[quote="Tony Fax"]Fax have been running with poor crowds for a long time, as a yardstick the crowd of 1,347 last Saturday compared with 1,437 against Toulouse last season in a must win game to qualify for the top 6, so not much difference.
We've been a championship club now for over 20 years, with lower average crowds than most in our division so not sure why some fans think we "should" be competing for the best players and "should" be near the top.
Not sure how the BOD can pull the crowds in. That's why I keep banging on about the Shay not working. It's been mentioned the disappointing average crowds in the late 90s despite a great team, and even worse when we got relegated. I remember quite literally empty stadiums when we played London and Sheffield (Keith Senior slaughtered us that day, everyone seemed to be just talking amongst themselves sat on the sparse Skircoat terracing).
Maybe entice fans with discounted mini season tickets (covering 3 matches)? The bring a friend for a tenner last (or previous?) season seemed to work just a bit, even though it was unfair on the season ticket holders who ultimately had paid more on average for admission![/quote
What’s the correlation between the Shay and small crowd numbers? If we had a smaller stadium we would still be getting the same crowds. The reason we have small attendances is the product. Being a championship team for 20 years, not being dominant in that league, no chance of promotion (which has existed for the majority of our 20 years in the Championship) and the running of the sport in general are probably main contributors to low attendance (in my opinion). When we left Thrum Hall I know of people who said they would never go and watch us at the Shay and they haven’t. Also when we were relegated from SL I know of folks who said they would never go and watch us in the Championship and they haven’t.
For a team to be attractive to new fans and old fans to return and for huge investment into the club we need to be in the top flight and be competitive. As we know that will never happen due to licensing/IMG or what ever you want to call it and how the RFL run the sport that door is closed. The SL clubs are very happy in their ivory towers getting the majority in f funding while clubs like Fax just get the scraps.