Super League Round 5 Results

[Fairleigh Good!]

Super League
Huddersfield 34 - 18 Widnes Att: 3,383

Leeds 38 - 6 Warrington Att: 15,637

Leigh 6 - 46 Bradford Att: 4,241

St Helens 46 - 12 Salford Att: 9,971

London 34 - 20 Wigan Att: 5,057

Hull 36 - 33 Wakefield Att: 10,805

Two more dreadful attendances in Super League. I think its time relegation was abolished and the league was adjusted. That way we could do away with all the dead wood in one go.

Its not nice to say but what on earth do Salford, Huddersfield and the other promoted team (This season Leigh) offer Super League?

 

[Evil Homer]

Hudds are averaging over 7000 for the season.

A match on Sky while Comic Relief and 3 other games are on when there is no public transport on Fridays in Hudds and it's been raining most of the day.Couple that with the fact that Hudds were belted last week and Widnes brought about 200 it was always bound to draw a low crowd.

 

[Matt M]

I agree with getting rid of relegation/promotion. Lets just pick the 12 teams that offer the most to Super League in terms of commercial success, on field success, good supporter base, juniors and expansion (London and UTC). I'm not sure about Huddersfield and Salford, but what on earth are this Leigh team doing in Super League, they are rubbish on the field and they get 4000 to every game, bring back Castleford.

 

[lyon is a saint]

yeah spot on matt, i like leigh but they are simply not a super league team

 

[alexisUK]

Are leigh going to get an average crowd over 5k this season? Probably. Are they likely to get crowds of a few k if playing in the NL1? Probably. While a crowd of 4000 in a flagship competition when paying full time players is embarassing and unhelpful for the sport and the club, getting 2/3k in NL1 would keep the club going part time no problem, be an asset to the national league, and allow the players that do well for Leigh keep playing for them, rather than all being sacked on promotion. Franchising is the way forward!

 

[coldhardbitch]

London Have Defeated Wigan 34-20 at Griffin Park, with Paul Sykes scoring 22 points for the Broncos

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Hudds are averaging over 7000 for the season.

A match on Sky while Comic Relief and 3 other games are on when there is no public transport on Fridays in Hudds and it's been raining most of the day.Couple that with the fact that Hudds were belted last week and Widnes brought about 200 it was always bound to draw a low crowd.

I'm not trying to be personal about it, but where are the fan bases at those clubs?

Huddersfield might have been belted but a crowd as low as 3,000 is a total shambles. They have been very competitive in the league now for a couple of years and look to be top 6 candidates this term. If they can't get a solid 5,000 regulars on the back of their relative success, are they ever going to?

Leigh is a strange one, it isn't their fault. Everyone knew that they wouldn't be competitive in Super League and much of the talk amongst the Leigh speccies I know was about whether they would win a match all season, which isn't a backboard for bringing the crowds in. It will be like this for all promoted teams from now on. The gap is just too enormous, it is impossible to create a SL team in one go after winning promotion. Relegation has to go!

At the moment Super League is struggling terribly I think. Almost ten years into the competition and the only solid clubs are (In no particular order) St. Helens, Wigan, Bradford, Leeds, Hull and Warrington. Of the rest Widnes and Wakefield are decent clubs who have been hampered drastically by their lack of success on the field. If either were annual top 6 teams and were capable of regular competitveness against the top sides they would get good averages, Widnes could average 10k if genuine contenders I believe.

Super League NEEDS another four teams minimum who can average close to 10,000 (7,500+) and it needs them quickly. London are on their last legs and probably won't exist in two years time too. Once Union's Zurich Premiership becomes a closed shop it will have 10 sides for whom 10,000 averages is a realistic target. They are winning the battle so comfortably at the moment its unreal. Perhaps we need to bite the bullet, swallow our pride and ask why its happening.

 

[Hightown Tiger]

Always an interesting topic.

I agree that some teams aren't doing well in terms of attendances. But teams are in Super League based on their performance on the pitch, not attendances. I don't think scrapping promotion/relegation is the way forward, as this would more or less destroy the lower leagues. I mean, there are plenty of loyal fans left in NL1 and NL2.

Onto Huddersfield, and I'm starting to think their problem with crowds is the stadium itself. Perhaps some Huddersfield fans on here could tell me what kind of crowds you used to get at Fartown. The Mcalpine is a great stadium, don't get me wrong, but I think it is too big for Huddersfuield Giants. Unfortunately I can't recommend any other grounds with terracing in the Huddersfield area.

**Rugby league supporters in England prefer to stand, not sit. (Need any evidence, conduct a poll on here or rlfans).

**The Mcalpine is a bit too far away from the town centre. Shuttle buses need to be provided. I have no problem walking it but for some the walk may put them off.

**No one will pay £16 or however much it is to sit down when you can pay £12-£13 to stand at other grounds. Yes, I know Giants fans will say it's only £15 if you pre-purchase but many people turn up on the day and don't want to mess about pre-purchasing and collecting tickets.

 

[Evil Homer]

Hudds have lowered their prices.It's £15 this year,which is the lowest seating price in the league by far.Just ask Hull fans...

Like I say,the average for the season so far is over 7k,which is 2-3k higher than London,Wakefield,Leigh,Salford and about level with Widnes.I agree that 3383 is a poor crowd but there are reasons for it which I have pointed out earlier in the thread.I'm pretty sure that if played on a Sunday afternoon(or even a Saturday) the game would have had well over 5k.Sadly though one bad crowd seems to have been taken way over the top.

 

[lyon is a saint]

huddersfield should be getting near 10.000 never mind 5, i don't like huddersfield for the simple fact that there fand are very poor, more london fans come to saints than huddersfield fans do.

you also have a brilliant stadium going to waste

 

[Evil Homer]

Huddersfield were awful for 50 odd years.We were bottom of SL for 4 years with an utterly inept,and while lots of fans mock us for this,we would have rather been relegated than loose all those fans.Couple that with the disastrous merger and most people just gave up.Slowly but surely those fans are creeping back,but you can't expect instant results.A few years of showing everyone that things have changed will see a steady increase,but people need to be re-introduced to the game and that takes time.The same goes for Wakefield too,but slightly less extreme.

Hull have beaten Wakey 36-33 BTW.

 

[Matt M]

I'm with a lot of people here. Promotion/Relegation is not helping the game and it is really preventing the game from expanding.

Right now we have only have 5 really strong clubs (Wigan, St Helens, Bradford, Leeds and Hull). They have money, strong crowds, corporate support and strong on field success. Behind them we have teams like Warrington and Salford that are moderately good and could become far more successul if given time. Then we have the rest (of whom Leigh are by far the worst) where they get small crowds, no corporate support, and really add nothing to the Super League.

What needs to be done is that we select the 12 best sides that will add the most to the Super League and that will be it, no teams come in and no go out. Perhaps after a few years if some NL1 teams or possibly teams from other areas in Europe (Wales, France etc) can show that they could survive in the Super League then we could look to expand the competition.

Look at what happened last year to Castleford. They have one poor year on the field and they are relegated to NL1, and who do we get to replace them? Leigh Centurions, who are a great club but should not be in Super League. I really would like to find someone who actually believes Leigh make Super League a better competition compared to Castleford. All that has happened this year is we lose a potentially very strong team for a year to make way for a team that won't be able to stay in the Super League. When Castleford come back in (or if another team does) then they will have to start again from square one. How does this help rugby league?

Removing relegation from the competition will allow teams like Salford and London to build success on the field without the fear of being relegated, or actually being relegated and being pushed back years financially. We should focus on getting the 12 teams with the most potential to a standard that is acceptable; average crowds of 8000 for example. Then we can look at expanding beyond these areas.

Relegation works in soccer because there are so many full professional teams and the drop from EPL to Division One isn't as disastrious from teams as it is in rugby league.


(forgive me if this is very disjointed but right now I'm a little too tired)

 

[Matt M]

I'm with a lot of people here. Promotion/Relegation is not helping the game and it is really preventing the game from expanding.

Right now we have only have 5 really strong clubs (Wigan, St Helens, Bradford, Leeds and Hull). They have money, strong crowds, corporate support and strong on field success. Behind them we have teams like Warrington and Salford that are moderately good and could become far more successul if given time. Then we have the rest (of whom Leigh are by far the worst) where they get small crowds, no corporate support, and really add nothing to the Super League.

What needs to be done is that we select the 12 best sides that will add the most to the Super League and that will be it, no teams come in and no go out. Perhaps after a few years if some NL1 teams or possibly teams from other areas in Europe (Wales, France etc) can show that they could survive in the Super League then we could look to expand the competition.

Look at what happened last year to Castleford. They have one poor year on the field and they are relegated to NL1, and who do we get to replace them? Leigh Centurions, who are a great club but should not be in Super League. I really would like to find someone who actually believes Leigh make Super League a better competition compared to Castleford. All that has happened this year is we lose a potentially very strong team for a year to make way for a team that won't be able to stay in the Super League. When Castleford come back in (or if another team does) then they will have to start again from square one. How does this help rugby league?

Removing relegation from the competition will allow teams like Salford and London to build success on the field without the fear of being relegated, or actually being relegated and being pushed back years financially. We should focus on getting the 12 teams with the most potential to a standard that is acceptable; average crowds of 8000 for example. Then we can look at expanding beyond these areas.

Relegation works in soccer because there are so many full professional teams and the drop from EPL to Division One isn't as disastrious from teams as it is in rugby league.


(forgive me if this is very disjointed but right now I'm a little too tired)

 

[Matt M]

I'm with a lot of people here. Promotion/Relegation is not helping the game and it is really preventing the game from expanding.

Right now we have only have 5 really strong clubs (Wigan, St Helens, Bradford, Leeds and Hull). They have money, strong crowds, corporate support and strong on field success. Behind them we have teams like Warrington and Salford that are moderately good and could become far more successul if given time. Then we have the rest (of whom Leigh are by far the worst) where they get small crowds, no corporate support, and really add nothing to the Super League.

What needs to be done is that we select the 12 best sides that will add the most to the Super League and that will be it, no teams come in and no go out. Perhaps after a few years if some NL1 teams or possibly teams from other areas in Europe (Wales, France etc) can show that they could survive in the Super League then we could look to expand the competition.

Look at what happened last year to Castleford. They have one poor year on the field and they are relegated to NL1, and who do we get to replace them? Leigh Centurions, who are a great club but should not be in Super League. I really would like to find someone who actually believes Leigh make Super League a better competition compared to Castleford. All that has happened this year is we lose a potentially very strong team for a year to make way for a team that won't be able to stay in the Super League. When Castleford come back in (or if another team does) then they will have to start again from square one. How does this help rugby league?

Removing relegation from the competition will allow teams like Salford and London to build success on the field without the fear of being relegated, or actually being relegated and being pushed back years financially. We should focus on getting the 12 teams with the most potential to a standard that is acceptable; average crowds of 8000 for example. Then we can look at expanding beyond these areas.

Relegation works in soccer because there are so many full professional teams and the drop from EPL to Division One isn't as disastrious from teams as it is in rugby league.


(forgive me if this is very disjointed but right now I'm a little too tired)

 

[alexisUK]

Christ! A triple post, you must've been tired. Needless to say, agree with most (all?) if what you say.

 

[Matt M]

Christ! A triple post, you must've been tired. Needless to say, agree with most (all?) if what you say.

Yeah, I thought it was so good I should put it up three times.

But, really I have no idea why that happened.

 

[God-King Dean]

Where are Hull coming now?

& how many tries has Blacklock got now? 20 at least

 

[lyon is a saint]

they got beat today so there still 3rd