Stadiums are the key! People do't seem to understand this. Just look at Warrington, Hull FC...

Ok , lets look at Leigh , small crowds , poor playing squad , unable to compete for local juniors against local SL clubs , the use of a excellent stadium but they dont own it and it is expesive to play at and makes no revenue for the club , so no Leigh are not a potential SL club at the moment and are unlikely to become one in the near future without the intervention of a billionaire , Ok with that

Now then back to the question in point , we are now using a franchise system , a system that is there to enable clubs to reach good standards at all levels , playing , player development , financial , stadia , development of the sport via expansion

At the moment everybody on here seems to agree that we dont have 14 clubs anywhere near that level and yet some are suggesting we increase the number in SL , why when we only have just over 50 % of the clubs in SL at anywhere near that level , yes some clubs are better at different things , but a true SL should have true SUPER clubs in it

Look at the Union comp they set up in the southern hemisphere , it was the Super 8.s , then the 10 , then the 12 , now the 14 , all well financed , well supported fairly competitive clubs

The NRL were forced via the courts to lets Souths back into their comp and despite good finance they struggled for a while , but they introduced the Titans certain they would strengthen the comp

A very strong SL with a stronger 2 nd tier to push them would be a better idea , but that wont happen

Course they are , look at Doncaster and Leigh

You certainly put plenty of spin on those figures, Matey.

Widnes are the best supported club out the SL by a country mi...... better hadnt say that

But even Widnes had a drop in attendance last season including the (free admission game) but still the best supported by a large margin, so doffs cap to you there.

However Barrow's crowds are flying up and I hope that continues, even if our crowds only rise by 2 or 300 I would be very happy as its steady continued growth, any more and id be delighted.

Barrow away crowd figures are lower than Widnes's due to our location being seen as difficult to travel to and being seen as a lesser attractive fixture historically , however the roads into Barrow have and are improving cutting travel times and the future bridge infrastructures could have a huge impact on this, add in the factor that we are now the defending champions and are producing a quaility side should hopefully incourage more away supporters to inflate out attendance average further.

I think the recession has hit everyone. A major factor with our drop last season was the move to Friday and Saturday evenings. We lost 400 season tickets because of that.


I'm sure, with the players you are attracting and the success you're having, you will.


I think away following counts for very little in this league anyway. Very few clubs bring 100 or more supporters, unless it's in the play-offs. Only Leigh ever bring 400 or more to Widnes. We'll miss them next season as a result. So you'll need to rely almost entirely on your own fans. I did notice that most clubs had their largest attendances when Wdnes were visitors though. There's no Halifax fan's looking, so I think you got away with it.