The aim is to increase crowds. You are not going to get sustainable increases unless prices come down. Families may come one week with the incentive of free tickets, but given the option of then spending £50 plus the following week to watch Halifax v Hunslet......Halifax's prices would be okay if we were in Super League, but they are too high for the Championship.

With the right marketting before any game with reduced pricing, I don't see why you can't get way more than 250 extra people in. I attended a game at Thrum Hall in the 1989/90 season against Runcorn Highfield, RL's then perennial whipping boys and the crowd was over 6000. Where are these fans now?

As for the season ticket holders being a bit miffed, all I am suggesting is a trial for a few games this year. If it works, then I'd suggest it is implemented across the board next year but in the meantime, would any true fan with a season ticket object to a genuine attempt by the club to increase numbers?

No I certainly would not mind but I would prefer them to offer a mini season ticket so people are more likely to commit to attend the games for the rest of the season rather than a one off.

You are missing the point a little bit there Freddy , you are assuming that after one visit , these ' fans ' are suddenly expected to start coming straight away , that will just not work , so what you have to do is ' Blanket marketing '

Set aside one part of the stadium ( skircoat ) , that becomes your dedicated family stand , nobody gets in unless accompanied by kids , you don't randomly invite anybody , you go into a couple of local schools with the community dept run by frank , they do the ' pitch ' for the club , you invite the whole school ( kids,parents,siblings,teachers,spouses ) to a game , that is ' closing ' the deal

The teachers and their spouses go in the best stand and you invite them into the corporate lounge ( this is building relationships with the community as you want them to help sell the club to the kids and parents , ie a feel good factor , you want them all to have a good time

As the ' family stand ' is exactly that you don't sell alcohol , you work with your catering company , you tell them what you WANT , that being say hot dogs , cones of chips , cartons of drinks and toffee , ie just enough for kids without costing the earth

As the families enter the stand you ask them to fill in a simple questionnaire asking for their opinions of the day and if they would be interested in any ' special deals ' on future tickets obviously with their contact details

You have different schools every time , you invite a 1,000 people each time , do this for 5 games , then contact all those that said they would be interested in a special deal and do them a full family ticket for 20 quid , out of those 5,000 , you might get 500 back for your special deal , you make an extra £ 10,000 and potentially get another couple of hundred new fans , they won't come every week , but hopefully they will see themselves as Halifax RL fans

Then do it again , and again , and again

It won't happen overnight and it takes a lot of work , but it is the only way you will ever start to improve the numbers coming through the gates

It is no good getting a hundred down here and a hundred there , you need to get 4,000 through the doors to generate the atmosphere to get them to enjoy themselves enough to come back

Not forgetting to communicate all this to your existing fan base , so they trust the club to make sure things don't get abused , and are not upset when they see people getting something for free ,

But they're not going to come every week just because the price is £1 cheaper per ticket. Why would they?

You need 250 extra just for that £1
500 for £2
750 for £3 etc

There's no way that people in Halifax are sitting in the wings just waiting for the price of a ticket to come down £3. Simply reducing the gate prices is not going to work in any sport at 'this level' (the level that gets around 2,000-4,000 fans).

If ALL tickets were reduced by £5, if wouldn't have an impact of getting 1,250 in to off set the costs and even after a potential rise in crowd figures it would just hit a rut and Halifax would suddenly be charging £10 for Adults and getting 2,500 with the people not going still 'not being d'.

People who don't go now don't want to because they just don't, prices are just a glorious excuse that's used the world over, sport to sport.

Simply put, if reducing price was so obvious to the solution, why don't ALL Clubs (in Rugby and lower League Football) do it? Because it's financial suicide. Clubs have their own bills, VAT to pay and rising costs in the current climate just like everyone else.

The fact that Championship Rugby is practically a dead end sport just makes matters worse.

Also the 6,000 fans watching a tinpot game in 1990. What are they doing now? Well what are they not doing!? This is 2011, an age away from that. They're in pubs, cinemas, on the internet, xbox, Sky TV doing things on HD 3D Amazing -techno-vibes-full colour-screens...with surround sound, probably not even in Halifax anymore. Forget these people and forget these times.

[There's no way that people in Halifax are sitting in the wings just waiting for the price of a ticket to come down £3. Simply reducing the gate prices is not going to work in any sport at 'this level' (the level that gets around 2,000-4,000 fans).

If ALL tickets were reduced by £5, if wouldn't have an impact of getting 1,250 in to off set the costs and even after a potential rise in crowd figures it would just hit a rut and Halifax would suddenly be charging £10 for Adults and getting 2,500 with the people not going still 'not being d'.

People who don't go now don't want to because they just don't, prices are just a glorious excuse that's used the world over, sport to sport.

Simply put, if reducing price was so obvious to the solution, why don't ALL Clubs (in Rugby and lower League Football) do it? Because it's financial suicide. Clubs have their own bills, VAT to pay and rising costs in the current climate just like everyone else.

The fact that Championship Rugby is practically a dead end sport just makes matters worse.

Also the 6,000 fans watching a tinpot game in 1990. What are they doing now? Well what are they not doing!? This is 2011, an age away from that. They're in pubs, cinemas, on the internet, xbox, Sky TV doing things on HD 3D Amazing -techno-vibes-full colour-screens...with surround sound, probably not even in Halifax anymore. Forget these people and forget these times.'"

:2vrt1748

I'm not saying they are waiting in the wings for prices to come down. The point is that Halifax (including surrounding towns) has a larger population than some Super League clubs and has previously pulled in big crowds. The obvious way to increase crowds (as was shown in the 80's) is to be successful but, as there is no magic wand to guarantee this, the locals need an incentive to come along.=#FF0000:2vrt1748 Ultimately the entertainment they receive must justify the price they pay through the turnstiles


Sorry but that is unquantifyable , you cannot compare supporting a sports club to going to the pictures , you build loyalty into support , the price is an issue if you are trying to get somebody interested from new , it tends not to be once they are fans , if it is an issue then , they will tend just to support when funds allow , but will still remain ' fans '

It is very quantifiable, particularly whilst you're trying to build the loyalty. You can persuade people to come through with an incentive of free tickets, but how do you get them to come back in the following weeks? Most families will consider how they want to spend a Sunday afternoon. At the moment, watching Halifax for a family of 4 will cost more than other options such as going out for a pizza or going to watch a film. I agree its not an issue once you've got loyalty, but it is very hard to build that loyalty with an inconsistent team, in the second division and prices which are more expensive that other entertainment.

by putting on free transport if neccessary

That puts around 4,000 in the Shay , whereupon it becomes a much more ' exciting ' place for a youngster , they really wont care who you are playing , do all you can to make a fuss about them , supply cheap flags ,food , anything that makes them feel ' special '

Of course it helps if you manage to win , but playing attacking RL and scoring trys will still be enough even if you lose , you are putting your values and opinions on what is on offer at the match , look at it from an 8 yr olds perspective , or even an 8 yr olds parents perspective , if the club give little Johnny and his mates a great day out for hardly any cost , they will look to come back even if only occiasionally when funds allow , but they will potentially consider themselves Fax fans , and that is the start

One of the main critisms i have about seasons tickets is the massive jump between the junior to adult prices as i'm a 17 year old student a increase of £170 from a £30 junior to £200 for adults is too much of a jump for me to be able to afford to go to the games maybe a halfway price for students possibly as i know i'm not alone in being priced of going to the games

Students pay concession prices.

Done it.

Made half a dozen suggestions including more kids entertainment e.g. the face painters Also, marketing campaigns to local businesses, splitting the golden gamble prize into 2 or 3 smaller ones.

Oh, and bring back the drummers. Who remembers them?