Apologies if it came across that way but I definitely wasn't criticising fans who simply cannot afford to attend all the games, and obviously games like today would be top of the list to miss rather than pay tickets/travel/food etc to attend a game we already know the outcome of before kick off. The clubs and the RFL have to come up with a plan to get the fans through the door without giving thousands of tickets away for free. Something like £10 non-ST holders, £5 ST holders, £2.50 all concessions could work.

I went to the pub with 2 friends to watch the FA Cup semi final yesterday, neither rugby league fans, and was so embarrassed at the sport when I was trying to explain why Widnes Saints was being played in a near-empty stadium.

but will manage to find the money to attend more expensive later rounds, ie semi , and final, should we get that far..........which will brass off the many non season ticket holders who attended today.


and thats another way to improve atendances at early round games.........PRIORITY VOUCHERS.......wont cost the earth to print them, and its not rocket science distributing them.

What's the point of priority vouchers when Wembley never even sells out? And as for semi-finals, we couldn't even fill the HJ v Saints last year.

Everyone who wants a ticket for the big games can get one.

I only go to the DW because I enjoy having my hot dog Seriously though, I have a season ticket, and when we play a team that I expect us to win, and I'm not feeling up to going to a game, the thought of the hot dog sways me.

You can't really criticise people for swerving today because they didnt want to pay nearly full price to watch us put almost 100 points on a semi-pro team. I don't think priority vouchers would significantly increase early round crowds tbh, as previously we have seen people who want a ticket will get a ticket. Until there is a precedent that suggests otherwise (ie. we sell out a semi final against Sts in a 13k stadium in a matter of minutes leaving thousands of fans disappointed, which didnt happen last year), then there is no need for any sort of attendance-based priority imo, just a more sensibly structured pricing scheme.

I do not think it is simply a money issue. CC games like this one will never get a large crowd and with a top 8 playoff system I reckon the fans have worked out the meaningful action also only starts later.

I think with a top five playoff system where every game is more meaningful you would get better crowds. Hard to see how to solve that one in the CC in this round when games like this crop up. For low crowds when it is an all SL clash I think the RFL's eagerness to promote the GF, which is essentially another knock out competition, as the be all and end all competition has led to the CC being viewed as less important than it once was.

I think we should introduce a "challenge cup opt in" scheme to include the cup games with the season ticket. It may work out as something like £30 more a season but if the ticket is included in the price maybe we will see stronger crowds for the cup games.

Above post do you mean ALL Wigan games in the CC or just the home games in the CC

didn't it used to be like this 10 years or so ago?

I think people should feel lucky to have received a discount for this game, because unlike some, I don't see why the game should be discounted. It's still a game, and it will still have cost the club the same to put the game on as usual.

Just home wigan cup games. Obviously you never know if you are going to have a home tie but to be guarenteed a ticket as part of your season ticket should be an option really. Something needs to be done to raise shocking attendances for the cup, it only really livens up come semi-final time.

i didnt go because i,d rather put the money towards a proper match at hull on sunday.i would rather get some competitive entertainment than a boring lost count of the score match.

Was in two minds whether to go, tickets , petrol, golden gamble, programme, food, drink etc must have been £35 for 2 of us, will be £60 this Sunday, if last Sunday's tickets were not discounted I doubt whether we would have gone.
Thought the players were very professional with their performance, but still came away with a bit of an empty feeling, not sure if there is an answer.

For me, the only answer is to make the games more competitive. No one's going to pay over the odds to watch a walk over. The only real shock of the round was Fev and shocks like this only come around once in a blue moon nowadays. I don't think there was a single person in that ground yesterday (the Crusaders fans included) that thought the result wouldn't be a Wigan win by 60+ points.

The gulf in class was truly astounding. It was men v boys for 80 minutes.

Fine in theory, but how do you propose to do that? The lower division clubs have to come up against a top club at some point.