Out of the 31 games played to date only 8 have had a crowd of greater than a 1000.................the death knell is near

ours have been poor but hopefully when weather picks up they should creep up overall in the league & cups. On our deffence our NRC home attendances have consisted of us & the odd away fan (very very few) not nearly as bad as other clubs have been so far

I reckon the weather is playing a big part in it too,think the crowds will pick up for the NRC in the latter stages .

No they won't, because it will be all to pay.

From what was said at the Launch Event this competition is going nowhere, especially seeing as Northern Rail extended their sponsorship. The format needs tweaking however as clubs can't survive on sub 500 gates. Perhaps we need to split the pools up geographically and you play everyone once with the top 2 in each comp going into the Semis and then Final?

Try lowering the admission charges to draw in people

Think the weather has definitely had an effect on things, though personally I think the group stage has almost been [itoo[/i short; we're only just getting back in the swing of things and we're down to the group deciders already.

They've had the feel of glorified friendlies, even more so than usual this season. The ridiculously complicated structure, alongside the fact that the formate changes each year, hasn't helped



I wondered about whether the league could start when the NRC normally starts, then have a break in the middle of the league season (around May) to run the NRC while weather is better?



Would that just mean the start of the league season would get poor crowds instead though?

Featherstone played Rochdale tonight and the attendance was..........770

How about 4 groups of 5 teams (arranged by region, as far as possible) with a mix of weak/strong teams in each group.



Every team plays everyone else in their group over the course of 5 weeks (with one team having a bye each weekend, on a rota) but, to reduce costs, both group games take place at one ground (as a 'double-header') at 1pm then 3pm on Sunday afternoons (for example).



Groups might be something like;

Grp1: Widnes, Leigh, Blackpool, Swinton, Rochdale

Grp2: Barrow, Whitehaven, Workington, Gateshead, York

Grp3: Hunslet, Featherstone, Doncaster, Sheffield, London

Grp4: Halifax, Dewsbury, Batley, Oldham, Keighley



The teams play each other, for example Grp1 might be;

- Wk1: Widnes v Leigh AND Blackpool v Rochdale @ Leigh (Swinton bye)

- Wk2: Widnes v Blackpool AND Swinton v Rochdale @ Widnes (Leigh bye)

- Wk3: Widnes v Swinton AND Leigh v Blackpool @ Blackpool (Rochdale bye)

- Wk4: Widnes v Rochdale AND Leigh v Swinton @ Rochdale (Blackpool bye)

- Wk5: Leigh v Rochdale AND Blackpool v Swinton @ Swinton (Widnes bye)



- Wk6



- Wk 7: Winner Semi 1 v Winner Semi 2



That way, as a fan, you'd get 1 home game and 3 away games (plus possibly semis and final) but each for each game you attend you could watch 2 for 1.



It may not increase total attendance but it would make the attendance at each ground higher, and hence more financially sound. Also 'double-headers' may be a more attractive option to SL/other RL fans whose own teams don't have a game.

LOWER THE ADMISSION TO A DECENT PRICE UNTIL THE SEMIS























£10 ADULTS KIDS------------ FREE

Start the league season in December, 2nd game boxing day, 3rd new years day.16 club NL1, 15 home games.

Hold the NRC Aug/sept. GF august. Oh we tried that didnt we, I recall great crowds early doors and the GF winner having time to recruit properly for SL.