Good point Joe!
what i dont get is back then our home gates were 1,500 -2,000 ish but we regularly took 3,4,500 + to places like London, Carlisle, Barrow etc and up to 1,000 at nearer games - i remember playing teams like Swinton,Rochdale,keighley etc who werent that badly supported at the time and having half the crowd in C&G but now were between 8-9000 home gates but still struggle to take anything near those same numbers to away games - Warington and Salford seem to be the exceptions.
Makes you wonder why these people/families stopped going and why they still havent come back ?

We did not have as many young family's supporting the giants then, which is the majority of our fans now i would roughlyt say, they may not realise what it is like to go to a away game, i dont know about you but you dont see many young family's at the away games, just the same faces at every game. We need to find a way to encourage them to go.

I do agree to a point but i see quite a few kids and families at away games especially in the supporters clubs etc but then again its the same families i usually see.
Most of the kids that go will probably have vouchers for free out of their season tickets so i suppose the possibility of subsidied travel costs - then there's a question of who puts the money up for it - or maybe a family season ticket allowing families into away games too like the kids ticket does but then that would have to be an agreed thing between all clubs.

I agree though it is the same faces at every away game and its very rare to see any new faces

Bit rude to your fellow fans that isn't it?

You all know what the reason is.

You lost at least two generations of fans by being awful on and off the field for years. Once the young kids that you get going with their parents to home games get old enough to travel on their own then I think you'll get more away support.

I wouldn't worry about it really, it's only planks that count how many fans go to games.

It were a lot cheaper to get into a 2nd Div game then than it is to get into a SL game now too Meast.

Thats got to be part of it.

But the point about winning games has such truth to it. Last season was our first season in decades (apart from our sojourn in the National League) that we won more than we lost.

Keep that record up and we might not be to bad for away support by the end of the season, especially since the top teams are out of the way now...

that bit is the key for me. Kids and families do not go too as many away games particularly Evening Kos and grounds that are poor. I do not take my little ones to some away games where they cannot sit. You dont want a 4 year old running on the terrace at Odslum for instance.


the key to away support is building HOME support. get the home support up and make it a good experience for them and they will be tempted to go to away games as they get older.

IMHO though something needs to be done at home games to improve the atmosphere in the Riverside stand. having all the singers in the other stand and all the kids in the Riverside does not work. the club need to address this so that the kids in the Riverside enjoy it more.

I have suggested a singing section in the Riverside on many occassions. Even if it was a block of 30 seats on the left and the right it would cause minimal disruption to ST holders and improve the atmosphere immeasurably.

This is something the club would need to facilitate

i think our club should offer away travel at better prices i mean when people see like £13 to go saints n wigan hulls they think that plus match ticket = alot of money if we could probs half that or do what kr do which is offer free travel which may help fans consider going but atm apart from that there is nothing we can do untill we probs start winning trophys every season

Something for the Supporters Association to organise? [You guys up for being on the organising committee?]

Does anyone know how much it costs to hire a coach compared to club travel? We could put something in place such as a season membership for a small amount then the cost of the travel to each match is cheeper, needs looking into to see if it could be self sufficient, i will get some estimates from coach companys to see if any prices are different from the clubs prices.

IMHO though something needs to be done at home games to improve the atmosphere in the Riverside stand. having all the singers in the other stand and all the kids in the Riverside does not work. the club need to address this so that the kids in the Riverside enjoy it more.

At the end of the season we need to get the word out to all the "singers" and the decide where we are going to sit and just all get season tickets in that area, its a simple thing to do. I have done it in the football before and it can be easily organised. At least then we can build some atmosphere. In my opinion the best place would be to the left of the half way line but not too far towards the away end, this way people can join us throughout the season.

Is that not where the Sky put their studio when we are on TV? I guess, when you need the singers, they'd be moved elsewhere!

Good point, how about the same place to the right of the half way line? Or we could still get them there and just move the few rows further forward, as it is never packed around there. Plus is will sound better on sky for a extra bonus.

So basically where the singers were before, and mostly still are?

Well not all are there, quite a few are in the DG, no room for expansion though if people want to join, also they dont do much singing at the moment mainly due to the amount who sing.