Unlikely, given that they've never averaged 10k+, even in their glory days of 30 years ago.

Unless they do more mass give aways and Groupon deals, I suppose.

Yep.....best way to get average crowds back to the level they were a few years back is to cull 2 teams and manipulate the numbers. Fact is less People will pay less money to watch top flight RL next year.......but some see that as a positive. How strange

2 teams have been dropped to make for a more competitive league, something many have been shouting for for a number of years, yet some see that as a negative. How strange.

And while we've dropped 2 teams aren't we actually playing 1 more game per season overall?

The fact is, is that you haven't got a clue how many people will pay to watch SL next year although i'm sure that won't stop you spouting the same cr@p as fact that you always do.

I've already got my season ticket and can't wait.

Wow, you're a bitter little man aren't you?
Dropping 2 teams to improve competition doesn't mean they're manipulating attendance figures. Try taking your tin foil hat off for a bit, it'll do you the world of good.

The RFL are reducing the number of clubs in SL to increase the viability of SL in general. Not to manipulate attendance figures.

If average crowds go up in SL and Champs as a result then that's a good thing, but as ever there are loads of factors that have to be taken into account, it's never a straight comparison (Wakey having to reduce capacity, Bradford / London getting relegated unusually quickly, Hull being massively rubbish).

But hey let's just say the RFL are hopeless and want to manipulate the figures. That'll be intelligent. Nothing like a dumb rant from people who know not much about the game and want to prat on about administration.

How so? Relegation was back on the cards before David Hughes essentially gave up.....we were relegated this year because of his insanity of "dithering" over the last year of a licence he applied for. I don't blame the RFL for us being relegated.
The point I was discussing with Billy was that Nigel will be all over an increased average attendance next year like a fat kid at the pick'n'mix at Woolworths......when the reality is that the same top 24 teams this year as next will attract the same number of fans to games.....but because of a bit of chair shifting, averages will seem larger and Nigel will pat himself on the back.
Over 2 years ago Nigel and his crew announced the hiring of a marketing Guru...........since then the competitions have seen attendances drop and he's needed to use RLWC attendances with tickets for a fiver or less to big the game up. He also compared a FTA TV audience with other sports on Pay TV.......all that has happened is Nigel has been taught how to spin, but the reality is that the game is in decline as a professional sport that grabs the attention of the public and sponsors......best switch power suppliers whilst the game will get some benefit.

This time next year, If Leeds are at Wembley and they are playing 12th placed Hull FC, they will again rest their core squad members, safe in the knowledge that they have play-off football bolted on....NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT
1/ The top clubs chairmen have a slightly better chance of bigger crowds at the end of the year....but the same dross for 22 rounds before hand
2/Championship fans are fooled into thinking that they have a chance of SL when in reality they don't...but they will get a few extra away fans (a handful, thousands).
3/ Nigel will get to hail his new system works......before binning it within 3 years for straight 1 up 1 down.....and we'll have returned to 2007.

Yeah like I said, very bitter.

Not sure why you keep harping on about £5 world cup tickets either when the only games you could get into for a fiver were in Dublin and Cumbria which is something all sports do for the less attractive "events" but feel free to keep on spouting your cr@p and stating your bitter little man's predictions as fact (you're usually very, very wrong anyway). The rest of us will continue going to support the game we love like the sheep we are.

And I'd hope if Leeds do reach Wembley next year that they do rest most of the squad. That's been happening for decades, it's nothing new but then you knew that anyway.

£5 tickets were widely available, but your geographical grasp of anywhere other than your front garden does go some way to explaining the crap crowd in Limerick then

24 Teams in 2014 v the same 24 teams attendances in 2015.....that's the best way to see if the new system works. I don't think it will increase attendances that much, but I have been wrong in the past and I am after all, only expressing my opinion.

As for me being bitter? My only concern is that RL in the UK has now regressed to being a northern sport once again and that the sponsorship coin will continue to dry up........middle 8 teams scrambling to hire 2nd rate Aussies will once again dictate conversations rather than what young english talent is coming through at those middle 8 clubs....

You can say it as many times as you like, stamp your feet if you like, but they weren't.
Feel free to provide evidence if you're so sure.

Gutterfax is hacked off - he said the RLWC would be a disaster and no one would attend the games!! The fact the opposite happened gave him egg on his face and he is trying some diversionary tactics to cover his lack of understanding

SL needed reducing to 10 that would make the comp. an appropriate size for the quantity of talent available - London should have been one of the ten. Attendances would have increased as the quality would have higher and the games more competitive - simple

I don't see why we should be ashamed of being a 'northern sport'. There must be about 10 million people within 30 minutes drive of a SL club. We've got plenty to work on there and the amateur, semi-pro game and national team can still engage 'southerners'.

I was wrong about attendances at RLWC and was the first to admit it. No egg. As for lack of understanding, NOBODY, not 1 poster here predicted the attendances achieved....or anything like them. When I said about 350,000 about 12 months out, nobody disagreed...their silence was only broken after it became obvious that I was wrong in my prediction......which was based on previous efforts to promote the game here. The only thing I didn't "understand" was how good Sally Bolton was.

As for a 10 team comp including London.......that is now an impossible pipe dream until there is a total change at the top in the RFL and an acceptance that "london" will need a lot more funding.....regardless of how many pit-village clubs whine like bitches about how unfair it is.

They were...and tenner tickets for double header semi-finals too......check out the profit made from the comp for further proof.


Dublin isn't Limerick.........you said Dublin. Buy an Atlas.

A SL club in London is the pipe dream. No matter how much money was thrown at them you cannot escape the fact that there aren't enough punters interested to go and watch them and they would continue to be a huge drain on the limited RFL resources forever and a day. It wouldn't appear that they are vital, or even semi-important, to the Sky contract either now would it?

Even in the 'pit village' heartlands (including where the so called big names play) there isn't enough interest to have more than 3 or 4 clubs who aren't running at a hand to mouth or lower existance. That won't change whilst soccer is around and is what needs to be accepted before the game can grow and expand in this country.