Smallest crowd for a Sydney AFL final
By AAP, 7 Sep 2008
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- AFL, Andrew Demetriou, ANZ stadium, North Melbourne, North Melbourne Kangaroos, St Kilda, St Kilda Saints, Swans, Sydney Swans
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The fair weather fan stayed at home as the Swans attracted their smallest ever crowd to an AFL finals game for last night’s elimination final clash with North Melbourne at ANZ Stadium.
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The pre-match prediction of AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou that the game would be lucky to attract 20,000 proved eerily accurate, with the fixture drawing an official 19,127 spectators.
It was well below the previous lowest crowd for a Swans final in Sydney of 36,076 who attended the qualifying final against St Kilda at the SCG ten years ago.
It was only around half the previous lowest for a final at ANZ Stadium.
Unfavourable weather didn’t help, with 78 millimetres of rain falling over the ground in the 36 hours prior to kick off.
Ironically, last night’s crowd could have comfortably fitted into the reduced capacity at the Swans traditional SCG headquarters, where capacity has been reduced this year because of the building of a new stand.
Demetriou told people at the prematch function that the AFL faced a battle to win the hearts and minds of potential supporters for the second Sydney team, which will debut in the 2012 season.
“We know it is not going to be easy and we know we are in for a battle for the hearts and minds of the Sydney people,” he said.
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September 7th 2008 @ 3:52pm
westy said | September 7th 2008 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
I think you miss the point. No one can dispute only envty AFL crowds especially in Melbourne. I think the tenor of dabate is not some mindless code argument. it is the timeframe for the second Sydney team in the West. This team will ominously be playing out of ANZ. The NRL has made clear that if it had a 35000/40000 rectangular stadium in the west it would play there not ANZ. I note I have heard that Parramatta trust is expanding Parramatta Stadium but the figures vary from 28000 to 32000. As Roos has stated the startof date of 2011 may only hurt Sydney Swans. 2015 is much more realistic and in my opinion likely. Membership of the Swans is the lowest in AFL and is now down to 17000.yet paradoxically it is a successful club.Cannibalise the Swans you hurt AFL in Sydney.
September 7th 2008 @ 6:23pm
Koala Bear said | September 7th 2008 @ 6:23pm | Report comment
Lads,
I have just returned home from the Titans vs West/tigers (NRL) on the Gold Coast; and the Robina stadium is magnificent a good crowd of 20+k for a dead rubber was very good indeed.. Compare that with the Swans game and you would be shaking your head for the reasons why the sudden death final was only 19k in Sydney .. Andrew Demetriou must be wondering what went wrong and for some to say it was not promoted well what a load of claptrap and a poor excuse is that .. We are talking finals sudden death football here, not a friendly match.. Obviously no free tickets no show with the Swans supporters..
~~~~~~~
KB
September 7th 2008 @ 6:48pm
Michael C said | September 7th 2008 @ 6:48pm | Report comment
Hmm, Sunday paper reporting Manly def Penrith at CUA – 6,086
NZ Warriors d Parramatta at Parramatta – 5,102
Cronulla d Nth Qld – Toyota Stadium 7,057
that’s 3 games in Synday drawing a sum total of 18,245………..along with the Swans finals match……..
All I can say about the Elimination final is that it continues a North melb trend of low attendance Elimination finals.
I know after last weeks crap effort vs Port that many North fans headed home half way thru the 3rd qtr vowing they weren’t going to pay the money for a finals ticket (assuming a Melb game) the next week – - – so, I don’t know of any North people other than cheer squad who were determined enough to blow their money and head up there.
I can only gather the Swans recent form has been so patchy that many fans would struggle to justify the expense.
It’s I think more an issue of a top 8 (and potential top 9 or 10 for future 18 team comp)…..that sometimes a token finals appreance just doesn’t cut it.
The other known, is that in financially tough times – the fans often save their dollars incase the team get’s through to a more important final (esp the prelim final).
I reckon elimination finals are overpriced and that the club seasons membership ticket should allow a reasonable discount on face value of tickets………’cos, reality is, should a team outside the top 4 make the Grand Final – - all their supporters will have forked out a kings ransom on finals tickets.
Paul Roos had criticised the AFL late in the week for doing no real promotion of the game (finals are AFL domain, not the clubs)……however, the AFL don’t want to ‘cheapen’ finals tickets by giving them away when the 2 MCG games drew 70K+ to people PAYING. Just gotta wear is on the elim finals – even in Adelaide, sub 40K is perhaps disappointing given the Collingwood are involved (but, it’s very hard to make interstate travel arrangements for the fathers day weekend at short notice).
Westy -
I reckon the 2nd AFL team should just play out of Blacktown boutique 10K capacity stadium – - keep it intimate and avoid ANZ like the plague.
September 7th 2008 @ 7:04pm
Redb said | September 7th 2008 @ 7:04pm | Report comment
I have just returned from being part of the 71,600 at the MCG, Geelong V St kilda. That’s two crowds above 70,000 and none of those teams are in the Big 4 in Melbourne.
The crowd of 19,000 for the Swans match was below par, period, but if you take a closer look at crowds for all football codes in Sydney they are down, considerably down. As Oikee commented RL crowds were really low. The 3 Saturday Sydney NRL games got 5,000 , 6,000 and 7,000 for a total of 18,000. Combo of economics and weather, Sydney fans will stay at home if is wet and cold and watch it on TV. Discretionary spending is being cut.
It still does not mean though that the Swans crowd was not very poor by their standards expecially after averaging 45,000 at ANZ stadium this year. Yes North Melb are low drawing, yes the Swans appeared gone for 2008, yes it was very wet and cold and yes ANZ stadium is not well liked, but 19,000 i still pathetic.
The irony is TV ratings for the Swans will mostly likely be up.
I watched the last half of the North v Sydney game and it was pretty good footy by the Swans, I bet a few fair weather Swans fans are kicking themselves for not attending.
The AFL hierachy was at ANZ last night, a stumble is not bad for the code, gets the hubris out of the way. Understanding what makes Sydney tick is better for the AFL to learn now.
Redb
September 7th 2008 @ 7:33pm
Redb said | September 7th 2008 @ 7:33pm | Report comment
Dave, KB, Midfielder,
If you can prove that other codes are taking away these fans be my guest. If they are not and they aren’t then I would take too much joy from these numbers.
The crowds for the A League have hardly been impressive. Sydney FC with 11,000 is perhaps the most glaring example in the so called soccer hearthland of Sydney with hundreds of thousands of juniors/players, where are the crowds?
Economics is playing a part here.
Adelaide crowds have been down for similiar reasons, as well as the teams dont look like getting past Geelong and Hawthorn, discretionary spending is reducing with the economic climate of high interest rates and petrol prices.
Melbourne is well served by public transport at its venues and economically is going well.
Redb
September 7th 2008 @ 7:38pm
Redb said | September 7th 2008 @ 7:38pm | Report comment
That first line should read:
If you can prove that other codes are taking away these fans then be my guest. If they are and they aren’t then I wouldn’t take too much joy from these numbers.
Redb
September 7th 2008 @ 8:14pm
Michael C said | September 7th 2008 @ 8:14pm | Report comment
Redb -
that’s the thing, isn’t it – - – the Swans have demonstrated a fairly robust 40K + at ANZ stadium since 2001 (with some exceptionaly figures last year but that included the field of pink (women) breast cancer awareness night vs St.Kilda which probably had no right to nudge got 60K +. So – - it’d be surprising for the 19K to indicate a lack of support overnight – - – it’s more a case of a near to live against the gate TV coverage combined with the expense of the tickets combined with the weather combined with less than flattering form. The Swans fans though, as Redb indicated, should be kicking themselves – - as, the Swans were only ever going to host that one final and now, with some momentum, some form, and young kids like Kieran Jack, Patty Veszpremi and Craig Bird (if back from injury) just adding the little bit of youthful enthusiasm……well, they may yet inflict a little more damage………..
……….but, reality is, Geelong are going to take a heck of a lot of beating.
September 7th 2008 @ 8:29pm
Dave said | September 7th 2008 @ 8:29pm | Report comment
Redb
Dont take any joy from the poor attendances BTW l think Adelaides was worse than Sydenees. 15,000 empty seats for a game between 2 (apparently) biggest supporters bases in Oz.
How ever it was just a few short weeks ago a few AFL bloggers were deriding the 16,500 for SFC H&A game on a wet day. Now doesnt look too bad. The weather was a factor (to what extent?) but there were apparently very few pre sales of tickets. Seems like from what Midfielder says they were giving them away also. Economics possibly but Swans games have generally drawn lower attendances this year.
Will make for interesting times in the next few years in Sydenee particularly if Swans attendances and memberships continue to fall – this is for a team that has been in the finals 8 out of 10 years and 2 GFs in the last 5 years. What happens when they finish near the bottom?
MC
Thats an awful lot of excuses for the poor turnout. Basically what you are saying is that the Swans fans dont really care that much about their AFL team, certainly not worth paying too much for. BTW What rubbish the Swans game wasn’t promoted An AFL final surely sells itself BTW FTA CH 10 were flogging it pretty hard . Perhaps now an understanding of how HAL has to try and cope in the AFL saturated Melb media
“sub 40K is perhaps disappointing given the Collingwood are involved” Huge disappointment would be closer to the truth. Weather fine, Sat game (plenty of time for travel), knockout match, 2 biggest clubs in Oz (memberships and support).
Perhaps you will be a little more understanding of SFC and Adelaide United attendances now.
September 7th 2008 @ 8:30pm
westy said | September 7th 2008 @ 8:30pm | Report comment
Michael C…..your point about playing out of Blacktown has merit. A stadium built for 10000 maybe 20000 can be designed with a view to 40000 and expanded over time in stages especially in cooperation with local/state governments. Such a rational Sydney orientated approach seems to be anathema to AFL.
September 7th 2008 @ 8:30pm
Koala Bear said | September 7th 2008 @ 8:30pm | Report comment
Redb,
the crowds in the NRL were the final games of the round. No interest in going out on a wet cold night.. That aside; I watched the South Melb v Bengal Lancers (TV) and thought it was very ordinary. However the question remains.. Did Roy Masters correctly say or not; that the Grooky crowd figures were boosted by the free passes during the season to inflate the crowd figures .. ( in the NSW and Qld )
We all read his article and he claimed it to be so .. Now the question now is; were there any free passes given out that night or was the reason of the crowd being so thin, due to the fact that there were no free passes..? A good question.. Remembering this was a sudden death final; a lot at stake and allowing for your rationale of recession in NSW does not cut.. We should have had at least 40k.
What happened at SFC’s game against Perth Glory is a historicly low drawing game.. The Bengal Lancers were in the 8 final series playoffs..
~~~~~~~
KB