...and while you all seem to be enjoying playing with numbers. On a like for like basis, comparing this years fixtures to last years, Warringtons attendance to date is up by a very impressive 21.46%.

...and the Crusaders....using Celtics figures from last year....attendances up by a massive 59.02%, they also have only played 5 home games.

I wasnt at the match so dont know how many we brought, the number does seem to get smaller everytime its mentioned though. I wonder if its a similar reason why we had a thread on our board a few years ago with wigan fans slaggin us off for bringing no more than 400, just before your own chairman revealed we had brought just short of a thousand.

I be at the celtic match though, far better day out and the welsh are always a good laugh.

Hand on heart honesty.......Cas brought around about 3-400 to wigan last week. Wheather thats good or bad i'm not really bothered but it was around that figure.

Something has to be done about away following in general for me. Somebody on our board mentioned an 'away' season ticket which would be a decent shout imo. I'd buy one if it saved me money because I go to all our away games and it may just tempt a few more out of the woodwork if the prices agreed between clubs were decent.

Sounds like a good idea, if people had already played they would be more likely to go.

I agree on this. Away support is a massive part of gameday, the saints and wire games at home are our best games because we get good away support, this makes the atmosphere better and more people go the game.

It would also be great if clubs would look at their own home support and actually do something about their shocking figures. The Wigan marketing team are working their socks off and are seeing real results. Every other club should do the same.

I'd be very interested to see a combined 'league table' of all three divisions clubs. Is there one about.

Why oh why do people still harp on about away following ?

The majority of games now appear to be played on a Friday night. Friday nights are not going to attract vast numbers following their teams away from home. Even within counties as roads are simply clogged. The M62 is a mare over Friday tea time.

Quins fans are hardly likely to travel in big numbers on a Friday. It can take 2 - 3 hours just to get out of London let alone travel up the M1 / M6 / A1.
I am sure every one of us would love to say we watch our teams home and away every match but its not going to happen. Anyone with a job and a family is going to struggle to give up that much time week in week out.

It is though up to clubs to promote their teams in order to attract local support. Wigan as has been mentioned seem to do well. Hull FC have maade massive strides since 2002 in attracting more support. Wire the same. What have they in common? Decent stadiums. Its no coincidence.

I am sure Saints and Salford will attract more when their stadiums are built. Its the only way. Hull have done it with very expensive ticket prices, but they have had to work hard. Its not as if the product on the field has been that good.

I do now believe though that its time to reward clubs who are going the extra mile and posting profits and developing the game, even those in the heartlands.

The Wigan marketing team probably have a bigger budget to work from. The other smaller clubs don't.

The whole idea of marketing is to MAXIMISE PROFITS. Extra efforts in marketing would hopefully make MORE money.

Cheaper tickets for certain games
Leaflets
Posters
Announcements in the ground
Advertisements on the website
Packages sent to season ticket holders

Do they really cost that much money?

The Wigan marketing team have used these to great effect.
I agree our marketing team has more money, we will be bringing out an advert for the big one on granada on the 2nd of July, other clubs can't do that, but they can do the basics.
I see little effort from most other clubs in super league, that includes shockingly some of the big teams and also the teams who need people through the gate the most.

Our marketing team also held a rugby festival last week which resulted in 14k home fans and also the enjoyment and development of young rugby players accross Wigan.

They marketed the Quins game as the St Georges day game and offered group discounts. 18k home fans.

Last year the big one against Leeds had tickets for £5 and £10. 18k home fans.

The same thing will be done this year for the wire game. It will be a sell-out.

Other than paying for an advert on granada which will cost alot, please tell me what really costs so much more so that other clubs cannot do it? Also, there are other clubs who make more money than Wigan at the moment... Leeds, Wire and Hull, why are they not helping lead the way for the rest of rugby league?

Ian Lenegan hopes to have a 20k average in the next 5 years. Other clubs seem happy getting below 10k on a regular basis.

To conclude, marketing should be a massive part of the game but sadly at the moment it is not, it has been proved time and time again, the grand final and challenge cup final did not even sell-out last year and the attendances for internationals are shocking. Untill we start taking marketing seriously in this sport like RU do, we will also be a small game who the majority don't care about.

Are we doing away teams a favour though? Their was quite a good crowd of KR fans at Warrington on Friday, but were asking people to go the length of the M62 on a Friday night and be at a ground for circa 7.30. That means setting of at around 5.30. It clashes with people's work commitments.

I understand that we're dancing to Sky's tune but a sunday 3pm game would always be my preference

Could be worse, they could have faced the same sort of issues as Leeds fans who found that having booked their train tickets to Quins on Sunday the kick-off was moved back two hours at Sky's request.