The National League Rugby season is structured around the two ‘derby days’, 2nd Sat in the season and the last Sat before Christmas.
Derbies are very important for revenues. Of all the local clashes every season the Fylde/ Preston Grasshoppers RFC game is in terms of crowd sizes 2nd only in Nat Leagues to Redruth RFC v Camborne RFC who average around 2600.
There were 28 National League games yesterday and the 1490 crowd at the Woodlands was second only to the 2478 at Redruth. The Rugby Paper queried our figure yesterday for some reason. The two Fylde-Hops games last season attracted 1800 at Lightfoot Green and 1200 at the Woodlands so why the surprise???
This bit of Lancashire (and Cornwall too, come to that) should be justly proud of generating this level of interest in rugby union. Both clubs work hard using digital media to promote and staging (including excellent hospitality) the games and it pays off. And the rugby wasn’t bad either!
