Maybe not, but Wigan and Leeds both have 10000 or more season ticket holders yet each can only around 6000 to a cup semi final. If you are a season ticket holder at your club I can't understand why you wouldn't want to attend a semi final? If the fans who are supposedly 'nuts about the game' don't want to turn up, what are the chances of attracting any new support?

Traveled up from london and the atmosphere in the wigan end was brilliant. Atmosphere was electric.



Shame result didn't go our way.



Gotta admit I was shocked at the turn up when I arrived. 12k is not good but how the hell anyone can blame the RFL I don't know.



People seem to just wanna blame them for everything.

I think there is an element of final fatigue at the "top" clubs, but you can't dismiss the effects of the economy either. Now admittedly the tickets are relatively cheap but the other costs associated with going (fuel/transport, food & drink etc) are all going up.

Add those elements together and it's not surprising that crowds are down from 8-10 years ago.

For example, over the last 10 seasons Leeds fans (and other clubs like Saints will have similar figures I'm sure) have had 8 Challenge Cup Semi Finals, 5 Challenge Cup Finals, 17 Playoff games, 6 Grand Finals & 5 World Club Challenges to "pay out" for, that's a lot and after a while, if money is tight, I can understand the reasoning behind staying at home and watching it on tv with a few beers. I don't think it's a co-incidence that games on a season ticket are well attended, and those not on it are less well attended in general.

If someone invented a great product, all seemed good, etc. but for some reason it just wasn't selling, you'd be encouraging that person to find out what the heck was going on so that they could do justice to their product. If they said to me " I've done everything right, its the customers fault " then I'd tell them they were going to fail unless they got their head out their backside and accepted that something - perhaps yet unknown - could be done to improve things, and if they wanted to succeed it was their job to find out. Blaming the customers would be the most useless waste of time. If you call that 'blaming', fine, I call it common sense.

It was great to see many Leeds and Wigan fans enjoying the Huddersfield Carnival on Saturday.

Sadly this was marred with the arrival of some Wigan Ultra fans. They portrayed a very negative image and just reminded me of the hooligan element that is so prevalent in football. I didn't see them causing any trouble but the way they marched and chanted was aggressive and asking for trouble. Not sure what Wigan as a club could do but I certainly hope that these type of fans don't become the norm.

Not too long back a Wembley trip was an annual event for most Working mens clubs/Amateur clubs across the North, as was the big internationals at Wembley or Old Trafford.

Remember the 100k gates, and the sell outs at all seater Wembley for the CC, and the 50k plus's at OT and Wembley - was the best 72k v Aussies.

A united game is essential for our future.

It is, however many of your views are shared by few

There's been just one 100k gate, and it wasn't at Wembley. The Cup Final crowds have remained pretty similar for decades, the difference is in the earlier rounds and especially the semis where the crowds have dropped off.

You are indeed correct, it was interesting that in the decade of decline 78-88 whilst the capacity was high 8 gates were above 90k with a high of 99,801, not quite 100k. Is that period in your 'decades'?

Yes it does.

The average crowd for a Wembley final from 1945/46 (when it leapt in popularity) to 1999 is about bang on 83,000.



The average crowd for a Wembley final in the new Wembley is roughly 81,500.

So 80,000 paying souls in a stadium 200 miles from the clubs' "heartlands",with a few more million watching it live on freeview/terrestrial. A clear sign that the Cup is dead.

Yep. I blame the RFL.