There's no doubt that our two teams take the most supporters to away games and put other SL clubs to shame.

However (I believe - and no doubt someone will quickly correct me if I'm wrong!) that we get more away supporters than you do and there must be a reason for this. I think we would get even more if we played on a Sunday afternoon as you do rather than a Friday night. I think if you can offer decent facilities and a reasonably friendly welcome you can significantly increase the number of away supporters, but families with children particularly are not going to pay over the odds for a poor view and sub-standard toilets etc.

It would, I think, going on what was been said by some informed people, also need the agreement of both Hull City and Hull FC as current tennants.

Not sure tbh mate. As long as the fixtures dont clash with either FC or City im sure the SMC wouldnt turn away the extra revenue.

Its always struck me as an odd setup tbh, but I've heard it enough times from enough people to think there may be summat in it.

I don't know the numbers, but I'm pretty sure that you'll get a fair few more because of the excellent facilities at the KC.

However, and again I don't know the numbers, but I'd imagine you don't get any where near as many away fans as Leeds, Bradford and Saints, all of whom you have an infinitely better stadium as far as facilities for families go. As I said, the majority of the RL public can't be bothered to travel over to East Yorkshire.

Yes we would get more away supporters, but where capital is limited we need to focus on sorting the home facilities i.e. the East Stand first.

as a hull fc fan i was distraught at leaving the boulevard , but after a couple of seasons at the kc i realized it had to be done . each year we have been their our crowds have steadily improved. i suppose we were lucky that we got the help we did at the time we did , but i think that you need to forget away supporters for a while and concentrate on your own fans comforts on matchday , from entering the ground to during the game and after , also i believe its not a quick fix to i try and increase the size of your crowd , in my opinion you lost out on a generation of support from youngsters growing up while you were in the lower league (they all wanted to watch super league) and until you have sustained super league success and re coup these supporters you will struggle to get the magic 10000 . i for one hope you improve your facillities ,and i know a lot of rovers supporters say you have a traditional rugby ground but time moves on and its in need of a major overhaul.

Excellent post, couldn't agree more.

We did lose out on a generation of support, so it's really important that we get the junior side right from here on in.

My nearest club geographically is Huddersfield, up until recently, the last time they had a decent side (when incidentally they were arguably the best team in the World) was the 1950's.

Antagonistic comments aside, Huddersfield lost about four generations in a row of supporters, as well as suffering quite a few false dawns along the way. Anyone remember The Barracudas? It's no surprise it's taking them a long and tough time to get beyond the die hard's when growing their fan base.

I just thank our lucky stars that a similar fate didn't befall us.

Thanks for the comments.

Rare as hens teeth.

your right, but money doesnt grow on trees anymore.
a complete overhaul is a pipe dream right now, we have to take things one step at a time dont we.
if the 6m plans for the north stand are still in place then IMO they should be changed, how can we expect to get hold of that kind of money in these hard times? grants wont cover that much.
S/L is struggling right now,we all now it, some more than others yes, but nearly all the clubs are struggling but i honestly believe that NH is the man to see us through these hard times.

If I'm honest I dont think Neil Hudgell see's himself as the man to bring us through all this. His comments recently have sounded like a man thats only at the top because he has to be for the good of the club and not because he's wanting to be.

Rovers main attraction to new fans outside of the current fans I feel is the pull of the East stand, its where people want to be, they enjoy the atmosphere it can create and this was highlighted in the CC game against Warrington when we were in our promotion year 2006. After that game the East stand was just where people wanted to feel the buzz and our attendances did start to improve.

Facilities can attract more away supporters but Quins, Crusaders, Fartown, Wakey and Bradford hardly ever bring a mass of support over no matter what our facilities were to offer.

I do hope we can start to draw 10,000 crowds but I feel this will only be achieved once the East stand is fully extended and there is a South stand closer to the pitch. Neil Hudgell stated that to spend £500,000 on a temp stand would take X amount of years to start to see any return and so a permanent one would be preferable...thing is how long will it take before we get the funds to build one and actually get it off the ground? In the short term couldn't we rent a similar one to the North stand? Sure its still not got a roof but we've seen the amount of people that use the North stand and I'm sure it'd pay the rent easily enough?