There's some popular misconceptions been posted on this thread.
http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=4961
Wigan moved to the JJB/DW twenty year ago.so I looked at Bilkos site and compared those Wigan v Saints attendances with the twenty years at Central Park before we moved.
Now bear in mind that up until 1996 we also had Boxing Day games which were well attended.
So for the seasons 1980 - 1999 at Central Park the average was 18,775 with nine attendances of 20,000 plus
For the seasons 2000 - 2019 at the JJB/DW the average was 20,267 with twelve attendances greater than 20,000
So that should stop this nonsense of the DW being only half or two thirds full for the derby games.
And as for the ground being too big, fifteen of those attendances would have been over the maximum for the TW.
There was a Police Station on the roundabout just past Odslum I parked once on Halifax Rd which is left at the roundabout I was in a load of parked cars about quarter of a mile long the road was 40 mph so you had to have lights on during the hours of darkness but I was in the middle of the row. When I got back I had a ticket on the windscreen for parking without lights I looked at the car in front and behind which also didn't have lights on but no tickets on them the only thing that must have swung it was the Saints sticker in the back window as it wasn't even properly dark. Needless to say I wasn't having a day off work to travel to Bratfut to contest it in court but I wrote to West Yorkshire Police, who had ticketed the car, telling them what I thought about them.
On the Back foot looking for the front one.
A fine body of men.
I won’t speak for anyone else but I never said the DW was half empty for games with Saints. I said the opposite, that big Good Friday derbies were the exception and that they were the times the stadium actually looked full. My point was all the other weeks when a 13-15,000 crowd looks awful in that ground, whereas the same crowd at LP, Headingley etc looks like a great crowd and has a better atmosphere.
It doesn’t actually matter if some of the crowds for derbies at the DW are higher than the capacity of LP. Once every two years you’ll get a 20,000-plus crowd on Good Friday but what about the other weeks when you’re sat in a soulless half empty ground that you don’t own? I’d rather have a ground that didn’t look half empty most weeks even if it means 2,000 people can’t get a ticket every two years on Good Friday.
You’re using the argument some make in Australia, that bigger means better. Clubs like Souths and Canterbury moved to ANZ because their old homes weren’t deemed big enough, but those two now get 15,000 most weeks in a massive ground and it looks awful, whereas clubs like St George get 15,000 in a 20,000 suburban ground and it looks and feels so much better. Yes, ANZ is great for the odd weekend that loads want to turn up, but most weeks fans of those teams openly complain about watching their teams in a stadium not built for them with thousands of empty seats. Wigan are now the same, and a full DW every two years doesn’t alter the fact that most weeks the place is half empty and must be soul destroying.
Good to look back at history ... but looks a good chance ground will be padlocked up come the end of the soccer season - assuming Athletic can fulfill their fixtures
The development of the stand at the end opposite the kop end tipped them over the edge (was it called the Whitbread Stand?). They committed to building it, then discovered some old pit shafts that needed to be filled. They started this then it turned into a bigger job. I was told at the time by someone with big links to the piescum club that it'd overrun by £4m.
I always appeal a parking ticket. Even if I've no chance of winning, I'll appeal - because it makes the tw*ts have to take time to assess the appeal and write back to me.
(apart from private 'parking tickets', who can go shove it up their arses - either ignore or use the wordings available on several sites like moneysavingexpert to write to them asking them to confirm who the driver was at that time... they won't be able to)
Wigan's pitch looks terrible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoJHHmvsbEU