Rather than looking at admission prices in our division perhaps this table is more telling -

Championship Adult Admission Prices 2015 - Cheapest Adult Entry
Bulls £20
Broncos £20
Featherstone £18
Leigh £17
Batley £17
Halifax £17
Workington £16
Eagles £15
Haven £15
Hunslet £15
Dewsbury £15
Doncaster £15

Makes seventeen quid into a Championship One game look a bit of a joke (albeit a paticularly poor one) really doesn't it ...

The kids free offer is fine in principle , but if it means raising the 'headline' entry into the ground to compensate ,to an amount that, with consideration to the above list. could be perceived as an extortionate level, and therefore puts off potential adult support , then its clearly not working .

Attendance at the friendlies has sadly shown how much the core support is dwindling , and also a good pointer to the level of support we are likely to get from our visiting teams [i(this Sunday may provide a bit of a blip as I suspect East Leeds as amateurs will bring a fair amount of support )..[/i and inflated entry costs is not going to help that any

An interesting comparison and very much food for thought for
our glorious leader .

Years ago, after 'Cougarmania' had bitten the dust, and with dismissing crowds, my fellow supporters agreed that the only way to increase attendances and interest was 'to breed' it. We have done our best by having a boy and a girl (who cannot attend because they live over 200 miles from Cougar Park) but they still follow the results and they, as we, my wife and I, still hope that the 'Glory Days' will,return.

It's great that the players have stayed with the Club but reality needs to be acknowleded by everyone.

There are problems that need to be resolved:

1. The admission price

and

2. Assuming that the Club actually does desire to attract families and younger supporters

The apparent obscene language used by players on the field (although I cannot confirm this fact as I have only read comments).

Can anyone explain why (if still broadcast before games) the 'Use if obscene languagewill not be tolerated by anyone' does not apply to players also?

We have been 'ever-present' since the 60's until moving away, and have instilled the 'Cougar Culture' into our children, who continue to support the Cougars but, how many responsible parents will,continue to attend games with their children when the (so-called) 'responsible players' ignore the comments played before every game?

After moving to the south coast, we have attended several games but, and IT'S A BIG BUT, we would never expose our grandchildren (aged 5 and 3) to the language used by players during games, which has been reported on this forum, so after supporting the Club in numerous ways for the past 55 years, unless the players improve their language, I will not make the 600 mile round trip to my beloved Lawkholme Lane (aka 'Cougar Park') again.

As for the entry price? It is unbelievable!

The players should be paid by results and they need to realise thus fact.

If they win then OK, but if they lose then why would they be paid at all?

'Player's Agents'! Don't get me started on that, nor the RFL.

Why don't we have it free in and a bit of adminstration?

Sounds fun....

17quid is a bit much but its all about supporting your team or not at the end of the day!

It might not have escaped your notice HC that Keighley as a town isn't exactly booming and as as shown in the friendlies , the amount of folk that are prepared to put money over the CP turnstiles is sadly diminishing fast , people are choosing to spend what little money they have elsewhere .seventeen quid on the gate is not going encourage them to change their mind and once people get out of the habit of going to games in many cases they are lost forever .


As was demonstrated admirably back in 1993 at the start of Cougarmania days , a town on its needs something to galvanize it , make it feel good bout itself , which is exactly what they did back then , making what should have been a relatively easy division to succeed in a big thing .... that was a moment in time that will never happen again , but the Club has a chance to build itself up this year but instead we aim to alienate our core support and go for the quick buck ...

There have been some creative ideas posted on here that need looking at , after all low attendances affect every other income stream the club has in some way , be it bars , food , merchandise , even function bookings (many of which coming from venue suggestions by supporters to room hirers ) and sponsorship , who wants to sponsor a. Gane if theres no b****er there , sort of defeats the object . ....

Btw supporting your team , doesn't mean following blindly without criticism if you believe something is not right ....

It's misplaced confidence and a shocking example of an attempt at arrogance to charge £17 to anyone, never mind loyal supporters. It's one thing charging a rate based on the perceived quality of product, but let's be fair about this - the product isn't that good.

There is a simple way around this which won't dent anyone's pride. Charge full price on the first home game, issue a voucher/receipt and on production of the voucher/receipt at the next home game earns a discount of a quid or two - reward for loyal regular supporters.

As Rachel has already eluded to - even if the product is good enough, the atmosphere will be 'away on leave' due to the 300 or so prepared to pay that kind of money..

Clearly there is a real lack of understanding of how to run a fan based business from the Board - clueless.

Is there anyone on here stopping attending due to cost?

I think we will struggle also crowd wise. Find all the hype made to fight rfl to then go quiet and recruitment disappointing don't seem to of pushed for players to go straight back up. Normally hardly miss but no enthusiasm at min for cougars. Will probably be attending batley vs fax tomorrow

£17 per game.... Disqusting!!! Get relegated and put prices up how does this work??. Don't think Gary will get many fans this season!! £3 more I can go watch a super league game at leeds.

Batley V Halifax ?????
I am the first to shout long and hard at anything Cougars that is wrong .....But .....
that's not very loyal is it ? Especially as Batley are such blatant Cheats .

Get yersen down to the Cougars not Batley !!!

Good for you BC!!

Thank the Lord for folk like you BurleyCougar, loyal to the core. If it wasn't for people like you, Gary and his 2015 strategy would look really really silly.

Keep On supporting

Thank you chaps ,
Like I say , I shout the loudest when things aren't right but come on ,
Batley ???? been a cougar fan for 37 years since I was 9 , if I decided to stop now
it certainly wouldn't be to watch those cheating sheeeeitehawks .

** shakes head and walks away

Anyway , if I didn't follow the Cougars through the
season that would mean I would have to talk to
the Wife all year round on a Sunday instead of
just the closed season

For various reasons I have stayed away this season,price versus product being one of them.This may change but one thing is for sure i would not pay to go and watch those at sodal, or john *ears cheating royalty.Gary doesn't need Burley to make himself look stupid or arrogant, he is doing fine on his own, or with the help of his fellow directors.Halifaxcougar if you think 17quid is such a bargain and people should just stump up why don't you give Gary 17000 pounds and pay for the first thousand through the gate at the next home ground free entry.Alternatively give him the money and tell Gary to subsidise the entry fee to a tenner for the season?