Quote: shinymcshine "It shows how dead our sport is when some fans of successful clubs with over 100 yrs of history think their club is doing well supporter wise, when they 'boast' of having just 5k-10k more fans than some relatively fledgling clubs. That Saints, Wigan and Leeds haven't made significant gains outside of their immediate areas shows the games inability to penetrate into any new fan base.'"
I dunno about this. In 2008 Leeds, Wigan Hull and Saints were the best supported clubs averaging 13,000 fans a game
The average a game for these four still dominant clubs eleven years later is 11,000.....
This was their average in the early 2000's
So the main drop off seems to be by new fans who were attracted to these big clubs in their new/modern/improved stadia but have lost interest despite these clubs continued success......
It's almost as if in the era of bigger and better stadiums more people were willing to go to watch the top clubs in their improved stadia, but somehow these additional fans have dropped off in recent years. Maybe ATEOTD they didn't care greatly for Rugby league, maybe it was some sort of era when it was fashionable to watch RL?
2003 we averaged 8,200 a game in Superleague
2019 we averages 8,200 a game in Superleague
If you think the sport is "dead" because of the current attendances, then it's no more dead than it was nearly 20 years ago. My guess is that the game became fashionable as Superleague progressed and stadia improved, but most of the "new fans" following the "glamour" clubs have over time peeled away........