2006 RL Attendances by Population

The table below shows the average attendances for all thirty-two professional rugby league clubs playing in RFL competitions in 2006, and how they compare as a percentage of their respective local populations. The purpose of this is to reflect who successful they have been at marting themselves to the local community. Similar figures are also available for the 2005 season.

Despite the attempt to place attendance figures into a context there remain significant factors which ideally need to be accounted for in judging a club's performance. The game is played predominantly in two main conurbations: West Yorkshire (West Riding) or Cheshire, Merseyside, and Greater Manchester (South Lancashire). These clubs benefit by the ease of which away supporters from local rivals can attend games, while those in more isolated locations have the advantage of less competition nearby competing for support.

Also no account is made for other sports, and their clubs, which will also be aiming to attract supporters from within some of the same communities. Finally there is the obvious effect of a team's competitiveness; many will turn out to watch a successful side, and will stay away from a poor one.

The above table only takes account of the population of a town or city which a team is seen to represent. This annex give the agglomerated populations, where relevant, for those areas where there is only one professional club present. In these locations it can be assumed support will be drawn from the extended area, these populations were not shown on the main table for sake of consistency.

Conversely as Hull contains two clubs nominally representing different sides of the city, the population here as been halved to produce a fairer representation.