If supporters of Saints and Warrington cannot be bothered to turn up for such an important match on a fairly pleasant Saturday evening, then Rugby League is in terminal decline. I do not know the acual attendance but those empty rows of seats tell their own story. I was a huge advocate for summer rugby but for some reason the appeal of the game has gone backwards since it was introduced. It could be Sky TV but if they withdraw their support it would not be finacially possible for the game to survive. I honestly believe the future is very bleak

The crowds have increased during the summer era, but it appears that season ticket do not want to pay for Challenge Cup / Play Off games.

That increase is from a very low point. Which again was probably caused by increased TV coverage. My point is that speccies nowadays do not feel the need to be at a live match, whilst other sports having probably more TV coverage are still able to fill their grounds for cup matches.

12,700 was the attendance. That's more than we got.

And don't say it was boosted by away fans, that shouldn't matter at all.

The distance and ease for an away fan to travel is a huge factor on assessing attendance, as is the local rivalry between the teams. I would expect them to get more than Wigan v Leeds, it was the fact that all tickets were not taken up days in advance as they probably would have been for Saints V Wigan

Saints AND Warrington? Warrington took a full end, what more do you want them to contribute?

Plain and simple, the playoffs are at least a week too long, the RFL and Sky are trying to be greedy with a format that 99% of fans, journos, players, coaches etc dont like and the fans are voting with their feet. There is definitely a case that fans are tight etc but sandwiching in a 3 week playoff series in between the CC final and GF is a lot to ask for a lot of people, especially families. Wire fans for example will end up spending around £100 per adult just on tickets over the last month, having already paid to go to Wembley 6/7 weeks ago. I know people might turn round and say fans of other teams would love to be in that situation (I would be in that camp tbh, I would happily pay for CC, GF and WCC every year), but for some people that is not an option.

If the playoff system is not going to be changed (which it should IMO for other reasons as well as the poor attendances) then discounted tickets for ST holders have to be introduced or the 8 games leading up to the GF will continue to have very few people bothering to show up.

You're absolutely right. They are a week too long. If they are to stay the same then a 40% discount for season ticket holders may be part of the answer.

We had a full end last night plus a few at the side. To follow a successful side in the play offs means dipping into your pocket 3 or 4 times in a few weeks. In the case of us and Leeds, following a Wembley trip. They were charging £28 for a side seat at our place. The RFL want to get real and realise that there is a recession.

Fans know the play off format isn't working, so do the clubs.
RL Journos think a lot but don't murmour a word about anything. They are a pretty useless bunch really as far as voicing an opinion on anything controversial.

Talking to a journo on the way out Friday night and I said to him that if he wanted to know why fans didn't turn up for play off games the Wigan v Leeds game was the perfect example. His reply was that "it was a game that had everything!" He actually believed it too.

He didn't realise it was between two teams who played very average games on the night and the result was decided by the referee. The worst of all worlds.
If they want fans to turn up then a better format has to be devised. Playing a friendly the first week then a week off then a semi final is a complete hotchpotch.

To me keep the top eight so that the clubs at the bottom end have something to play for rather than top 5 or 6 where they don't and the season is pretty meaningless. Then go with 1 v 8, 2 v 7 etc. Four games the first week, two the second then the Final. All game being competitive.
Trouble is SKY want a four week play off series. So we're stuck with it.

" He didn't realise it was between two teams who played very average games on the night and the result was decided by the referee. "


Oh come on that was a very tough game and fully committed by both sets of players. The weather was crap and did not truly show up on the TV and to say the result was decided by the ref is total crap.

I am a season ticket holder. We are a one income family with three wigan fans who attend every match. To watch the two playoff games in ticket prices only in the south stand would cost me 6 x £19 = £114. I have not bought a pie cup of coffee or paid for petrol yet. So like many out there I work for a company that has not given us a pay rise for six years. The ticket prices however and many other things like petrol have shot up, So what as a family do you do. Easy. You watch the play off's on TV. It's a no brainer THE MONEY IS JUST NOT THERE

I didn't say they weren't fully committed, I know they were. I was commenting on the game and it was average. Poor handling by Wigan and Leeds hadn't got a move in them.
As for the result. Wigan scored two converted tries.
Leeds scored one converted try and a drop goal, their other points came from the courtesy of Mr Silverwood.
To deny those penalties had no influence on the game or the result is something I don't agree with. Those six points were the difference between Leeds winning and not!

Sounds like you were watching a different game to most other people, but the important point is that the referee doesn't "give" any points to any team, there are rules and if players breach the rules then the referee judges in the way that the rules dictate, things happen in the heat of the moment and in the speed of the game, but the referees have little leeway to do nothing if an infringement of the rules has occured that affects the play of the game - you could argue that its the players who give away the points.

The referees don't give points they penalise players and award penalties.
Mr Silverwood penalised Wigan and Leeds kicked three goals from the penalties, those six points contributed to the final score of 12-13.