The 2023 Betfred Super League season is on the brink of two significant attendance milestones ahead of the final round of matches before the Play-Offs this Friday night – and among a majority of clubs whose home crowds have increased year on year, the Challenge Cup finalists Leigh Leopards and Hull KR have posted their best figures since well before the start of Super League in 1996.

The cumulative attendance of 1,446,052 across the first 26 rounds is already the highest since the change in the competition format in 2019, which involved a significant reduction in the number of fixtures and another 53,948 when all six Round 27 matches are played on Friday night would break the one and a half million barrier for the first time in five years.

In addition, the current average attendance of 9,270 is the best since 2012 – and only the fifth time the average has surpassed 9,000 in the 28 Super League seasons since 1996. This is already certain to be the fourth highest average attendance the Super League competition has posted in those 28 seasons, and an increase of more than 10% on 2022.

That follows a record-breaking aggregate for a single six-match round back in April, when a total of 83,357 spectators were attracted to the Rivals Round fixtures across the Easter weekend.