UK Championship Attendances : 2015-17 (By Club)

Below the UK Super League elite division there is the Championship (Division Two). There are twelve sides that compete with each other and the best four get a chance for a place in SL. The possible outcomes are from none to four could go up, but all four would be next to impossible. In 2015, no teams went up but for 2016 and 2017 one was promoted each year.

How many fans turn up for these clubs? Many feel it has been on the decline so I decided to investigate, going back three years. That was plenty of work in itself but I am glad to report I found attendance figures for every game!

First up, to explain the Summer Bash. it's a weekend where all the teams in the Championship come together in Blackpool, Lancashire (my parents had their honeymoon there). The attendance isn't added into the average for the clubs in order not to distort the home ground attendance, which varies greatly as you can see below.

Another point of note is as teams come and go through promotion and relegation, the average can be affected by that. Leigh left in 2017 and Hull KR replaced them. Whitehaven and Workington  also left to be replaced by Toulouse and Rochdale. These changes helped push up the total by 55,000. In 2016, Hunslet and Doncaster were replaced by London and Oldham. The total was down 27,000 due mainly to Bradford's drop in attendance.

In 2018, Hull KR go up and a SL side will replace them, yet to be decided. Oldham and Bradford go down, to be replaced by Toronto and one other side. For attendances, that may end up about even so the total won't be much different, maybe up slightly on renewed interest with the likes of Toronto arriving.

Summary: The Championship is improving in standard, with some very good teams in it. The negative is that some are full time, others part time so only the former have any chance of promotion. If a few Russian oligarchs want to dabble in ownership, the price of admission would be nothing compared to football. They would have some fun too.

	CHAMPIONSHIP
	2017		2016		2015
	Hull KR	7,351	Bradford	4,621	Bradford	5,462
	Bradford	4,119	Leigh	3,545	Leigh	3,421
	Featherstone	2,457	Featherstone	2,071	Featherstone	2,320
	Toulouse	2,154	Halifax	1,986	Halifax	1,880
	Halifax	1,695	Dewsbury	1,181	Dewsbury	1,481
	Batley	1,150	Batley	1,100	Sheffield	1,254
	Dewsbury	1,089	Oldham	877	Doncaster	1,242
	Rochdale	878	Swinton	829	Whitehaven	922
	Oldham	815	London	746	Batley	918
	London	804	Workington	704	Hunslet	868
	Swinton	791	Whitehaven	702	Workington	810
	Sheffield	626	Sheffield	623	London	698
	Summer Bash	16,444	Summer Bash	15,912	Summer Bash	15,671
	Total	279,664	Total	225,100	Total	252,081
	Avg	2,012	Avg	1,619	Avg	1,814

Please note the data above is for regular round matches only and excludes playoff competitions and finals.

PS. To see the Super League (div 1) or League 1 (div 3), simply click on them.