up.

Leeds are only up because they won the GF?
Erm, Wakefield crowds are up.

The ''whipping boy rabble clubs" who don't have the threat of relegation will see crowds decrease due to lack of P/R to keep it exciting?
Erm, Widnes crowds are up.

That London is poorly run?
Yes, would this be any different under a different format, unlikely.

That Hudds don't attract the crowds of other top 4 teams?
Shocking! Didn't know this in years gone past. I bet if we had only a top 5 playoff system then they would've been pulling in 10,000 a week, guaranteed!

That if prices are cheaper than normal more people will buy?
WHAT?!?!?!?! I AM SHOCKED, maybe shops and stuff should have sales and offers and catch onto this ground breaking idea. Maybe shops could do this just after the Xmas period???

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:16 pm  

Seriously though, as a Leeds fan I have repeatedly heard people say stuff like:

'result doesn't matter anyway, we'll still win the Grand final'.

Headingley is still a decent night out and people attend to have a few beers and watch a game. But the excitement of winning or losing a close game is kind of ruined because the 8 team playoff system makes it too easy to win from 5th or 4th or 3rd.

I always walk away thinking 'that was fun but the result doesn't really matter'.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:36 pm  

declaration wrote:

Seriously though, as a Leeds fan I have repeatedly heard people say stuff like:

'result doesn't matter anyway, we'll still win the Grand final'.

Headingley is still a decent night out and people attend to have a few beers and watch a game. But the excitement of winning or losing a close game is kind of ruined because the 8 team playoff system makes it too easy to win from 5th or 4th or 3rd.

I always walk away thinking 'that was fun but the result doesn't really matter'.

Spot on. Also as a neutral (unfortunately) watching te first round of the play-offs since we changed it to the top 8 as been almost torture. The games between 5-8 are usually of a poor standard. 1-4 is completely pointless as both teams don't really have anything to play for. Crowds are usually low for this as fan know they will probably see the same teams playing each other again two week later for the actual shot at th GF.

Hudds have had a great season, finished top, they could even win their opening play off game, but still not make the grand final as they could then Lose the semi.

Every game should matter in the play-offs. Playing for a week off does not get fans excited.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:53 am  

158 pages of sweet f.a. just to emphasise that SL was better with a top 5 play off.
Time to move on, especially as it's all about to change.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:08 am  

SmokeyTA wrote:

I'm happy to just match RLbandits donation when he makes it anyway.St Gemma's do fantastic work. So why not, perhaps we will be lucky and see a donation from yourself aswell

Happy to concede with games to go. If you check you will see the donation 'From RLB' St. Gemma's JustGiving page.

You going to match it then?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:06 am  

wrencat1873 wrote:

158 pages of sweet f.a. just to emphasise that SL was better with a top 5 play off.
Time to move on, especially as it's all about to change.

Interesting you should say that. I was going to wait until the end of the regular season to provide a final regular season ladder by number of posts of those who find this SL attendance thread extremely irritating, tedious and distasteful to the image of the game. Yet they cannot prevent themselves from contributing sweet f.a. to it themselves, if only to emphasise they are extremely irritated and find it tedious and distasteful. Perhaps it's time for them to move on?

Congratulations on your current Top 4 placement, despite the fact you were never going to compete with the consistent week in week out commitment of the impressive Smokey for the LLS. His only genuine challenger was The Printer until a mid-season collapse saw him lose all motivation in his quest to discredit the weekly SL attendance figures this season.

A huge thanks to Speccy for his entertainment value. His outbursts were so amusing that he felt compelled to create his very own thread calling for several bans and the removal of moderators/admins!

Super-Irritated Ladder
Smokey TA - 174
JonB95 - 89
The Printer - 67
Wrencat1873 - 25
Hessle Roader - 24
Talent Spotter - 14
Farsley Steve - 14
Code13 - 13
--------------------------
Him - 12
Wadski - 11
Seth - 9
Speccy - 7
GansonTheClown - 6
Maximus Decimus - 5 (relegated back to TotalRL.com forums)

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:11 am  

RLBandit wrote:

Happy to concede with games to go. If you check you will see the donation 'From RLB' St. Gemma's JustGiving page.

You going to match it then?

A very worthy cause and that's all that truly matters.

It was always unlikely that 2011 SL attendances would be over 5% higher than in 2013 due to the poor Crusaders numbers and St Helens poor home attendances whilst domiciled in Widnes that season. The fact that 2013 SL attendances are still lower than they were in 2011 remains a cause for concern given that particular context.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:13 am  

RLBandit wrote:

Happy to concede with games to go. If you check you will see the donation 'From RLB' St. Gemma's JustGiving page.

You going to match it then?

A very gracious act. Thank you.

Ill pm when done.