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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