Wednesday 20 September 2017

UK Championship Attendances : 2015-17 (By Club)

Below the UK Super League elite division there is the Championship (Division Two). There are twelve sides that compete with each other and the best four get a chance for a place in SL. The possible outcomes are from none to four could go up, but all four would be next to impossible. In 2015, no teams went up but for 2016 and 2017 one was promoted each year.

How many fans turn up for these clubs? Many feel it has been on the decline so I decided to investigate, going back three years. That was plenty of work in itself but I am glad to report I found attendance figures for every game!

First up, to explain the Summer Bash. it's a weekend where all the teams in the Championship come together in Blackpool, Lancashire (my parents had their honeymoon there). The attendance isn't added into the average for the clubs in order not to distort the home ground attendance, which varies greatly as you can see below.

Another point of note is as teams come and go through promotion and relegation, the average can be affected by that. Leigh left in 2017 and Hull KR replaced them. Whitehaven and Workington  also left to be replaced by Toulouse and Rochdale. These changes helped push up the total by 55,000. In 2016, Hunslet and Doncaster were replaced by London and Oldham. The total was down 27,000 due mainly to Bradford's drop in attendance.

In 2018, Hull KR go up and a SL side will replace them, yet to be decided. Oldham and Bradford go down, to be replaced by Toronto and one other side. For attendances, that may end up about even so the total won't be much different, maybe up slightly on renewed interest with the likes of Toronto arriving.

Summary: The Championship is improving in standard, with some very good teams in it. The negative is that some are full time, others part time so only the former have any chance of promotion. If a few Russian oligarchs want to dabble in ownership, the price of admission would be nothing compared to football. They would have some fun too.


CHAMPIONSHIP

2017 2016 2015

Hull KR 7,351 Bradford 4,621 Bradford 5,462

Bradford 4,119 Leigh 3,545 Leigh 3,421

Featherstone 2,457 Featherstone 2,071 Featherstone 2,320

Toulouse 2,154 Halifax 1,986 Halifax 1,880

Halifax 1,695 Dewsbury 1,181 Dewsbury 1,481

Batley 1,150 Batley 1,100 Sheffield 1,254

Dewsbury 1,089 Oldham 877 Doncaster 1,242

Rochdale 878 Swinton 829 Whitehaven 922

Oldham 815 London 746 Batley 918

London 804 Workington 704 Hunslet 868

Swinton 791 Whitehaven 702 Workington 810

Sheffield 626 Sheffield 623 London 698

Summer Bash 16,444 Summer Bash 15,912 Summer Bash 15,671

Total 279,664 Total 225,100 Total 252,081

Avg 2,012 Avg 1,619 Avg 1,814

Please note the data above is for regular round matches only and excludes playoff competitions and finals.

PS. To see the Super League (div 1) or League 1 (div 3), simply click on them.

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