Crusaders doing well and Featherstone must be pushing London close

Featherstone's average for the Kingstone Press Championship 10 home matches so far is 2,405.

I've just spent 5 minutes collating that. So this is how William Eve lives

Hull KA? Yes the team with 5 non-english players in the team at weekend. One more than FC.
Quite happy with 68th for a small club and doing minimal cheap deals compared to other clubs.

Edit: Actually only 4 so the same as other clubs

because of injury

Leeds played with 13 academy products this weekend. 1 overseas player. Hudds, and Wigan have done similar things this year, and Saints wont have been far away.

When Hull KR invest in their academy which is the joint lowest rated in SL, start bringing through more quality young players, and stop bringing in so many overseas players. People will stop mocking them.

What's RU got do with it? Why not compare our attendances to global Ice Hockey teams while you're at it?

He's a Union troll, what do you expect he would compare us to. I am sure if RL teams had made up the top ten places he wouldn't have bothered putting that list together.

I can assure you he's not a union troll. But yes it is a completely pointless list.

This jumped out. How the hell do they calculate average attendance in the RFU? The capacity of The Stoop is only 14800. I make Quins home league average 13763 and their home HC average 13489 (which are not to be sniffed at admittedly). I suppose they include the Twickenham Stadium games which slant the figures somewhat.

If Leeds took a big game to Elland Road they could include that, or if Saints took a big game to Anfield they could include that. It's a shame our clubs don't have more imagination sometimes.

I said when Bradford were stripped of £600k the RFL should have said to every club, go out find a big stadium to play a home game in, market the hell out of it and we will underwrite it (including the loss of income from a home game) with this £600k. If you make a profit you get half, and half goes back in to the pot for next year.

For example,

Lets say Leeds usually get income of roughly £300k from a home game. It costs £150k to rent elland road for the day , and Leeds absolutely blitz the place with marketing that one specific game (cost £100k). So there is £550k spent. Leeds sell 33k tickets at an average of £15 = £495k, + corporate, additional sponsorship, concessions (which wouldn’t be too good at a rented ground) etc. Lets be conservative and say they bring in another £150k from everything else. Overall match income would be £645k. £550k goes straight back in to the RFL pot, 95k is profit, RFL have another £47250 to add in to the pot, Leeds take home £347250.

Saints then have £647250 in the pot which they use to try and sell out Anfield or Goodison park. Possibly move the HKR home derby to St James’ park and market the hell out of it sell 50k tickets to a game which would otherwise get 9k.

6 teams do it one year, the other 6 the next, one every couple of weeks throughout June/July and August when the football season is finished.

Im not going to defend those figures because they may be way out, but its just supposed to be illustrative, but if every game did nothing more than break even, we would have a self-perpetuating pot of money we were using to market high profile, high visibility, high attendance, attention grabbing games

or...





BTW.....I believe a Union Troll would slag off the game RL in preference to the game of Union. Good luck finding such a post of mine on here....I simply despair at the way League is run as a business, specifically in the northern hemisphere, but because I compare it to unions management (to an outsider, both games are very similar so the comparison is a valid one) I am a troll.

JB......the NRL is not Superleague ans visa versa. The fact that 2 of the teams in the bottom 25% of that "pointless, but reactive" list will make the SL Play-offs is a major concern to TV execs and SL club owners as well as the RFL.....or if it isn't, then it bloody well should be.

BTW.....I think Salford will have to spend 10 x Morleys wages on marketing to get back to 5k averages next year.......going to games is a habit that is hardtop get people back into.

Quote BTW.....I believe a Union Troll would slag off the game RL in preference to the game of Union'"

just about sums you up. Just look two posts ago where you posted RL v RU attendances. Why did you bother putting that list together unless it was to show the supposed superiority of RU over RL. Why not compare all sports, why just choose Union?

Wonderful post, fantastic idea!!

But, like the panic button the SL chairmen have hit by restructuring the game, short term greed means that most of them, if presented with the above text, will have stopped reading at "market the hell out of it" and said "no thanks, just give us the money".

That is the most disappointing thing about it. That £600k could have been used to benefit the game, instead 40k has just disappeared in to the black hole of the clubs finances.

In fact, ridiculously, for the Wigans, Leeds, Wires of this world who make a profit, we have literally just given Caddick, Lenegan, and Moran £40k to put in their back pocket because Bradford went bust. I don’t think we could have found a worse use for it than the one we settled on.

Fantastic idea. Sport is moving more and more towards 'big event' type fixtures. Our clubs need to take this on board more. Rhinos v Trinity at Elland Road would be ideal. Or Saints v Wigan at Anfield.

1. Union and League are essentially the 2 most similar sports and both have their origins in the same country.
2. Are you having trouble finding a post where I criticise THE GAME and not the business? Attendances, TV deals, Back office stuff is not THE GAME by the way.
3. No supposed about it JB....Union as a Sports Business is light years ahead of League. Yes, the NRL have been cashed up, but in the global scheme of things it's tiny. I use Union, specifically the RFU and the IRB because I see them as being, whilst not perfect, very good administrative bodies...the IRB ploughs 100% of it's RWC revenue back into the development of the game. The NRL will give development in the PI's a few crumbs from the table.
4. I am drawn to threads like these like a moth to the flame (or a fly to ) because it is where the self declared defenders of the RL faith ([uSDDRLF[/u) reside.....your blind devotion to League at the expense of any valid debate and your frothing at the mouth over any post you consider anti RL is amusing and admirable in equal measure. The facts are often ignored, or irrelevant comparisons used to counter argument....like SL attendances being down 11.5% in this thread. you yourself have cited the lower attendances at HKA being down to building works and the bad views from the remaining seating.....irrelevant....attendances are down over 5% at HKA with the same view and the same building site.
5. Union is NOT A BETTER GAME THAN LEAGUE..........it is just run better as a business. Your SDDRLF buddies on the Aussie boards are laughing because the ARU have said they are expecting only 65,000 at the Bloodyslow test this weekend........1970 was the last time the Kangaroos drew a crowd that size in Australia. The insecurity of the SDDRLF is a prime reason for quoting Union as a comparison.


6. It's human nature to ridicule what you don't understand or like.....so you call me a Union Troll. lol......keep it up big fella



As I said earlier......but you ignored, find a post of mine that's slagging off THE GAME of RL. That should keep you busy for a while

Lol, How convenient you want to compare the rfu and IRB and not the aru or super15 to NRL. Any argument can be made if you look for the right variables to prove your point. I say RL is doing much better than RU as the NRL is shtting all over super 15 from a great height. As for the bloody slow, most RL fans find it amusing that the most hyped up union game in the Southern Hemisphere can't draw as many fans as two states playing each other.

Of course RL is great on the field and crap off it in england and rlif, has been for a hundred years and probably always will be. In Australia it was being run great, then run poorly, now heading to being great again. In NZ it has gone through a tough period and is now looking much healthier though the loss of the CEO will be interesting, in PNG it was run poorly but finally looks to have some unity and plan and will be even more massive in the years ahead.

Flick back a page....there's a list with all the clubs that play Rugby of either code at 100% professional level with the exception of Japan....S15, NRL, SL, Aviva, Pro 12 top 14. Compare away.



Most times


depends where you're talking about...Southern Hemisphere, probably, globally, not in our lifetime...the NH tours by the SH at the same time as the RLWC will attract more fans to games than the entire RLWC.


Whereas the last time the Kaangaroos drew an Australian crowd like the bloodyslow was in 1970.


why "of course"?
the RFL needs to rid itself of those who consider what the RFL have achieved in the last few years as acceptable and put business minded people at the helm......kind of like the scot at the NZRL and the Taff at the ARL.....I tell you, it's a Celtic uprising

clearly just needs a paddy to take over the RFL! When the S15 can attract more viewers than an U20's RL comp then they may have some semblance of credability, the only thing keping S15 alive is SA and they want out, at the current rate soccer will be bigger than Union in Oz soon and RU will be a distant 4th in the footy codes. A far cry from 2011 when the ARU was telling us how the profits from the RUWC was going to help them crush RL! haha. In the mean time RL is booming. RL>>>RU in money, fans, players, clubs, growth, tv viewing, in fact pretty much any stat you want to compare. Back to the World Cup, with the NRL's new massive infrastructure and income, this goal in the ARL's strategic goal should see the next RLWC a major success for the game: The 2017 RLWC in Australia and NZ will be the most succesful ever www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEdito ... e_Plan.pdf

clearly just needs a paddy to take over the RFL! When the S15 can attract more viewers than an U20's RL comp then they may have some semblance of credability, the only thing keping S15 alive is SA and they want out, at the current rate soccer will be bigger than Union in Oz soon and RU will be a distant 4th in the footy codes. A far cry from 2011 when the ARU was telling us how the profits from the RUWC was going to help them crush RL! haha. In the mean time RL is booming. RL>>>RU in money, fans, players, clubs, growth, tv viewing, in fact pretty much any stat you want to compare. Back to the World Cup, with the NRL's new massive infrastructure and income, this goal in the ARL's strategic goal should see the next RLWC a major success for the game: The 2017 RLWC in Australia and NZ will be the most succesful ever www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEdito ... e_Plan.pdf

1. 20,242 is the average crowd at a S15 game...17,494 at an Australian one.....the NRL is tracking at 15,694, the A league at 12,500 and the AFL 32,100 and change. oopsy...

NRL being tailed by wendyabll....


2. Internationally, the wannabees got 192,972 to the three lions tests this year and another 196,418 went to 2nd grade games by the midweek team. 389,390 tickets sold......that's nearly 100,000 more than attended the entire RLWC 2008.
3. The Irish RFU turns over more cash than the RFL, who preside over 4 Nations. So does the SRFU and the WRFU. The RFU currently turn over AU$ 223,000,000 a year.
4. 370,000 SKY TV viewers watched the 20114 nations final....980,000 SKY viewers got out of their beds and watched the Lions 3rd test in Australia.
5. The BBC claims an average of 4,500,000for every 6 nations game they show...
6. More people attended the 2012 end of season Union internationals featuring IRB teams ranked #1 to #11 than have attended every RL world cup since 1954



There are plenty more stats available if you want them...

There are only 5 Australian clubs in Super Rugby... ALL of which are suffering falling crowds last year.. whilst the A-League has 10 clubs as opposed to NRL's 16. Hardly comparable. Club rugby union is becoming so embarrassingly irrelevant in Australia it's scary.

[uUPDATE...[/u
[uSL Round 25 attendance - comparison to same fixture last year[/u

Warrington V Widnes in 2013 = 10,392
Warrington V Widnes in 2012 = 12,042
% decrease = -13.70%

S15 Rd5 GameTotal
HGL vs HURFOXFN 51,000
NSW vs CHEFOXFN 98,000
CRU vs BULFOXSN 74,000
QLD vs WF FOXSN 113,000
SHA vs ACTFOXS 58,000
Total 394,000
lol, no wonder no FTA Tv wanted to touch S15 in Oz!

in comparison to paying a billion $'s for an avg 3million viewers a weekend watching NRL!

RU in Australia is sliding into insignificance and any genuine RL fan is watching it with great glee. If it wasn't for their uinternational game the "unions" would be bankrupt if they had to rely on just their club game to fund them as RL does. The NZRU only made a small profit last year after a loss in 2011 due to a number of AllBlack players leaving NZ to play overseas!

Leeds expecting a bumper attendance this evening as many fans are wanting to pay tribute to the late Graham Murray prior to tonight's fixture.