IF you were hoping to start the week by buying a ticket for February’s World Club Challenge match between Hull KR and Brisbane Broncos at the MKM Stadium, then I’m afraid you’ve missed the boat.

All the tickets have now been sold, apart from a limited number that have been reserved for Broncos supporters that might conceivably come back onto the open market if they are not fully taken up by supporters of the NRL Premiers.

It’s a remarkable achievement by the Robins and it follows a series of sold-out matches at Sewell Group Craven Park since late in the 2023 season.

The club has marketed the game beautifully, managing to get the message out that this is a premium ticket.

We often see tickets being sold out quickly for stadium events for rock bands, but rarely for Rugby League events, although we did have two Ashes sell-outs at Everton and Headingley for the second and third Ashes Tests respectively.

The game seems to be in a very strange situation in which some clubs are enjoying rising attendances, with Wigan leading the way with an average of 17,223 in Super League this season, while a club like Huddersfield was only able to muster an average crowd of 4,226 to its home matches, only beating Salford, whose average was only 3,588 for understandable reasons.

Interestingly, according to the attendance figures set out in the forthcoming edition of the Rugby League Yearbook 2025-26, which is currently being printed, Hull KR were only the fifth best supported club, with an average figure of 11,383, which suggests that the club would benefit significantly if it could further expand the capacity of its stadium.

Six clubs averaged more than 10,000 with Leigh looking as though the Leopards may be the next club to break through that barrier next season.

The only thing Hull KR now need to do is defeat the Broncos when they come to Hull.

More than 24,000 people are no doubt hoping that they will be able to do just that.