Surprised ? At least we did our bit.

Ivan they have praised the Leigh following , but it WAS the lowest attendance for years , and the reporter has asked how many Families would have had a week-end in Blackpool , if it was staged there ?

The photo of Riddy and Ryan is priceless .

The rationale the RFL came up with for moving it was two fold. Firstly that Bloomfield Rd. was costing them too much, and secondly, that by hosting the final in the middle of the Yarkshur heartlands, they could tap into that latent neutral fanbase (with 9 out of 14 Champ clubs within a half hour or so's drive, along with several SDL clubs).



Average gates at Blackpool over last eight years were around 8k (although it had dropped off to 6.6k last season)



Gate on Saturday - 4179 (with around 2.5k Leythers)



Be interesting to know:



a) If the RFL have got a better 'return' based on a smaller crowd at a 'cheaper' venue?

b) The number of 'neutral' sales in comparison to finals in Blackpool?



My guess is:



a) No

b) lower



Based on this, they better pray that we are in the GF as well, or they're screwed!!

League Weekly have also entered into the spirit of publicising the Championship, by mentioning the final for the first time, on page 14!

i was very impressed with the bbc coverage i must say.

That picture is pure class, and summed up perfectly how we all felt on saturday

It had to be moved from Blackpool because £50k was extortionate. To make it pay the crowd would have had to be more than double Saturdays gate.



Btw it was a similar crowd on Saturday to the one at Spotland (Rochdale Charlie

) when we thrashed the biggest club in the RL world.



Quite honestly most Leythers I saw before the game seemed to be happy enough.

I thought the decision was made by clubs rather than Red Hall, on the basis that they wanted the Cup Final and Grand Finals to generate more cash for clubs? That was the reason given by a Fax director on here back when the decision was made anyway.

The main reason for my post , was the Classic photo on the front page , not the opinion of the Article , though I must admit a Blackpool Final in this weather would have made Charlies week-end , I know that's being selfish , but that's me , I wouldn't take my Dog to a vet in Fax

.

A final should be played at a venue where you don't normally play to keep it special .

Had we played pretty much any of the West Yorkshire clubs then it certainly would have been a 5,000 crowd at the very least I reckon. I'd generally agree that the 'occasion' wasn't quite the same with it being a familiar ground, but it certainly didn't feel it at the time! Suppose the alternative would be to play at a Super League ground, but they're either too big or nowhere near the quality of the Shay.

That's settled then next years NRC Final will be played at Easter Road



.