Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:26 am  

MattyB wrote:

I think we should be discussing the elephant in the room when it comes to attendances. They gave it out as just over 11k last week when in reality it was clear there was no more than 7.5k sat in the stadium. That's a massive difference, now if the club have 3k-3.5k who have paid for their season ticket and for whatever reason they are not attending then that's one thing. I don't think the club are making it up but I do think they possibly handed out a couple of thousand cheap kids season tickets at the start of the season when they promoted the rugby sessions and these kids are just not turning up. It's quite worrying, actual attendances are the lowest I've seen since we've been at the DW.

When was the last time anyone was there and thought, wow... this is a decent crowd (ie. over 15k physically in the stadium), definitely pre-covid. Early 2019?

Edit - Just looked back, Good Friday 2019 we got 22k, we also got 21k against the Sydney Roosters early 2019. Other than that it was 12k against Wire.

I suspect there were a bunch of tickets given out for the fixture when it was due to be played on a Sunday - maybe they were counted in the attendance figure. The fixture was moved from Friday to Sunday to Thursday which won't have helped.

We hit a real low point in 2019 - I suspected we were starting to recover in 2020 with the new signings and the fanzone (think we got an 11k+ crowd for Hull before lockdown. Covid then came into play and Lams 2021 no doubt put a few off. Pretty obvious we've given out a lot of freebies this year. Hopefully the improved performances, community work and marketing appointment might help to improve ST sales next year.

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:40 am  

MadDogg wrote:

I suspect there were a bunch of tickets given out for the fixture when it was due to be played on a Sunday - maybe they were counted in the attendance figure. The fixture was moved from Friday to Sunday to Thursday which won't have helped.

We hit a real low point in 2019 - I suspected we were starting to recover in 2020 with the new signings and the fanzone (think we got an 11k+ crowd for Hull before lockdown. Covid then came into play and Lams 2021 no doubt put a few off. Pretty obvious we've given out a lot of freebies this year. Hopefully the improved performances, community work and marketing appointment might help to improve ST sales next year.

If we can't increase attendences on the back of a trophy winning year, where the rugby has been the most entertaining it has been in a long time, then the club really is on a hiding to nothing. The stay aways are running out of excuses.

Add on to the other stuff the club has massively improved on that you mention and i don't see what more they can do.

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:51 am  

The other big elephant in the room is the lack of away fans. How many times this season have we seen the away stand open? It makes a huge difference to both the attendance and the atmosphere. Sadly we only see that stand open for Wire, Saints and Leeds. Is that really good enough?

We must be the mugs of SL. Produce loads of players other teams pinch, bring a strong away following to most games & promote the game outside of the heartlands.

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 11:54 am  

Cruncher wrote:

Teams can often get into a rut like that, where the fans just can't see where the next win will come from. But one thing you can be certain of is that it WILL come eventually.

You're absolutely right. There is no way Wigan should succumb to what's been a perennial problem for them in recent years, which is complacency in the face of opponents they feel are already beaten.

Whatever the state of mind, neither side in a Wigan v Warrington derby will roll over.

Wire will fight hard for this one. We need to be up for it.

Didn't Wire roll over last time we played them?

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:14 pm  

Reckon the Toulouse result last night as taken a heap of pressure off Warrington, really hope we're switched on tonight or a Leeds type result beckons

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:43 pm  

MattyB wrote:

I think we should be discussing the elephant in the room when it comes to attendances. They gave it out as just over 11k last week when in reality it was clear there was no more than 7.5k sat in the stadium. That's a massive difference, now if the club have 3k-3.5k who have paid for their season ticket and for whatever reason they are not attending then that's one thing. I don't think the club are making it up but I do think they possibly handed out a couple of thousand cheap kids season tickets at the start of the season when they promoted the rugby sessions and these kids are just not turning up. It's quite worrying, actual attendances are the lowest I've seen since we've been at the DW.

When was the last time anyone was there and thought, wow... this is a decent crowd (ie. over 15k physically in the stadium), definitely pre-covid. Early 2019?

Edit - Just looked back, Good Friday 2019 we got 22k, we also got 21k against the Sydney Roosters early 2019. Other than that it was 12k against Wire.

Done on tickets sold and not tickets used. Every single sporting club in the country does it this way. I always remember Arsenal announcing 60k one night when there was a tube strike a huge storm and the ground was empty.

If we announce 7k because 1k ST holders didn't turn up then the taxman would be all over us when we tell him we made £x on that game. For the same reason, nobody would inflate their crowds because they'd pay more tax and lose money.

Thursday night crowds will always be announced higher than the actual numbers because a whole host of people don't/can't come. At least 6 ST holders missing on my row last week for example.

Free tickets I imagine also need to included in the figure whether they are used or not because there'd be no other way of distinguishing between the two at the turnstile.


On the point of whether or not they turn up and how many are at each game, I'm not really concerned. Fans don't win trophies. The worry is when the number of tickets sold comes down but there are many contributing factors to that which will be impacting every single club.

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:44 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

The other big elephant in the room is the lack of away fans. How many times this season have we seen the away stand open? It makes a huge difference to both the attendance and the atmosphere. Sadly we only see that stand open for Wire, Saints and Leeds. Is that really good enough?

We must be the mugs of SL. Produce loads of players other teams pinch, bring a strong away following to most games & promote the game outside of the heartlands.

Once against Toulouse of all teams

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:55 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Once against Toulouse of all teams

I was thinking about that as an example of how opening that stand makes a difference. Despite it being Toulouse, it was one of the better atmospheres of the year.

Obviously not sustainable to give loads of free tickets out just to open it tho.

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 2:03 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I was thinking about that as an example of how opening that stand makes a difference. Despite it being Toulouse, it was one of the better atmospheres of the year.

Obviously not sustainable to give loads of free tickets out just to open it tho.

No, but a local business partner each game that are given subsidised tickets could tap into a new fan base

Re: Warrington (h) : Fri Aug 05, 2022 3:53 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

The other big elephant in the room is the lack of away fans. How many times this season have we seen the away stand open? It makes a huge difference to both the attendance and the atmosphere. Sadly we only see that stand open for Wire, Saints and Leeds. Is that really good enough?

We must be the mugs of SL. Produce loads of players other teams pinch, bring a strong away following to most games & promote the game outside of the heartlands.

To be fair though, look at the home fixtures we have had this season so far, majority of our fixtures against yorkshire teams have been thursday / friday nights. Getting to a game across the M62 when you finish work at 5 is a pain, and getting to hull is almost impossible i have done it on a thursday before and just sat down in my seat as the ball is flying through the air for kick off. Thankfully i finish early on a friday but a lot don't still.

Yorkshire teams home game thursday / friday

Thursday night
Huddersfield
Castleford
Hull fc
Hull kr

Friday night
Leeds
Hull fc

These have not helped with our home attendences this year either imo.