a.n Other wrote:
Starbug is spot on. We aren't competing for fans from Leigh. We need to attract the fans from Calderdale who choose to go watch Leeds, Bradford or Huddersfield. We need to attract people from Calderdale to come to the Shay. Doing it is a different matter. The RLWC was marketed to the Calderdale public and 90% of the people who bought tickets were from Calderdale. What are we doing to entice them in to trying out watching Fax?
If and when we get into Super League and can compete against these sides we may be able to attract these fans, until then we will struggle to do so because as you say they have already chosen to watch the teams in the higher league.
Why did they choose to go and watch these teams in the first place?
Many reasons, some are.
Until this year the chance for Fax to make any progress out of the Championship didn't even exist.
The chance of going to Wembley was zero.
The chance of going to Old Trafford was zero.
They did not want to spend money watching a lower standard of play in a competition that lead nowhere so they went where the big games and the big crowds already were.
Ask them yourself, if they are prepared to "down grade" their afternoons game of rugby for what is on offer at the Shay or anywhere else.
Ask them if they would rather pay to watch Leeds or get in free at the Shay.
I know a few of the supporters (spectators) who watch these sides and they want to be associated with "winners" and the excitement and feel good factor that goes with it.
With their hard earned cash or even their bulging wallets they are paying for more than watching a game or a team, can't anyone see this, in there couple of hours away from the norm they want to be entertained at the highest level.
Even if we somehow get into SL to be able to compete against the likes of Leeds is in my opinion not realistic in the short term and would be an incredible achievement in the long term.
The best we can hope for and realistically budget for is to get into SL, initially hold our own, not get relegated and then to compete with the middle order clubs who are in there.
To get into SL we will have to first be better on the field than all our current rivals and the two teams that get relegated from SL this year.
The two teams that come down will have a significant financial advantage and if we finish third or below so will the two above us from our division.
It's all well and good saying market this or we need to do this or that but someone say how it can be done as things stand at the moment both in and away from the game.
To compare watching the one off game from the RLWC to the regular choice of watching either Fax or Leeds for anyone who is not a Fax supporter at this point in time or any time soon is clearly is a miss match in comparisons.