Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:11 pm  

The rescheduling of fixtures for Sky should only impact two matches the rest are down to the clubs. The most obvious failure is playing any match mid week which involves travel on the M62. This not only put supporters off from going but can also result in teams arriving late. I know that many do this to benefit their hospitality clients, so I suppose it boils down to which generates more income. The downside is to the away supporters who in many cases are unable to attend.
The Sunday games have always favoured supporters of both the home and away clubs. I know that because many clubs now play on a Friday we have to as well to avoid giving our squad two days less to prepare and get over injuries.
The bottom line is that if the majority of clubs continue to prefer Friday the rest of the clubs when facing them at home must do so too unless the following game is against a Sunday team.

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:13 pm  

1315trinity wrote:

The problem is you are dealing with the fickle Wakefield public who couldn't give a damn about live sport.
No doubt some will come out of the woodwork if we get the stadium sorted (Big If!) but generally the Wakefield public would not support Man
Utd if they played at BV!

I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Think on field success would probably have an impact on crowd numbers. It’s a pity they couldn’t re introduce the Yorkshire Cup as they’ve done with the 1895 Cup or whatever it’s called …

There will be a number of different reasons why supporters aren’t returning this season. One of them may be related to the poor performances for the last 2 years the stadium facilities and the poor product offered to the customer. Hopefully this is changing…

The cost of £25 per ticket is on the steep side for some families and probably does need looking at as some other SL clubs have already done..

Another will still be the prevalence of Covid in the UK and anxiety in relation to catching it. Maybe promotional work around Trinity face masks, hygiene sanitising points etc…

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 6:53 pm  

Kettykat wrote:

Stripping the ball needs sacking off ASAP as very hard to police ,6 again not fussed as we get our fair share but I’m really not bothered if scrums in their last format we’re resigned to the history books as they have become a laughing stock .Get it back to a contested scrum ,one where the ball get fed in straight and not into the second row .We seemed to have coped well without the scrums as in fitness ,and has certainly speeded the game up .IMO COVID has played a huge role in hammering the game both on the fans and players front ,games called off ,sky putting games on when and where they want ,fear of contracting COVID all have and will have for quite some time have a huge effect on our game and attendances. But after watching a footy game ( under duress may I add) I still say we have by far the best sporting product on the field ,we just need to get the people who run our great game to step up to the plate and sell it to the public any way they can ,because get a newbie to a game like our last one and they’ll be hooked .Lions led by donkeys springs to mind ,and if the powers that be can’t get the game back on its feet ,they need to step aside and let someone else have a go . It’s very hard to sell a crap product ,but we have one of the very best ,so why are we struggling in the game as a whole to attract investors and fans ,IMO they should be knocking the door down to get a piece of the action.

I cannot understand this obsession with "speeding the game up". I don't see those involved with boxing., tennis. football, even chess screaming that the sport needs to be speeded up to make it more entertaining.. Maybe it's just me but my excitement level at a game is just the same as in the sixties and seventies. Clever, skillfull moves, intelligent tactical kicking and competitive scrums are all more important to some (me) than speed.

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:32 pm  

1) Get the majority of games played Sunday at 3pm. If we need two fixtures on Sky then Thursday and Friday evening are the better slots for thinking about getting audience figures from thsoe who typically don't watch RL.(mainly as there aren't a hoard of football fixtures).

2) I always tend to think that RL has a generally aging demographic. I might be wrong on this as i'm only basing this off my own pair of eyes and perception (which are both pretty poor to completely poop depending on who you ask ). We need some better ideas to try and get younger fans in on a match day. I know some of these have been tried such as the odd game where it was brign a friend for free. I also understand the pros and cons e.g are people really bringing someone new. But generally not many people are going to turn up at any age on one occasion and be hooked. Maybe we need a more prolonged and targeted campaign at U16s and particularly those at Junior schools. It doesn't have to be kid for a quid stuff but maybe the odd game (that generally have lower attendances) where it's an adult pays and kids go free. Or working in tangent with a school we can do organised school trips to the likes of Wigan and put on coaches and make it an occasion with face painting and masks e.t.c.

3) Rugby League is very much a working class sport. The price of everything is going up. I know this also means that the price of overheads and upkeep are more expensive the for the club which leads to a rise in ticket cost but wages are generally not going up enough for your average punter. I know Vastman said what is an increase when it's just the vost of a pint over the last few years but if there's a family four attending it soon becomes nearer to the cost of an extra adult ticket. Not even in line with inflation most of the time. The stadium will unlock a lot of this. Which new punter is attracted to watch a team that is playing in our current place? What's exciting about it? Perception is a funny thing but I bet some people wouldn't walk through the gates just because of the pre-conceived ideas they have from seeing the stadium. It needs to be anevent and a good event usually needs the grandiose arena to be befitting (at least to some).

4) There needs to be some recognition that good performances ultimately breed positivity. Positivity breeds excitement and excitement will get bums on seats. Good performances require good players and the club may have to take a few more risks in maybe spending more money on the odd star or contract in order to improve the team and get the team winning more often. How many people have not turned up this season due to poor performances and the fact it's been pretty much two years of pretty poor peformances? Rather than a cycle of positivity you've got a cycle of negativity and I'd say that once a fan is lost it is probably hard to get them back.

5) The rules. We need consistency. Stop chopping and changing. The six again just leaves more down to the referee's perception and honestly I'm beginning to not have a clue msyelf how it is applied as the same things are not penalised in the ruck. Someone has said it speeds the game up but I've witnessed it slow the game down due to all the messing about it causes in players playing for penalties and holding players in. This is creating ucnertainty for referees. The rucks are as scrappy and slow as they have ever been and this is due to the current rules and how the game is referreed. I'd genuinely keep the seven tackle set for a ball kicked dead rule and scrap the rest of the new ones. And keep it that way.

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:16 pm  

Redscat wrote:

I cannot understand this obsession with "speeding the game up". I don't see those involved with boxing., tennis. football, even chess screaming that the sport needs to be speeded up to make it more entertaining.. Maybe it's just me but my excitement level at a game is just the same as in the sixties and seventies. Clever, skillfull moves, intelligent tactical kicking and competitive scrums are all more important to some (me) than speed.

What I eluded to Redcar in the speeding the game up without scrums was that people were moaning about the squad not being fit ,but the players have coped admirably with the speed of the game and the new interpretation, and have been more than a match in that department , for me our lacklustre performances have been more a mental obstacle than a fitness one .

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:53 pm  

Kettykat wrote:

What I eluded to Redcar in the speeding the game up without scrums was that people were moaning about the squad not being fit ,but the players have coped admirably with the speed of the game and the new interpretation, and have been more than a match in that department , for me our lacklustre performances have been more a mental obstacle than .

Yes, I appreciate what you say, Ketty. I just latched on to the highlighted line in your post in order to throw in my two pence worth and raise my point about today's obsession with increasing speed within the game.

[PopTart]

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:19 pm  

Although I agree we have an unhealthy obsession with speeding up the game, when you go back and watch some old games from 60s and 70s it seems slow for long stretches and then a touch of magnificent skill and speed happens.
In some ways the less fit forwards, with real scrums to deal with would allow for more skill in the game.
But the slow slog in the mud would not work today. People need to be entertained every second they are watching.

Disney is the perfect example. The old classics are much loved and remembered, but there were slow operatic sections and old fashioned story, punctuated with an outstanding song.
Compare Jungle Book even to Lion King or the latest live action versions.
They'll never top the King of the Swingers routine but the films are much more action packed for today's audience.

When everyone is built like a tank with turbo, it stifles the skills in the game.
So they, I think, try to speed it up to counteract that but I'm not sure it does.

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:58 pm  

Going back to Adam Harrison9's post.....
Didnt want to quote it....
Re the SKY games, yes totally agree with one on thursday and one on friday but for god's sake, have them local games.....
Eg - Us v Cas, Leeds. Shudds or Sts v Wire, Wigan, Salford etc. to keep the travelling down...
Then the rest on a Sunday

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:16 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Although I agree we have an unhealthy obsession with speeding up the game, when you go back and watch some old games from 60s and 70s it seems slow for long stretches and then a touch of magnificent skill and speed happens.
In some ways the less fit forwards, with real scrums to deal with would allow for more skill in the game.
But the slow slog in the mud would not work today. People need to be entertained every second they are watching.

Disney is the perfect example. The old classics are much loved and remembered, but there were slow operatic sections and old fashioned story, punctuated with an outstanding song.
Compare Jungle Book even to Lion King or the latest live action versions.
They'll never top the King of the Swingers routine but the films are much more action packed for today's audience.

When everyone is built like a tank with turbo, it stifles the skills in the game.
So they, I think, try to speed it up to counteract that but I'm not sure it does.

As you have said previously, you have no first hand knowledge of the bygone days and are basing your image of the game of the past on what is accepted today. Yes, the forwards were built like tanks and were not as mobile as the modern day equivalent, but that is what was expected of them in the game as it was. It didn't make it less entertaining. Our experience of speed within the game generally came from the wingers. All positions had a specific role to play whereas today so many positions are interchangeable. I don't think I've put myself across very well, but I hope you get the idea of what I'm trying to say.

Re: stay away fans ? : Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:19 pm  

If the club can say when the games are to take place , how come we change fixture times with the likes of Leeds and Saints ( and they don`t bring an army of supporters over the Pennines )