Quote weighman="weighman"Unfortunately a lot of fans have thrown the towel in . That is why the crowds are top of the agenda at tomorrow nights forum !'"
The two singlest biggest drivers for attendances are:
1) On-field performances, and
2) The quality of rugby on offer.
There is also a clear link between the levels of support a team gets and it's league position. A successful club will be one where appropriate investments are made by the management and the supporters also get behind the team.
Take football as an example: The four best supported teams in League Two last year were the teams that finished first, second, third, and fourth. Okay, winning is likely to bring in more fans so there is probably a link between the two but if we explore further, taking the football Championship into account, 75% of all teams finished within 5 places of the levels of support they got.
In the Championship, there were six teams averaging fewer than 13,000 in their home league games, they finished 10th, 11th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Unless a team is getting more than 13,000 fans, it seems as though it's very difficult to survive at that level. The two teams that were significantly better than their attendances suggested were Brentford and Preston. Preston are currently 7th and Brentford are 24th this season after four games. It'll be interesting to see if Preston can continue to buck the trend or whether they'll revert to the norm for their supporter base level.
In terms of having a sustainable team in Super League, a minimum fan base of 5,000 looks like the appropriate level with a 10,000 fanbase being needed to be in with a chance of sustaining a place in the top four.
If the Dons have aspirations to get into Super League, the management of the club won't be able to do it on their own. The people of Doncaster will have to get behind the club too. Similarly, the fans can't do it on their own and Club Doncaster will have to play their part as well. They may have to play a considerable part considering the position we're presently in and the number of towels that have already been thrown in!
Whichever way we look at it, all sporting clubs have a greater chance of success if they're well supported (compared to their opponents).
I'm going to the Dons meeting tomorrow. It's the first meeting I will have been to. I've already forwarded a list of suggestions to the club saying what I think we need to try do to improve attendances. I'm going to the meeting because I care and I want to try to do something to help. I also recognise there are no easy answers.
I hope the rest of the Doncaster public also care and want to do their bit to help bring success to Doncaster. If they don't, I fear the upper levels of our ambitions will probably always be limited to getting out of this league and then trying to survive for as long as possible in the Championship.
