A-league Crowds

[midfielder]

MV fans are saying ... it must be a false count they say between 16 & 18 K were at the match... be interesting to see if they find some more again.

 

[Jesus]

MV fans are saying ... it must be a false count they say between 16 & 18 K were at the match... be interesting to see if they find some more again.

Their 1st home game looked like more, and what was said on tv for their 1st game was in the final seconds and seemed iffy. All the reports had more soon after.

This one the FFA has said 13k, and i didnt see all the match, but looked like that was probably pretty close

 

[Rick18]

There's been massive problems with the membership cards at the new stadium, a lot of them haven't been working. I know when I went to the game against Perth mine wouldn't scan properly so they just let me in.

 

[dibo]

Unfortunately for the fury the FFA scheduled their 1st home game simultaneous to the cowboys playing the titans in the nrl.

I think when you look at a place like townsville with 180k people, you have to assume some supporters are following both, and with fury a year old, and cowboys at business end, you have to avoid that dont you?

Fury should have played sunday or at least kicked off at the later time so as people who watched the nrl could make an attempt to get to the fury game, or watch it on tv at least

NRL sets their draw 6 weeks out in consultation with Channel Nein and Fox. The HAL draw was out in April.

It was the NRL that engineered the clash.

 

[Jesus]

NRL sets their draw 6 weeks out in consultation with Channel Nein and Fox. The HAL draw was out in April.

It was the NRL that engineered the clash.

Bastards!

At least there seems to be a slight 15minute gap this week and then the cowboys are out

 

[midfielder]

Three crowds under 5, 000 and only Shitty over 10K... HHHHHMMMMMM sobering if nothing else...

Fury V Inbreds ...........6,130 Hal average seasons 1-5 .. 6,723
Shitty V Mariners.........10,147 Hal average seasons 1-5 ..14,681
Fold V MV..................3,624 Hal average seasons 1-5 ...5,392
Hearts V Glory ............5,878 Hal average seasons 1-5 ..no average

Round average 6,624

R1.. 54,047
R2.. 51,071
R3.. 52,631
R4.. 33,118

Crowd average after 4 rounds is .. 9,543

 

[Forum Phoenix]

MF thats only one under 5k??

This round was ALWAYS going to look awful unfortunately And it does.
Fold Coast crowd was sadly expected and figures significantly inflated by all reports of those at the game. (Both sides supporters)
If Clive won't spend and resurrect them - then either he or them will have to go. You can't be pulling half the people to a game that FURY is and expect to stay. It's just getting beyond ridiculous now.

Heart - poor scheduling apparently - no less than THREE AFL games on at the same time also. New team down on luck. Not concerned.

Fury, bit disappointing really considering their opening and great club spirit... Hope they will build.

Sydney... very poor.

 

[midfielder]

FP

Opps about the 3 when it was one... an interesting post by a MV poster (and a good one) I have copied below .. while I understand we are still in the AFL / NRL season and I also understand the J-League & MLS went through similar cycles I think the Fold & Fury were decisions made and were they made for the WC bid or the next media deal but both are looking a tad sick... TBH I never understood the Fury decision...

But back to my MV poster ... he does raise a couple of good issues... Especially about history repeating itself... OK OK different management...

Originally Posted by KingKewell

No matter how FFA dress it up - the crowd figures are down on previous years (big time). In its sixth season now, the A-League is at an all-time low. The question is whether the current administration has its eye on the long term goals or whether they are going to piss it all away with curious decisions to grow the game in markets not yet ready to embrace the code at this level.

Those who remember the NSL will recall the farcial introduction of the conference system in 1984 (the eighth season). Expansion from a governing body whose clubs were financially bankrupt (at best) and where crowd figures had dwindled significantly from the boom associated with the league's introduction in the late 70's. As a spectator sport, the league never recovered as a whole.

One hopes that Buckley and co. have learned that expansion for expansion's sake is not necessarly the path forward (I don't just mean clubs here either). Tackling the big boys head on (AFL and NRL) is pointless without a plan of attack, and ignoring the grass-roots supporters (fixturing matches when local competitions are played) is heading down a dangerous path which previous administrators followed all too regularly.

If FFA plans to write a positive future for the sport's domestic competition, then it must learn from the lessons which are detailed in our history instead of continually ignoring it like a retarded delinquent.

 

[midfielder]

Sydney......7,557
Glory......10,444
Hearts......4,000
Mariners....6,829
Scum........7,066

Heart played in one of Melbourne biggest storms ever... Sydney on Saturday night was shit weather, cold windy and rain... Mariners two days of rain leading up to the game and drizzle during most of the match..

Round average 7,179

R1.. 54,047
R2.. 51,071
R3.. 52,631
R4.. 33,118
R5.. 35,896

Crowd average after 5 rounds is .. 9,071

Can't help but feel that JON was always in the media promoting the league and you hardly ever hear from BB...and I wonder aloud how much this impacts crowds...

 

[Jesus]

I think with some decent weather all games this week should pass 10k.

But we certainly need some promotion of the game. Lets hope something starts up once nrl and alf are finished

 

[curious]

That will make it round 10. The bird will have flown.

 

[Blackadder]

The weather can only be so much of a factor, what is the FFA doing to pick up the crowd numbers or do they just care about the National side. :huh:

 

[hasbeen]

In my opinion there is a fundamental problem with the A-League and it's (and therefore the member Clubs) viability.
The ticket prices are too low (compared with other leagues around the world) but we can't raise the ticket prices without a raise in the standard of football. Vicious circle ...

 

[curious]

In my opinion there is a fundamental problem with the A-League and it's (and therefore the member Clubs) viability.
The ticket prices are too low (compared with other leagues around the world) but we can't raise the ticket prices without a raise in the standard of football. Vicious circle ...

I would hope you're kidding. In Australia, with competing markets, you would price yourself into the poor house. Ticket prices aren't the problem, ticket quantities are.

 

[midfielder]

Economics at it’s basic level discusses the Scarcity of Resources and therefore everything from a person an entity to a nation needs to determine what is most important as all needs cannot be meet.

Under JON stewardship, the A-League resources were spent on promotion. BB to date has moved the spend from promotion to development of juniors and national standards.

There is no doubt of the need to protect our best juniors nor the national training programs currently operating. Everyone is in favour of these things but they do come at a cost and the cost to date is the promotion budget and a recent cost cutting excise at FFA head office that resulted in a number of people leaving and in time I guess a reduction in things FFA has done in the past.

Life is never easy when you operate on a 17 million budget and receive little free promotion by the mainstream media. BB has had to make some difficult calls and the football media has run a powerful agenda on technical issues for quite a while now. The same media are also of the expectation that technical issues solve all other problems… Looking at the crowds it is obvious they don’t.

So my question is aimed at the FFA… and in particular at BB… During JON stewardship it was very common to see JON in the media making statements talking up the league… much like AD in the AFL & DG in the NRL. … BB appears in the media rarely and only to put out a bush fire… My impression is he is caught in a paralysis of fear … scared of saying something wrong more than saying things.

I think BB needs to get out more and talk to the faithful … also FFA need to look at their budget priorities in that all things are not solved by improving technical deficiencies.

Also the it must be said that the league is only two good MV matches away from a 10 K average and when the other codes finish their seasons and the weather warms up a tad the crowds will increase.

The problem child is the Fold Coast and it appears Fat Tony is hopeless at running a Football team and will exit my guess at season’s end or Football needs a change in ownership at the club.

It’s not all doom and gloom yet … however Football needs desperately right now strong management and secondly needs to communicate it’s messages to the Faithful… and as the saying goes … reports of my death have been greatly …. you get the idea

 

[pjennings]

Forgetting about HAL crowds in general and just looking in our own backyard. The turning point for me was the FFA's decison to move the Season 3 Grand Final.

I actually think this was one of the most short-sighted decisions the FFA has ever made. Imagine a full BlueTongue with 18,000 Mariners fans (having made the grand final first) and 2,000 Jets fans. Across the road a live site in Leagues Club Park - probably with another 10-15,000 there.

The FFA had a chance to really make the Coast a football stronghold - but squibbed it for the cash and disillusioned Central Coast fans has drifted away ever since.

 

[midfielder]

Forgetting about HAL crowds in general and just looking in our own backyard. The turning point for me was the FFA's decison to move the Season 3 Grand Final.

I actually think this was one of the most short-sighted decisions the FFA has ever made. Imagine a full BlueTongue with 18,000 Mariners fans (having made the grand final first) and 2,000 Jets fans. Across the road a live site in Leagues Club Park - probably with another 10-15,000 there.

The FFA had a chance to really make the Coast a football stronghold - but squibbed it for the cash and disillusioned Central Coast fans has drifted away ever since.

You could be right...

But lets see what a difference a week makes..

My estimates for this weeks matches assuming good weather...

Perth ..... 15, 000
MV .........25, 000
Ald .........14.000
Mariners ..10, 000
Nix............11, 000

Totaling 75, 000 lifting the average to 10, 000 ...

 

[curious]

To play the devils advocate, add a following Wednesday game for victory-phoenix and the next round that includes 2 GCU games (one being a wed. night) plus jets, fury, roar and heart, will likely take it back down again.

The many mid week games this season aren't going to do any favours for numbers.

 

[elevated position]

Thinking locally pjennings has a point along with moving promotion away from 107.7.

 

[midfielder]

Thinking locally pjennings has a point along with moving promotion away from 107.7.

IMO moving away from 107.7 has been close to the worest decision the management made and we are still there this year...