Some people completely miss the irony of coming on a "Fans forum" and admitting that they don't go to the game!!!

I've made the point before - fan is short for fanatical - not very fanatical sitting on your @rse watching tele is it? Especially as the club were practically giving the tickets away.

Excuses like "I work on a Thursday" is a bit lame. Especially as we got almost double the attendance against Warrington the week before for a meaningless game. I very much doubt that the missing thousands were ALL working last night.

What a silly thing to say! Are you really judging the unquantifiable devotion of other people? I'd like to think that this is just a rather feeble attempt to wind people up and to get some sort of argument going. Otherwise you are wandering into the deep end without your arm bands on.

One of my favourite things about playoff time is watching fans trying to justify not turning up to games.

Why?

They entertain me.

In this thread we have someone trying to justify not turning up by saying they couldn't get to the ground in time, where do they live, London? If they did live in London it's only 2:15 on the train, I could finish work in central London at 5:00pm and be in the ground at 8:00pm.

Of course it's quantifiable, it's very easily quantifiable- roughly 8,600 bothered to turn up, which means that roughly 6,000 from the season's average attendance didn't bother.

The club managed to get 20,000 for the Leeds game. Where did they all disappear to? I mean, they witnessed a great performance - why not come back for more for a much more important game.

you really do need to get your head out your ar^e and realise some people work shifts! work commitments/shift patterns meant I could attend the leeds game but I missed the wire game and last nights game...... tell you what next time wigan have an evening game and I am in work I will walk off site just to make sure I can attend the game!

Very true if your prepared to shell out in excess of £100 for the rip off peak single fare back to Wigan.

Luckily my weekly visit to London this week was Tuesday & Wednesday so no need for excuses as I was able to attend

Who knows why? The fact that they didn't attend does not mean they are not fans. What next? If you leave before the final hooter you're only half a fan? You simply cannot claim to understand or appreciate people's love of or appreciation of a team on the basis that they may or may not attend certain games. Sadly life is much more complicated than that. Don't worry about it, though. Stick to the shallow end. Some times they bring out inflatables and shiny toys for you to play with.

At a cost of...?
What time is the return train...?
Will it entail overnight accommodation?
What if the time you finish work is not negotiable?
Can I be assured of being back at work for 8.45am the next day?

And that's before we start prying into more personal reasons why people might not be able to attend.

I simply don't understand why people who are not fanatical want to be considered as such.

Why not just admit that they like Rugby League and occasionally follow Wigan? Why do they need to be called a 'fan'?

Man Utd claim to have 25,000,000 'fans' - 95% have never seen them or can ever hope to see them. Claiming that you 'love' a team that you never watch reminds me of the poor souls who go on the Jeremy Kyle show who claim that they love their children and will do anything to prove it - short of actually getting a job, giving up drugs, talking to their ex partner etc etc. You can't claim to 'love' a team if you can't be bothered to go to the most important game of the season.

I see from your address that you live in Sussex. I'm guessing that you're an expat, in which case this isn't really aimed at you. I'm really getting at those who live within an hour of the ground who can't be bothered to go. So don't be so defensive.

Looks like the attendance police are out in force...