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Rams making progress in the stands

Dewsbury Rams have reported like-for-like increases in attendances across the majority of matches following the culmination of the regular season.

Though the club’s overall average attendance has fallen by 8% compared to last year’s figure, attendances for home fixtures against seven of the eight teams the Rams played last year have risen.

The recent attendance for the home match against Batley Bulldogs is up 24% on last year’s figure, while the crowd against Halifax is up 94% on last year.

Matches against Featherstone, London, Sheffield, Swinton and Toulouse also saw attendance increases.

The only crowd down on last year’s figure was Rochdale, which fell by 16%.

This season also saw a rise in season tickets purchased.

The Rams’ overall average for the 2018 regular season is 1,001.

Dewsbury Rams media manager Steven Downes said: “With the loss of Bradford Bulls and Hull KR from the division, and home matches against two teams based overseas, we knew that travelling support would be down significantly compared to 2017.

“While the overall average has suffered a small drop, it is pleasing that we have been able to post increases in other departments, especially during periods where the team has endured a tough run of results against the Championship’s better-resourced clubs.

“We recognise how important it is that the club does not rely on away support to boost numbers, so we are encouraged to see attendances for games where there are typically very few visiting supporters grow.

“We recently introduced a new match day poster initiative, which engages with local businesses and provides them with an incentive to promote the club, and this season saw the return of our match day mascot programme, which has been a major success.

“We’re also working hard to engage better with our local community clubs by promoting them on our own channels, and we’ll be hosting the Heavy Woollen Finals Day next month, while enhancing the overall match day experience, for all supporters, is also a priority for us.

“On Sunday, we held a post-match party featuring live entertainment, which was well attended, and we’ll be exploring the option of repeating this for fixtures in the future.”