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Why Headingley failed to draw large crowds for England v Sri Lanka Test Why Headingley failed to draw large crowds for England v Sri Lanka Test
(about 1 hour later)
Long before England’s Jimmy Anderson fended the brutal fifth ball of the last over of a fluctuating, consistently absorbing and ultimately dramatic Test match to Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath at short leg, the people of Yorkshire had spoken. Even the reduction of admission prices to £5 for adults, and free entry for juniors, could not lure 2,500 to Headingley to watch some Test cricket on the fourth Tuesday in June. Long before England’s Jimmy Anderson fended the brutal fifth ball of the last over of a fluctuating, absorbing and ultimately dramatic second Test, the people of Yorkshire had spoken. Even the reduction of admission prices to £5 for adults, and free entry for juniors, could not lure 2,500 to Headingley on the fourth Tuesday in June.
The ground had been almost as empty the previous day, with only 3,989 in attendance, and even on Sunday, when tickets cost a reasonable £20 and £5 for concessions, a crowd of 6,700 left Headingley – whose capacity of 16,000 is the smallest of the six venues staging Tests this summer – more than half empty. The ground had been almost as empty the previous day against Sri Lanka, with only 3,989 in attendance, and even on Sunday, when tickets cost a reasonable £20 and £5 for concessions, a crowd of 6,700 left Headingley – whose capacity of 16,000 is the smallest of the six venues staging Tests this summer – more than half empty.
All a far cry from the Headingley Test of 1948, for those Yorkshire veterans able to remember it, although that is a slightly unfair marker as the aggregate attendance for that match of almost 159,000 remains a record for Test cricket in England, with queues snaking the streets of LS6 for the chance to watch Don Bradman’s Australians chasing down 404 to seal the Ashes. David Ryder, Yorkshire’s operations director, has worked at every Headingley Test since 1976 and argues that while there is a danger of viewing the past through rose-tinted spectacles – there were probably only a couple of thousand in the ground for the start of the last day of the famous 1981 match, which was also a Tuesday – the situation is grim.
However, more recent precedent is arguably more worrying, at least according to David Ryder, Yorkshire’s long-serving operations director. He has worked at every Headingley Test since 1976 and argues that while there is a danger of viewing the past through rose-tinted spectacles – there were probably only a couple of thousand in the ground for the start of the last day of the famous 1981 match, which was also a Tuesday – the current situation is grim.
“The dynamics of it have changed,” Ryder said. “In the olden days – up to about 15 or 20 years ago – the members got in for free as part of the cost of their membership, so you had a decent audience there to start with. With everybody else it would be see what the weather’s like, how the match is, and make a decision to rock up on the day.“The dynamics of it have changed,” Ryder said. “In the olden days – up to about 15 or 20 years ago – the members got in for free as part of the cost of their membership, so you had a decent audience there to start with. With everybody else it would be see what the weather’s like, how the match is, and make a decision to rock up on the day.
“We used to take shedloads of cash on the turnstiles, people paying their seven or eight pound or whatever it was, to sit on what were basically wooden benches. I think now there’s been this change to reserved seating, and people think it’s going to be sold out, so they don’t even think about buying a ticket on the day.”“We used to take shedloads of cash on the turnstiles, people paying their seven or eight pound or whatever it was, to sit on what were basically wooden benches. I think now there’s been this change to reserved seating, and people think it’s going to be sold out, so they don’t even think about buying a ticket on the day.”
He added: “I remember that ’81 Test, and although there weren’t so many there at the start, the crowd really built up through the day as word spread of what might be happening, and people left work early or whatever. By the end we had more like 9,000 in.”He added: “I remember that ’81 Test, and although there weren’t so many there at the start, the crowd really built up through the day as word spread of what might be happening, and people left work early or whatever. By the end we had more like 9,000 in.”
Yorkshire’s chief executive, Mark Arthur, points out that the aggregate attendance of 38,062 for this year’s Headingley Test was significantly better than the 29,000 for the 2013 game against New Zealand. He argues that small step in the right direction is down to a combination of pricing, marketing and a slightly later date, having welcomed the move of the early-season series from May to June.Yorkshire’s chief executive, Mark Arthur, points out that the aggregate attendance of 38,062 for this year’s Headingley Test was significantly better than the 29,000 for the 2013 game against New Zealand. He argues that small step in the right direction is down to a combination of pricing, marketing and a slightly later date, having welcomed the move of the early-season series from May to June.
But next year Yorkshire have again been saddled with a New Zealand Test in May as they continue to pay the penalty for the financial problems that ruled out bidding for one of the more lucrative packages of international fixtures including Tests in the second series of the summer against more attractive opposition – India this year, and Australia in 2013 and 2015. But next year Yorkshire have again been saddled with a New Zealand Test in May as they continue to pay the penalty for the financial problems that ruled out bidding for one of the more lucrative packages of international fixtures, including Tests in the second series of the summer against more attractive opposition – India this year, and Australia in 2013 and 2015.
There is more to it than timing, though, as Arthur and Ryder concede. Yorkshire had much bigger crowds for the first May Test they staged, against West Indies in 2007. But that was when the memories of the classic Ashes series of 2005 were still fresh – having been watched by millions on Channel 4, the last series to have been screened on terrestrial television – and when England were captained by Michael Vaughan. There is more to it than timing, though, as Arthur and Ryder concede. Yorkshire had much bigger crowds for the first May Test they staged, against West Indies in 2007, but that was when the memories of the classic Ashes series of 2005 were still fresh – having been watched by millions on Channel 4, the last series to have been screened on terrestrial television – and when England were captained by Michael Vaughan.
The current national team has a stronger Yorkshire influence numerically, through Gary Ballance, Liam Plunkett and Vaughan’s Sheffield protege Joe Root. “But I’m not sure our members are connected to them like they were to people like Darren Gough,” Ryder says. “Goughie played much more county cricket, and we used to see crowds going up by a couple of thousand when he was playing for us. It was more like it is across at the [Leeds] Rhinos, where the fans see their England players like Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins every week. Joe Root won’t play much for Yorkshire now.” The present national team have a stronger Yorkshire influence numerically, through Gary Ballance, Liam Plunkett and Vaughan’s Sheffield protege Joe Root. “But I’m not sure our members are connected to them like they were to people like Darren Gough,” Ryder said. “Goughie played much more county cricket, and we used to see crowds going up by a couple of thousand when he was playing for us. It was more like it is across at the [Leeds] Rhinos, where the fans see their England players like Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins every week. Joe Root won’t play much for Yorkshire now.”
That is not the only area in which Yorkshire may be suffering for the attitude that prevailed for more than a decade at the England and Wales Cricket Board – but which has softened in the last couple of years – of the interests of the national team coming first, with daylight second and county cricket trailing somewhere in the distance. Yorkshire’s membership has halved during that period, robbing them of a core market for international tickets.That is not the only area in which Yorkshire may be suffering for the attitude that prevailed for more than a decade at the England and Wales Cricket Board – but which has softened in the last couple of years – of the interests of the national team coming first, with daylight second and county cricket trailing somewhere in the distance. Yorkshire’s membership has halved during that period, robbing them of a core market for international tickets.
Cricket would have been a hard sell this summer anyway, given the competing attractions of the World Cup and, in Yorkshire, the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. But the truth that dare not speak its name, so worried are the counties about upsetting the ECB, is that the England team have also become a tarnished brand, mostly because of the winter’s Ashes shambles but also unsavoury episodes such as the messy divorce with Kevin Pietersen and even peeing on The Oval pitch when the Ashes were won last August.Cricket would have been a hard sell this summer anyway, given the competing attractions of the World Cup and, in Yorkshire, the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. But the truth that dare not speak its name, so worried are the counties about upsetting the ECB, is that the England team have also become a tarnished brand, mostly because of the winter’s Ashes shambles but also unsavoury episodes such as the messy divorce with Kevin Pietersen and even peeing on The Oval pitch when the Ashes were won last August.
The governing body might try to refute that by pointing to far better sales for the India series, with the first Test at Trent Bridge virtually sold out. But Lancashire and especially Hampshire, who will stage two of the later matches, are finding tickets much harder to shift. The governing body might try to refute that by pointing to far better sales for the India series, with the first Test at Trent Bridge virtually sold out, but Lancashire and especially Hampshire, who will stage two of the later matches, are finding tickets much harder to shift.
There will be some timely evidence that Yorkshire has not fallen out of love with cricket, as Headingley will be packed to the rafters for Friday night’s Twenty20 Blast fixture against Lancashire. Perhaps all those blue empty seats on Tuesday were a verdict not on the game but on the England team, and even on the administration of cricket in this country – with the accidental hilarity provoked by the advertisement for a “people and culture director” reinforcing the impression created by the exacting dietary demands of the England team in Australia last winter, of an organisation in danger of disappearing up its own backside. There will be some timely evidence that Yorkshire has not fallen out of love with cricket, as Headingley will be packed to the rafters for Friday night’s Twenty20 Blast fixture against Lancashire. Perhaps all those blue empty seats on Tuesday were a verdict not on the game but on the England team, and even on the administration of cricket in this country. The accidental hilarity provoked by the advertisement for a “people and culture director” reinforced the impression created by the exacting dietary demands of the England team in Australia last winter, of an organisation in danger of disappearing up its own backside.
In that context, the quiet promotion of Colin Graves – the Costcutter millionaire who has already saved Yorkshire from bankruptcy and is now vice-chairman to Giles Clarke at the ECB – to a new and influential role as chairman of the board’s commercial committee could be the week’s most significant development of all. In that context, the quiet promotion of Colin Graves – the Costcutter millionaire who has already saved Yorkshire from bankruptcy and is now vice-chairman to Giles Clarke at the ECB – to a new and influential role as the chairman of the board’s commercial committee could be the week’s most significant development of all.
Official Headingley crowd figures for England’s Second Test against Sri Lanka Headingley attendances for England’s second Test against Sri Lanka
Day 1 11,054Day 1 11,054
Day 2 13,891Day 2 13,891
Day 3 6,700Day 3 6,700
Day 4 3,989Day 4 3,989
Day 5 2,428Day 5 2,428