Oh well we will get rid of years of heritage and a showpiece competition because you don't get it, which if you're an Aussie you won't.

CCup games have never been big crowd pullers until the Semi Finals.

The reason SL games are fuller is pretty obvious - season tickets. Also I'm assuming the kids still get in for free/cheap at away games if they have a season ticket.

Not rocket science is it.

Get in free.....but also get in free to Challenge Cup games until the Quarter Finals.

But not the mums and dads and there is the crunch - perhaps a discount for season ticket holders might attract a few.

Wigan had one....it didn't

To be honest the only way to tackle it positivly is for the RFL to set prices for each round and perhaps incorporate discounts into that for season ticket holders.

Paid £12 at Fax to watch Scorpions on Saturday and £15 at Wigan on Sunday for Crusaders which in truth was a bit much but worth it for that try at the end.

£10 all in for the round just gone, perhaps £15 (perhaps £12 season ticket holders) for the others pre-semi might not be a bad way to go.

I was at the grand national, couldn't believe it when I saw they were playing this match on the same day as the national and the FA cup semi


Idiotic decision.

It's not just RL / Challenge Cup that's suffering with this, the FA Cup attendances in the 3rd - 5th Rounds rounds have been much lower for the than they use to be too.

What surprses me though is that clubs don't just selectively close areas of the ground to ensure that the full sides are opposite the main camera positions, as showing empty terraces can't be beneficial to attacting sponsors/advertisers etc.

The Widnes fan that went to FA Cup Semi Final or The Grand National fair enough, the ones who boycotted are an embarrassment to our club. Did us no favours what so ever.

I was working so couldn't go.

all these numpties on about a Boycott - get real. Its not asif its only the last couple of weeks we've been bad. We've had hammerings from Hull KR, Salford and huddersfield and turned up in great numbers against London at home.

We've been getting hammered, its a saturday night, lots of people have plans on the weekend and it was on TV. Not to mention people at aintree, Wembley and other arrangements. We dont have a home game now until the 20th May against Catalans but mark my words, even if we get beat in every game running up to it we will turn out in numbers.

Although it was a great effort from our boys, nobody and I mean nobody in widnes expected us to get close. Combine this with a TV Tea time kick with £22 on the gate just after a hammering from Bradford crowds were always going to fall.

The same happened at Warrington away, in years gone by, we would fill that end no bother for a SL fixture. We'd been getting hammered and it was on TV which resulted in us not filling the stand. We need another good couple of performances to attract some of our crowd back but I'm sure 99% of our stronghold members will be at the Catalan game.

well said mate

Widnes are very poorly supported. It's as simple as that!

I remember their promotion play off in 2007 at Headingley and they barely turned out for a game as important as that for the club. On that day there wern't any other distractions taking place and hence no excuses to give. So no surprise about them not showing up for a cup game.

Grobs, that is a little harsh. Their support isn't poor imo.


£22? Was that really the price? Awful.

Rubbish and if look at the other cup games they where poor attendances.Wigan got 4000 and was not on tv,Grandnational or a Derby.By the third year in Superleague I bet the average attendances will be higher.Anyway not many teams in the Championship have high attendances.Only Wigan,Leeds,Hull,Warrington,Saints and Catalans have high attendances.Bradford got a lot of high attendances due to cheap tickets.Now look at them in debt.

You mean the game against Castleford? The one where they reached the final a week before we did, were allocated the whole of the south stand and we were given the terracing behind the sticks and filled it?

What did you expect ? For Widnes, anything other than the wooden spoon will represent a good first season back in the top flight.
As fans, we all want our team to do well, but the reality is down to pound notes and the ability to spend up to the cap (plus, at some clubs, spouse earnings etc)
Season 2 will be better and by season 3, you may have a truly competetive side.
Get real and get behind your team.

quite right

and the big advantage is you have a sugar daddy who will do his utmost to make it happen - think yourselves really lucky...

We took nearly 5,000 fans to that game. we sold out the West Terrace and a good proportion of the North Stand. I was in the North Stand surrounded by Widnes fans, including our former chairman, Tony Chambers. Considering we knew we had little chance of winning, that wasn't bad at all.

We regularly took 5,000. or more, to the 3 NRC finals we got to as well.

We expect to get the wooden spoon, but we also expect to be reasonably competitive. We are, surprisingly, only £200k short of the full salary cap. We only stopped spending because there was no-one left worthy of bringing in. So they kept a bit aside, should some quality players become available.

surprised they didn't go in for Pelissier at Catalans,at least for one or two season contract - with Hendo & Fisher it's hard for him to get a game at the moment

We already had Moore, Clarke and White. You could also add Watts to that list of hookers.

point taken but I reckon Pelissier is a cut above the others...reminds me of a young Luke Robinson

Listen sunshine, read and most importantly understand my post before you go telling me to get real.

You won't find many more behind my team than me. Seldom am I seen/heard/read slagging them or the coach off at every turn. I back the club with my hard earned cash and vocal chords the vast majority of weeks. There are only the most deluded Widnes speccies who expect us to win more games than we lose. I think we've done well to win 2 games so far but it is the manner of some of our defeats and the Bradford performance in particular that prompted me to vent my frustration. That performance would have been unacceptable from an under 8's team and if you'd have had the misfortune to not only witness but pay for the dubious pleasure, you'd have been pretty hacked off too.

We've had some very dark days at Widnes over the last decade or so but the teams we sometimes have had to cobble together have by and large played to the best of their abilities. Not last week. It pains me to say the effort & commitment shown by a large percentage of our team against Bradford was nothing short of pathetic.

I'll be at Saints on Friday night and most other games this season pennies & holidays permitting.

Would it surprise you (and these are SOC words), that we have spent £1.4m on the cap this year?

We'd see how they would feel if their club had the worst points difference of any club for 15 years, regardless of their start.

Put it this way, Widnes's PD at this stage is -339. Catalans in their first season were on -109 at this stage. Even Leigh from 2005 were only -241.

Some Widnes fans think that whilst we only expected between 12th and 14th, we could be putting up a better fight with a more experienced coach and the club are refusing to accept this. Many Widnes fans never wanted Betts in the first place and most were gobsmacked when he was given the SL contract; now we're being asked to stick with sub-par performances in the presumption that improvement will come, when there is no reason to think that it will.

A few fans did 'boycott' the game, but it's important to say that this was instead of cancelling Stronghold. When SOC brought it in he specifically said that if we felt the club aren't performing we can cancel it as a message. This was a much less harmful message.

It's hard getting people to pay for watching dross. This isn't a go at Widnes the club but more a comment about how they are being coached. There just doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency, or determination to put things right. With the players Widnes have, most games should be at least competitive and defence better organised. Betts seems to have written this season off already and O'Connor appears to be backing him.

Wonder how things would have been if relegation were an issue.

Indeed, although, on the plus side, you have time to build a stronger team.