Boxing Day Attendance

Set to be our biggest Boxing Day attendance since 2014, unless we breach 32,277 and then it's our best since 2002, though that's probably unlikely.

Great effort, especially when we're still comfortably mid-table.
 
TC - Capacity was cut in the summer of 2016 to build new Video screen, camera and media positions in the East Stand.

32K is only possible with virtually no segregation.

For Wigan game 31k is possible if every ticket is sold.
 
Wonder what our revenue record is? We've sold more tickets before, but maybe not at £31 each
 
Trug said:
At least they have won the FA Cup with less attempts at it than us. Don't knock them. A club competing for fans against Blackburn, Burnley, United and City, Rochdale, Oldham, and more recently Salford. &00-800 is not too bad for a Boxing day.
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Nothing against Wigan, I liked the side when they were in the prem occasionally smashing the big boys. Had a free ticket to Arsenal once and they came and thrashed them, superb display. They'll continue to be the second most important sports team in the town for a good couple of generations, but they've had a great 20 years, good luck to them after the game against us
 
BoroMart said:
Nothing against Wigan, I liked the side when they were in the prem occasionally smashing the big boys. Had a free ticket to Arsenal once and they came and thrashed them, superb display. They'll continue to be the second most important sports team in the town for a good couple of generations, but they've had a great 20 years, good luck to them after the game against us
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Yes agree it’s a rugby league place - like Leeds…
 
HolgateCorner said:
Yes agree it’s a rugby league place - like Leeds…
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Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors have very similar attendances, despite one being the most successful club in the history of Rugby League and the other being a yo-yo bottom half Championship team surrounded by hugely successful clubs.

Leeds Rhinos average 12,000.
Leeds United average 34,000.

I think it's an often repeated fallacy to say rugby league is bigger in Leeds, and there's a gnats hair between the two Wigan clubs in terms of support.
 
TeaCider said:
Leeds Rhinos average 12,000.
Leeds United average 34,000.
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I studied in Leeds for 3 years during the O'LEARY years and probably saw more RL shirts than footy shirts. One thing that struck me as odd was passing a school at break and seeing kids playing scratch games of RL instead of football.

I'd take some issue with your stats.

Leeds Utd draw fans from a wide area of Yorkshire, while places like Wakefield, Castleford and even Featherstone and Dewsbury have their own RL teams.

And Utd's support is still on a bit of a bounce.7 years ago their average was 22k; I'd think the RL clubs in the area average more than that between them.

No harm in liking both though; RL is far superior to RU. However if Leeds were a die hard football city, they would have expanded the ground long ago and be averaging 60k+
 
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TeaCider said:
Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors have very similar attendances, despite one being the most successful club in the history of Rugby League and the other being a yo-yo bottom half Championship team surrounded by hugely successful clubs.

Leeds Rhinos average 12,000.
Leeds United average 34,000.

I think it's an often repeated fallacy to say rugby league is bigger in Leeds, and there's a gnats hair between the two Wigan clubs in terms of support.
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There is now, but if you back before they had every been in the prem, say 20 years back, they were poorly attended. Their average from 1987 to 1999 was a measly 4,250, maybe a third of their rugby league counterparts.

they have got themselves on par with attendances, but maybe not in terms of coverage. Give it 2 generations of fans and I think the football club will be undeniably bigger than the ruby team in the town. It's a rubbish sport anyway
 
Frozen Horse said:
I studied in Leeds for 3 years during the O'LEARY years and probably saw more RL shirts than footy shirts. One thing that struck me as odd was passing a school at break and seeing kids playing scratch games of RL instead of football.

I'd take some issue with your stats.

Leeds Utd draw fans from a wide area of Yorkshire, while places like Wakefield, Castleford and even Featherstone and Dewsbury have their own RL teams.

And Utd's support is still on a bit of a bounce.7 years ago their average was 22k; I'd think the RL clubs in the area average more than that between them.
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The City of Leeds is 800,000, and that's not including support from the surrounding areas.

They're still only averaging 12,000 in rugby league.

If it was bigger than football in a city that size, they'd sell out their stadium of 21,000.

Not sure what there is to take issue with.
Rugby League doesn't actually draw huge crowds anywhere in England, even the Grand Final drew smaller crowds than the League One play-off final.
 
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Frozen Horse said:
I studied in Leeds for 3 years during the O'LEARY years and probably saw more RL shirts than footy shirts. One thing that struck me as odd was passing a school at break and seeing kids playing scratch games of RL instead of football.

I'd take some issue with your stats.

Leeds Utd draw fans from a wide area of Yorkshire, while places like Wakefield, Castleford and even Featherstone and Dewsbury have their own RL teams.

And Utd's support is still on a bit of a bounce.7 years ago their average was 22k; I'd think the RL clubs in the area average more than that between them.

No harm in liking both though; RL is far superior to RU. However if Leeds were a die hard football city, they would have expanded the ground long ago and be averaging 60k+
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agreed, I lived there from in 92 then again 94-99. It's very much a rugby league town, and indeed Leeds fans are drawn from a huge territory. I mean there have always been buses going from Teesside to Leeds for games for a start, that's before you get into the number of fans from surrounding towns like Wakey that don't have a pro team, and towns like Barnsley and Bradford that have rubbish sides. Enormous catchment area for Leeds, I think there are about 3mill people within an hour of Elland Road.
 
TeaCider said:
Not sure what there is to take issue with.
Rugby League doesn't actually draw huge crowds anywhere in England, even the Grand Final drew smaller crowds than the League One play-off final.
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The argument is the Leeds area has multiple RL clubs and one football club.

In an admittedly down year for RL, the 3 local super league teams averaged over 25k between them.
You only have to go back to 2016 when they were averaging 7k more than Leeds Utd, before you take the local second tier RL teams into account, who'd add another 4-5k to it.
 
I've lived in Leeds for the last 10 years. Went to Uni here between 2003 and 2007 and will be moving a little further north soon but it's not as simple as saying it's a rugby league city. The population is that big that there's enough supporters to warrant a well supported RL side and a very well supported football team. Don't get that confused with Leeds being a RL city though, the football is bigger for them in every way, shape and form.
 
Frozen Horse said:
The argument is the Leeds area has multiple RL clubs and one football club.

In an admittedly down year for RL, the 3 local super league teams averaged over 25k between them.
You only have to go back to 2016 when they were averaging 7k more than Leeds Utd, before you take the local second tier RL teams into account, who'd add another 4-5k to it.
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West Yorkshire has multiple rugby league clubs.

The City of Leeds has one, and it's a big city.

If it was the main sport in a city of 800,000 people, they'd manage more than 12,000.

In 2015 when they won the Super League and the Challenge Cup, they were averaging 15,921 people.
That's at their peak.
 
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