Of all the things that could get the home crowd for Barrow up a win at Sheffield would no doubt be at the top of the list at least for this week.

I'll vouch for that. I'll be picking and choosing my matches again this season and with barrow being one of the weaker teams, that was one I was giving a miss. But I might go along if we win at the seagulls

i think so, but IIRC they didn't offer the discount for the entire season ...... there was a backlash from season ticket holders who were cheesed off they were basically ripped off. Was the first discounted match against York? It rings a bell because I remember seeing the crowd as around 3k, well above the average. Maybe Batley also printed posters and flyers to stimulate the extra awareness? (

)



If folk think they're getting a bargain they'll turn up. Wakey charged a tenner last season and they averaged over 5k, primarily driven by the lower charge because their fans didn't travel well re numbers ...... they brought a disappointing following to the Shay last August bank holiday despite confirming them winning the title.



If Fax feel they can't offer similar reductions they need to get smarter re their pricing. Maybe grading the opposition as A, B or C and offering a 3 match ticket for £50 comprising a team from each of these categories (eg A = Bradford, B = London and C = Hunslet) which IMO would entice fans to attend the Hunslet match when they normally wouldn't. They've got to try something, they can't just sit on their hands expecting folk to rock up. It's appalling they didn't even offer an advance discount re the Catalans game.

2023 was the year of the discount and according to “Rugby League Project” stats for Batley were.



2022. Biggest home crowd Bradford 1,920 Average home crowd 1,345 full admission price £20.

2023. Biggest home crowd. York 2,991 Average crowd 1,454 full admission price £10.

2024. Biggest home crowd. Wakefield 2,522. Average home crowd 1,601 full admission price £20.



Halifax Panthers.



2022. Biggest home crowd 2,706 Bradford. Average home crowd 1,782. Full admission price (according to Fax’s Rupert Murdock) too much.

2023. Biggest home crowd 4,693 St Helens. Average home crowd 2,047. Full admission price (according FRM) Far, too much.

2024. Biggest home crowd 3,285 Bradford. Average home crowd 1,546. Full admission price (according to FRM) Far, far too much.



1873 to 2025. Biggest home moaners 3. Average home moaners 3. Full admission price (according to FRM) Far, far, far line crossing too much.

There's a big advertising screen on Burdock Way ......... not once have I seen an advert for a Fax (or Town) game. Brace yourself for the ultimate humiliation when there'll be action adverts for Giants games on the screen once they've settled in at the Shay!

A few years ago Batley did a deal where season ticket holders at SL sides could get in for a tenner at each game.



It worked out cheaper to buy a Giants Season ticket and then redeem that offer at each game, as opposed to buying a Batley season ticket.

In 2022 the 'Fax v Leigh league meeting was to be shown on the box (Premier Sports?); as a result 'Fax dropped admission to £10. A cold night, an easy (warm) watch in the First World, and no steep hills everywhere you turn.



No! It would have been wrong for Bongser not to travel over the 'ump when it was only a tenner.



Dropping admission DOES sometimes work.



If season-ticket holders start belly-aching, refer them to the parable of the workers in the vinyard

I remember it well, bonger, and 2,202 in attendance I recall. It's quite obvious the cost to get in influences if one attends or not, and anyone with any sense should know that. Taking an extreme, the Giants allowed free admission to their game against Catalans a few seasons ago which attracted over 9k. When Fax had the "bring a friend for a tenner" a couple of seasons back I tempted a mate who wouldn't have attended at full price. And on the flip side, I remember Nigel Wood increasing the charge for the visit of the Bulls at Thrum Hall which angered fans to the extend the attendance was some 3k down from what would otherwise been expected. So the proof is in the pudding as they say





On the subject of attendances in general, there were some pretty naff ones last weekend. Sheffield just 1.2k for the visit of last seasons GF winners? Hmmmmm ... it's no surprise womens soccer has now overtaken mens RL re crowd sizes. How embarrassing!

Many years ago they did free admission vs Cas, got about 10k but a lot were from Cas.



Not sure about vs Catalans, may have happened, but 9k turning up when it's free, when the football regularly get twice that shows the difference in support for the clubs and possibly the game

Please someone tell me the booking fee, thereby almost wiping out the discount, for buying an advance ticket for Sunday is a mistake. For the love of god, tell me it's an admin error about to be rectified!

Booking fee is about £1.5 , I dont know what people's circumstances are but I wouldn't be getting stressed about it .

I never buy advance,personally want the club to get the max..but woman at work said the fee was £1.86 on a £2 saving..hardly the worlds most enticing offer..

Not stressed at all, listenup, I just think that the discount on an advance ticket being almost cancelled out by a booking fee is so stupid it beggars belief. May also lose some fans who will now wait to pay on the day but then decide ..... on the day ..... to do something else when normally they would have committed to the ticket. Just saying.

Its a strange one because they are not really advertised as discounted tickets and you have to presume that Fax do have to cover some of the costs for the system which almost makes selling advanced tickets totally pointless for Fax. I guess the only real benefit is that the money is in the bank the next day rather than having to wait until Sunday.

Well , there's a fans forum on Thursday with all welcome including an open q and a , perhaps that would be a perfect opportunity to air any grievances regarding ticketing prices etc . I'm sure the future of the ground ownership, hmrc problems , being in special measures and injuries to an already limited squad may take a back seat to the much more pressing matter of a £1.5 admin fee .

I personally can easily afford the price of the booking fee but there is not a cat in hells chance that i would pay it!

Each to their own , I have and will.

And each to their moan, they have and will. Again and again……………..

Just think theres bigger things to worry about , it's a bit like being in the twin towers at 8am complaining about the price of ink cartridges.

A bit of a daft analogy there, listenup, but hey I hope you enjoy the fans forum with the usual 60 somethings (which in itself tells a story). If the very concerning issue of falling attendances comes up (just 800 against a SL team) primarily because of ticketing prices (7% increase on top of last years 17%), you can always shout from the back of the room "Well it could be worse, we could have been stuck in the twin towers on 9/11" I'm sure that will raise a laugh or 2

All match day packages not sold once again. We have had volunteers doing a better job than this over the past decade or so.

These days a lot of things aren’t being taken up or sold out, not just match day rugby packages, from the beginning to end of the chain no matter what it is EVERYTHING is costing a lot more and too much for a lot of people millions of whom are caught up in it all with no say or influence on matters.





This is a global event not just at Halifax Rugby club with the main reasons cited as being COVID and the war in Ukraine.



Despite how a few people on here would try and portray things it’s not the rugby clubs fault COVID came along, Russia invaded Ukraine with the inevitable knock on consequences.



Talking about the past and comparing things to how they were prior to 2019 fails to see what’s happened since then.



The only thing that’s stayed the same is those doing the moaning.

The booking fee irks me, because until mid to late last season we didn't have one. And advance tickets were advertised as cheaper than on the day. (Season tickets I think are also shown vs match day prices). So cancelling out most of the discount with a booking fee, applied to each ticket isn't great. Isn't the ticketing company a sponsor of sorts? Yet we're paying them!



In all honesty, I generally pay cash on the gate (because unlike a lot of clubs we still haven't got a pay by card facility unless you go to the ticket office, Even Barrow and Whitehaven manage this btw) But by buying in advance, I'm committed to going, as Tony Fax says, some people may do other things on the day, due to weather or just how they feel. And that happens to me.

Quote Tony Fax="Tony Fax"A bit of a daft analogy there, listenup, but hey I hope you enjoy the fans forum with the usual 60 somethings (which in itself tells a story). If the very concerning issue of falling attendances comes up (just 800 against a SL team) primarily because of ticketing prices (7% increase on top of last years 17%), you can always shout from the back of the room "Well it could be worse, we could have been stuck in the twin towers on 9/11" I'm sure that will raise a laugh or 2 '" https://www.ladbible.com/community/911- ... 0-20250218 You weren't there complaining about the price of fridge magnets by any chance Tony ,lol.

Quote Tony Fax="Tony Fax"A bit of a daft analogy there, listenup, but hey I hope you enjoy the fans forum with the usual 60 somethings (which in itself tells a story). If the very concerning issue of falling attendances comes up (just 800 against a SL team) primarily because of ticketing prices (7% increase on top of last years 17%), you can always shout from the back of the room "Well it could be worse, we could have been stuck in the twin towers on 9/11" I'm sure that will raise a laugh or 2 '" https://www.ladbible.com/community/911- ... 0-20250218 You weren't there complaining about the price of fridge magnets by any chance Tony ,lol.

Did you just blame Covid and the war in Ukraine for whoever is running the commercial side of Fax not been able to sell out match packages? That has to be one of the strangest takes Ive heard in a while.



Couldn't Fax do what previous people selling packages have done like phoning, emailing, visiting previous sponsors and trying to get them interested again? I know this hasn't happened, or if it has its on a really small scale, because none of my group of friends have been contacted in any way. Maybe its too much effort to spend a little time trying to bring thousands of pounds in to the club? Lets not just accept medicoracy.