Quote: Dita's Slot Meter "I would think that the main difference is that RL now has a showcase event to end their season and decide the ultimate champions in a winner-takes-all match....The Premiership we won in 1986 was basically a two-bit comp, which was of little interest to anybody outside of the two clubs taking part in the final.
Can anybody remember the crowd for that Wire v Halifax game and compare it to this year's GF?.....I was there and remember a mainly empty ground - Was probably no more than 15,000 there, which straight away demonstrates the difference between the two events, seeing has the GF now gets 70,000 and a decent amount of media attention.
Whatever people's thoughts and opinions on how we decide our champions, it has to be said we have created a pretty good sporting event, which is often of a high quality and a decent amount of drama for the neutral to enjoy....Its definitely one of the best things that has come from our sport in recent times and it would be silly to abandon it, just because some short sighted people have a problem with it.'"
Crowds for Warrington's last three appearances in end-of-season finals:
Championship Final 1955 - 49,434
Premiership final 1986 - 13,683
SL Final 2012 - 70,676