Quote ="FearTheVee"I'm assuming your "like for like" comparisons mean that all these 8 years of first round fixtures had the same horrendous weather conditions with decisions on whether the matches would even take place being made on the day in many instances?
Otherwise, they aren't really "like for like" at all, are they?'"
The definition of what constitutes [i'horrendous weather conditions'[/i during the SL-era of summer rugby is an interesting one to say the least.
If you wish to dismiss the comparative Round 1 average attendance figures I produced earlier in this thread on the basis of [i'horrendous weather conditions'[/i, that's entirely up to you. What cannot be denied is that the 2012 figures are not record breaking attendance figures by any shape of anyone's fertile imagination.
On the issue of alleged [i'horrendous weather conditions'[/i, could this be the reason there was an alleged increase in the viewing figures for the opening SL fixture this year as the softcock variety of SL supporter preferred to wrap up indoors and watch on TV from the comfort of their armchairs instead? I say alleged because nobody has yet provided the viewing figures for the opening SL fixtures year on year and the weather conditions were hardly reminiscent of arctic conditions.