Super League 2023 discussion

[Perth Red]

 

[Pneuma]

Record crowds

Super League post attendance hike with decade-long record surpassed

A number of Super League clubs have reported increased figures this year.

www.hulldailymail.co.uk

 

[Perth Red]

Brilliant final round of Superleague with 5 of the 6 games having an influence on playoff places. Well done wigan on taking the league leaders shield and to my club for racking up a score to finish in 4th. Up the Robins!

 

[Perth Red]

Regular season final table

 

[Perth Red]

First week of playoffs

HKR v Leigh
St Helens v Warrington

 

[Brian potter]

First week of playoffs

HKR v Leigh
St Helens v Warrington

Knockout games?

 

[Perth Red]

Knockout games?

Yep

if goes to form semis will likely be

catalans v st helens
wigan v hkr or Leigh

 

[Brian potter]

Yep

if goes to form semis will likely be

catalans v st helens
wigan v hkr or Leigh

Good stuff.

hate all of this 2nd bite of the cherry nonsense.

 

[Perth Red]

sudden death playoff weekend!

Game 1
Hull Kingston Rovers v Leigh Leopards

Hull KR will take on the Leigh Leopards for the fifth time this season in front of a sold out Craven Park.Atmosphere will be electric as Rovers look for some Wembley revenge.

Prediction: HKR by 10

Game 2
St Helens v Warrington Wolves

High flying St’s take on a disappointing Wolves in the second game of the weekend. Having only just scraped into 6th spot is hard to see anything but a comfortable home win in this one.

Prediction: St’s by 20

 

[Perth Red]

Season crowd avg’s


1st: Leeds - 13,770
2nd: Wigan 13,497
3rd: St Helens - 12,782
4th: Hull FC - 12,364
5th: Warrington - 10,887
6th: Catalans - 9,062
7th: Hull KR - 8,770
8th: Leigh - 7,253
9th: Castleford - 7,185
10th: Salford - 5,291
11th: Huddersfield - 5,247
12th: Wakefield - 4,303

 

[taste2taste]

Season crowd avg’s


1st: Leeds - 13,770
2nd: Wigan 13,497
3rd: St Helens - 12,782
4th: Hull FC - 12,364
5th: Warrington - 10,887
6th: Catalans - 9,062
7th: Hull KR - 8,770
8th: Leigh - 7,253
9th: Castleford - 7,185
10th: Salford - 5,291
11th: Huddersfield - 5,247
12th: Wakefield - 4,303

How do those crowds compare with recent seasons?

While I'm here, totally random question, 20/15 yrs ago Super League were signing NRL players in thier droves, not at the end of thier careers but when they still had alot to offer. What's changed since then? Has the SL cap dropped ? Or the NRL cap gone up ? Not trolling, genuine question.

 

[Brian potter]

How do those crowds compare with recent seasons?

they seem to fluctuate accordingly to form of certain teams.

While I'm here, totally random question, 20/15 yrs ago Super League were signing NRL players in thier droves, not at the end of thier careers but when they still had alot to offer. What's changed since then? Has the SL cap dropped ? Or the NRL cap gone up ? Not trolling, genuine question.

i would guess the exchange rate was more favourable to Aussie players and there was more TV and sponsorship money in super League 20-25 years ago.

 

[taste2taste]

they seem to fluctuate accordingly to form of certain teams.

I'm not an expert on ESL crowds, in fact this is the first time I've ever seen any.
Am I right in saying compared toin other comps in Europe ( all other comps being Union of course) only the Top 14 would have better average crowds ? ...and only slightly better.

 

[Brian potter]

I'm not an expert on ESL crowds, in fact this is the first time I've ever seen any.
Am I right in saying compared toin other comps in Europe ( all other comps being Union of course) only the Top 14 would have better average crowds ? ...and only slightly better.

Don’t quote be but I think overall super league has bigger crowds than English RU but the biggest and best supported rugby clubs would be Leicester tigers and Bristol bears.

 

[Perth Red]

How do those crowds compare with recent seasons?

While I'm here, totally random question, 20/15 yrs ago Super League were signing NRL players in thier droves, not at the end of thier careers but when they still had alot to offer. What's changed since then? Has the SL cap dropped ? Or the NRL cap gone up ? Not trolling, genuine question.

A few things happened.
Back then news ltd we’re happy to pump money into English rl as part of the SL era deal. Over the years that has been reduced significantly.

nrl cap has gone up triple since then due to increasing tv deals

back then there was a tax loophole which meant overseas players could get paid tax free offshore

HKRs crowd avg is the best since 1981. Overall crowds have been strong this season with just Wakey at bottom and as as usual Salford and Huddersfield being low.

 

[Perth Red]

I'm not an expert on ESL crowds, in fact this is the first time I've ever seen any.
Am I right in saying compared toin other comps in Europe ( all other comps being Union of course) only the Top 14 would have better average crowds ? ...and only slightly better.

According to wiki last season top 14 crowd avg was 14.8k and English comp. 12.5k.
English comp top club was Leicester with 22k and smallest newcastle with 3.1k.

 

[Brian potter]

A few things happened.
Back then news ltd we’re happy to pump money into English rl as part of the SL era deal. Over the years that has been reduced significantly.

nrl cap has gone up triple since then due to increasing tv deals

back then there was a tax loophole which meant overseas players could get paid tax free offshore

HKRs crowd avg is the best since 1981. Overall crowds have been strong this season with just Wakey at bottom and as as usual Salford and Huddersfield being low.

Do kr draw many fans from outside the city mate like from Beverley, hessle or even goole?

 

[taste2taste]

According to wiki last season top 14 crowd avg was 14.8k and English comp. 12.5k.
English comp top club was Leicester with 22k and smallest newcastle with 3.1k.

Those ESL crowds are a pleasant surprise, the way people talk about the super league being a niche sport I was under the impression they had crowds similar to Super Rugby...around 5k with the occasional game getting 15k. But those figures show the SL is probably the 2nd biggest rugby comp in Europe and probably the 3rd biggest in the world, which is pretty impressive imo

Is there any data on TV ratings ? And are games shown on FTA ? The population of the greater Mancherter, Liverpool and Leeds areas is similar to the population of NSW and QLD, I know League is light years behind football but there is the population there for Grand Finals and the top of the table clashes to get a decent audience.

Lastly, does the SL copy the NRL rules ? The NRL has had a 20% increase in crowds this season on the back of rule changes promoting a more open and fast game, are these same rules taken up by SL ? ( 6 again is the main one )

 

[Perth Red]

Do kr draw many fans from outside the city mate like from Beverley, hessle or even goole?

Mostly east hull and the Holderness area.

 

[Perth Red]

Those ESL crowds are a pleasant surprise, the way people talk about the super league being a niche sport I was under the impression they had crowds similar to Super Rugby...around 5k with the occasional game getting 15k. But those figures show the SL is probably the 2nd biggest rugby comp in Europe and probably the 3rd biggest in the world, which is pretty impressive imo

Is there any data on TV ratings ? And are games shown on FTA ? The population of the greater Mancherter, Liverpool and Leeds areas is similar to the population of NSW and QLD, I know League is light years behind football but there is the population there for Grand Finals and the top of the table clashes to get a decent audience.

Lastly, does the SL copy the NRL rules ? The NRL has had a 20% increase in crowds this season on the back of rule changes promoting a more open and fast game, are these same rules taken up by SL ? ( 6 again is the main one )

Yeh it’s the 4th biggest rugby comp in world by attendance

tv has been interesting, one of the things holding SL back has been lack of fta exposure. Challenge cup on bbc gets around 1million viewers. This year for first time SL has been in fta for a few games on ch4 and rated well. From next year every game is going to be available for first time ever. Ch4 is getting more games and we are waiting to hear what SL will do with the remaining ones not in sky each week.

Channel 4’s staggering viewing figures for all Super League games in 2023 so far – Total Rugby League

www.totalrl.com