Do you have data to support that?

Comments from a certain Tommy Cunningham Chief Exec of a certain Leigh based RL club, in 2002, about the NFP, [iThe NFP is Poverty City. Salford and Warrington could find it tough even to survive.

"It's hell at this level. We are doing everything in our power to get out of it and join Super League.

"It's bleak. We are winning and yet our attendances have dropped by 1,000 for some reason.

"When we play at Gateshead in midweek there will be more athletes training on the track than people watching the game!

"This is par for the course - Chorley and Swinton regularly play in front of fewer than 300. [/i

Leigh's average in 2006 2 years proir to the first 'franchise season' was 2281, Leigh attendane in 2011, 2 seasons after the first 'franchise season' was 2379.

Halifax's average attendance in 2006 was 1681 and halifax's average attendance in 2011 was 1886

So you dont attend games because fewer people go, which in itself is a strange logic, it gets even stranger when you look at the fact that slightly more people actually attend.

What sort of crowds did Halifax and Leigh average when they were in Super League?

And what was Leigh's average in 2004?

The 2006 figures are for the year after Leigh dropped out. The 'dream was over season'. But in 2004 and seasons prior to that, I recall many gates >3000.

4800

i dont know for 2004, but i do know that in 2007 they averaged 1867, in 2008 2490, in 2009 1984, 2010, 2087, and in 2011 2379,

which shows that since franchising was announced in 2008, the 1st 4 seasons of there being no promotion based on winning the GF, Leigh's attendances are higher than the preceeding 2 seasons of automatic promotion. Showing that the idea that P+R has caused attendances to drop at leigh to be an incorrect one.

Leigh in 2005 - 4,736
Halifax in 2003 - 2,977 including a crowd of 1,276 v London

How did I know that you would pick THAT year for Halifax?

In the other 7 years we were in SDL the average was around double that.

Strangely for 2004 [ our promotion year ] the ave was around 1,800 , yes we had a slight jump when we moved to the LSV [ possibly people coming to have a look ] , and when the ' messiah ' Mr Millward returned , this year it is down to around 1,700

So what you’re saying is that Leigh’s attendances range from about 1700 to about 2400 and chasing the dream of promotion had sod all positive effect on Leigh’s attendances, and any assertion that a return to P+R would again, as it did previously have sod all positive effect on Leigh’s attendances, and any assertion to the opposite would be complete bunkum

Similarly any assertion that Leigh’s attendances are negatively affected by franchising and the lack of P+R is also complete nonsense.

Thank god you finally accept this.

I didnt suggest there ever was

It is better for those that recieve money for it , it doesn't help those that dont 1 Iota

I'll say it again , the only Championship RL that should be televised ' Live ' is the NRC final and the 2 GF s , playing midweek costs Championship Clubs vital revenue , revenue that being on TV does not replace

There is NO TV rights money from Premier Sports , SKY did not pay any for their coverage , but the clubs did recieve money from the Co oP when televised on SKY [ with strict ' caveats ' on how it had to be spent ]

, Yes now I read it back I see the ' flaw ' , what I really meant was that the lack of ' Intensity ' , ' Atmosphere ' , ' Edge ' , whatever you want to call it doesn't excite me like it used to do , I restarted watching live RL around 13 years ago , when yearly promotion was still available and SL relatively new , it now ' feels ' different

I suppose its like you anticipating a match against W1g4n compared to one against London , would you watch 27 matches against London with the relative lack of atmosphere and intensity ?

Yes I remember TC being at the club , just over 2 months he lasted

He got that bit right , but that was reffering to playing away at other clubs , a bit like Leeds playing at London and Salford

There will always be fluctuations , a bit like W1g4ns rising when involved in a relegation battle , as did ours in 2009

The introduction of Franchising coincided with Leigh moving to the LSV , so that would have had an impact upon the averages , and yes the averages arent drastically different , but what has changed is the difference in the ' big ' games , the play off matches , league matches at home and away at Widnes/Oldham , the games that would bring in the ' casual ' fan