Vikings plan to move games

Aug 13 2008 by Ian Cheveau, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Vikings will switch their home games to Thursday or Friday evenings next season in a bid to attract new fans.

Big marketing ideas are emerging behind the scenes at the Vikings in another show to the RFL that the club is operating as a Super League club in Co-operative National League despite being excluded from the top flight.

Club chairman Steve O’Connor said: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we have done our research. We need to avoid fixture clashes with other big sports events in the region.

“We’ve been monitoring the situation closely and whenever ‘live televised’ Premiership football coincides with our fixtures there is a detrimental affect on our crowd numbers.

“One of the most significant was when Liverpool played Everton in the derby fixture on March 30 when 700 of our season ticket holders did not turn out to watch our game with Whitehaven.

“We want to be the most successful team in National League and we know that next season we will have our work cut out to attract large number of fans to our games without the lure of Super League to look forward to.

“Ninety per cent of our support comes from the immediate vicinity and we need to look further afield to attract new fans.

“Wigan, St Helens and Leeds all play on Friday nights while Sale Sharks attract big crowds to their Rugby Union fixtures on a Friday. I believe we too can attract good crowds by switching to a Friday as our preferred match day.”

“I believe Friday can still be a big family occasion as children can still come along with their parents without worrying about having to go to school the following day.”

Head coach Steve McCormack said evening kick-offs will be an advantage to the team: “With so many matches likely to be scheduled for Thursday evenings, it makes sense to try to play as many of our home games as possible on a Friday evening, which will be a tremendous help to my overall team preparations.”