Very good sire.

I was concerned by the crap attendance on Saturday - it was rubbish. However, it is not just a Wakefield thing...most clubs pull rubbish crowds when you expect them to be packed out.

It seems to be a RL thing, the thing is what can we do to change it?

Stop showing games live on SKY - oh hang on, they pay the wages!!!

Make season tickets a real bargain, like Hudds last year - too much of a gamble.

Sell tickets for £12 from four weeks before a game, put them up £3 a week as the game approaches and DON'T advertise which games will be live on SKY - this will mean SKY can't change schedules at short notice, but is this a bad thing?

One solution I’ve recently thought of is encrypting the Sky signal so that where ever the game is live from, the local areas population are unable to view it from their homes. I don’t know how feasible it is or how popular it would be, but it would certainly put the stay at homes in a dilemma. I would hope it would push them towards the ground rather then just not bothering either way.

A little draconian, but it’s an idea.

How do you propse that to work? Sky can't mention what game they'll have on. He who pays the piper calls the tune, and if we have to move games for them, I'm sure the money they provide outweighs that of the minority of supporters who have to change major plans.

sky pay the bills so sky set the rules not us, end of...
The true problem is a mixture of the recession, and a large slice of apathy for the good souls of Wakefield who can't be d to go and watch a winning side!!!
The amount of people I speak to who say " wakey are doing well aren't they!" and I reply "yeah they are, have you been going?" and they say "no!!" is unbellievable!!! "Well I used to go but they were bloody rubbish so I stopped!" well they aren't loosing every week and they aren't bloody rubbish so get off your s and go and watch em!!!!

Followed by bringing back public flogging and no women allowed to vote.

What the hells wrong with that

Yes but they don't do that for other sports do they and they seem to still get bums on seats. For important games anyway.

Believe it or not, I have a lot of time for Wakey as a club, I am just concerned at the message it gives out to get such a poor crowd for a big game.

And accept a reduction in the Sky contract next time round?

Why don’t Sky show any football games on a Saturday at 3pm? It’s to protect the crowd figures at all football clubs who play at that time.

To be honest I don’t think anyone other then RL fans are particularly bothered by attendances. I don’t think it particularly sends out any sort of message other then Wakefield hardcore is support is about 4-5K. All four play off games were poorly attended, with reflection upon hardcore average with no away support it stands up well to the other matches.

£18 is too much money for a casual supporter to spend when they can watch for free at home or in the pub. Poor crowd, yes, a game to whet the appetite of those other then hardcore support, no.

Why would a reduction be on the cards, they still broadcast the match, Sky subscribers will still be paying for it and have access to Sky Sports, they don’t lose any money.

Why would that happen?

Of course, and is a UEFA rule - rlhttp://www.uefa.com/uefa/News/Kind - but that is different from what you are proposing.

The contract between the RFL/SL and BSkyB takes into account that some fans will stay away and watch at home - that's why they pay the amount they do - same with football, union and other sports. It is then down to the clubs, who all have these community and marketing departments, to sell these games to the public as that by going to the match they are getting some extra you can't get by watching at home or staying in the pub.

Quote: Khlav Kalash "Why would a reduction be on the cards, they still broadcast the match, Sky subscribers will still be paying for it and have access to Sky Sports, they don’t lose any money.'"

Because the potential number of viewers, which they sell advertising based on, is reduced.