Amazes me how many people complain about everything from the coach to the kit to the ticket office staff, yet continue to cough up £300 plus each year to buy the product simply because they're "fans" and "fans" are "in it for the long haul".



Bit of news. To the club, you're not a fan. You're a consumer. A unit. Always have been, always will be. Show them loyalty all you like, but you won't get any in return.

Good point well put. My thoughts exactly. Every year I have a bit of a moan about these same issues but when the time comes I still go ahead and buy a season ticket - well not next season I'm not.



Still, could be worse, could be a Salford fan!

The last season ticket I bought (or, more accurately, the old man bought for me) cost £4.



Since then I've always picked and chosen and, barring the occasional disaster, haven't really felt ripped off. And only rarely have I felt as if there was something I'd rather have been doing.

Indeed. I have no problem with people buying a season ticket every year regardless of the on-field product.

I've done it myself for many years. I'd do it now if I could get to anything like enough games to make it worth it. Ditto buying replica shirts.



Once you buy, you're a consumer. Which entitles you to a moan every now and then.



Just recognise your free will in the decision. When you buy a ticket for a rugby match, you are entitled to just that. Not a scintillating attacking performance, or even a win. Be at peace with that and you'll be fine.

No one gives a flying f-ck if you're buying a ST or not. Go moan to someone who cares.

Are you saying that those who buy season tickets are moaning or those that are not are moaning?

It'll be interesting to see how season tickets in general go. I have a feeling that the trend across the board will be down.



There is so much uncertainty over the last seven games (who do you play, when do you play, how does it fit in with holidays etc) As a Wigan fan I've took a chance and will miss the last two weeks due to holidays, but if I were in say a family of four I doubt whether I'd take that risk.

i for one cant wait for February with the new league formula and to see cuthbertson and jps last season giving his all(injuries permitting) sinfield and burrows full preseason and with some great talent being a chance to break through. The end of season run in should through up a few surprises. cant see why all the negativity off season blues

I think, commercially speaking, it might not be a bad idea for clubs to reassess the benefits of a season ticket. Last time I bought one, it didn't make brilliant savings, given that I would inevitably miss a game or two in the summer months. I got one because it made sense at the time to get the outlay done in one go and not pay anything else for home games. I'm not sure how well that rationale works on the market as a whole.



Like you say, the sales will tell us whether the offer is still appealing enough to the customers.

The unfortunate thing for RL teams is that the supply (ie. how many stadiums hold) outstrips demand (ie. people with / considering having season tickets). At the football, there was little question of whether or not I renewed my season ticket - if I did not, my seat was then going to be taken up with someone else and I'd then have to sit somewhere else if / when I decided to go back. Thus I spent 2 years going back and forth between Leeds and Newcastle every other weekend when I was at university here. I stopped going when I spent a year abroad as part of my course - when I came back my seat was naturally no longer available and I then decided to 'pick and choose' from that point.



With the Rhinos, if I don't get a season ticket I know that I can still get a ticket for any game I want and stand in my usual place in the SS. Similarly, if Leeds get to a final I can get a ticket for the event without having to be a season-ticket holder as these won't sell out on season ticket holders / members only as they take place in stadiums far bigger than the usual ones. When I went to the football, part of the reason I renewed those two years where it was inconvenient and expensive looking back - was on the off-chance that if we made any progress in the cups, the only way I would be able to get tickets to those events was through having had a season ticket and accrued 'loyalty points' through attending Cup, European Cup and away games.



If I could have not gotten a season ticket and known I could still get my seat for games as I picked and chose them, I probably would have done so. Tuesday and Wednesday evening round trips in winter to and from Leeds were not ideal so potentially had I been able to somehow not get a season ticket and been able to go when it suited me, it'd have helped. However at the football it was probably more of a discount getting a season ticket - I think I maybe got 19 home games for the price of about 15 had I bought game tickets on an individual basis. Similarly, had we ever done anything in the cups and got to a final, I'd have had no chance ever getting a ticket without my season ticket and going to extra games. There would have been probably like 50,000 or 60,000+ wanting tickets and only about 35,000 available to be sold. I got to see an FA Cup semi-final (thumping) at Cardiff thanks to having perservered with my commutes between Leeds and the north-east that I wouldn't have had I not renewed that year. However, had we made the final and I had not gone to that semi-final or the earlier rounds my chances of getting a final ticket would have been much slimmer as I hadn't 'proved' my loyalty in the earlier cup games.



RL fans can be much more demanding / flaky / able to pick and choose because they actually have a stronger bargaining position than (say) individual football fans - individual football fans (at the top level at least) will much quicker be replaced and forgotten than their RL counterparts.

I always got one so I could have my regular seat

Regarding the 'obligation' on getting tops too, whether or not you actually like them. I have been there and done it. Generally I got them regardless of whether I actually liked them when I was younger - I only didn't get the tops each year if I totally detested them. Generally that rule still applies - I got the 2013 rhinos home top as it was my first year going properly but did not get the pink away one as was not mad keen on it. Last year I got both as I liked them both - I was representing the Rhinos at the NFL game in the away top yesterday - but anytime you are paying good money for something you don't actually like or particularly want you have to ask yourself if you are doing the right thing.



Ok, with some things like a boiler repair, a washing machine or car insurance you don't really have a choice but with a £50 item of clothing that within a year will no longer be 'current' or 'in fashion' you do. With my football tops I went from buying every single one in a ten year period to only getting the home tops, to then only getting the shirts I like to not getting any at all - though this is currently a more political decision on my part.



Instead I have stocked up on a couple of 'retro' shirts from like 15-20 years ago that are already so far out of date so can't then particularly go 'old' after a season after the current ones will.