Yes. Also the match Kevin Ward suffered that horrible leg break.
But, it was a great season and ‘a match that mattered’ under the old League rules.Who would have thunk it? We also beat Wigan at OT that season having slaughtered them at KR and nilling them in the charity cup at gateshead.
I guess you could fit quite a lot in when you rammed them in at the back, there was a lot of standing space in the back corners
I do remember some 20k plus derbys, just didn't realise some were even higher
I'm pretty sure average attendances weren't anywhere near that high though
We won 53-11 on Boxing Day 1969. Wigan kicked off, we fumbled the ball and they scored. They thought they were going to thrash us. Half of them walked off at half time.
Green Vigo scored 7 tries against us in the Lanc's Cup in August 1976 when all our 1st team were on strike.
I went to Kent Invicta in the John Player Cup
St Helens Openwater Swimming Society
Looking out from the top of Table Mountain
I think you will find it was Good Friday 1959 when the record attendance for a league game was set 47,744 if my memory serves me right. The Boxing day game in that 1958-59 season was at Knowsley Rd. The attendance for that one was 32,000. That was the only time I ever watched a game pitch side. They allowed us kids to climb over the wall because it was so packed. Them were the days.
For some reason I enjoyed going to Knotty Ash Stadium to watch Liverpool City. The stand there was given to them by Saints after they build the new stand on Knowsley Road side.
You got on the number 10 and it went pretty close to the ground. Normal attendance there was a couple of hundred but when Saints went it was 2000-3000. There was a bar at the end of the stand and they didn't mind who they served.
The old Huyton ground at ALT Park was also quite an experience. Huyton V Cardiff Blue Dragons the local scallies were banging about on top of the stand roof while the game was going on. The fear of an asbestos related disease did not worry those lads, nor for that matter falling through the roof onto in their words a gang of "expletive" wools. The Cardiff Blue Dragons for those who do not remember resembled a Saints Veterans Team.
Sometimes I'm actually glad stuff changed and we get to keep those days in the memory banks unsullied by the modern day. Grounds like KR, Central Park, hell even Naughton Park were great places to watch the game in atmospheres that just aren't really possible in the modern comfortable stadiums we have now. We take a fair number to DW for derby games but we'd never take the numbers we took for those games we have mentioned now even if we could, and vice versa Wigan used to fill the Eddy in numbers that they'd likely not bring to LP if they could.
The games just meant more back in the old league system, and in a way the old grounds disappeared before they could be diluted by the modern day. I'd give a lot to go back to proper league seasons and standing on the Scaff or at big away games at Central Park, Headingley, Naughton Park where the 2 points meant everything, but they've gone and in a way it's good that we can remember those old places as the ones that exist in our memories of when seasons were 'proper'.
Yes, we have great KR memories in the Super League era, but they were more because Saints were top dogs and were having a historic run for the first time since the 70s. Most of my individual memories of great games, great atmospheres and the old grounds came before then though.
I have to agree with this despite the fact that we won relatively little at all through that 1986-1996 spell. I was trying to think why those old days had such an appeal. Fundamentally I think the fact that we only played a home and an away League fixture against Wigan was key. There were no loop fixtures, no magic fixtures and no chance 'second matches' under the old Premier cup. True you could tie them in the old Regal Trophy and Lancashire Cup but that was different. The bottom line was that in the old FPTP your home game against Wigan meant everything and the away match felt like a tribal invasion. They were great memories.
As I said we cam up short but there was almost a strange enjoyment in pulverising say Widnes, leeds or even Wigan occasionally at home only to stand at the likes of the Willows, Hilton Park or the old Craven Park in sheeting rain to watch us blow the League. Back then Saints were the entertainers but they were certainly temperamental with it!
I also think it is often forgotten that tickets weren't incentivised like they are now, people paid hard earned cash to watch those games and I've little doubt it contributed ot a better atmosphere. It makes me laugh when people complained that tickets for big events should be lower than the already bargain basement prices. Around1990 interest rates were 15% but we still sold out Wembley!
Old Trafford
Sometimes we, me included, reminisce with rose tinted glasses, Saints average crowd in 1980/81 was 5,346, only 6,000 turned up to watch the New Zealand touring side, record loss reported, it took several years and the appointment of David Howes as Chief Exec. to get us back to be at the top table again, this season, double the average crowd from those days looks better, particularly with the ancillary takings, not many fitted in that bar under the main stand! (which I think was privately owned by the directors anyway)
Last edited by Woolyback; 25th September 2019 at 09:20.
Certainly, our Chairman has said so in several interviews, I recall him saying on one occasion that if he had realised the task he faced when he first came on board he would have had second thoughts. I am not criticising the previous management but we have never had a financial brain with real business acumen before, just absolutely genuine and well intentioned businessmen who quite rightly would not sink all their wealth into the club
Certainly, our Chairman has said so in several interviews, I recall him saying on one occasion that if he had realised the task he faced when he first came on board he would have had second thoughts. I am not criticising the previous management but we have never had a financial brain with real business acumen before, just absolutely genuine and well intentioned businessmen who quite rightly would not sink all their wealth into the club
Average attendances in the top league in the early 90s was around 5.5k (varied slightly each year) and this year is looking to be close to 9k having been over 8.5k in 2018.
I agree with previous comments around cost. It's not as simple as lowering the price to improve attendances. If we halved the cost how many more would watch? To have the same income we would need to double attendances.
You also risk undervaluing your product, if somethings so cheap it isn't exclusive which reduces the desire, it's also difficult to increase in future as your price point has been set.
As previously said, if people want to attend they can find the money
If we are honest the only well positioned club as far as exposure to supporters with consistent levels of wealth is Leeds. One particular season maybe 10 years ago only Leeds and Batley made a profit.
Talking of grounds Batley have really improved their Mount Pleasant ground in the last 20 years, although the slope is still in place. One of the few and there used to be many with a cricket pitch integral to the footprint of the Rugby League stadium. Current or now built on I can think of seven, I bet someone could name them and perhaps come up with another one or two.,