: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:46 pm  

Pepe wrote:

They should be able to give us another 1,000, or allow fans to buy direct from the RFL themselves. There's no way they've sold more than a few hundred tickets for the 9's, so I can't understand what they're playing at.

Out of interest, how many season ticket holders have you got, and what is your average this year?

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:58 pm  

Dave T wrote:

Out of interest, how many season ticket holders have you got, and what is your average this year?

ST Holders 2,000

Roughly 3,700ish average

Are you going somewhere With this?

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:01 pm  

Pepe wrote:

ST Holders 2,000

Roughly 3,700ish average

Are you going somewhere With this?

2,100 season ticket holders

And to Dave our average like Pepe said is around the 3,700 mark.


Still the best supported club outside the top flight.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:15 pm  

Ah well, it looks like Dave T didn't actually have a point to make.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:19 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

2,100 season ticket holders

And to Dave our average like Pepe said is around the 3,700 mark.


Still the best supported club outside the top flight.

Still not bad seen as not many away supporters in this league.We have not been playing too well until recently.We still have superleague fans aswell.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:48 pm  

Pepe wrote:

Ah well, it looks like Dave T didn't actually have a point to make.

Apologies for not sitting at my laptop waiting the 12 minutes it took you to respond to my initial question!

The point I was going to make was about the fact that if you average 3,700, then pretty much every fan who goes regular should pretty much have been able to get a ticket. No doubt you could possibly have sold 5k or so, but those who don;t go regularly have no rights to complain surely?

We have had the same for the semi final, at Wire we have 7-8k regulars and we have only had just over 5,500 tickets for the semi, meaning that all our regulars didn't even get chance for a ticket.

The RFL were in a no-win situation. For last years National League Finals day there was well less than 10k there for 6 teams. There was always a risk that two 'lower' teams would get to Blackpool and they would end up with thousands of empty seats. They made the decision prior to the season to try and build the weekend up and make it an inclusive weekend for all the Championship clubs, and they are to be commended for that. There was probably only Widnes that would make it that would test the capacity they had reserved for each finalist, which is just unfortunate, although as I pointed out, the regular fans will have tickets.

To note though, the tickets did take a few days of general sale to sell out didn't they (I may be wrong, I haven't followed this thread from day 1)

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:56 pm  

Dave T wrote:

Apologies for not sitting at my laptop waiting the 12 minutes it took you to respond to my initial question!

The point I was going to make was about the fact that if you average 3,700, then pretty much every fan who goes regular should pretty much have been able to get a ticket. No doubt you could possibly have sold 5k or so, but those who don;t go regularly have no rights to complain surely?

We have had the same for the semi final, at Wire we have 7-8k regulars and we have only had just over 5,500 tickets for the semi, meaning that all our regulars didn't even get chance for a ticket.

The RFL were in a no-win situation. For last years National League Finals day there was well less than 10k there for 6 teams. There was always a risk that two 'lower' teams would get to Blackpool and they would end up with thousands of empty seats. They made the decision prior to the season to try and build the weekend up and make it an inclusive weekend for all the Championship clubs, and they are to be commended for that. There was probably only Widnes that would make it that would test the capacity they had reserved for each finalist, which is just unfortunate, although as I pointed out, the regular fans will have tickets.

To note though, the tickets did take a few days of general sale to sell out didn't they (I may be wrong, I haven't followed this thread from day 1)

All irrelevant.

We got 5,000 there last time, and if another 1,000 want to go, and they still have 2,000 seats empty, why deny them that?

Many season ticket holders and regulars will want to take friends and relatives who don't normally go. It would be a great way to help build new support too and increase attendance plus it would help the atmoshere and look great in TV.


If the Wire get to Wembley you'll have no problem with only being allocated 7-8k max then?

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:08 pm  

Pepe wrote:

All irrelevant.

We got 5,000 there last time, and if another 1,000 want to go, and they still have 2,000 seats empty, why deny them that?

Many season ticket holders and regulars will want to take friends and relatives who don't normally go. It would be a great way to help build new support too and increase attendance plus it would help the atmoshere and look great in TV.


If the Wire get to Wembley you'll have no problem with only being allocated 7-8k max then?

Of course my points are relevant. They can't just allocate Widnes as many tickets as they want. They have to cater for both finalists, neutrals and sponsors. They will have made plans and will stick to them. They can't just change them due to some fans (who don't normally attend) wanting to go because it is a final. How do you know they have 2k seats empty? How do you know they haven't been allocated to clubs/sponsors?

Your points about looking good on TV etc. are all relevant, but that is on of the reasons the RFL have gone with small stadia for some of their bigger games, and it is that which causes these issues. With the NR cup they have tried to create something unique, having it as an event in a party town, where fans can plan their trip each year. They could easily have moved this to the HJ or somewhere with a bigger capacity, but that is not what this is about.

Your comments about Wembley aren't that relevant, there are no capacity issues there and everybody who wants a ticket will get one, whether it is us or Wigan that get there.

As I mentioned, we have had exactly the same issue as you for the semi, but ultimately, without having a load of nice grounds at their disposal, these problems are going to keep coming up. The RFL have catered for your main core of fans, unfortunately hangers on haven't been catered for.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:24 pm  

Dave T wrote:

Of course my points are relevant. They can't just allocate Widnes as many tickets as they want. They have to cater for both finalists, neutrals and sponsors. They will have made plans and will stick to them. They can't just change them due to some fans (who don't normally attend) wanting to go because it is a final. How do you know they have 2k seats empty? How do you know they haven't been allocated to clubs/sponsors?

Your points about looking good on TV etc. are all relevant, but that is on of the reasons the RFL have gone with small stadia for some of their bigger games, and it is that which causes these issues. With the NR cup they have tried to create something unique, having it as an event in a party town, where fans can plan their trip each year. They could easily have moved this to the HJ or somewhere with a bigger capacity, but that is not what this is about.

Your comments about Wembley aren't that relevant, there are no capacity issues there and everybody who wants a ticket will get one, whether it is us or Wigan that get there.

As I mentioned, we have had exactly the same issue as you for the semi, but ultimately, without having a load of nice grounds at their disposal, these problems are going to keep coming up. The RFL have catered for your main core of fans, unfortunately hangers on haven't been catered for.

This is nothing like the situation for you at the CC semi.

The NRC game has only ever sold out once. Only a few hundred neutrals, if that, normally turn up to watch it. As far as I know Barrow have not yet sold all their initial allocation yet.

The RFL seem to be holding back tickets for the thousands of fan's that they think will attend for the 9's comp alone. It will probably only increase the non finalists support by a couple of hundred at most.

First priority should be given to the support of the two finalists, for whom this trophy is vital. It's probable that there'll just end up being empty seats, where there could have been none.

Lager attendance

Better atmosphere

Better for TV

New supporters to the game

More revenue

More successful outcome for the sponsors

That is the stupidity of it.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:33 pm  

Pepe wrote:

This is nothing like the situation for you at the CC semi.

The NRC game has only ever sold out once. Only a few hundred neutrals, if that, normally turn up to watch it. As far as I know Barrow have not yet sold all their initial allocation yet.

The RFL seem to be holding back tickets for the thousands of fan's that they think will attend for the 9's comp alone. It will probably only increase the non finalists support by a couple of hundred at most.

First priority should be given to the support of the two finalists, for whom this trophy is vital. It's probable that there'll just end up being empty seats, where there could have been none.

Lager attendance

Better atmosphere

Better for TV

New supporters to the game

More revenue

More successful outcome for the sponsors

That is the stupidity of it.

If the RFL felt they could not shift the tickets, they would have just given them to Widnes and taken the easy option. Comparing to previous finals is irrelevant, as the fact they don;t usually sell out is surely the reason why the RFL have tried to attract neutrals with the 9's tournament.

If Barrow end up sending some back, there is a chance you will get an allocation of those.

You are right about the semi not being a fair comparison, as Widnes' stadium is not big enough to cater for all the regrlar fans of Wigan and Warrington, whereas Blackpool's is easily big enough for all of Barrow's and Widnes'.

Your guess of a couple of hundred for the 9's tournament is just that, a guess. If the RFL have commited to give each club a hundred tickets each for example, they cannot now back out of that. I'm sure they will free them up if clubs return them, but they cannot just change plans for Widnes fans who are usually sat at home when Widnes are playing!!!