So with about 200 Sheffield fans at most we get just over 6,000, best next crowd about 4,500!! Salford - Wakefield at 3,500 is pathetic. Discuss........

I didn't think there was that many Sheffield fans. When they scored in the first half I reckon about 30 started cheering

Don't think there was anywhere near 200 from Sheffield. I don't actually recall seeing a single Sheffield fan. I did see Jamie Langley before the game, but whether he counts as a fan, I'm not sure.

We should hopefully get 7000+ in the Salford and Widnes games, with both of them bringing a few hundred, and hopefully a few more Bulls fans given we're up against SL opposition from 2015.

Same reason the Championship needs us then, bringing money and support into the other clubs

Only way Super League needs us if we are able to compete on the pitch, we have no more right to be there than anyone else, whether it is crowds or history

We're iconic....
And the RFL still own our ground!

Absolutely spot on. It is complete arrogance to suggest that because we have more fans then we are "needed" in the top flight.

There are massive teams, in all sports, playing at lower levels than they could be because they were not doing the business ON the park.

If size of crowd dictated the league position then we should just return to the closed shop that franchising gave us.

What they said...

Makes me cringe reading or hearing people Super League needs Bradford... It's the kind of arrogance Leigh have! As mentioned, crowds are great, especially for champ but that does not have an effect on our "right" to be in Super League. How the club performs from the board of directors to the coaching to the players and to the fans turning up in numbers... with many factors in between is how we earn the right to be in Super League.

And I am optimistic we can be there in 2016!

SL doesn't need Bradford but RL isn't a big enough sport to have a relative sleeping giant out of the top tier for too long. So whilst we aren't needed we'd certainly add something to the league if we came up.

Of course SL needs Bradford, and only an idiot would fail to see why. It is not arrogance to point out that SL in some places like Salford and Wakefield is dying on its arrrse, and that is why a very well supported club is needed.

The incontestible reason SL needs Bradford is the finances. And just to be clear, I don't care that it happens to be Bradford SL needs - if the team concerned was some other team anywhere else at all, if it had the same pulling power then SL would need that too.

The point is RL doesn't need Bradford [ispecifically[/i, it just needs more clubs [ilike[/i Bradford. But outside SL there aren't any.

Can I just close by saying that SL might not "need" Leigh in quite the same way, it could certainly do with Leigh, as there is a club on the rise, and heading in the right direction. And would improve SL whether they replaced Wakey or Salford (as those clubs now stand).

Good comments FA, RL needs a strong Bradford as you are one of only a few who can draw the big gates (Leigh Fan) that raises the profile of the sport. The only other clubs able to do that are Hull, Leeds, Wire, Saints, Cats and Wigan. The other 5 clubs have very little between them and if this structure sees a constant movement of one of those 5 with one from the championship it keeps the interest licensing took away. All I want for my club is that opportunity if I get more then its a bonus

Whether or not SL need Bradford or not, the irrefutable reasoning is that there is only one big City club in SL who can now boast a catchment area with well over 500k population, ie Leeds? However Bradford-Sheffield-London with a pop. of over probably 2 million, along with Birmingham don't warrant any effort by the RFL. That's what I call brilliant Marketing.
So would the world of RL be better if they sold the game properly may be the question we need to ask>
At least the Bulls showed the way from 1997 when the brand became a National if not internationally known sporting club, by the use sound marketing ideas.

There are things that the Bulls could add to SL but saying they are needed is wrong. This is a sport so being able to compete on the field is paramount, a good crowd helps this by giving increased revenue. As one poster said having Leigh in SL would probably be a better thing as it then opens the promotion pathway which the sport has been massively derided for during the franchise years, though some of the Leythers attitudes could do with clipping a bit.

Would in the end be good if 2 teams went up but I think that would be a really big ask. So far results gone as expected though only just, all good excitement.