Super League, despite many people lamenting its decline, always has some impressive attendances.
It’s fair to say that the numbers aren’t what they used to be, but the big games still see some excellent numbers.
We’ve ranked the best attended games in Super League in 2024 so far.
Top five attended Super League matches this season
5. Leeds Rhinos v Salford Red Devils – 15,126
Credit: Imago Images
Probably the side with the most consistent attendances this season, Leeds Rhinos had an impressive number of fans in Round One of the season, with over 15,000 fans watching the game against Salford red Devils, despite it not being a traditional rivalry.
Salford have also recently had a home attendance of under 3,000, so this is a seriously good showing from the Rhinos faithful.
The game itself was incredibly tight, eventually won in the 70th minute by Sam Lisone crashing over, but the moment of the match was surely Ash Handley’s spectacular solo length-of-the-field effort which went on to win try of the month for February.
Final score: Leeds Rhinos 22-16 Salford Red Devils
4. Leeds Rhinos v St Helens – 15,284
Credit: Imago Images
Back to Headingley, but this time, Saints beat Leeds (sorry LUFC fans) despite losing Tommy Makinson to injury even before the game was played.
They went 8-0 down, but rallied back, staying in it with a Waqa Blake try before half-time and going on to win through tries from Jon Bennison and Moses Mbye.
This was the first of two wins in the space of a week for Wellens’ side over Leeds, as they beat them in the Challenge Cup also, while the third meeting between the sides this season saw another comprehensive victory as they won 40-10 at home.
Final score: Leeds Rhinos 8-18 St Helens
3. Wigan Warriors v Huddersfield Giants – 15,357
Credit: Imago Images
Wigan’s first home game of the season saw them attract a crowd of well over 15,000 to welcome Huddersfield Giants to town.
They’d just won the World Club Challenge, beating Penrith Panthers 16-12 in front of a sell-out crowd of 24,091, and they backed that up with an impressive Super League attendance.
The Warriors raced into an early lead, when Liam Marshall, Bevan French and Marshall again had them ahead 18-0 ahead after just 23 minutes, and despite the Giants threatening to get back into it, they finished well, as Tyler Dupree put the icing on a good victory – their first since becoming world champions.
Final score: Wigan Warriors 30-16 Huddersfield Giants
2. St Helens v Wigan Warriors – 17,980
Credit: Imago Images
The Derby – THE Derby, which has been contensted almost 400 times – is always well attended, and Saints fans saw their side victorious in a tense affair in Rivals Round that saw them temporarily move to the top of the Super League table.
They were behind, thanks to Bevan French’s try, until just eight minute remained on the clock, but Tommy Makinson caught an kick and grounded to send them ahead, before Konrad Hurrell clinched it and got the Red Vee over the line to take the bragging rights.
The return fixture in Wigan will surely put up another impressive attendance in July.
Final score: St Helens 12-4 Wigan Warriors
1. Hull FC v Hull KR – 20,014
Credit: Imago Images
The best-attended game this season, and the only one to crack 20,000, was the Hull Derby in Round One.
In fact, it was the very first game of the 2024 Super League season, and Hull KR fans were treated to a big victory as their side nilled their rivals from West Hull.
Ligi Sao and Franklin Pele were both sent off, and FC watched four tries scored against them at the MKM Stadium.
It was the start of a miserable campaign for the Black and Whites, who have only won one game since then, and lost in Rivals Round 34-10 at Craven Park.
Since then, Hull FC’s games have been attended by around 10,000 people each week, showing what an incredible pull factor (and perhaps the huge number of away fans) of the cross-city derby.
Final score: Hull FC 0-22 Hull KR
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