European Attendances : 2005-2009

For the previous five years in the UK professional Super League, the attendance had averaged 7,411. That was up on the time before that 6,443. Was the trend to continue? The sport was providing more action than ever so the potential was there.

A total of 16 different sides were in that elite division of the British game at least once form '05 to '09. During the years up until 2008, there were 12 teams but in 2009, that increased to 14. One of those new sides was the Celtic Crusaders based in South Wales. It was granted a Super League license that year. Earlier, the Catalan Dragons from Perpignan, France had received a SL licence in 2006.

For 2007 and 2008, attendances were close to 10,000 per game, but with two new teams in 2009, the average dropped to 8,800. Still, for the five year period the average was nearly 9,400 which was well up on the five years prior.

While Bradford, Leeds and Wigan were the top three attended clubs between '00 to '04, now Leeds were top, followed by Wigan and Hull FC. With more teams it seemed impossible for the average to stay above 9,000. The next in the series will reveal if that would prove correct (click here for that article). To see part one: simply click here.

SL Attendances 2005-09
		Tot	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
1	Leeds	16613	15774	17043	17558	15683	17007
2	Wigan	14598	14089	14505	16040	14465	13892
3	Hull FC	12511	13013	13432	14606	10866	10639
4	Bradford	11351	9677	10287	12161	11263	13367
5	St Helens	10613	11471	10642	9640	10721	10591
6	Warrington	10100	9076	9500	10517	10406	11002
7	Hull KR	8079	8527	8554	7157	-	-
8	Catalan	8062	9159	8376	8172	6542	-
9	Castleford	7362	7489	7501	-	7096	-
10	Widnes	6794	-	-	-	-	6794
11	Huddersfield	6775	7908	7820	7083	5693	5372
12	Wakefield	6040	6037	6962	6783	5320	5099
13	Salford	4642	4467	-	5188	4820	4093
14	Crusaders	3668	3668	-	-	-	-
15	Leigh	4736	-	-	-	-	4736
16	London	3913	3436	3777	3396	4917	4038
	TOT AVG	9369	8831	9891	9858	8983	9281
	TOTAL	1587293	1669032	1602305	1596735	1509102	1559290