I'm loathed to add more negativity to the boards at the moment but I started to look at our attendance record over the past 4 seasons and this is what I found. The Huddersfield game is a steady drop off but the Bradford one is a big step down. This can't all be due to their lack of away support. Castleford 2008 attendance was a freak one due to it being a 'grudge' match.

v Huddersfield
2009 11670
2008 12216
2007 12744
2006 11623/14092

v Bradford
2009 12558
2008 15444
2007 15107
2006 15830

v Castleford
2009 12079
2008 16667
2007
2006 12484

v Saints
2009 ????
2008 19958
2007 24028
2006 18358

Simple for me, why would people want to go out in the cold and the rain to not be entertained?

Bradford i would say you would have more reasont to put the blame on the away support, under the years of bullmania they used to fill the north stand each time they came to Wigan.

The Huddersfield game would be a concern and start to sound the alarm bells, as that was the most away support huddersfield have brought to the JJB.

What is noted is that Wigan include the season ticket sales in the attendence, even if half of the ticket holders dont turn up.

Wigan are pitching the Saints game as 4 sell outs in 4 years, going of the figures above that cant be correct.

It's not just their lack of away support but because Bradford, like Wigan, have gone downhill, Wigan fans don't want to watch them as much.
That said however, Wigan's attendances will continue to drop until we start winning 2 out of three games which I think isn't too much to ask.

A sell out against Saints will take it to over 15000 though. We have always relied on a good crowd against them but yes they are down this year thanks to a number of issues, not just boring Rugby.

Why didnt we play Cas at home in 2007?

Bradford have been bringing at least a 1000 less than they used to they used to nearly fill the of the North Stand behind the posts and this year they had a little huddle there. There could be another reason for Yorkshire teams bringing less over these days and that is Traffic for Friday night games.

Because they were in National League One

i think playing us on thursday wont help, i'm in work and so cant attend. I havn't missed a good friday match in memory

Your still not missing a good friday match though

And you won't miss one this year so stop your fretting petal.

Curse you Hogan

but moving from a bank holiday will surely impact on attendance

I still think Wigan can bank on a good 18000+ crowd for it probably 20000 depending on what happens in the Cup games.

We do usually sell out of tickets in advance though and no sign of that yet from the Saints website but while I do miss the idea of Friday early afternoon but still think most Saints fans will travel - no matter when i game is played some people can't go but the night before a Bank Holiday is pretty flexible and the start of the party!

The good friday is being headlined by the only true derby in rugby league and what a game it will be

Have people not entertained the possibility there may have been a reduction in the number of free tickets given away?

Crowds Currently

Celtic - Up 171.5%
Saints - Up 24.2%
Huddersfield - Up 19.6%
Salford - Up 19.3%
Bradford - Up 9%
Hull - Up 1.9%
Cas - Down 0.3%
Hull KR - Down 1.2%
Quins - Down 5.7%
Catalans - Down 7.3%
Leeds - Down 9.7%
Warrington - Down 10.3%
Wigan - Down 12.7%
Wakefield - Down 18.9%

That doesn't look good, and in truth its too early to really look at that yet, but I'm not worried about the crowds. The finiancial climate will obviously keep some away and I think they are all 4 good crowds so far against sides that are not big travellers. As well as considering season ticket prices took a big leap up this year, albeit still cheap compared to others.

No it dosent look good Bilko, and bearing in mind Salford and Crusaders have gone up a league and you can get a Huddersfield season ticket for around 25 pence it only really credits Bradford St H***ns and Hull fc

Well Saints have benifited from playing Warrington first which boosted our average up in 2007. They've also played Leeds which helps their attendance. That'll probably level off. Half that depends on who you've played so far.

ah fair point, and the fact our away crowds at the JJB combined barely pass the 2000 mark..

I'd have to agree, the only "sell out" type game we've not had is you, and having warrington first before their fans realise they are still pants is a big help



Still impressive considering its now £18 to stand up in the luxury of knows.. i mean GPW

Comparing what with what though? Without stating what that is based on makes meaningless stats. Are you comparing this year so far with last year in total?

Unless you are totally comparing like with like, then the numbers simply will never compare properly anyway. Look at the Saints figures in those earlier stats for example. Without knowing that every other year is Good Friday, and the others aren't, you could easily conclude yoyo attendances. How can you meaningfully compare a game against Hudds in the middle of dodgy weather on a Friday night with a game that may (for example, not saying it was) have been played in Summer on a Saturday evening.

At most clubs there's a correlation between poor performances and poor gates.
We haven't been performing very well at all.
Crowd v Celtic, my guess - 11150.

I think they mean the last 4 Good Friday games have sold out - 2 at Wigan, 2 at Stains.

That is probably correct but it gave the impression that it was for home games only

IIRC - The club announced at the fans forum that they were 'doing all they could' to gain a 15K attendance for this game.