As it stands the old diehard fans numbers will drop and leave the lively youngsters to keep it going. The matchday, for me, is to watch the game, and I go early so that I can choose my seat, simples.
Regarding matchday experience I wonder if we have explored the possibility of having an amateur game on at the stadium before home games?
Don't know how the amateurs would respond but they have several teams from school age upwards and it would give their lads (or lasses?) a chance to play on a big stage.
It would be another way of getting the most out of our pitch at least
I don't really see the correlation between having an amateur/schools game and the matchday experience - people are saying watching 80 minutes of (semi) professional rugby isn't enough; so why is putting another game on beforehand going to change anything?
Non-League Football Crowds have gone up. Runcorn Linnets have just about doubled their crowds since Covid.
They put that down in part due to the integration of the Junior Set Up and the Senior Club which was seperate previously (Widnes used to have crowds about 10x Runcorn Linnets Crowds now its about 2x based on your figures). More young fans have come to the Senior Club as fans due to the engagement between the sections.
I think Widnes should in some way try to integrate / engage more with the Junior Clubs in the town be that Player visits, coaching assistance, coaching engagement, free junior tickets whatever. They are trying with the camps etc. but it could go much further and deeper.
The price of admission and cost of refreshments is a huge issue as well. £22 as against £8. Widnes has a small walk up crowd, Non-League football is predominantly walk up crowd. Maybe tour the Junior Clubs on Sunday Mornings giving out junior tickets.
Widnes can't just accept their fate.
@rb Can't see how a closer co-operation with the amateur game can be anything but beneficial to the club and the town tbh.
There may not be a financial reward but a chance for young amateurs (would be professionals) to play to a crowd would possibly strengthen our crowd figures a little but it should boost the 'rugby town' feeling massively. Can't see that it should be hard to organise provided the Widnes club and the amateurs are on good terms.
Iirc there was a resistance in the SoC days of any sort of relationship outside the Vikings operation. That was a mistake and should be corrected.
RL as a game is struggling through poor top level management and it needs its biggest asset, its enthusiastic club fans, to show the way.
As it stands the old diehard fans numbers will drop and leave the lively youngsters to keep it going. The matchday, for me, is to watch the game, and I go early so that I can choose my seat, simples.
Regarding matchday experience I wonder if we have explored the possibility of having an amateur game on at the stadium before home games?
Don't know how the amateurs would respond but they have several teams from school age upwards and it would give their lads (or lasses?) a chance to play on a big stage.
It would be another way of getting the most out of our pitch at least
I don't really see the correlation between having an amateur/schools game and the matchday experience - people are saying watching 80 minutes of (semi) professional rugby isn't enough; so why is putting another game on beforehand going to change anything?
Non-League Football Crowds have gone up. Runcorn Linnets have just about doubled their crowds since Covid.
They put that down in part due to the integration of the Junior Set Up and the Senior Club which was seperate previously (Widnes used to have crowds about 10x Runcorn Linnets Crowds now its about 2x based on your figures). More young fans have come to the Senior Club as fans due to the engagement between the sections.
I think Widnes should in some way try to integrate / engage more with the Junior Clubs in the town be that Player visits, coaching assistance, coaching engagement, free junior tickets whatever. They are trying with the camps etc. but it could go much further and deeper.
The price of admission and cost of refreshments is a huge issue as well. £22 as against £8. Widnes has a small walk up crowd, Non-League football is predominantly walk up crowd. Maybe tour the Junior Clubs on Sunday Mornings giving out junior tickets.
Widnes can't just accept their fate.
Widnes & Runcorn is full of scousers now, who have very little interest in Rugby League.
They'll happily watch local football because football is their sport, and it's a much cheaper alternative to going Anfield or Goodison every week.
It's going to be extremely hard getting new blood into the sport, when die hards are walking away because of how boring, sterile and expensive it is ..and that's not even mentioning how colossally bad the sports governing bodies are.
I fully agree with widneslatic that the RFL must be one of the worst governing bodies in the whole sporting world.
All the more reason then to support local amateurs and schools playing the game by letting them have a pre championship game in the stadium. They and their (small number) of fans need encouragement to stay with the great game and should/may give them a reason to support the Vikings.
Trouble is, the great game isn't great any more.
It's become a sterile vacuum with too many (annual) rule changes, that's why people are walking away...
All the more reason then to support local amateurs and schools playing the game by letting them have a pre championship game in the stadium. They and their (small number) of fans need encouragement to stay with the great game and should/may give them a reason to support the Vikings.
I fully agree with widneslatic that the RFL must be one of the worst governing bodies in the whole sporting world.
They allowed junior teams in before Super League games, and I knew one of the parents - who said they were asked that often, that the novelty was wearing off and it was less special. Plus the fact they had to pay a tenner or whatever it was each time for both parents to come in to watch their lad...
I can’t see why having junior games before a 1st team game is a bad idea in any way
maybe have a hornets league game played before a game the next home game a West Bank league game and so on, it will make playing for a widnes club more appealing and also maybe give parents of players a discount, £10 for the family gets bums on seats and might encourage a sibling to take up the game. I believe the clubs have just as much responsibility to sell their brand as much as the RFL
It's going to be extremely hard getting new blood into the sport, when die hards are walking away because of how boring, sterile and expensive it is ..and that's not even mentioning how colossally bad the sports governing bodies are.
But we aren't seeing the same thing at other clubs.The drop off in support at Widnes is disproportionate to the rest.From a hardcore of around 2800 to 1300.Has any other club lost over one half of their home fan base in a similar time scale ?
It's going to be extremely hard getting new blood into the sport, when die hards are walking away because of how boring, sterile and expensive it is ..and that's not even mentioning how colossally bad the sports governing bodies are.
But we aren't seeing the same thing at other clubs.The drop off in support at Widnes is disproportionate to the rest.From a hardcore of around 2800 to 1300.Has any other club lost over one half of their home fan base in a similar time scale ?
Hasn't Halton BC had very restrictive Stadium rules in place, though? 🤔
That, I would think, is your reason why...
That was a contributory factor no doubt but I'm not sure it would put off a total of 1500 die hards from attending.That's a lot.We'll see anyway come next February and March.
That was a contributory factor no doubt but I'm not sure it would put off a total of 1500 die hards from attending.That's a lot.We'll see anyway come next February and March.
Last season was always going to be a "make do & mend" scenario in Rugby League, due to the fact that covid restrictions were only lifted half way through the season.
We didn't have that problem at Wigan Athletic (Football) because all of the restrictions were lifted before the season started, in fact, our opening day fixture away at Sunderland was played in front of nearly 32,000.
Obviously, the over zealous stadium restrictions imposed by Halton BC wasn't the only reason why attendances were down, but I do think it was more than just a contributing factor.
I seem to recall that non-season ticket holders were effectively "banned" from home games at one point due to the ridiculously low restrictions ...that in itself could account for a sizable loss of fans, then of course, a lot of fans were probably reluctant to attend due to covid uncertainty and / or self-isolation.
The true gauge of how the club is faring will possibly be next season, but more than likely be the season after, when covid becomes nothing more than just a bog standard infection (hopefully!), and the game itself finally figures out what it wants to be...
It's going to be extremely hard getting new blood into the sport, when die hards are walking away because of how boring, sterile and expensive it is ..and that's not even mentioning how colossally bad the sports governing bodies are.
But we aren't seeing the same thing at other clubs.The drop off in support at Widnes is disproportionate to the rest.From a hardcore of around 2800 to 1300.Has any other club lost over one half of their home fan base in a similar time scale ?
Tell me, Sinbad, how do you know that our "hardcore" has dropped from "around 2800 to 1300."
Pure guesswork by you to purely justify your thoughts or a quantified number submitted by the club?
@sunny Just going by the link provided by James in the first post of this thread Did you not read it? That's what we are talking about.
The hardcore were there pretty much as soon as Covid Regs allowed.
The 'core' was about 1500 when the ground was being built, all crammed onto Lowerhouse Lane terrace. Roughly the same as are presently in VIQI.
The drifters change, depending on where we are in the league. In simple terms they want or need to be associated with a winning team, which is fair enough, but they will never be 'hardcore', 'come what may', supporters.
The 2 home games on bank holidays with Leigh & Bradford should get 4,000 crowds to push our average up a bit. We should also win more home games next season which will help boost the gates a bit. I forecast 2,800 to 3,000 average.