Challenge Cup attendances: Wakefield big winners in low-key quarter-final weekend
A general view of the BrewDog Stadium take during St Helens' Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Catalans Dragons in 2026
The Challenge Cup quarter-finals delivered plenty of entertainment: but the crowds didn’t reflect that.
All eight clubs involved in the cup quarter-finals were from Super League, meaning there were four all-top flight ties.
There were no five-figure crowds recorded in a rather disappointing weekend, becoming too typical in the cup.
Here’s a look at every Challenge Cup attendance from the weekend just gone…
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St Helens 36-4 Catalans Dragons: 6,785
Saints booked their spot in the semi-finals with a comfortable victory at home against Catalans on Friday night.
With very few away fans present, less than 7,000 were in attendance to watch that quarter-final on Merseyside.
Notably, last season’s Super League home game against the Dragons drew a crowd of 10,337: so the question remains over whether it’s simply the fact it’s a Challenge Cup tie which means people don’t want to pay to watch.
Hull KR 48-10 York Knights: Unknown
As far as we’re aware, the Robins didn’t disclose their crowd figure for Saturday afternoon’s comfortable quarter-final victory over York.
Willie Peters’ side made light work of the Knights and are now into the semi-finals of the cup for the fifth year on the spin.
Even if we had an attendance, there’s no game against York to compare to as KR are yet to host them in Super League.
Warrington Wolves 24-10 Leigh Leopards: 7,759
Warrington beat Leigh for the second weekend running, ending up comfortable victors in the quarter-finals of the cup on home soil having come from behind.
Just under 8,000 were at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, including a relatively healthy number of travelling Leopards fans who made the short journey.
Again though, 11,026 watched the Super League game between the pair at the same venue the week prior – so a decrease of just over 3,000 seven days on.
Wakefield Trinity 22-26 Wigan Warriors: 8,051
Sunday afternoon’s tie between Wakefield and Wigan drew the biggest crowd of the weekend, just ticking over the 8,000-mark.
A humdinger of a tie ensured, with the Warriors just pipping things after clinging on to their slender four-point lead for the final 17 minutes.
That’s actually an increase on Trinity’s home win over Wigan in Super League last season, which saw an attendance of 7,753!
