Think an arguement bout Leeds attendances is total nonsense. First time I ever watched Leeds we were trounced by Warrington and the entire ground calling for peter fox's head. Fast forward to the CC cup win in 99 and we were all still there. Don't think our Yorkshire cup win v cas would have captivated everyone that long. Leeds are and always will be a well supported team, if we're mugs so be it!

The Warrington game you are referring to (lost 16-54) was on the 16th November 1986 and 6,993 turned up. The following home game was against Hull KR and 5,853 were there to see Leeds trounce the Robins 42-7, ten days later Peter Fox was history at Headingley but that's beside the point.

You wouldn't be concerned to see Leeds return to those sort of attendances?

I bet Paul Caddick and Gary Hetherington would be.

Fair enough, when your 10 it seems like a lot more. All I'm saying is we've been let down a hell of a lot more in years gone by than we are now.

No offence intended. You only have to witness the slide in attendances over at our near neighbours to realise that a supporter base cannot be fed BS indefinately.

Agree totally. I just like that I see same people from 20 odd yrs ago sticking with leeds thru and thru. Suckers for punishment!

true fans, not glory hunters

Think more than half our fan base have seen us win 2 grand finals and none of the before. Bless. Hope they don't have to either.

yeh i did mean us travelling away mind you super league is set up in a way that makes league games worthless really and fans know this thats why you'll never get the house full signs up anymore, as if you win the whole thing by fnishing top i think we'd see some very difference results in games.

And leeds would have two extra forwards & a centre.

If the league continues it's progress in establishing parity, we're only going to win an average of half our games. Is that going to see attendances crashing?

I'm suprised no one has pointed out one obvious fact, the Southstander holds 2000 less people this year and I do know of about 10/15 who have stopped coming because of the overcrowding and displacement this has caused.

You could say that more would come as games are more likely to be close and entertaining, thats a bigger attraction for many than always winning

An interesting point young sir, depends on wether you prefer a genuine competitive competition where the so called bottom teams can triumph on a more regular basis against the "top" teams or to the dark old days of one dominant team steam rolliing all before it .

Genuine competition for me.

Dont get me wrong, ive been as gutted as everyone else at losing games that we are "expected" to win, but if that is the price for a more competitive league than so be it.

Unfortunatly supporters weened on constant success will no doubt fall by the wayside as the competition increases, in their eyes seeing their team becoming worse when actually the teams behind are catching up with the "top" teams , yet those supporters who are a bit more long in the tooth/wiser will still be stood on the terraces long after the "glory" supporters have gone.

I don't think the chances of getting beaten are a problem for supporters, otherwise why would our sellouts over recent years have mostly been against the teams most likely to beat us. Both before and after we became a sucessful side.

Real supporters, no i agree, glory seeking band-waggoners? most certainly.

A pertinent point.

I know the markets are not entirely comparable but in the NFL parity does not mean lower attendances. In fact, the biggest attended team in the league for years have not been champions for 18 years.

Redskins?

Yes. They avarage about 88,000 a home game and often sell out at 91,000+ despite being a team that goes from average to awful to OK.

Still, next year the Cowboys will have a bigger stadium making them the worst team in the league with the biggest crowds.

Americas team my ar*e.

Patriots all the way. 68.000+ average not too shabby. [size=59(for 15th place

)[/size

We used to have a dedicated NFL thread on here and fans from all sites would visit.

Then Oldham Rhino threw his teddies out of the pram and got it moved to the other Sports forum.

I've shown him though, I rarely go and post on it.

Dont we have a reduced capacity in the South Stand?

Would only really matter as the only game close to capacity has been the wigan one, and was still a way off

They cant actually have a bigger average because its been sold out for the last 7+ years every game cant complain apart from they should have made the stadium bigger

It depends how that parity is reached. If the team (and I include everyone from the Chairman down to the Academy set up) gives 100% win, lose or draw and the lower half teams have caught up rather than the top half teams getting dragged down then I would hope and expect the genuine fans to stay committed.

What is happening over at Odsal is a concern, although arguably more of a concern for them rather than for the league as a whole. In my view they are returning to what they have historically been which is an unfashionable outfit, playing in an unfashionable stadium where 'Bullmania' was the blip.

I can't ever imagine that happening, that must be a figment of your imagination!