CC Average Attendances 2011

4th Round - 54,265/16 3,391 (including lots of free tickets for season ticket holders)
5th Round - 35,496/8 4,437

Your club [ one of the most successful RL teams of all time after years of dominating the sport ] doesn't have fans that are willing to travel 4 miles from the location of their new stadium for one season to allow their owner to build a brand new stadium that the club will own

Sorry but that is just pathetic , your owner has been bankrolling you for years , covering substantial losses , as I said all those fans who cannot be ar53d getting on a bus/train for 20 matches ' down the road ' will all sudenly remember where their team is playing if they make a final

You dont deserve Mr Mc Manus

The Challenge Cup was a venerable institution and a tradition. It had it's place, with a Final in May, and it bubbled up nicely in the preceding months.

Understandably, and inevitably, though regrettably, the advent of summer rugby interfered with that, as did the desire of the Sky paymasters to make sure that their pot was by far and away the premier pot.

This led to the CC being shunted and messed about, at the same time as clubs re-evaluating it as their main focus became very much on SL and many felt that the CC was an inconvenience which distracted them from that.

The CC has not recovered from this, and unless it is re-invented, it never will. Part of its venerable attraction was the "always there" institution aspect, and for a day at least, everybody in the country loved RL. To some extent they still do but much diminished, as if it really was still an institution, then it wouldn't have been moved. But it was. As a result I think of the game showing the world that we weren't taht bothered about it ourselves, the RL CC FInal was removed from the "protected" TV list. All part of the same process of nibbling away at the CC's standing. Nowadays, unless their team gets within sniffing distance of the Final, most fans wouldn't even have a clue when the Final might be.

Of course, the Final itself remains a well-worth while event, and so still sells a lot of tickets, any fan would love a day out at Wembley with the chance of winning a pot, even if they haven't been to any other game all season, and for this reason, the SF's also suddenly gain at least respectable attendances, in light of the prize on offer.

Another factor is the success of SL itself. One of the big attractions in the old days was when the small teams joined the fray with the big teams, but the playing gap has widened so much that frankly most games involving SL teams against minnows are a massacre, and you can't expect in this day and age people except diehards, and fans of the minnows, to pay money to watch that.

You're not comparing like with like. In cup finals, no matter who is playing, exponentially more supporters turn-up than a club's season average. For a truer reflection compare the current average with the average at Knowsley Road. Then try and address the reasons [iwhy[/i the drop has come about, without resorting to circular comments such as "saints fans are pathetic, disloyal, etc." As I have mentioned earlier, it is obvious that there are reasons which transcend the minimal travelling distance.

Leigh got 2,200 for the visit of Les Cats 2 weeks ago , you managed 3,000 , as I said , well done

You can always get tickets for Manchester United in the champtions league group games. As for the Union cup i've seen plenty of empty seats for group matches.

though it pains me to do so, im going to have to back up the helens supporter on this one. i imagine that a large majority of those who have regularly watched saints in st helens all these years actually walked to the ground,( suddenly expecting them all to get the bus or drive is a big leap to be fair) given that many superleague games take place on friday or saturday evenings it makes it less attractive for all and especially those supporters bringing children along, either you have to drive (which is a financial barrier in itself in these times, and also excludes the possibility of drinking) and pay for the petrol, or get the one bus every hour at that time of night, (buses being even rarer on sundays) which involves the walk to the bus stop in widnes and then from the bus stop to your house when you get to st helens, which probably means you arrive home 2 or 3 hours after the game ends, which in many cases would mean 10:30 - 11:30 pm. its just not pratical for many people.
i also believe saints ticket prices have gone up this year. but i could be wrong about that.
regardless, starbug its just not as simple as 'its only another 4 miles'.

My criticism of the attendance isn't directed at the Challenge Cup tie , a match against lower league opposition will understandably not be a big draw for fans , however generally the Saints fans have not supported their Chairman by deciding not to travel a few miles this season for SL games , for every fan that doesn't make the effort , Mr Mc Manus has to put in their share to make up this years shortfall , it is that which I dont like

3 pages in and still it hasn't turned into a Quins thread- Good job they got beat by Leeds on Fri as they may have got a home tie!

If the problem is with the bus service then why have those thousands of fans that are now not going not contacted the St Helens club to discuss this issue?

For arguments sake if HKR were to start playing games at the KC stadium it would be 6.25 miles from ground to ground, only a couple of miles shorter distance than that of Knowsley Road to the Stobart. I can't obviously tell you how many of our regulars would not go to games because it has not happened yet.

I agree it may not be financially viable to make the journey when you have been used to just walking accross the road with your family but as I say if there were enough people for the club to run coaches surely this would be a good option for them to do and charge say £2 per person £1 children?? The club can't have had much interest in this option because I'm pretty sure I wont be the first one to come up with it!

All this talk of it being a short distance from StHelens to Widnes doesnt take into account that while it may be a short distance in a straight line, they're different towns and public transport links that exist within StHelens dont reach out to Widnes to the same extent. Also, Knowsley Road was a short walk or drive or bus trip for the majority of Saints fans. The Halton Stadium is NOT a short walk, drive or bus trip for the majority of Saints fans.

And, whoever said the new stadium is 4+ miles from Knowsley Road just isnt right. And its considerably closer to the town centre/transport links.

If we start getting 2000 for league games at the new ground i'll be worried, but i dont think thats ever going to happen.

Was nice to see 7 Quins fans turn up at Headingley on Friday

I branded our attendance oringally as embarrassing. 7,147 now doesn't seem bad compared to others.