A telling weekend for crowds across Australia

 
Adrian Musolino Columnist

By , 11 Jul 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

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Fremantle's Aaron Sandilands flies for a ball during the AFL Round 15 match between the Richmond Tigers and the Fremantle Dockers at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

Fremantle's Aaron Sandilands flies for a ball during the AFL Round 15 match between the Richmond Tigers and the Fremantle Dockers at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

From the NRL’s rare visit to Adelaide to test the waters for possible expansion, to the visit of an English Premier League side (and their Socceroo) delivering a bumper crowd for Sydney FC, to two contrasting AFL crowd figures in Melbourne, it’s been a fascinating weekend across Australia, highlighting several key points for various codes.

Let’s examine them one by one:

NRL. Canterbury Bulldogs versus Melbourne Storm – Adelaide Oval. Crowd: 10,350

Arguably the most significant crowd figure of the weekend, as the NRL ventured to Adelaide.

Considering there was no local interest to entice South Australians to the truncated Adelaide Oval on a freezing winter’s night, the crowd of 10,350 was impressive.

It proved what many in the NRL foolishly ignore; that there is a core group of rugby league supporters in South Australia who could form the core support for a franchise based in SA.

In contrast with the AFL’s strategic expansion targets, the NRL remains, seemingly, non-committal on expansion, instead waiting for its Independent Commission to come in and save the day.

But what the crowd at Adelaide Oval and the similar success story in Perth (13,164 turned out when the Melbourne Storm and South Sydney headed west) showed is that the game needs to be putting the framework down in these two capitals for two new franchises.

There may be significant support on the Central Coast, but only by going to Perth and Adelaide can the NRL truly expand its national footprint – giving the league a presence in the five most populated cities/capitals in the country.

As for Adelaide, the Adelaide Rams were born and killed at the height of the Super League war. It was a tumultuous environment for a club and code to survive in enemy (AFL) territory. The NRL is a lot more of a stable environment for the rebirth of an Adelaide franchise, and the crowd at Adelaide Oval proved there is interest in the game to sustain it.

Remember, the expectations and commercial pressures on a potential NRL franchise are a lot less than an AFL one, and Adelaide remains the least congested sporting marketing of those five capital cities.

The potential is there.

Football. Sydney FC versus Everton – ANZ Stadium (Sydney). Crowd: 40,446

The huge crowd for this friendly in Sydney (notorious for fickle crowds) proved two points for football in this country: the power of proper marketing and the power of the pre-season friendly against visiting sides.

Undoubtedly the game benefited from the presence of Socceroos golden boy Tim Cahill, particularly so soon after the Socceroos’ World Cup campaign, but you couldn’t ignore the manner in which this game was promoted on television, in print and online, not to mention the decrease in ticket prices.

Getting the message out there was crucial for a pre-season friendly which has effectively launched the Australian club season, showing how crucial it is for A-League clubs to market extensively to entice the football fans that we know are out there.

Enticing EPL and other great clubs to tour Australia during the pre-season is a proven winner.

It’s just a case of working out a way to ensure those crowds back up for the A-League season.

AFL. Port Power versus Collingwood Magpies – AAMI Stadium (Adelaide). Crowd: 24,260

Playing one of their great rivals (the two great ‘Magpies’ Aussie Rules clubs) on a night they said goodbye to one of their favourite sons, Mark Williams, on a Friday night, when everyone knows the match would be delayed on Channel 7, Port Power couldn’t even pull 25,000 to AAMI – almost 10,000 down on the average figure for this fixture in Adelaide.

The Power was born out of the success of the Port Adelaide Magpies, but the reality is that supporter base was never big enough to sustain a franchise in a national competition.

For all its successes, Port represented one-ninth of the South Australian footy landscape (based on the nine clubs in the SANFL) in what is only Australia’s fifth biggest city. And in Adelaide you either love or hate Port. That dualism is what has flawed Port Power.

They were always going to struggle to expand beyond its Port origins, especially in a state where generic clubs who can draw support from the whole state (a lesson for a potential NRL franchise) rule – think Adelaide Crows, 36ers, Thunderbirds, United.

In debt, struggling for form and relying on the AFL for handouts, Port Power seems as vulnerable as ever. Whether they can survive long enough for the generation who have grown up with the Power to reach adulthood and sustain them remains to be seen. It’s their only hope of truly expanding their supporter base.

AFL. Richmond Tigers versus Fremantle Dockers – Etihad Stadium (Melbourne). Crowd: 25,707

Richmond’s recent run of form has shocked their critics and surprised their fans, yet they could only manage a 25,707 crowd against the in-form Freo in a week the Tigers were making headlines across the country (albeit the cause of that media frenzy, Ben Cousins, didn’t feature in this match).

When contrasted with the 69,220 at the MCG for the Geelong versus Hawthorn clash, what it shows is that at its core the great strength of the AFL, when it comes to crowds, is in its VFL origins and rivalries, not its national footprint.

ANZ Netball Championship. Adelaide Thunderbirds versus Waikato / Bay of Plenty Magic – Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 9,200 (expected).

The final of the trans-Tasman netball series sold out in 12 minutes – impressive for what many consider to be a fringe sport.

The enormous growth of the ANZ Championship over the past two years is a testament to the power of free-to-air coverage. For a fringe sport, being afforded such extensive coverage on ONE HD has been an enormous fillip, particularly when contrasted with the growth (lack of) of sports stuck on pay-television.

It’s been a big weekend of sport that’s confirmed several home truths for these codes – a fascinating snapshot of where they stand, with their relative weaknesses and strengths.

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