Good post.

I think there are a number of factors that all have an effect on our crowds, a lot of which have been touched on in this thread. The advantage Town have is that a lot of their support comes from the Heavy Woollen area of Kirklees whereas in rugby terms this is Batley / Dewsbury and to a lesser extent Wakey territory. Added to that is the history that Ken has with Town. There are still lads in my office who would never consider going to watch the Giants whilst Ken is in charge. It's almost like the miners strike mentality - very entrenched single minded black and white views. I remember some saying they would never watch Fartown at the McAlpine - does anyone know anybody who carried this through and stopped watching Fartown when they moved ground?

The future is kids / families who have no previous baggage - if you can entertain lots of them the future will be brighter. Also everyone likes a winner and I know one or two Hudds kids who prefer Ronnie the Rhino to Big G unfortunately. Early impressions and all that.

As I say lots of factors - but when you look back 10 years we've come a long way and should look to the future with optimism.

Some good posts

It's tough to see us so close, yet still so far from where we want to be

The economy has to bear the brunt of the problem though, money is just too tight - especially for away fans, its been noticeable that visiting fans are fewer, as our own home fans and that's down to economic pressures

That and the godawful weather!

A few wins, better weather and we will soon be seeing numbers up

I just hope it's soon enough and big enough

Yeah, I was going the mention the away crowds. Some must be down by a least half. The economy and the weather don't help - I've been freezing my b0ll0cks off in the Kilner this year. Five layers of clothes and still cold. But you can't rely on away support - it's down to the home club to attract the fans.

Oddly our away support seems to have improved I feel.

on the subject of away support at the stadium,it hasn't helped with only 2 games on a sunday afternoon,london won't have had any real numbers whilst bradford only had 1230. wigan and hull brought 1985 and 716 respectively on a saturday and widnes 448 on a monday. im sure wigan,hull and widnes' support would have been much higher had they been sunday afternoon.

True. Now that is a mystery. I'd like someone to try and explain that.

Ken may have been disappointed with the Hull crowd but there was a lot against us.

Crap kick off time, on Sky, Wales v England grand slam decided on BBC. I also met a lad in the pub after the game who went to the Town v Leeds game the same afternoon. He said he'd watch the Giants as well as Town if he could afford but Town was his first choice. We did have a pint together to celebrate both teams winning on the same weekend (same afternoon this particular time) as it doesn't happen very often. Mostly down to Town these days.

Yeah that's true, we did get royally stiffed over the Hull game - I know 4 regulars who couldn't make it

I know a family who took up the free coach offer who had never been to away games and then have got hooked on them and have gone to everyone since.

Last season I bought 11 season tickets for our family. But this season we only got 6 due to some of them not able to afford it, and they will not be going to any pay on day matches as they can`t afford it due to reduced income.
There must be many more in the same situation, and £24 or £48 for a couple will go a long way to putting some food on the table. Things must be prioritised and going to a game is low down on that list.
Also all clubs support is down, it was only the Good Friday crowds that produced some good figures, as generally they are all down.
Just been looking at Leeds and Wigan crowds for the respective matches for 2012 and they are both down.
And travelling support to our place has been well down, in fact the Hull contingent was the lowest I have ever seen at our place. But that could be as the game was on SKY and RU on TV.
We have always had poor gates when on SKY, and our best supported day is Sunday afternoon.
Also the trouble with our supporters is they are so fickle, we have a team that flatters to deceive :- we will win 3 games and then have a stinker and repeat again shooting the club in the foot as our consistency is one of the problems.
I would argue the fact of Huddersfield being a totally football town, as I come from Dewsbury and there are plenty of town fans here also Ossett and Batley, and that`s just this side of Huddersfield, if the same is repeated on the other side of Huddersfield just how many actually come from Huddersfield, getting down to the nitty gritty I bet the crowds actually from Huddersfield are about the same for Rugby and football. Don`t forget Fartown used to get huge crowds in the past so it is not a Football town only.