Disappearing crowds at CC finals despite the official figures?

[cpwigan]

You can purchase club Wembley tickets for events like the CC Final.

[thegimble]

I would ask the question "How many tickets are owned by Club Wembley"?

These are people who have the tickets for every event at Wembley irrespective of their desire to actually watch something that doesn't interest them (for those who are not aware)

Additionally the question should also be asked about the number of tickets that were snapped up by Coach Companies for their package deals that remained unsold but still counted on the official crowd figures

That's exactly the problem! Corporate boxes etc. that are sold - presumably by 'Club Wembley' (I know waht you mean!)and they pick the games they want to watch.
Needs sorted: RFL?

RFL have no control over the club Wembley sections. Only option open to the RFL would be to take the final to Cardiff. No other stadium in the England apart from Old Trafford can hold over 70k. Though i would actually like to see it go to the Emirates that holds 60k i think and wold be perfect as it seems the real crowd yesterday was around 60k.

[walshiered]

Since Sky took over Rugby League the Challenge cup has been put on the back burner, it seems to me that Sky only want anything to do with OLD Trafford and the play offs.
It has been moved from Bank holiday weekend in May to August, just when so many people are on holiday or have been so money is short, coupled with that is school uniforms having to be bought.
We have been battered up north in the economic department and so something has to give. Maybe this is part of the answer to so many empty seats.

[josie andrews]

Since Sky took over Rugby League the Challenge cup has been put on the back burner, it seems to me that Sky only want anything to do with OLD Trafford and the play offs.
It has been moved from Bank holiday weekend in May to August, just when so many people are on holiday or have been so money is short, coupled with that is school uniforms having to be bought.
We have been battered up north in the economic department and so something has to give. Maybe this is part of the answer to so many empty seats.

Spot on

[loyalbelfast]

To continue this post about what was the true attendance, just out of interest was watching BBC I-player again & again (with that winning feeling adrenaline still in me!!) saw some great panoramic camera shots of the stadium after Thornley's try. I then paused & played them to focus in on the attendance levels

The seats are spread over three tiers: lower 34,303, middle 16,532 and upper 39,165

Using the camera shots throughout the game one can clearly see large areas of empty seats all tiers, middle tier I would say less than 20% filled & that's being very generous, upper tier would say about 50& if all the fans were put together there & that leaves the lower tier, e.g corporate sections less than a 1/4 full, sections to the left of me about 60% full & so on

Official figure given was nearly 74,000

There are lies damn lies & Wembley statistics!!

[Kaii]

IMO 78k is a very good amount for the sport but also a switch to Old Trafford would make more sense, London will probably be the first team relegated and there is little interest anyway. So a 5hr coach journey to go to a hyper expensive crap stadium surrounded by a dump. Old Trafford/Cardiff would be ideal and be full plus not as much travelling for everyone.

Wembley just has a lot of seats, no atmosphere, nothing in the ground to make it special not even stuff outside to to add to the event. Leigh put on better event than Wembley and made the day special which should not be the case since Wembley is the national stadium.

I enjoyed the day but the stadium was crap, i support Liverpool and have no love for Old Trafford but you can't deny its a fantastic stadium so making it the home of the challenge cup would make sense

[Owd Codger]

So are the number of people going on foreign holiday's.

Something to do with a recession and money being tighter for many.

[Owd Codger]

IMO 78k is a very good amount for the sport but also a switch to Old Trafford would make more sense, London will probably be the first team relegated and there is little interest anyway. So a 5hr coach journey to go to a hyper expensive crap stadium surrounded by a dump. Old Trafford/Cardiff would be ideal and be full plus not as much travelling for everyone.

Wembley just has a lot of seats, no atmosphere, nothing in the ground to make it special not even stuff outside to to add to the event. Leigh put on better event than Wembley and made the day special which should not be the case since Wembley is the national stadium.

I enjoyed the day but the stadium was crap, i support Liverpool and have no love for Old Trafford but you can't deny its a fantastic stadium so making it the home of the challenge cup would make sense

Also rebuilt in the wrong place!

[Owd Codger]

IMO 78k is a very good amount for the sport but also a switch to Old Trafford would make more sense, London will probably be the first team relegated and there is little interest anyway. So a 5hr coach journey to go to a hyper expensive crap stadium surrounded by a dump. Old Trafford/Cardiff would be ideal and be full plus not as much travelling for everyone.

Wembley just has a lot of seats, no atmosphere, nothing in the ground to make it special not even stuff outside to to add to the event. Leigh put on better event than Wembley and made the day special which should not be the case since Wembley is the national stadium.

I enjoyed the day but the stadium was crap, i support Liverpool and have no love for Old Trafford but you can't deny its a fantastic stadium so making it the home of the challenge cup would make sense

Also rebuilt in the wrong place!

Cardiff is far better being near the City Centre and has a better atmosphere both inside and outside the ground, plus the fact it is a rugby ground.

IMO, the Challenge Cup Final should have been kept there.

[CasWigan]

There are many factors that affect the attendance. First the economic situation, many families have seen a decrease in their income over the last five years.
Probably the most important reason that prevented some neutral WIGAN supporters going down was the fact it was the towns forth visit in 3 months. People have not got infinite amounts of money to spend and perhaps their budgets had been spent on visit with the latics.
Don't forget the Charity Shield attendance was only 80,000 against the best supported football club just 2 weeks ago.
I still believe over 25,000 Wiganers supported the Warriors on Saturday. What I did notice while at Wembley was the lack of neutral shirts, normally at a Wembley cup final you see lots of fans wearing their home shirts, on this occasion I saw very few.