By BrianC
July 21 2006

When I first started writing this series of articles I coined the term 'latent demand'. By this I meant demand for tickets that could not be satisfied by existing ground size but which was quickly taken up as soon as capacity was expanded.

Nowhere is this more amply displayed than at Northampton who grew crowds by 11.6% last season. Such growth certainly cannot be attributed to success on field. In 04/05 they avoided relegation by the narrowest of margins. As a consequence of that poor campaign the Saints saw no Heineken Cup rugby last season. Further, they failed to impress in the ECC, losing at the quarter final stage. Their final league position, 6th, somewhat flatters a team that looked to be well in the relegation mire until the last quarter of the season.

Despite such a, by their recent standards, poor showing on field crowds have still grown spectacularly. Why is that? The simple answer is that their unsatisfied demand for tickets, the 'latent demand' was taken up. Looking at last seasons figures it strikes me that they still have more of this latent demand in the bank. Despite the substantial ground expansion the Saints had nine capacity crowds out of their eleven home games last season.

Northampton moved to being the second best supported club in the land in the 01/02 season. In recent seasons it seemed they were to be overtaken by Gloucester and/or London Irish. Recent stagnation at those two clubs has allowed the Saints to open up a gap again. Given that gap and the latent demand there still appears to be I now feel they'll hold that spot for a while to come.