{"id":379663,"date":"2026-01-20T04:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/379663\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:50:13","slug":"london-broncos-and-salford-rlfc-record-impressive-attendances-as-championship-round-one-crowds-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/379663\/","title":{"rendered":"London Broncos and Salford RLFC record impressive attendances as Championship round one crowds ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OH8_2459-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Championship season kicked off over the weekend, and there were some impressive crowd numbers recorded across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with the newly-formed<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/salford-red-devils\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Salford RLFC<\/a>, the newly-formed club hosted local rivals Oldham, in what was their first ever game under their new identity.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Devils moniker may cease to exist, but the fans and supporters of Salford rugby league were in full force on Friday night, as they witnessed the rebirth of their beloved club.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst there was no official attendance given, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugby-league.com\/article\/64485\/bumper-crowd-for-salford-and-oldhams-betfred-championship-season-opener\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the RFL website<\/a> confirmed that a crowd of around 5,000 showed up to watch the fixture, with the Salford faithful not bothered about the result, they were just happy to see their team back on the field.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/oldham\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oldham<\/a> ran in 44 points without reply, and now sit top of the Championship on points difference.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining games were played on Sunday, and Jason Demetriou\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/london-broncos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> London Broncos<\/a> took the headlines as they defeated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/widnes-vikings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Widnes Vikings<\/a> 44-12.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Max (twice), Dean Hawkins and Reagan Campbell-Gillard all crossed for their new club, as 4,380 people witness the first game under the club\u2019s new era.<\/p>\n<p>Going from the capital to Cumbria, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/barrow-raiders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Barrow Raiders<\/a> were another team that boasted a four-figure crowd, as their local derby with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/workington-town\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Workington Town<\/a> pulled in 2,003 supporters.<\/p>\n<p>The Raiders secured a heavy 40-o win, as Ellis Archer and Luke Cresswell both bagged braces in the victory.<\/p>\n<p>In the fourth and final game that saw a four-figure attendance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/keighley-cougars\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keighley Cougars<\/a> defeated<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/goole-vikings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Goole Vikings<\/a> in front of 1,148 spectators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/sheffield-eagles\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sheffield Eagles<\/a> edged past <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/whitehaven\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Whitehaven<\/a> in a low-scoring affair up in Cumbria. Craig Lingard\u2019s side were 11-4 victors and did so in front of a crowd of 824 fans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/swinton-lions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Swinton Lions<\/a> suffered a home defeat to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/rochdale-hornets\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rochdale Hornets<\/a>. Four conversions from Max Flanagan would be the difference as a crowd of 822 saw Gary Thornton\u2019s side take the two points.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/hunslet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hunslet RLFC<\/a> are still without a win since May 2025, and suffered a home defeat to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/dewsbury-rams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Dewsbury Rams<\/a>. A crowd of 780 turned up to witness the clash between the two West Yorkshire outfits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/newcastle-thunder\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle Thunder<\/a>\u2018s first competitive victory in over two seasons was witnessed by a crowd of 413, as they travelled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/midlands-hurricanes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Midlands Hurricanes.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There is no official attendance posted by either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/doncaster\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Doncaster<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/halifax-panthers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Halifax<\/a>. The Dons emerged 19-12 victors in that contest.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_e9WbvZO3iA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">our YouTube channel here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Championship season kicked off over the weekend, and there were some impressive crowd numbers recorded across the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-379663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}