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NSW State Minister for Sport and Recreation Stuart Ayres has revealed that the government’s long term plans are to cease investment in traditional rugby league suburban grounds, in favour of upgrading existing stadiums.
The timing of Mr Ayers comments are somewhat intriguing as they come only a couple of days after Prime Minister Abbott’s brief appearance on Friday Night Football, in which he mentioned his intentions and desires for a multi-million dollar upgrade for Brookvale Oval.
Huh…? Sadly, we should all be rather used to the confusing and contradictory statements of the current government, but for now I shan’t digress on that any further.
If Mr Ayres’ comments are indeed indicative of the future then what exactly does this mean for Sydney and rugby league? The debate over crowds and how can Sydney generate better ones has been long fought, but will a policy of playing all future NRL club matches at only two or three venues actually work in a city like Sydney?
The AFL adopted a stadium policy over a decade ago after a bitter internal feud with suburban traditionalists, but to compare the Sydney market to that of Melbourne in terms of crowd attendance is really to talk chalk and cheezels. Melbournians have shown the way – not only in Australia but the world – that when it comes to attending live sport they are one of the top cities per capita for bums on seats.
Sydney, on the hand, has proven to be a tougher nut to crack. However, as the NRL will always use its rival code as a yardstick, I believe there are a few major factors contributing to the wide gap in attendances both codes currently generate.
Firstly, take a geographical look at the two cities of Sydney and Melbourne and familiarise yourself with the location of the suburbs that are AFL and NRL teams. It goes without saying that all of Victoria’s AFL sides (bar Geelong) are clustered in and around in the Melbourne CBD. It is not tribal like Sydney.
Of the nine Melbourne-based AFL clubs, one is generally more inclined to grow up barracking for a team because that’s the team one’s family has always gone for, or one likes the colours or mascot or certain star players from that team. It often has little to do with where in the city one lives or comes from as the majority of these teams are neighbouring inner-city areas.
It is also a large part of the reason why the stadium policy works so well for Melbourne. Apart from the majority of the clubs being centrally located, so too are the stadiums, built in the heart of Melbourne with excellent public transport options.
Sydney is a completely different beast. Its teams are geographically spread out throughout the city creating tribalism among areas. Apart from Homebush (which is not centrally located) being on the train line, the public transport in Sydney leaves a hell of a lot to be desired considering the size of the city and its population.
As far as driving goes, the large distances combined with the stress of traffic and parking can quickly add up to a costly exercise whereby one can understand why families often choose to stay home in comfort and watch the game on the telly, often preferring to attend a live match with the kids maybe once or twice a season as a ‘special outing’ rather than a regular occurrence.
The AFL, like soccer, are more conducive to watching live at the ground where one can often enjoy a better aspect of the play, enabling one to see which players are often open and who so and so should have kicked/passed to as opposed to one’s vision being limited to that of the camera lens only following the ball.
League however, works very well for TV with fans often able to pick up more on the screen than what they can see live at the ground. It’s fantastic that the NRL can rate so well on TV and generate such a handsome income for it, but it’s certainly not a good look for the code with so many empty seats in the stands.
I think the clubs are on the right track focusing on boosting their respective memberships, but of course a lot more needs to be done. The push for the Tigers and Eels to have a regular annual Easter Monday clash is a good move and should be a no-brainer for the NRL. The more local fixtures they can promote as an ‘event’, such as the Good Friday match between Souths and Canterbury along with the ANZAC clash between the Roosters and the Dragons, the better.
Is it any wonder that these three matches mentioned – albeit all played over public holidays – drew the biggest crowds of the season for club matches thus far? It just goes to show, when Sydney teams are displaying some form and the match is promoted well and scheduled appropriately, the people will come. Without going too much into the Nine Network’s influence regarding the scheduling of matches and time slots, it should also be noted that all three matches were daytime games.
Enough said on that. Mr Gyngell, I hope you’re reading this!
Like it or not, the NRL is in the entertainment industry and there are plenty of options for people in a city like Sydney in terms of where they want to go and spend their hard earned dollars to be entertained.
There needs to be more promotional work and incentive for fans to turn up to watch their team. Both Souths and the Roosters left their suburban homes and chose to play out of the SFS way back in 1988, yet you could probably get away with using only your fingers to count just how many times they’ve sold out a home game over the past 25 years.
That in itself is a case in point where the stadium push requires much research, thought and consideration. Switching ‘marquee matches’ which are expected to draw large numbers seems a more sensible stepping stone for the stadium policy drive. While I understand the financial aspect of how a side like Wests Tigers stands to earn more from a pittance crowd at Homebush compared to a sell-out at Leichardt, I for one don’t really fancy looking around and seeing 60,000 empty plastic seats in a stadium that is only drawing a crowd of 20,000. I know which ground I’d rather be at for atmosphere.
While I personally love the traditional suburban grounds, I love the game of rugby league more and as such want to see it continue to grow and evolve and strengthen its position among Australia’s competitive sport landscape.
If a permanent move to stadiums becomes somewhat inevitable at some point, let’s hope the decision is largely justifiable with a high demand for ticket sales proving the stadium policy to be a positive evolution of the game.
As sad as it would be to say goodbye to many of the suburban grounds at NRL level, I just hope the decision is made correctly for what should always be in the best interests of the game – something that many previous rugby league administrations have often overlooked.
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