Monday, 19 June 2017

European Attendances : 2000-2004

For this period, the number of teams was constant with twelve each year. Promotion and relegation meant change but the same sides tended to yo-yo up and down. That meant only thirteen different clubs were involved. Four teams experienced at least one year out of the top flight, all teams that had lower than average attendances.

From 1995-99, attendances per year averaged from about 5,500 to 7,000 per match. The good news were that the direction was upwards. Could it be sustained? Yes. For this period, the figures were now between 6,500 to 8,500. That wasn't a huge change but sustainable.

For this five years, the Bradford Bulls were the best attended team...just. Over 13,000 on average came along. The Leeds Rhinos had a smashing 2004 but failed by 25 spectators per game to take top spot. Wigan and St Helens came after that with Hull FC in 5th spot.

One problem was some clubs were struggling to get the numbers. The sport was exciting but some teams were not getting enough along. It's well documented about the roving London team unable to get a long term home, adding to the problem of being noticed at all in a large city.

Anything under 5,000 is really not good enough for a professional sport with a strong product. Five clubs fell into this category. Would the numbers improve for them and the league overall? The next in the series will address that question (click here for that one). To see part one: simply click here.

SL Attendances 2000-04
Rk Team AVG 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
1 Bradford 13257 13495 14936 11343 11992 14519
2 Leeds 13232 15740 12849 12106 12793 12672
3 Wigan 10996 12581 10255 10152 11462 10532
4 St Helens 9444 9543 10014 9917 8919 8828
5 Hull FC 8410 11458 11397 6839 6411 5943
6 Castleford 7230 7035 7199 6843 7092 7980
7 Warrington 7226 9889 6982 6053 6333 6872
8 Widnes 6371 6181 6511 6420 - -
9 Halifax 4411 - 2977 4074 4880 5714
10 Salford 4232 3995 - 4328 4156 4448
11 Wakefield 4142 4806 4017 3715 3558 4615
12 Huddersfield 4040 4362 4751 - 3608 3438
13 London 3458 3458 3517 3766 3131 3419

TOT AVG 7411 8545 7950 6620 6526 7415
TOTAL 1245108 1435597 1335653 1112242 1096330 1245720

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