Playing devil's advocate a little, how many of those Heineken Cup games have actually been played at full capacity in grounds that are smaller than Wembley?

Looks a great stat, but sometimes these things aren't quite as they appear at first glance.

The Warrington end looked full to me, and there were other Wires in the other half too - I thought their fans showed up in bigger numbers than most clubs in recent years. Let's be honest, the majority of the genuine blank spots (if you ignore the Club Wembley nonsense) were in the upper tier at the Huddersfield end. But who is surprised about that? The Giants have a smaller following, and even within that number a large slice of fans are relatively recent. They just don't have the same latent fan base as someone like Wire etc. You can't magic something like that out of your backside at three weeks notice - looked to me that as many Hudds supporters as you could expect to be there, were there.

I for one think it is much better for the game for a team like Hudds to get what their efforts deserve this season, even if it means a few empty seats at Wembley. It is seasons like this, with trips to Wembley and imminent big play-off games, that build audiences. Let's not start moaning because the cart hasn't come before the horse, and just celebrate the real progress being made.

There were quite a few empty spaces in the more expensive parts of the ground, you could see that from the TV shots.

The neutrals aren't going because they have given up on the sport

The lower leagues are dieing fast

These fans just stop going to any event

But as long as a handful of clubs are doing great everything is hunky dory

Keep beliving its all wonderful

Did you not go..............

That handful seems to grow almost every year ...

I decided to go last week and I am a neutral. I thought there would be 68,000 on so I thought 76,000 was very good. Warrington brought hordes of fans and Huddersfield were as well supported as could be expected for a team that's building after so many lean years.

Saw something on teletext about the RFL offering tickets at discounted prices if you buy now.
Pretty sure that's what it said.
There were four of us due to go this year, but the money situation sorted that out.

The challenge cup final was nearly always a sell out before SL so he has a pretty valid point.

Most people in the RL heartlands dont give a toss any more and have turned to other sports. Unfortunately the RFL in thier wisdom still seem to believe that for every heartland fan who falls by the wayside, another ten are waiting around the corner in Dublin, Barcelona, Bridgend and Southend by Sea. So where were they on saturday?

What if the CC fina was [inot[/i nearly always a sell out before SL?

Would that mean his point was [inot[/i valid?



This just isn't true.

Point on the CC attendances was that its losing its gloss and is no longer attractive to the neutral, whereas is was prior to SL. Now its a marginalised competition by the RFL who's focus is the grand final.

If you dont think people are getting disillusioned with the game in the UK you must live in a cave. The RFL focusing their efforts on a select few only serves to alienate those on the outside and those people dont go running to the nearest club as a substitute. Christ, the RFL dont even make a half attempt to please the NL clubs or BARLA and their fans so why would they give a toss about the game any more.

No, the point is that what you said was wrong - and so if that was the support for his point, it has none.

Saturday's attendance compared well with any of the pre-Sl CC finals after the configuration of Wembley was changed.

I think you've come to a conclusion, and are trying to set the facts to fit.

I think the final of the CC still has the same gloss and is still the big occasion it has been, there are many factors which probably contributed to the lower attendance this season - most notably probably the current economic climate making it harder for a lot of neutrals - but so far this is a one off drop and we will see in coming years how it works out in the long term.