Lively game tonight.....shame there's not many there (although those that are a making some noise)

Sadly it seems the teams don't know how to promote themselves nowadays to get crowds back in to watch the games.The days of putting a large notice in pubs and shop windows has passed and we need to get more into social media and the 21st century

Exactly, it's something all clubs need to work smarter at gaining exposure is relatively easy to do.

I think we will see crowds grow as people feel safer attending games.

I would normally revel at the opportunity to get into the ribs of little "Wiggin" however I can't being that it is merely a reflection of the times & down to a combination of factors.

When Leigh were announced as winners of the Super League Mugs of the Year *accepting the poisoned chalice* I was expecting a flood of lapsed fans to be clamouring back & buying Season Tickets, how very wrong I was.

What has transpired is that the hardcore & not even all of those, renewed Season Tickets, game day experience was awkward with tiered entry at 30 mins, 45 minutes & 1 hour before kick off, with no pre match entertainment & no bars open for alcohol or soft drinks etc. Most complied with the rules, a good number didn't.

People have lost their jobs or been furloghed or had to take much lower pay or part time work. Many are now terrified of their own shadow due to government systematic "education" of the masses & wouldn't attend a tea party let alone a football/rugby stadium. Many have got into the habit of staying in or have found new hobbies which were allowed during lockdown such as running, walking, cycling or just walking their new dog's.

& the giant behemoth that is the RFL Media,.Marketing & Promotions team simply can't compete with 100 Cricket or Homes Under the Hammer !

The road to recovery may be long & painful.

Not sure that that isn't a contradiction?

Telling the marketing departments of the clubs to be "smarter" on the idea it's easy to attract back fans during a spike in covid cases doesn't seem to me to be a smart thing to say.

But I agree entirely that crowds will come back in full next season if the pandemic is beaten. In fact why shouldn't getting out more be something people will flock to after being stuck in their houses for two years?

If someone is HIV positive but are not ill or have any symptoms of being ill, ie developed Aids, then they cannot spread it. What an idiot.

Not sure that's the same. With every virus there will be viral load and how infectious one is. The reason hiv patients take anti virul drugs is to suppress the viral load and they then become unable to transmit the virus to others.

Why would that not be the same with covid? A test can see just how much of the virus is is present and how much infectious one is. Being told you have covid and to self isolate with no other data is ridiculous. What they should do is provide the numbers behind the result and determine if a person can transmit the virus too others.

Making people self isolate when they pose no risk to anyone else makes no sense at all.

700k people in a week told to isolate from the app lol. Seriously how many of those really need to isolate due to having covid which can be spread?

An absolute fraction I would guess and why I never downloaded that app. I'm not being told to self isolate due to some possible contact with someone who may or not have covid and could have walked past me in the street.

8.000 at Wire for a game that you'd expect to sell out........that's a worry and with the RLWC looking increasingly like it's not happening this year, the game will need to work overtime if they want the fans back next February.......Rugby League in the UK is at a very important junction.....it must go down the route of fan engagement NOW, or risk being an afterthought and occasional event rather than a must attend thing.

All clubs certainly need to do a lot more promotion for their home games to get the fans back. Match day awareness for starters.Letting as many people in their area and beyond know when they are playing at home against who and the kick off time

Ignore him. Hes the kind of the guy that listens to some dude in his parents basement that has no scientific background and spreads it on websites like this.

Ergo, he’s a f****** idiot

If the supermarket shelves are anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the fans are staying away because they're isolating.

Indeed....

Many fans have moaned about the validity of this season with cancellations, postponements and makeshift teams. The gates have been fully opened to fans when COVID cases are very high again....Many are cautious and stay away still.

and yet when the fans don't return to normal numbers immediately, it's apparently the death of the game

There's every chance some fans have written this season off and they could easily be back in good numbers next season.

Aye that's a good comparison, presumably all the fans must be lorry drivers then