Poor attendance

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
josie andrews
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by josie andrews »

adiddy wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 6:13 pm I was close to telling Wigan to stick their season ticket where the sun don't shine.. My wife gets me my season ticket every year for my Christmas present, two years ago she signed up for auto renewal, Wigan obviously ballsed that up last year but was promised all would be well this year!!!! Low and behold no news whatsoever from Wigan, no money taken, wigan ticket office having no knowledge that I even exist never mind me ordering tickets from them every away game, but also no knowledge of us ever setting up a direct debit for the auto renewel despite us emailing them with the actual direct debit email they sent us last year telling us it was set up. Wigan then said the auto renewal price was gone now so it would be more expensive so I just told them to not bother then and told my wife to put the phone down, to which we got a......but this time we'll honour the renewal price. We then asked to set up for auto renewal again to be told we couldn't as it was a different company doing the finance, to which again we said never mind and ended the call.

I love Wigan, have done since I first saw us beat Leigh at Hilton park when I was 8 years old at my first game. I've had season ticket for the last twenty five years but each year it seems to be getting harder to actually get info from Wigan and to actually buy the ticket, I also miss out on a lot of the benefits of having a season ticket due to not living in Wigan .

Just all seems very amateur!!!

Matt
This year you can blame the new computerised system Matt! I don’t know about previous years, I’ve never had a problem with auto renewal just the fact that with the new system I ended up with three client codes because it’s connected to the football as well & I was given two football client codes for some reason!!

What benefits do you miss out on?
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
ancientnloyal
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by ancientnloyal »

I have a ST and attended 0 playoff games
https://www.ancientandloyal.com/

James Slevin
Ces Mountford
And the “kind of rugby player you’d want to be in your dreams” James Leytham
Should be in the Wigan Warriors Hall
Of Fame
the pieman
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by the pieman »

moto748 wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 6:49 pm pieman's comments about the Nines are surely fair; the BBC RL site (the obvious first port of call) has been deafeningly silent about it. Personally I only even knew about it at first because of posts on Aussie league sites I follow. Not even highlights (do nine-minute long halves need highlights?) for the many who don't have Sky on the Beeb? I have a watchnrl.com subscription, but that doesn't seem to cover it either.
another example from this weekend of the RFL & broadcast partners shooting themselves in the foot.

The BBC aired the Tonga v GB game on Saturday morning with extended highlights later in the day on BBC1, yet on their own TV coverage overview of sport on for the weekend, there was not 1 mention of the RL.

so this week i knew about the game because i had been on here last week and my dad reminded me on Friday that it was on.

i watched the 1st half of the game on Saturday morning and then had to go out so put the radio on. i generally listen to talk sport, but switched to talk sport 2, BBC radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra, not one of the stations had the game on or even mentioned it during the time i was listening. i appreciate that the RU world cup is on so 5 live had that on, but there was some cricket on 5 live sports extra but think that was just some Ozzie club match so shows where RL fits into the wider picture :(

josie andrews wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 3:52 pm I post as much as I can regarding everything to do with national & international rugby on here, on FB & Twitter. If you have failed to read about it on any of those platforms I don’t know what else to do.
Josie, i and pretty sure most others on here appreciate the time and effort you go to posting as much as you can generally about RL, but it shouldnt be down to an individual as such and i wasnt having a go at someone like yourself who clearly loves the game. The point i was / am trying to make is that the clubs, rfl and broadcast partners should be putting time and effort into promoting the game at all levels.
if i was to take Wigan with regards to 1st team games, ladies games and academy i cannot fault as i see them on FB or twitter, but that is because i am a ST holder and follow them on social media. The challenge and the wider context of my point is that if i wasnt following them how would i know what was going? The club / RFL need to work on expanding the fan base, so need to be targetting somehow people that arent going to go to every game, fans who attend every now and then or have never attended a game.
what does the club do in local schools these days?
i think the local amateur clubs is a good way to try and attract fans but by default they already like RL as they are playing it, so it could only potentially swing young fans towards a club if they were based in Haydock and had Wigan or Saints to choose from?

i used to see a billboard at a local pub in Hindley, but that hasnt been there that i can recall for the past 2-3 years. Pretty sure that wasnt that expensive to keep there but was damned effective as there are thousands drive past it on their way into / out of Wigan. Ok that would only be promoting Wigan games / merchandise or whatever they were putting on it, but got lots of views.

with regards to the RFL and the bigger picture my frustration is the general lack of marketing / promotion of the game. i have had tickets for Challenge cup, grand final and internationals off them for over 30 years, but they do little to promote the game, and back to my original point i had seen nothing about the 9's. if fans of the game dont know who are people outside of the game going to know.

i havent seen 1 advert on the BBC for the Tonga game or the upcoming games v PNG or NZ, but i guarantee that the 6 nations will be advertised for weeks in advance and that is the point i am making. why should RL be made to feel 2nd class v any other sport (this isnt a gripe about RU). on SKY it gets good viewing figures, but gets little promotion and now stuck on one of the also ran channels. we are never going to compete with football, RU has the international game nailed down with big marketing and sponsorships but why can RL not look to emulate or replicate half of that. i used to watch GB in the 80's / 90's and we had sell out crowds at OT / Elland Rd but now we are made up with under 25k and saying the game is flourishing
josie andrews
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by josie andrews »

I agree entirely with your comments Pieman. I realised you weren’t having a personal dig at me btw 😊

The RFL/Super League Europe/SKY/BBC really need to sort out what they want from our game!

They want to show live games but have no interest at all in advertising, in advance, on any type of media including their own platforms.

It’s a disgrace how our great sport is suffering from the lack of promoting it to a wide audience. Then they wonder why attendances are low!
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
the pieman
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by the pieman »

josie andrews wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:19 am I agree entirely with your comments Pieman. I realised you weren’t having a personal dig at me btw 😊

The RFL/Super League Europe/SKY/BBC really need to sort out what they want from our game!

They want to show live games but have no interest at all in advertising, in advance, on any type of media including their own platforms.

It’s a disgrace how our great sport is suffering from the lack of promoting it to a wide audience. Then they wonder why attendances are low!
Josie, i think it genuinely is one of the biggest gripes that fans have. Whilst we can argue about how good or bad the game is at the minute, i think we all agree that it doesnt get enough air time and certainly isnt marketed anywhere near as much as other sports. IMO a bad game of RL is still better than watching a lot of other sports. This weekend alone I have watched RU, football, American Football and F1 after watching the RL test.

I switched them all off as i got bored, yet there were 2 full houses for the RU semi finals, 83k + at Wembley watching American Football and TV coverage absolutely selling how good the games are, and i as posted previously massive global sponsors involved.
On a personal basis i know we cant like everything but i was certainly watching something different to what they were commentating on with the RU and NFL. The Wales v SA game especially was one of the poorest games of any code of rugby that i have watched for a long time, both sides literally just kicking a bomb in the hope that they would get possession back and the standard / quality of that kicking wasnt that good.
The NFL again was just so slow and stop start that i got bored. i appreciate it isnt something i watch regularly but thought i would give it a go, but will probably stick to watching highlights in future.

The RL on Saturday morning was fast and physically demanding with both sides knocking hell out of each other (well the Tongans were knocking our boys around a bit :) ), yet gets no promotion in advance to draw a TV audience that it deserves.

i think the next TV deal really is a big one for RL generally. i dont think we can afford to sell out to Sky like the last deal, but at the same time are we really going to try and speak to the terrestrial broadcasters in the same way that RU is now on BBC, ITV, C4 and C5? i think we will take the easy option and go with Sky for super league and then BBC for Challenge cup so we dont upset the applecart. Then the follow on is what are we doing for Championship, ladies game and disability RL, surely we should be pushing for more coverage of those games also. we have some relatively high profile TV celebrities in Adam Hills and Alex Brooker who both play, so we should be using them to promote as well as the good work they already do on their TV show.
nathan_rugby
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by nathan_rugby »

Agree with most points here regarding coverage and promotion.

Playing devils advocate, what is the BBCs real incentive to dedicate time, resources and money to advertising Rugby League on their website, radio channels, tv advertising etc?
Bomhead - "Lockers to prop."
the pieman
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by the pieman »

nathan_rugby wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:28 pm Agree with most points here regarding coverage and promotion.

Playing devils advocate, what is the BBCs real incentive to dedicate time, resources and money to advertising Rugby League on their website, radio channels, tv advertising etc?
As a service that we pay for they should be promoting not only RL, but all other sports as part of the licence fee (however someone who may have no interest in sport would probably challenge that).

the incentive is viewing figures and audience. i could be wrong but RL generally gets decent viewing figures, i know on Sky that after football RL is up there as one of the better viewed sports. But again its a chicken / egg type situation. if they dont promote then they arent going to get veiwing figures outside of the traditional RL audience, but equally the RFL should be held accountable for their lack of promotion.

IMO the BBC have shown that they know how to present a sporting event and generally have excellent & knowledgeable presenters, but dont appear to have the funds that either the other terrestrial TV companies can generate from advertising or Sky / BT can get from subscription and advertising. They have lost a lot of other sporting events to other broadcasters including football, F1, Cricket, Golf, RU, snooker? etc, so should the RFL be pushing to try and get a deal to show more SL or non -SL matches on there?
shaunedwardsfanclub
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by shaunedwardsfanclub »

It’s about time the BBC was scrapped. It is a news company with its own agenda.
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Caboosegg
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by Caboosegg »

shaunedwardsfanclub wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 3:26 pm It’s about time the BBC was scrapped. It is a news company with its own agenda.
Like every other news company you mean?

The BBC is the most neutral one out there. It doesn't have a paymaster forcing its hand.
These are two reasons not to trust people.
1. We don't know them.
2. We do know them.
fozzieskem
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Re: Poor attendance

Post by fozzieskem »

Caboosegg wrote: Tue Oct 29, 2019 9:09 am
shaunedwardsfanclub wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 3:26 pm It’s about time the BBC was scrapped. It is a news company with its own agenda.
Like every other news company you mean?

The BBC is the most neutral one out there. It doesn't have a paymaster forcing its hand.
Have to agree with you where people get this almost delusional,view that the bbc is left/right wing,depending on your world view of course
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