The shocking crowd figures from Super League’s loop fixtures which show concept is disaster

After years of being included in the Super League calendar – and years of debate over their validity – loop fixtures will finally be removed in 2026.

If there is one overwhelming positive of Super League’s decision to expand to 14 teams, it is that there will be no more repeat fixtures between clubs at the same venue from next year.

Clubs believe that will make a material difference to overall attendances and the financial income from ticketing, with repeat fixtures struggling to pull in similar crowds to the first meetings each year.

And the numbers from this year back that up significantly – with some absolutely shocking drops in crowds.

So far, there have been nine fixtures that have been repeated at the same venue: these are how they have performed crowd-wise.

Castleford Tigers v Salford Red Devils: -14%

The repeat fixture to have taken place at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle so far in 2025 was between Castleford Tigers and Salford Red Devils.

The first game attracted a crowd of 6,295, with the second iteration of it bringing in a crowd almost 1,000 lower than that, with 5,469 the number for a Sunday evening clash.

A drop of that scale is not an anomaly across the game..

Catalans Dragons v Hull FC: -11.8%

There’s a big drop for Catalans with their one repeat fixture so far in 2025, too. They attracted 9,273 fans for their first game against Hull FC this year but the second clash drew a crowd of 8,235.

Hull FC v Wigan Warriors: -24%

One of the biggest and most shocking drops comes with Hull’s one repeat fixture of the year to date. A crowd of almost 15,000 – 14,751 – watched their game against defending champions Wigan Warriors.

The same opposition came back to the MKM Stadium late in the year: and the crowd dropped by almost a quarter, with 11,205 in attendance.

Leigh Leopards v Warrington Wolves: -2.7%

Leigh have done a brilliant job with their attendances this year but even they are not immune to a drop in repeat fixtures.

The dip between their two games against Warrington Wolves – the crowds were 9,627 and, last weekend, 9,364 – was modest in comparison to others on this list: but it’s still a drop.

Leeds Rhinos v Wakefield Trinity: +0.21%

The one exception to the rule this season with repeat fixtures? The West Yorkshire derby between Leeds and Wakefield at AMT Headingley.

The two attendances for those games were almost identical; 15,364 in the first meeting and a slight rise of 33 fans in the second: 15,397.

Salford Red Devils v Leeds Rhinos: -28.2%

The biggest example of the loop fixtures causing chaos in the calendar, or one of them at least, was Salford’s two meetings with Leeds at the beginning of the season.

They met at the Salford Community Stadium twice inside the opening seven rounds of 2025 – and the crowd dropped by over a quarter across those two clashes. 5,798 fans were there in Round 2, and just 4,159 in Round 7.

St Helens v Salford Red Devils: -16.5%

Salford have travelled to St Helens twice this season and there’s perhaps an understandable drop for this fixture on a couple of fronts.

The 12,218 who watched the first meeting at the Saints were there on the opening weekend of the season, where there’s often a bump in crowds. That figure dropped to just 10,192 for the second meeting, with Salford’s troubles perhaps contributing to that.

Warrington Wolves v Hull FC: -7.4%

Warrington’s one repeat fixture at home so far in 2025 was against Hull FC – and the drop between the two games’ attendances was almost 1,000. 11,023 were there in Round 7, with 10,203 in Round 16. Both kick-off times were identical too: Saturday 5:30pm.

Wigan Warriors v Leigh Leopards: -19.77%

The defending champions have hosted their local rivals twice in 2025 at home. There is a big caveat here that the first meeting was on the opening night, so there was a huge crowd of 21,748 inside the Brick.

That figure dropped by almost a fifth for the second meeting, with 17,449 there second time around.