WITH Super League going into the Easter weekend with the so-called Rivals Round, I suspect there is a good chance that we’ll break the record of 83,267 spectators for a round of Super League action that was achieved in 2023.
It begins on Thursday night when Wakefield play Castleford in front of what hopefully will be a full house of around 8,000.
The following day we have the traditional Good Friday clashes of Hull FC v Hull KR and Wigan v St Helens, which should draw more than 45,000 spectators between them.
There is also the clash between Leeds and Huddersfield, which might contribute another 15,000.
Then on the Saturday Leigh will take on Warrington, hopefully in front of around 10,000 fans, while the final game will see Catalans facing Salford, which should also, I hope, draw around 8,000 fans.
If I’m right about all those crowds, the total will be around 86,000, which will be a new record.
If it turns out that way, it will be a sign of a competition that looks in good health.
And early this week, the RFL is likely to announce that the second and third Tests of the Ashes series have been sold out more than six months ahead of the event.
Again, that looks like a sign that Rugby League is in good health.
So it’s frustrating to keep reading reports that suggest that the game is in a very bad way.
The game itself on the field is vibrant, but unfortunately the clubs are suffering serious financial losses.
That is clearly very serious, but the clubs are individual entities. They are producing great action on the field, but they seem unable to get their financial house in order off it.
Let’s not confuse two quite separate issues.
The truth is that the product, for the most part, is excellent but the finances are shaky.
Salford again
I’ve written before that the fixture list and how it is organised is one of the most important marketing tools available to the RFL and RL Commercial.
So what on earth made the RFL give Salford so many games on Thursday nights when it was obvious for such a long time that the club was in serious trouble?
On a night when we should have been celebrating a positive vibe for the game, it was sad to see the Red Devils’ new chief executive Chris Irwin facing probing questions from Brian Carney and clearly feeling embarrassed about what has happened at the club.
I can’t blame Carney or the Sky team for grilling the Salford chief executive as they did.
But we should surely have been presented with a fixture that created a far more uplifting feeling than what we were presented with.
