Another story about football crowds
Roar Pro
By Con Stamocostas, 3 Sep 2009 Con Stamocostas is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- A-League, FFA, football, Football Federation Australia
While the action on the park in the first month of season five of the A-League has been filled with lots of action and goals (54 goals scored at at average of 2.7 goals a game) and controversy (cardboard Miron cut outs), most of the talk off the pitch has centered on the low NSL-type crowd figures.
Football pundits and bloggers have been speculating on why the crowds are so low.
Some have said that it’s because of the A-League’s early start causing the season to overlap into the peak of NRL, AFL and rugby seasons.
While I definitely think the overlapping seasons is one of the main reasons, I think there are three other main reasons.
And I’m sure you have read about them somewhere else.
First is the poor timing of the games, such as Thursday night and 3pm kick offs.
Number two is the backlash by fans not impressed with the overpricing of tickets in some markets such as Brisbane and Gold Coast.
The final reason is also a lack of promotion, with fingers pointed straight at the direction of the Football Federation Australia.
With no presence on free to air television, most people would not even know who is playing, never mind what times the games are on.
In a story John Taylor wrote for the Daily Telegraph this week, the only people happy with the low crowds appear to be TV rights holder, Fox Sports. Murray Shaw, the executive producer of football for the network, said: “The cumulative reach is up 4 per cent year on year, which means more people have watched this year’s coverage than ever before. This is an extraordinary effort given that two of the four rounds have been up against the Ashes.”
This is quite an ironic result as the reasons for the early kick offs is because of Fox Sports scheduling.
Another Thursday night kick off is sure to provide a smaller crowd for the Victory Jets game that kicks off round five of the A League, as Thursday is not a traditional football night in Australia, or anywhere else in the world.
When you decide to play with the Devil, you can’t really complain when he cheats.
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Football articles
- Phoenix need more than flash in the pan crowds (133)
- ‘New football’ fans may help save the game in Australia (124)
- Does Tasmania have a case for A-League inclusion? (119)
- What happened in Port Said was not a football riot (118)
- Magilton struggling to make a mark (68)
- Socceroos screwed over by FIFA, again (41)
- Gulf influence cripples the FFA again (40)
- Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners: A-League live scores, blog (95)
- Liam Miller: Bargain buy of the A-League season? (8)
- Zambia plays Cup of Nations final in memory of their fallen (6)
- Capello’s resignation ends an awkward marriage (8)
- Does the A-League need an injection of humour? (44)
- Redknapp the best bet to clean up Capello’s England mess (2)
- Redknapp tight-lipped over England job
- Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners: A-League live scores, blog (95)
- Liam Miller: Bargain buy of the A-League season? (8)
- Zambia plays Cup of Nations final in memory of their fallen (6)
- Capello’s resignation ends an awkward marriage (8)
- Redknapp the best bet to clean up Capello’s England mess (2)
- Melbourne derby reveals tale of two journeys (3)
- O’ so close for John: How JON almost landed the biggest job in sport (16)
- Explore:
- A-League, FFA, football, Football Federation Australia
Kurt said | September 3rd 2009 @ 6:14am | Report comment
I keep telling you but it seems no-one in the manic-depressive bi-polarity that is the Australian soccer community wants to listen: Check your crowds half way through the season and then at the end. Focusing on crowds on a game by game, week by week basis is a sure recipe for alternating states of jubilation and depression. A decent crowd shows up in Sydney – YES, THE OTHER CODES ARE FINISHED, WE”LL BE NO. 1 BEFORE THE DECADE IS OUT!!!’. A poor crowd shows up in Brisbane – NO!!! IT”S ALL OVER, THE EVIL ANTI-SOCCER CONSPIRACY HAS TRIUMPHED AND WE WILL ALL BE HUNTED DOWN LIKE DOGS!!!!
Really, just ease off a bit with the crowds discussion and see how you’re travelling in a few weeks, there’s just too many contingent variables otherwise.
Con Stamocostas said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:02am | Report comment
Hence why the article is called Another Story about Football crowds……………
Like it’s supposed to take the piss.
MVDave said | September 3rd 2009 @ 7:06am | Report comment
Kurt
Ditto
Con
At least the TV ratings are up (4%) and so Foxsports are very happy!
Kurt said | September 3rd 2009 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Just to clarify, the ‘audience reach’ is up 4%, not actual viewing numbers. That means that the number of unique subscribers watching at least part of an a-league game has gone up slightly, probably roughly in line with general subscription growth. It doesn’t mean that average audience numbers per game are up, as I’m sure if they were FoxSports and the FFA would be trumpeting that fact.
Luke W said | September 3rd 2009 @ 7:58am | Report comment
Wouldn’t audience reach and audience numbers generally be correlated?
Mushi said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Not necessarily If the new audience are single match watchers or if the 4% came from 8% upswing from new very casual and sporadic viewers and was offset 4% down swing from regular viewers your ratings actually go down.
Now ay to pass comment either way on reach numbers
Luke W said | September 3rd 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
Of course there can be other factors at play, but in a general sense, I think they would be correlated. The term audience reach almost implies you are generating new audience on top of the ones you have.
Luke W said | September 3rd 2009 @ 7:13am | Report comment
Wow, I actually agree with something Kurt is saying…
Points 2 and 3 are the only ones that the FFA should be addressing right now. Lower ticket prices and offer family friendly deals and put them at times that don’t clash with parents plans or kids sports times. As for the other two, with more teams in the competition, a longer season is inevitable, and there will be some overlap with the other codes. Personally, I would be happy if the A-League just survives over the next month of AFL and NRL finals. Crowds of 10k would be fantastic in my opinion. Once the other codes finish and we start warming up to the World Cup and the festive season, then the FFA can throw a few million dollars on advertising. Until then, lets just bunker down and ride out the other codes.
AndyRoo said | September 3rd 2009 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Actually I think for the last fortnight Kurt has become a changed man, because I have found his posts much more agreeable.
Pippinu said | September 3rd 2009 @ 8:00am | Report comment
Con
didn’t you write an article only two weeks ago declaring we should stop talking about crowds??
I don’t think Thursday nights are a valid excuse in the Melbourne context – I would have thought that was a good choice by the FFA (in the sense that Thurs would suit Melbourne better than other markets).
I imagine Fox loves the Thurs night games and that’s important because they pay the bills.
We better get used to fixtures on mid week nights because they will become more common as the season is extended.
Con Stamocostas said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Good memory Pippinu,
again look at the heading can’t you tell I’m taking the piss.
Even the reasons I gave are half arsed why the crowds are low. How the hell would I know why the crowds are down.
Has anyone asked the folks why they didn’t go?
It’s pure speculation and it’s boring.
Pippinu said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Can’t you tell that I know that you’re taking the piss?? Do have to spell it out??!!
Con Stamocostas said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:31am | Report comment
I’m never sure about you Pippinu you are the Roar mystery man…………..
Are your boys going to wake up and play some football or what?
Pippinu said | September 3rd 2009 @ 11:01am | Report comment
…the signs were excellent in the first half against Perth – I’m not the least bit worried – especially with the Princess having returned.
Koala Bear said | September 3rd 2009 @ 11:32am | Report comment
ah yes that’s what Bricks called you …. you’re back and at it again … care to put forward another conspiracy theory…
~~~~~~~
KB
Brickowski said | September 3rd 2009 @ 7:00pm | Report comment
Wow KB, what a memory you have! It took me a while to remember why I was calling hiim Princess, then all that incessant whining came flooding back to me.
I expect it to start again very soon, in fact it’s half an hour til kick off, so it should begin again in a couple of hours
.
Oh no! They’ve just mentioned that Danny Allsopp is having a dummy spit, what is it with these Tards?
Koala Bear said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
Bricks,
simply put: tonight game’s result was another bloody disgraceful interfering plot, from the FFA and the Referees Association…
~~~~~~~
KB
Pippinu said | September 4th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
I’ve already told you blokes – it’s an odd year (5th season), plus a title defence – anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and in five rounds more things have gone wrong than you’d expect in a whole season.
It’s the champion’s curse revisited.
Only 15,000 punters – it’s getting worse every week.
Koala Bear said | September 3rd 2009 @ 9:43am | Report comment
Pippi boy,
why don’t you get over yourself and stick to what you know best, Marngrook, before the Foz resurfaces to write another “smell the fear article” about you lot…. Con’s not a mind reader when it comes to someone like you…
~~~~~~~
KB
Ben said | September 3rd 2009 @ 10:49am | Report comment
Points one, two and three are all spot-on, but the other issue I think that really needs addressing is the disconnection between the game at the community level and the game at the elite level. We know that football is the biggest grassroots sport in Australia, so now we have to transfer that success into the highest supported sport in Australia. This involves a whole range of strategies, but I have a couple of initial ideas.
Firstly, when you register to play, referee, coach etc in your local league, you should have the option then and there to sign-up as a member of your local A-League club for the upcoming season at a reduced rate.
We also need to make the game far more family-friendly in terms of scheduling, ticketing and marketing.
Lastly, we need to improve the match-day experience for fans. I don’t support a team (waiting on Canberra) but I have been to a few A-League matches so far. Not once have I seen any decent pre-match entertainment to entice me to get to the ground early. You’ve got to give people more than just the game, especially if it turns out to be a dud! If non-football fans are impressed by the whole experience they will come back, but if it’s a rubbish game and a rubbish experience, you can forget about their continued support.
melbvictory87 said | September 6th 2009 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
so true, it is becoming disconnected. melbourne victory especially with their closed door pre-season games and versing tianjin teda when they should be playing oakliegh cannons
Millster said | September 3rd 2009 @ 11:00am | Report comment
I think point 3 about FFA marketing is a very serious one because the league is invisible in places it shouldn’t be. Just as one example on the drive to work Monday morning there was not a single mention of the Sydney win the evening before on the sports roundup of the commercial radio stations Nova and 104… not blaming them at all because all it would take is the FFA to get their act together and fax them a short bit of press, or email a sound grab they could use, or make a player available for a 2 minute phone call. This is what worries me… the basics, the low hanging fruit, the cheap-and-easy stuff isn’t even happening.
Con Stamocostas said | September 3rd 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment
Ben and Milster every year we talk about the poor and lack of promotion early in the season. It’s just not worth it for the FFA to spend advertising $ while the egg ball codes are on. This year is even worse due to the even earlier start. I don’t think it can be changed(the early start) because the season has to finish by a certain time due to the AFC forcing the FFA to finish the season in March. (I hope I am correct in this info)
A new strategy is needed perhaps.
During season one when Sydney FC was pulling the crowds I eavesdropped on some fans conversation while I was walking to the entrance of the SFS. All the talk was about Dwight Yorke, and the talk was not about Football, it was about the orgy he allegedly had with some famous English it girls.
And reading the response from the fallout of the John Delabosca affair. I think for the A League to cut through all the other stuff that is happening what is needed is a big sex scandal with famous celebrities.
chook said | September 3rd 2009 @ 11:46am | Report comment
I agree with Kurt it really only till the season ends can you tell the success, we would all forget about the 6,000 Brisbane Roar crowd if they clocked in 15,000+ for the rest of the season ( I have my doubts).
But I love my stats as they often determine trends, and the trend is a down ward one for the A-League atm
and here they are
Overall
-10.5 %
Round 1
+2.4 %
Round 2
+25.4 %
Round 3
-32.6 %
Round 4
-32.6 %
I just cant help myself………and yes -32.6 for both rounds 3 & 4 …
AndyRoo said | September 3rd 2009 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
The Victory carry the HAL crowd figures so thats why round 1 and 2 look ok and 3 and 4 look bad.
Pippinu said | September 3rd 2009 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
That’s hardly a conclusive downward trend!!
chook said | September 3rd 2009 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
yeah well early days yet just giving the facts