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Only 7,677 fans attended the Brisbane-Sydney clash at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday. The average for that fixture is almost 25,000. It’s a huge drop off, one that can be attributed to the controversy over the price of tickets, but also highlighting several important lessons about A-League crowds.
What the disappointing drop in crowd numbers highlights is the huge fluctuations that we should accept as a given with the A-League.
Obviously there are some self-inflicted reasons why the crowds are down, especially in the case of Brisbane which has damaged the reputation of the franchise.
Even if the Roar dramatically slashes ticket prices the perception is out there that the cost of attending a game is too expensive. With the lack of significant mainstream media attention such perceptions tend to stick, just as the notion of crowd violence has stuck despite so few cases in the league.
Combined with some poor scheduling, the lack of significant promotion at the start of the season and inconsistent performances from most of the teams, especially at home, these self-inflicted wounds have compounded the dip in crowds.
However, there are fundamental reasons why A-League crowds fluctuate to such an extent.
Firstly, the further intrusion into the AFL and NRL season was always going to have a negative impact on crowds, compounding the lack of media coverage the league receives.
With further expansion on the horizon there is no way to avoid this. But the FFA needs to be braver in its marketing and not rely on the expectation that crowds will return en masse when the AFL and NRL seasons are done and dusted.
Secondly, perhaps this is where football in Australia is at and the fluctuating crowds reflect the ambivalence the casual sporting fans has toward the game.
When you factor in the low opinion the ‘Euro snobs’ have of the A-League and the obvious inconsistencies in the quality of the product, then even ambivalence among football fans is to be expected.
Certainly there is still a way to go in terms of quality, as witnessed by the lacklustre triple-header of matches on Sunday.
Perhaps the novelty of the league has worn off and what remains is its core supporter base.
Thirdly and most importantly, the clubs and league itself are still in their infancy. This point tends to be overlooked yet it should be accepted as reality.
Take for example St. Kilda fans who have stuck with their club despite forty plus barren years without a premiership.
Fans have grown up with these clubs, they no nothing else aside from supporting their team through thick and then. It’s in their blood.
That sort of bond with a club is only built with decades of shared experience.
It’s that bond which results in fans rearranging their lives around the club’s fixtures no matter where they are on the ladder.
The A-League franchises, upstart creations with little to zero connection with the old NSL teams, not to mention hidden away on pay television, have been unable, in their short life spans, to build this connection with fans and that was to be expected.
That will take time, perhaps generations, to build.
It is why in the likes of Melbourne and Adelaide, where there is a stronger bond between supporters and their clubs typified by the AFL example, crowds are less susceptible to other variables.
Without this bond to teams crowds will always dramatically fluctuate depending on current form, interest, other code competition, ticket prices, scheduling etc.
There is no magic formula to drawing a big crowd to each fixture. In this sporting landscape it is a multifaceted dilemma with so many variables.
Therefore the FFA and the clubs must ensure they get the ingredients they can control right so the rest will hopefully take care of itself – perhaps longer than we all expected it to.