Their support in the semi and the finals this year has been very good. It's always tough to judge what a good away following us for them due to their location but it's certainly looked good in the Yorkshire based games.

They could do with increasing their home support mind. There's no reason why they couldn't average 14,000/15,000 with a successful side.

Living in London now I decided to pop down to watch it. Never been as a neutral before. No chance the crowd was that. I was in the upper tier of the Warrington corner and there was nobody around. Hull definitely brought more but even so, I reckon the real figure of people sat there was around 50-55k. Still atmosphere was good. Barely saw any neutral shirts. To be honest, for the first time it felt hostile in a few parts. Was walking behind a group of 5 Wigan fans, a Hull fan let them walk past before stopping me (walking on my own) to tell me about how poor our support was. Also saw a woman wearing a CasHullFord shirt smack a Warrington fan in the face on the way out over something or other. Isolated incidents for sure but certainly didn't feel as friendly as it has done in past years.

The neutral support is definitely down on what it has been probably largely down to cost of the tickets and travel. And this time of the year is certainly not ideal hopefully the great game of show this time can draw some more deport for the next final!!

took over 2000 to saints in the cc cup although it was free coach travel

league games, we have taken good numbers to all away games, including the ones over the pennines

even if we attract another 1500 hundred pass holders its progress

Never in a million years was that a 76000 attendance. I sat up in the gods and had about 10 rows of empty seats in front of us. I'd say the top tier (39000 capacity) was about half full at best, and the club Wembley seats (16500 capacity) were almost empty. They are clearly counting these towards the attendance. Bottom tier was full, I'd say the attendance was closer to 55000.

Fantastic day out regardless but doesn't look great on tv, maybe it's time to start offering the middle tier to the competing team's fans, and the upper tier at a cheaper price? Better filling them on the cheap than not at all.

Wire fans didn't turn up in huge numbers because it's just another home fixture. Not a novelty anymore.

Good bit of bravado, though there is some truth in what you say. Appearing at Wembley four times in eight years is likely to get boring for your hangers-on. But you'll note from other comments that it isn't the absence of Wire fans at Wembley that's the problem. It's the absence of neutrals. The Challenge Cup Final doesn't feel like the massive attraction that it once was due to its second rate status in the eyes of our owners at Sky, and the high price of travel, tickets, burgers, beer etc hardly help with that.

All this "doesn't look good on TV" stuff, is it really that important?

Worth bearing in mind that in the all-singing, all-dancing NRL, the Cowboys and JT play every week in front of crowds Wigan or Saints would be ashamed of (14-15000), and the likes of the Rabbitohs play most of their home games in massive, almost deserted stadia.

I don't think it's that vital in itself, especially as memories of the 95,000 we used to boast fade ... but it feels like it adds to the demise of the Challenge Cup Final as a major RL event. Plus, it's the only part of the game that is exposed on national TV (apart from the occasional Test match, so many of which end in disappointment). It might only be a cosmetic victory, finding some way to bump Wembley back up to a full house, but I think we need to try.

Having a few poor finals in a row surely doesn't help. Neutrals watching Wigan v Hull FC, Leeds v Cas and Leeds v Hull KR weren't exactly spoiled. Hopefully a close final this year with the underdog winning will help next year's crowd.

As mentioned, I don't think the move to August was smart either. Having it so close to the Grand Final makes it feel secondary to me. When it was in April/May the cup games kept my focus far more as the games weren't as spread out, there was an imminent chance of making a final, and by comparison the league games around that time felt less urgent as there's always loads of games still to go when the cup is on. I also think having the big CC games later on detracts from the Super 8s.

The vivid red seating at Wembley doesn't help the cause as this simply emphasises where there are gaps in the crowd.

The obvious timing for me would be at the end of the first phase, before the super 8s. It's a nice bridge between the 2 halves of the season and would only bring the competition forward 1 round