The end for neutral venues?

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The Challenge Cup and its low crowds have been a conundrum that, as a sport, we have struggled to resolve for years.

There is no doubt in my mind that clubs take the competition seriously. But our season ticket culture and the significant outlay at short notice means the Challenge Cup does not draw in the crowds. The sight of banks of empty seats for a prestigious competition, shown live on the BBC is unedifying and presents the sport in a poor light.

Thankfully, we have got rid of double header semi finals, which exacerbated the problem and saw some matches played in front of stadiums that were around 75% empty.

Fans have shown reluctance to attend Challenge Cup matches in their own town or city. For Challenge Cup Semi Finals, we ask both sets of fans to travel further.

Whilst there is an allure to a semi final at a neutral venue, in a competition that is on life support, is that viable anymore? Can we, as a sport, continue to ask fans to travel further than they may otherwise have to? Especially when fans have shown reluctance to attend matches on their own doorstep.

Hull KR faced Wigan in the Challenge Cup Semi Final at Headingley last year, in front of a crowd of less than 11,000. That is quite dismal. The stadium was a little more than half full. 

The same teams will play in a semi final in Doncaster on Saturday. Hull KR fans will make a 100 mile round trip to attend; Wigan fans around a 160 mile round trip.

In a competition that struggles to attract fans, we are asking the average fan to travel more distance to attend. That is a barrier to attendance.

In Rugby Union, in the European Champions Cup, semi finals are hosted at teams regular home stadiums. This year's semi finals appeared vibrant, colourful and atmospheric occasions. I fear that our Challenge Cup semi finals will not.

A wider question is why do we have neutral venues for semi finals at all? I see no greater logic in doing so than having neutral venues for quarter finals. The decision to do so appears based on tradition.

I posted the question on Twitter last night about whether neutral venues remain viable. I got a pretty universally negative reaction to it, which I expected.

To counter that, I would say look what is happening now. 22,000 fans turned up for a double header semi final in 2022; that's less than 6,000 per club. St Helens and Leigh could not sell out a local 15,000 capacity stadium for a semi final last year. Hull KR and Wigan barely half filled Headingley last year.

This is not working. In an ideal world, neutral venues would be best for the Challenge Cup Semi Finals. And I do not pretend that reverting to having a home side host a semi final is not unpalatable.

One if the stronger counter arguments I have read is that neutral venues offer a point of difference. That is true, especially as the competition feels more like a Super League cup, with a structure that does all it can to prevent inter-league matches.

Despite the content of this post, I am not necessarily advocate moving Challenge Cup semi finals to neutral venues.

Though I do think it is a debate worth having. The current approach is hemorrhaging crowds and money and is a drag on our reputation. We owe it to ourselves to pause, think and ask if there is a better way.

Comments

  1. Ade15 May 2024 at 12:06

    The big difference is that rugby union supporters get behind everything their sport does whereas the majority of the rugby league fan base is negative to everything.

    ReplyDelete

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