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

International Results : 2017 Jan - June

Here is a list of games and brief comments for the first six months of the year.

February, all played in Australia:

Hungary 50 - 4 Uruguay
Thailand 32 - 12 El Salvador
Malta 44 - 26 Philippines
Hungary 44-10 Thailand (unofficial?)

Summary: As all these nations are new to the game, it was hard to predict results but there were no surprises. Hungary are working hard to improve themselves and the results are positive for them.

May, all played in Australia:

Australia 30 -12 New Zealand
England 30 -10 Samoa
Tonga 26 - 24 Fiji
PNG 32 - 22 Cook Islands
Lebanon 24 - 4 Malta

Australia 16 - 4  New Zealand (women's match)

Summary: Samoa fired surprisingly few shots, while Fiji has slipped slightly. The Cook Is put up a gallant fight against a better opponent. Australia women have now clearly established a superiority over NZ. The other two games were as expected.

June, Beirut, Saluzzo (Italy) & Oslo:

Lebanon 6-4 Italy
Italy  94-4 Spain
Norway 38-18 Sweden

Summary: Lebanon are a nation with some history in the game. Despite issues, they have kept on playing and had a good win. Italy are newer to the code but improving quickly. Spain are very new to it and hopefully learned something from the hammering they got. Norway and Sweden have been playing RL for some years now although I sense that Norway are more progressive in promoting the game and lifting standards. Therefore it was no surprise that they won, but the score showed that Sweden were no push over. It was the first match in the Nordic Tri-Series that also features Denmark.

Player Contracts

What is a contract in sport worth? A player was contracted for three years to the UK Super League club Castleford Tigers. He had a good first year and wanted an improved contract. The club was happy to do that but were not prepared to meet the four-fold increase he wanted. He then wanted to move on but was told he was obliged to meet the conditions of his contract.

A rugby union team, the Sale Sharks expressed interest in the player but were repeatedly told he wasn't for sale. Eventually an offer of a paltry £50,000 was made, again declined. The player then 'retired' from rugby league and took up playing rugby union, a cynical move to avoid the obligation of a contract.

The Director of Rugby at Sale said he felt they had done nothing wrong so the Tigers had no option but litigation if they wanted compensation. However, before it got to court Sale decided to settle, to the tune of something over £200,000 and costs in the vicinity of £100,000. Not a bad settlement.

Players do switch codes but by mutual agreement or when contracts have expired. If neither is the case, then what one has agreed to should be honoured. Once a man's word was his bond. Now a man's signature isn't necessarily worth the paper it's written on. Thankfully the latter at least still has some value.

For a statement from Castleford Tigers, simply click here.
Picture source: Castleford Tigers.