This is nothing like the situation for you at the CC semi.

The NRC game has only ever sold out once. Only a few hundred neutrals, if that, normally turn up to watch it. As far as I know Barrow have not yet sold all their initial allocation yet.

The RFL seem to be holding back tickets for the thousands of fan's that they think will attend for the 9's comp alone. It will probably only increase the non finalists support by a couple of hundred at most.

First priority should be given to the support of the two finalists, for whom this trophy is vital. It's probable that there'll just end up being empty seats, where there could have been none.

Lager attendance

Better atmosphere

Better for TV

New supporters to the game

More revenue

More successful outcome for the sponsors

That is the stupidity of it.

If the RFL felt they could not shift the tickets, they would have just given them to Widnes and taken the easy option. Comparing to previous finals is irrelevant, as the fact they don;t usually sell out is surely the reason why the RFL have tried to attract neutrals with the 9's tournament.

If Barrow end up sending some back, there is a chance you will get an allocation of those.

You are right about the semi not being a fair comparison, as Widnes' stadium is not big enough to cater for all the regrlar fans of Wigan and Warrington, whereas Blackpool's is easily big enough for all of Barrow's and Widnes'.

Your guess of a couple of hundred for the 9's tournament is just that, a guess. If the RFL have commited to give each club a hundred tickets each for example, they cannot now back out of that. I'm sure they will free them up if clubs return them, but they cannot just change plans for Widnes fans who are usually sat at home when Widnes are playing!!!

If they have they have vastly overestimated

Which are exactly the kind of fans we want to attract back into watching the game.

Last time Wire and Wigan played a semi here you didn't sell it out. Obviously quite a lot of fans that sat that one out are now going to this one.

Yes, I did guess at the likely figue for the 9's. But I know the general enthusiasm for this competition and it's not high on the agenda, particularly as it's a two day event. I just don't see it as possibly making much difference to the attendance. Most clubs don't give a shiny sh*te about it, and the bigger clubs' fans want to see their sides field weakened teams to avoid injury to their best players.

It's just a complete load of b0ll0x that was always likely to backfire.

It will be interesting to see what sort of squads the likes of Leigh,Batley,Sheffield and Gateshead put out considering we are all in a relegation battle

Also Fax as they have to travel to Toulouse the following week , but the French club get a free weekend

Basically a competition no one is interested in and one that many clubs dont really want to play in

Exactly. Imagine if Leigh played their best players and several were injured for the rest of the season playing a totally pointless tournament no c*nt's interested in, and you then end up relegated because of it?

The fact is, the RFL have given you an allocation, which you have sold out. If there are any spare closer to the time, they will release them. The 9's thing is an unknown so they may be playing it safe in terms of holding tickets back, as some clubs may get behind it and sell a couple of hundred each, we'll see.

This game will sell out (or you will be given more tickets).

I also agree about this game being a chance to get new fans in (or old ones back) and have made the same point in discussions about the semi, but ultimately, this isn't the RFL's main concern. They need a full house for all those things you listed, and had Widnes not got there, it would have been very tough for them. Unfortunately for you gys now it makes getting tickets more difficult for those armchair fans, but hey that's life.

It will be interesting to see how many 1 st team players the 6 SL clubs have in their squads for the Carnegie 9 's comp

The NRC 9 's is just an afterthought attempt to give the Championship clubs a second rate ' Magic ' weekend , unlike the MM weekend though it is a worthless badly timed totally unnessesary competition , but the clubs are expected to field full strength squads

Bloody crazy

I agree and i doubt that any clubs will risk playing there big name players as every club has ambitions for the season whether its play offs or avoiding relegation
it would be very funny if a very small attedance figure shows up for the nines as this shows another rfl failure


because lets face it if we hadn't of beat halifax, i personnaly wouldnt have give a toss

The RFL have told all clubs they must field full strength squads , all except Toulouse of course , they get the weekend off

Or perhaps it would be great if it sold out and was a great event that provided all fans with a weekend away in a decent town.


Why on earth would you want something to fail, just so you can thn have a moan at the RFL?

One of the reasons I have followed the ticket sales is because I was interested in attending this event. I was going to go to the 9's and then stay over and go to the final, however I can't get a ticket, and as it turns out we play Saints on the Saturday.

It isn't really.

There is something called market research. Contrary to what the RFL usually does, it involves going out there and asking the fans what they want and what they're prepared to do.

Had they gauged the fans reaction to the 9s they'd know by now it isn't a big deal and wont be a big issue if people miss out on tickets. It's like having a kids tournament before the FA cup final and giving them 20% of the seat allocation because people might want to turn up for it. Not the point even if they could sell that allocation out - its unimportant and should not impact the tickets available for the main event.

Maybe, or perhaps they looked at the Floodlit 9's last year and saw that it got a couple of thousand on a midweek, and have tried to tie it in as a Magic Weekend type event.

Standing out in the sun having a few beers watching 9's sounds pretty good to me tbh (hence looking for tickets).

I can understand people being disappointed that tickets are hard to come by, but the 9's looks quite a good event, although it will be interesting to see how it goes in it's first year.

Or win the chance to get PROMOTED to SL

It is in the biggest dump in the NW of England

Totally stupid idea

Not keen on it then Starbug

It shows does it

It might sound sweet to you but its patently obvious it doesn't have the interest the RFL thinks it will, which is the point.

if it is as appealing to you and others as you're making out, it could hold its own as a seperate event.

As it is, the ground chosen for the NRC final is too small already without having to share with another event.

They;ve dropped the ball, big time.

Just a little

What is the point in the 9s competition.I we where not in the final i would want a weakened team.I dont want my players injured for important league games.I would never go 9s comp.Another idea by the rfl.They are a bunch of idiots.

SOmebody pointed out that this game has only sold out once before, so how is the stadium too small for the event? They had to make the decision before they knew the finalists.

Also, with regards to the 9's people are being ridiculous. If the clubs don;t want sponsors and profil, fine, don;t bother with things like this, but to bang on about injuries is nonsense. The players will be playing less than they would if it was a full round of league fixtures. This adds some variety to the season, an okay, you may not like the sound of it, but that doesn;t mean the RFL have cocked up. Let's just see how it goes first. It may turn out to be an event which goes well and runs each year, just like the Union tournaments.

Also, with regards to the capacity, they will have looked and seen that Widnes get less than 4k fans, Barrow get around 2k, there is plenty of space there. As I have said, they are not here to cater for the armchair fans, which would mean them hiring a bigger stadium which leaves them at risk of thousands of empty seats if two lower teams were to make it to the final.

I believe the Blackpool stadium will be bigger next year anyway, so this should be the last year with issues?

Look at 7's events in Union, they attract thousands and thousands of fans, whereas League fans would rather sit at homemoaning about how the RFL are idiots.

Dave T, I know this is a very long shot but do you know if there will be any tickets on sale for neutrals for your CC semi at the Stobart??

I've made a slight adjustment to this post for you in order to put this ridiculous statement in it's perspective.

With regards to the numbers likely to turn out for the x9’s, my conclusions are personal, culled from a number of areas such as, experience of this league and opinions gleaned from supporters within this league of the x9’s event, as well as my own ambivalence towards it. I am fully aware that I cannot put forward an empirical figure. That evidence is remarkably and uniquely difficult to present exactly, since it is necessarily anecdotal. That does not make its truth any less apparent to the witnesses. We can put forward a pretty good guess; based on previous events and the feelings many Championship fans have towards, what mounts to a mid season friendly, which occurs at a very important part of the season where the fates of clubs will be decided. I am supremely confident that this tournament will be dropped for next season.

In other words, it is an ill thought out and unwanted load of bollox and will fall flat on its ar5e. So give the supporters who really want to go to the game f*cking tickets.


Here are two games where we got over 5,000 fans who attended a game this season. Just taking the average and insisting that all the supporters who have been to watch Widnes are included in that figure is as erroneous as it is completely fatuous.

Two games of over 5,000 this season:
Widnes V Gateshead
Stobart Stadium, Att: 5,236 (Pretty much all Widnes fans)

Widnes V Toulouse
Stobart Stadium, Att: 5,074 (Pretty much all Widnes fans)

A lot of people who have not just [i‘sat in their armchair’ [/iwill miss out, and miss out for no reason at all.

As far as releasing tickets later is concerned, that will just reduce the number of fans that would’ve actually gone. There is no promise by the RFL of a future release of any more tickets to the fans of Widnes or Batley, so many are likely to make other plans and the impulse to go will be lost. The many that would still go may not be able to get transport sorted (We don’t all own cars). There may be no time to book enough coaches and there are no special trains being laid on by the RFL. It is doubtful that the regular trains for Blackpool could handle any extra travellers at the busiest time of the year when day-trippers will also be heading to Blackpool too. It’s going to be choka as it is with the Widnes fans that are going on those trains on the day already.

There will now be gaping areas of Bloomfield Road that will look empty. That would not be good for the sponsors, will not show this league in a good light and will disappoint a lot of fans needlessly. You could still augment the crowd with a few hundred fans who want to watch the x9's as well as the extra Widnes/Barrow fans. That would have made for a nice full house.

Ah well....



Brewery a RFL up in.