On the kit subject, reckon there will be lots of neutrals at the final - both clubs need to think of ways to get the neutrals into their colours - even if it's only taping kit-couloured paper tabards onto speccies as they go in.

I say this time and time again, attendances make no difference to the quality of the game.

fair enough, 10K isn't very good for a semi final but it felt like more from position I was wedged into in the main stand.

Just because the World Snooker Final only gets 1000 people in the room, doesn't mean it's any less important, same goes for many things in life.

The games should of been either a double header at the city of manchester stadium to try and fill it.

Or

A triple header at Twickers along with a quins league game to try and promote the game down there. Quins RU did a game there and got over 60,00.

Or

A triple header at the millennium stadium with a Celtic league game to promote the game down there. There was a RU semi there not long ago and it was nearly full.


To people who say attendances are all RL fans care about, well it is what will make the game grow. We are miles behind some sports. We used to get big crowds so we should now. Its a massive part of our sport.

I used to fret over the fact that more people weren't attracted to the Greatest Game until a mate of mine put it in a nutshell for me.

He was referring to all the people in the South not getting on board with London (as they were at the time) but its applicable anywhere....if they haven't got the gumption to see just what drama and quality they're missing then its their problem not a rugby league's.

Sure, we need to strive for bigger crowds, better sponsorship, media coverage and all that goes with it...but the bottom line is that there were two fantastic Cup matches this weekend that simply could be surpassed for sporting theatre.

We have a thriving Super League - so so much better than guessing which of four teams might win the footy comp for instance or watching a sport in which you pay for five days and get only three - and the Championship is in an unbelievably healthy state in terms of equality and producing great games, too.

Let us crack on with what we do so well and if only all the true fans would rally round for the rep' games at the end of the year we needn't worry about those who refuse to acknowledge what we have, which is uniquely special.

After the two semis at the weekend I feel more positive about the game than for years. We have a wonderful product and should never take that for granted.

No no no. The Peoples Final is all about wearing your own team's kit. Just love seeing if you can spot a shirt from every team in the league.

Strangely enough the hardest one to find every year is a Harlequins shirt!!

So how many did the Giants take to Twickers?

I'd expect around 20k from Wire. Maybe they'll stick around after, too?

Last year I walked into the spoons pub round the corner from the stadium and counted 28 different club shirts from this country. Also people wearing SOO shirts and England, Aus, NZ and France shirts and also a scotland shirt and some other NRL shirts, it was brilliant. That it was it unique about our sport. For the community shield final on sunday I am pretty sure the only time the fans were allowed to see each other is accross the stadium.

Apparently we took 13,000 to Twickenham, I expect quite a bit more this year.

and for all st helens have acheived in the last 10-12 years their crowd aren't much better really

Saints fans didn't turn up in great numbers as there was a sense of deja vu about it all. A lot of people will have not bothered in order to try to save some money as we've had two expensive major finals every year for ages.

Huddersfield should have brought more fans, but we should focus on the positives and say it was probably up 100% on their showing at the 2003/4 (?) semi at the same ground.

Huddersfield didn't take any sizeable amount of fans to Twickers for the final in their previous appearance. There were no big sections of their supporters and whilst they were obviously there, there was no way there were any more than a few thousand. Again though this year they will take significantly more.

I think it's time the Huddersfield public paid Mr Davy back for his efforts at the club. From the perspective of an outsider they seem to have done a miraculous job in transforming the club and I hope the fans get off their backsides and pack out not only Wembley but the Galpharm for the last few home games and for the future. The board and team there deserve a 10,000 average.

As has been said, the official numbers for Twikers were 13000 from Huddersfield

Where is that taken from though? People who bought tickets with a Huddersfield postcode? Or 13,000 bought from the club?

why if you cant fill it