Cardiff was before Catalans entered Super League giving fans a weekend away and before Magic Weekend was introduced. Also it was only 2005 when the Final was moved to August.

All these have an effect on the Cup Final attendances, if we moved the final to Cardiff next season the attendance wouldn't be much different to what we saw on Saturday. Obviously 68k in the Principality Stadium would look better than in Wembley as the capacity is 16k lower.

The touch judge stood still and didn't follow burgess which means he saw the forward pass I'd have thought

If Wigan had been the better team I think more fingers would have been pointed at the refs but Hull were better on the day and got the win. Touchie also missed Burgess being taken out late at least 2 seconds after putting a kick through but that's sport. I think Bentham was pretty poor and missed several for both sides. From a Wigan perspective, to have gone through the first 20 minutes of the second half with 80% territory (and a similar figure for possession) and still come away with 3 scores each shows how good their defense was. Their attack however was woeful and Sneyd absolutely showed bow Williams and Leuleuai up for their in field kicking. Not once did they kick into that patch of sun. Simple high kicks when Hull's wingers are so much more dominant than Wigan's is just stupid. I was crying for a grubber kick behind and let Marshall/Burgess try and outpace their opposite number but it never happened.

C'est la vie - best team won and it was a close, intense game so that's all you can ask for. Shout out to the 60 year old Hull fan sat in the Wigan end with the express purpose of winding Wiganers up calling them every name under the sun and pushing them when the team made a mistake. I'm sure there was experiences like that in the other end and it's a shame that it put a real dampener on those around us. I can't wrap my head around it. His team won and instead of singing and celebrating the win with other fans, he celebrated on his own surrounded by other fans. I know which I'd rather do.

Maybe Wigan fans will correct me but George Williams doesn't seem to have improved much at all. Expected him to seriously rip it up this year with a move to the NRL in a year or so ala Tomkins.

Likewise, i was in the Hull end and had a Wigan fan sat across the aisle from me calling Hull players all sorts of names, Kelly came in for quite a bit of verbals from him, and before anyone starts, no i wasn't offended so didn't feel the need to say anything or report it, one or 2 told him to shurrup and sit down but i think it was more frustration at his own team and in the end the majority just ignored him and let him get on with it.

What was more annoying was the family of Hull fans who between the 4 adults got up to go to the bar/bog/food kiosk a total of 16 times between them in 80 minutes, that's before we had the mum doing the pop, hotdog and loo run with the kids....one guy missed 3 Hull tries cos he wasn't in his seat....surely you'd be more interested in the game than the next 4 bottles of beer but each to their own.

On the crowd issue, I have been to new Wembley 4 times now (2008, 2013, 2016 & 2017) and I don't think Hull have taken a massively different number to all 4 finals (possibly more in 2008, less in 2013) but what has been noticeable is the decline in neutral fans.

You used to see whole blocks of coach trips, club/pub trips, junior RL teams, this year when Hull score about 75% of the ground cheered, and not just because Wigan are unpopular in RL!

I don't feel the August Bank Holiday is the right date for this game anymore, it is too near the end of the season (Hull now have to face Leeds in a crucial game on Thursday with a short turnaround whilst still having victory parade today)

it is also one of the busiest weekends of the year for other events, there has been Creamfields over in Cheshire, Leeds fest in Yorkshire, a full football programme, the McGregor-Mayweather fight, and whilst driving down we saw several small festivals, events and even a big Christian worship festival in Lincolnshire. Diehard RL fans will attend Wembley regardless, but it only takes a few thousand neutrals to spend their money elsewhere to make the crowd drop and there are a lot of other distractions on August Bank Holiday.

Moving the final to July would be better for the flow of the regular season (could play it just before the Super 8s start) and also be better for media attention, while the Football is off SKY will report on anything to fill the airtime.

I don't think moving from Wembley is the answer, the stadium is a draw in its own right due to its history and finally winning there last year meant more than winning in Cardiff did. The RFL need to up their marketing spend and get the interest back, this year looked very much like it was done on the cheap, no 'famous' singer for the anthems, no choir...when the NFL come to town they go all out, we just do it on the cheap and hope for the best.

The touch judge held his ground at the point of the offence indicating to Bentham that it was forward, the touch judge certainly did NOT "wave play on", you're watching a different game sonny.

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At least we now know where Jake was sat

Not seen it again since making comment but I was under the impression Bentham called it and the touch only stopped after Bentham blew.looked to me like the touchy would have let it go.May be wrong like you say and again either way it's history now

I think a fair summary is that the best team won on the day, it was actually a pretty good game, but the late August bank holiday weekend is no longer a good time to hold what should be a prize event. Personally I went as a neutral, as I do pretty much every year, and really enjoyed it, as I do most years. But it has lost a bit of its sparkle.

I would move it to June, whilst the soccer and RU seasons are on break, before the great summer getaway gets underway and before Network Rail shut down large swathes of the rail infrastructure (on Saturday Euston was closed and most of Waterloo and London Bridge stations were closed). Shutting down the rail network drives people on to motorways already crippled by active traffic mismanagement systems and hundreds of miles of road(not)works.

The attendance has been struggling for a while. The Club Wembley issue has masked it for a few years. Now these are on general sale that mask has slipped. I also agree with those people annoyed with endless trips to the bog/kiosks, it is becoming a bit like Australia in that respect. However, there's no chance of it being addressed as the stadium relies on this behaviour for commercial reasons.

One final point, London's most widely read newspaper is the Evening Standard. It occasionally covers RL, but on Friday there was absolutely nothing. After the semifinals the RFL should have been hitting it with ticket promotions i.e. comps to win free tickets as well as ticket promotions.

On the face of it 65-70k is decent considering we have arguably a bigger final being played a little over a month later, something we never used to have.

Its crying out for Millenium stadium end of May for me.

I took a newcomer to the game. He thought the game was good (a first - most games I take people to have proved boring and turned them right off). Three things that he commented on - the half empty stadium and two others he found ridiculous and utterly comical - the 'water carriers' carriers on the pitch every few minutes and the 'man in the suit' on the pitch - Robbie Paul after tries. It's not good when people come with an open mind but find things to laugh at is it?

All the free/cheap tickets are seriously devaluing the game, hence why people who have always paid full whack in advance chose to turn up and pay a fiver to a shady character to sit in Club Wembley.

I'd say that there was at least 200 sat in front of us (prime seats) clearly on a free ticket because their kids were doing the obligatory dance. If you have to give them tickets, surely put them up top and sell the premium tickets to genuine punters?

We need to have the confidence in our product to be able to sell it at the right price. Instead we have the ridiculous situation where a league game at Belle Vue costs more than any of the 'marquee' events.

Other sports manage to pull in big crowds for such occasions, despite the fact they have little interest in the sport itself - at least not to start with. What is it about RL that makes it so unfashionable? To me, the obsession with targeting families is a flawed approach. It might upset the traditionalists who want to turn up an hour before kick off with a flask of bovril and a tatty looking corned-beef barm then be home for the One Show; but, the way to bring in new crowds is to pull in younger people with disposable income who want to be seen "checking-in" at the fashionable event of the day.

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).

I agree cheap tickets are a problem. I used to always buy the best tickets but at one World Cup final people were let in for £5 (compared with my c. £50 in those days) - we were given just about the worst seats in Old Trafford and the £5 people got great seats. Since then I have voted with my wallet and feet as I guess thousands of others have. That all be must have cost the RFL thousands pounds from me alone. There are many other calls on my time and money and if I feel taken for granted / ripped off / under valued / bored / treated like an idiot then I'll do something else (and have done so many, many times in recent years).