Personally, I've not been to a home game since 2012 due to my inability to get home via train after the game. Managed to get to the odd away game and to Magic weekend/finals, but that's it. One of the reasons I'm looking at graduate jobs in Manchester is that i'll be able to attend home matches again.

You're thinking of Northern Europe. The UK doesn't have any of the 20 poorest regions in Europe. They are all in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland.

Yep, sorry, i worded it wrongly...

Not being funny, but, as an outsider, Wigan doesn't *look* to me like a particularly poor area. And my son, who lives in London, made the same comment. Certainly it appears a bit more prosperous than where I live (Dumpsville, Wiltshire).

I daresay "off the back of two desperately disappointing performances" is a factor, though.

Anyway, I'll be back up for the Saints game, if not before, so that will boost the attendance by another one.

No worries, thought I would get it in there before 'Britain First' started spreading it with the rest of their tripe

As an away fan I stopped coming to Wigan for a few reasons:
- rising costs at home v wages
- the rise in petrol costs (though that's been partly reversed recently)
- the car parking, both cost and time getting away at the end

But the biggest reason is the travel time. What did for me was I once set off for the game from York at half 4 and missed the kick off. Over 3 and a half hours stuck in queues. Which I might have just out down to bad luck had there been an accident or breakdown that caused the queues but there wasn't. It was simply congestion. Now not all of the queues were in Wigan or on the M62 but a decent proportion of my time queuing was in those areas.

I'm obviously not blaming the Wigan club for this at all, but it's the biggest single reason why I stopped and I'm sure it would at least factor into other people's decisions too. I can't justify having time off work just to get to a regular league game. Not to mention the frustration factor.

for me, it is down to the fact that the quality of SL has dramatically fallen away over the last 10years which is now compounded by the fact that we cannot compete with the RFU and NRL and as a result all our stars have left the game and we cannot attract stars to replace them. I hate to say it, but even latics get bigger 'home' crowds now and the apathy in the ground during our games is palpable. I was slammed on this forum for criticising the new structure and lack of investment in marquee signings to excite the crowd and put bums on seats but the proof is on show for all to see now.
#newera is just a marketing ploy to detract from the falling standard of the comp - RL is now just a feeder comp for the RFU & NRL, plain and simple.

Do Latics really get bigger home crowds than us?

If so, that says to me it's nothing to do with the standards of the game or seeing star players because there certainly aren't any in the Latics team. The club are clearly not doing enough if that is the case.

We are playing poorly and presently don't look like there is any improvement on the horizon hence the poor crowds. It ain't rocket science.
One consolation is that it may get IL to go out and seek new potential outside of the club structure

That's not the trend at all though.

2012 - lost 4 home games and averaged 16k
2013 - lost 4 home games and averaged 14.6k
2014 - lost 2 home games and averaged 14k

But we had won or were winning trophies during those years. Presently we look bottom 4 and play like a bottom 4 team hence the attendances. Will still get 20k plus versus Saints

Overall the quality of SL this year is dire - you look around DW and there are very few young fans anymore, those that are there are not really interested in the game. The reason for this is down to excitement and I'm afraid that is in very short supply these days despite the fact that every minute matters

Sorry to say I agree.
I'm sure the marketing guys are aware of this re youngsters and will act accordingly

One of the biggest factors affecting SL for me is the way that the referees are allowing the PLB to slow right down. This is killing the excitement of the game. It is creating a boring game. You could have the superstars in the world playing but it would still be dull with such a slow PLB.

Absolutely. And coming at a time when refereeing guidelines in the NRL look to have made a big improvement this season (but let's see if it lasts!), Superleague is starting to look clumsy and laboured.