Quote: SaintsFan "I didn't go to the match but listened on Radio Murkeyside. From what I heard, Quins made a lot of mistakes in the first half. However, apparently we played really well in the first half (presumably because you let us!). If a visitor comes along and sees one team playing very well then if they are going to be watchers of rugby league, even though the other team are not playing so well, they will still admire the skill on offer. Then came the fight back in the second half when, according to our esteemed commentators on Murkeyside, Quins perked up. Fight backs are exciting and remembering the Catalans-Bradford CC match, it was not impossible for you to turn us over in that second half. Now if a visitor not only had the skill of one side to watch in the first half but also a come-back in the second and they still thought it was flat and boring, that visitor wouldn't come back whether you won or lost because their issue isn't with Quins, it's with rugby league.
I took two friends to see Saints last season. One had a first visit to a Castleford match which was as dull as ditchwater. She came back for the Wigan match, along with another friend. Neither had been to watch rugby league before last season. Neither have been back. Yet the Wigan match, which ended in a draw and upon which our league leader's shield rested, was a gripping match with a fantastic atmosphere and a sell out crowd at Knowsley Road. We really couldn't have offered my two friends any better a spectacle to watch. It even had some biff, just for good measure.
Some people will come along and simply not enjoy rugby league. Some will come and be hooked, regardless of win or lose. No-one can predict which a visitor is going to be but the club can only try its best to keep on spreading the message in the hope that gradually the numbers will improve. You're in a highly competitive sporting environment sharing a stadium with a rugby union club in a rugby union part of town - I think it's great that you get the number of supporters you do. I hope too that now you are getting your playmakers back, Quins will start to win games again and reward those supporters by offering the great performances everyone knows they are capable of.'"
Excellent post. Couldn't agree more