Quote: Faxhali "Im affraid in sheffields case absolutly not for promotion, it would kill off all the good work they have done, they have a fan base of about 250 people and that is it. How the hell do you expect them to survive let alone compete. They are like the littleist hobo with no home ground and mess fixtures about every single year becuase of the football season. This would make the SL look less silly than it already does which is a hard thing to do.
'"
While as an Eagles fan I agree that we're nowhere near ready for Super League, I have to take issue with a number of points:
1. The Eagles took a lot more than 250 yesterday. It wasn't thousands, but our core fan base - as in regular attendees at home matches - is somewhere between 750 and 1000
2. Sheffield United would have a different attitude if the Eagles were in SL. The whole point they got involved in letting the Eagles use Brammall Lane is that they're suppprtive of the Eagles SL ambitions. They can see potential and an opportunity to make money should the Eagles be in SL. They also have been on at the RFL about hosting big games (test matches, Challenge cup semis etc), but the RFL in their wisdom aren't keen
3. Sheffield's average attendance has actually gone up this year. I can't remember the exact figures but it's a decent rise
Obviously we need to be getting much more significant crowds if we're going to get anywhere near a licence in future. The club knows this and has been investing in marketing and promotion and will continue to do so.
Like I say, we're not there yet but things are looking up. Remember that our crowds were rubbish before we went up into the top division the first time round (and of course SL). Our attendances weren't amazing then but we were averaging around 4000. Still not particularly good, but at the time comparable to many top flight clubs (bar the bigger sides like Wire, Wigan, Leeds, Saints etc, and more than Huddersfield and comparable to Salford)
