So the ground was only half full for a cup final held in Blackpool on a Sunday afternoon between 2 teams who allegedly think they have what it takes to one day be in Superleague.

Pretty poor effort especially as people were claiming it had 'sold out'

Leigh is only about 40 miles from Blackpool and Halifax about 60.

Why the poor crowd?

Sunday evening, 5pm kick off?

East stand wasn't used due to Blackpool FC having work done to corners to improve stadium therefore only 3 sides used

Its a good job it wasn't open, they couldnt fill the three that were!

This doesn't help. Never known why they keep insisting on it being on a Sunday

A saturday would certainly have been better but even so.. 5pm k/o on a Sunday.. in Blackpool.. the chance to watch your team play in a cup final in a seaside town filled with bars pubs and clubs.. it's a pretty poor turnout.

If I supported Leigh or Halifax I'd certainly have gone and I'd have made a weekend of it.

who claimed it was sold out?

Various people on this site.. I cant remember who and i'll be honest I can't be bothered to look now.

i don't recall anyone claming it was sold out......

Weather didn't help.

If it had been on a Saturday with some nice weather we could have got a lot more

Jonny the Leyther did.




but then again he is an idiot

It was a 5.00KO,on a Sunday and it was On Skysports.
Not a bad game mind could obviously of gone either way to the last touch of the game.

Fantastic atmosphere and a fantastic match.

Not sure why some people have a bad opinion of Championship and NRC rugby.

I thought today was fantastic and I'll certainly be going to the Championship finals day.

was a shame it wasnt a sell-out. But still a great atmosphere considering only 3 sides of the ground.

Saturday at 3pm, I'm sure would be a better time for KO.

It was a fantastic advert for the championship, i think a few are obsessed with attendances on here. Both sets of fans who went created an excellent atmosphere.

I don't think you can really pin the attendance on the weather though. I imagine the amount of people in the stadium who decided to go on the day and hadn't pre-purchased their tickets will be in double figures.

I reckon the final should be on a Saturday, moving the weekend's SL SKY pick to Sunday.

I'm sure that the weather wasn't the only factor but it definitely had an affect,

60 miles is quite a lot of distance to do on a Sunday evening and in my opinion it should definitely be played on a Saturday afternoon.

If it was circa 8,500 that would make it the third highest gate in the competitons history, 400 higher than last year and circa 450 short of capacity for the ground so not too bad a effort for 2 part time teams taking part in a live TV game on a wet Sunday evening.

2 heartland teams with asperations to play in Super League can only get 8,500 for a cup final. Very disappointing i would say.

The Northern Rain Cup final was a very entertaining game played in front of a passionate crowd that generated a great atmosphere

Must be time for a negative thread on RLFANS then

The negative is that only 8,500 turned to watch a cup final between 2 heartland sides with asperations to play in super league.
The positive side is that it was a entertaining game in front of passionate fans.
For any team with asperations to play in Super League they must try as hard as possible to get as many fans as they can to showcase games like this. Actually i will expand on that and say that clubs like these 2 who want to play in Super League should make an effort to showcase every game they play, and show the RFL that they would be assets to Super League. Easier said than done i know, but they need to give it a very serious try.

I thought it was a bit strange that a club with the aspirations of Leigh didn't appear to have taken many more fans to todays final than my club, Batley, did last year.

Wasn't that only 500 less than the best ever attendance for the final?

Are we going to reverse back and relegate Cas, Hull KR and Widnes as their final 'only' brought that amount? (which weren't FULLY sold out just as point of order that there weren't ticket available).

What a bizzarre thread.

(no digging at the above 3 teams, just amazed at the eness of the point trying to be made)

8522 at level that is used to below 2000 crowds.

Pretty decent if you ask me, but hey lets be negative for the sake of it.

well after the club were asked to return unsold tickets to the RFL -the RFL decided to run turn off the ticket hotline - sunday night in blackpool, televised and winter weather - whay croed do you expect to see?