Good idea, could have had Widnes-Leigh and Saints-Fax at Bolton with Batley-Sheffield and Hull-Wire at Headingley.

I remember the RFL justifying the decision to do the semis as a double header as they wanted to "tap into the event market". Well, make an event out of it for crying out loud.

Wiith the best will in the world, Bolton is not an event destination. Nobody wants to spend their Saturday afternoons on a retail park in a pretty unimpressive northern town.

And what was there to make it an 'event'? Where were the fan parks, where was the sales push? I completely agree with the previous comments - someone who is on the RFL database should be getting a constant stream of content promoting the event, but I got nothing.

If the RFL wants to use the semi double header to tap into the event market, it needs to make it an event. As it stands, it looks like nothing more than a cost-cutting effort to save on the costs of hiring a second venue. It's a pathetic way to run a sport.

I didn't agree with the concept of a double-header because I believe that we should be able to sell out two small to medium-sized football grounds for the last four of a knock-out competition. I was, however, prepared to give the RFL the benefit of the doubt. But after two years, it's plainly obvious that the RFL hasn't made the effort to turn this into the event that they told us they wanted it to be.

Could work, certainly more scope then the current set up.

Basically the RFL wont speculate to accumulate but in theory they was 3 clubs there who average over 10k at home games that in itself should have being enough to sell every ticket.

Theoretically it isn’t too bad an idea - but it needs to depend on the draw rather than just being a guaranteed event that happens regardless.

You could have a semi final line up of Saints v Wigan (who could fill Bolton on their own) and Hull v Hull KR (who could fill Headingley) and suddenly a potential 50k attendance is halved at Bolton.

In future You could also potentially have Catalans v Toulouse - which obviously makes sense to play in France, rather than Bolton.

They also need to look at the scheduling of games. It was obvious that 95% of Hull/Wire fans would leave at the end of their game - so the Saints game should have been first with a “full house” for the 2nd half

That actually sounds good pal

1,722 few fans than last year and one less French side?
2nd (31 minutes by car away from Bolton), 4th (90 minutes)and 5th (34 minutes) best supported sides in the SL comp and one of the better supported sides in the 2nd tier (42 mintutes) and yet we AGAIN have a scenario where fans leave after the first game and make the game look Mickey Mouse on National FTA TV.

In a bold move, the RFL should play the Semi's on a Saturday and Sunday at somewhere like Leigh, where fans will fill the ground on both days, creating the image of a well supported game and not a game played in half (or more) empty stadiums

Nobody will ever convince me that the order these games were played in made any sense at all.

Same goes for the World Cu double header at Wembley when England played NZ then the place emptied for Oz v Fiji.

Not necessarily a terrible idea, but obvious flaws in execution.

I'm also struggling to decipher the RFL's thinking re. Having Sheffield v Widnes AFTER the Challenge Cup Final. Pitch condition in case it's peeing down maybe?

Agreed, maybe it has more to do with TV scheduling though, considering they switched to BBC2 after the first game. And perhaps they don’t want a large amount of fans arriving as a game is being played(?), no idea.

I know that we've only had the double header twice but, unless the Beeb have insisted on this format to save some broadcasting costs, we are badly mis-selling the game.
I suppose that with the Saints v Fax game being seen as an easy Saints win before the game, some may have been put off but, to play a "major" semifinal in front of 3 man and a dog is massively shooting ourselves in the foot.
The rugby was great but, the crowd was awful.
Unless we are going to "force" fans to sit through both games, this idea needs binning off and quick.

The double headers are great for the neutral fans but, there weren't too many of these in evidence.

That doesn’t really make any odds to me, people from Hull just need to get out of bed one hour earlier than they would if it was at Headingley. It’s not far from Warrington, certainly, but a 2h drive or an extra hour from Headingley, is not far neither.

The short distance didn’t entice our fans out neither. We took 12000 to Widnes in 2010 for the semi v Catalans.

The so called "fans" of the big clubs are all about the glory.
They turn up for Finals but, cant be bothered for semis.

I know that When Trinity played Wire at Leigh in the semis a couple of seasons ago, Trinity, despite their really poor average crowds, sold roughly the same number of tickets as the "big club" Warrington and the game was on their doorstep ??

Wigan were similar for a cup semi at Doncaster a few seasons back, although tbf, that game was on a Friday night.
With Warrington, Saints and Hull all featuring in the semis, the place should have been sold out and whilst there would still have been empty spaces, which doesn't look great, at least "we" could have comforted ourselves that it had "sold out".

To have 3 out of the top 5 supposed best supported clubs and not sell out is poor, although I agree that the venue should maybe have been a little more "central".
We cant even blame Catalan for this

Quote: wrencat1873 "The so called "fans" of the big clubs are all about the glory. They turn up for Finals but, cant be bothered for semis. I know that When Trinity played Wire at Leigh in the semis a couple of seasons ago, Trinity, despite their really poor average crowds, sold roughly the same number of tickets as the "big club" Warrington and the game was on their doorstep ?? Wigan were similar for a cup semi at Doncaster a few seasons back, although tbf, that game was on a Friday night. With Warrington, Saints and Hull all featuring in the semis, the place should have been sold out and whilst there would still have been empty spaces, which doesn't look great, at least "we" could have comforted ourselves that it had "sold out". To have 3 out of the top 5 supposed best supported clubs and not sell out is poor, although I agree that the venue should maybe have been a little more "central". We cant even blame Catalan for this looks half full with wire fans to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azldiS-C9yg

Quote: wrencat1873 "The so called "fans" of the big clubs are all about the glory. They turn up for Finals but, cant be bothered for semis. I know that When Trinity played Wire at Leigh in the semis a couple of seasons ago, Trinity, despite their really poor average crowds, sold roughly the same number of tickets as the "big club" Warrington and the game was on their doorstep ?? Wigan were similar for a cup semi at Doncaster a few seasons back, although tbf, that game was on a Friday night. With Warrington, Saints and Hull all featuring in the semis, the place should have been sold out and whilst there would still have been empty spaces, which doesn't look great, at least "we" could have comforted ourselves that it had "sold out". To have 3 out of the top 5 supposed best supported clubs and not sell out is poor, although I agree that the venue should maybe have been a little more "central". We cant even blame Catalan for this looks half full with wire fans to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azldiS-C9yg

Wakefield were allocated the smaller end for that semi final and they didn't even fill that.