Don't fret too much over A-League crowds

I'm glad you 2 agree with the comments posted about behaviour. My mate loves North end however we nearly got in a fight there last Friday so I am going to push South end. I get the impression South end are better behaved, enthusiastic lot with not as much bad behaviour and you won't get those big flags interupting your view as you do in North. The guys there seem to wave their large flags alot during game play as a result missed what the penalty was for and the replay was not shown. The flags the North end have are great - large and colourfull but maybe during throw ins and stop in game play is better for them to be used rather than during the game. Talking about behaviour - Djokovic after his game said "in my tennis career I have never experienced anything tHat I saw tonight. I have never had oposition supporters cheer me at the end of the game and support me." Great to see the Greek fans cheering Djiokovic's name after he defeated baghdatis and great to see the Greek supporters invite the serbians next to them to take photos together at the matches conclusion. Excellent bit of sportsmanship that will be long remembered by all that were at the stadium. Pity the media didn't pick up on this feel good moment, which drawm me to daves comment about the media. Your right the media did not pick up on the victory last weekend which was a shame considering the high importance and mouth watering encounter at the dome. I think the tennis being on abit of the cricket as well didn't help. Its a little difficulty in Melbourne as we love many sports and soccer often takes a back seat to these. Even the basket very limited if any coverage at all. Victory should be aiming for about 35 k next home game I think.

MegaA l am a foundation member of MV and have sat in the top tier for the last 2 years, no violence, no bad language (other than would be heard at most sports), lots of kids and families...brilliant. There are plenty of seats around the ground so enjoy different views and move around. l wouldn't sit next to a cheer squad at AFL so l would suggest you dont sit near the MV cheer squad...btw not conding in anyway bad behaviour. 29,000 was an excellent crowd considering the virtual ignorance of the game by the Melb media.

You raise a valid point MegaA re enthusiasm v bad behaviour & its impact on family involvement. Hopefully responsible leadership can largely eliminate thugish anti-social actions.

Additional to the bellow - bring back the old NSL there was less trouble and les soffensive behaviour than this new larican league.

Good crowd last night at melbourne 28,900 however taking the importance of the game I would of thought 30 k was a realistic figure. Also other factors working in Melbourne favour was no cricket and the nice weather. I am unsure about the victory supporter group though who are trying to replicate overseas hooligans. They constantly pick out people in the crowd and swear at them if they are not singing - I mean who do they think they are to tell peole how to behave? and bald fat man at the front of the stand is constantly promoting swearing chants to kids on his megaphone - i mean some are as young as 14. How responsible is that from somebody who looks like he is in his 30's and if this continues then the family element will be taken away from the game as it will discourage fathers going to the game with their kids who hear swearinfg chants 90 minutes long. They do not realise the impact this will have on crowds down the track. Enthusiasm and chants is one thing - bad behaviour is another - I will reconsider ever sitting close to the blue and white brigade in future games and if a 2nd Melbourne side comes into the competition I will not have any problem supporting them. A big thumbs down to the blue and white brigade.

One of the reasons for poor crowds after the first couple of rounds, IMO, was the very poor home form of most teams in the early third or more of the season. Nothing worse for spectators, who may not yet be totally committed to the cause, to spend hard earned and then watch 90 mins of poor football, where perhaps the home team doesnt score, creates little and is beaten. A couple of those games in a row can test even the most committed supporters. The reason for the turnaround in the last third of the season has been significant improvement in home form of teams such as PG, WP, QR and even MV who lost 2 home games in a row at one stage, without scoring. In reflection poor early season home form, lack of media attention, lack of major marquee drawcards and perhaps a sense of staleness of the comp (play each team 3 times per year) were major factors. Great to see the crowds have been ave over 14,000 per game for the last 7 rounds.

Poor crowds because of the Olympics? Sounds a bit like clutching at straws.

The start of the A-League was very soft. Right in the middle of the Olympics..as a result of FFA's inability to promote the competition adequately caused a slow start. Like a referee forgetting to blow his whistle to start the game. Crowds dropped.. and the effects were perpetual. If people expect a poor crowd at a game they are less likely to go to the game and more likely to just watch it on TV. That's what has happened thats yr especially in Sydney, QLD etc. etc. and it is only now crowds are picking up. The simple fact is, the A-League cannot take it's crowds for granted. We need to properly advertise in key regions. Improve the quality of play and for jeebus sake make the half-time shows more entertaning! :-p

yes you are right Michael C. That is the reason that Federers comments did not go down well with Australian OPen organisers when he sugested that the Australian open be moved a few weeks further into the year. They acted quick smart in their NO response.

school holidays are a great thing.............cricket have relied on that for some time for ODIs (especially played on weekdays/weeknights), and even the Australian Open Tennis would suffer dramatically if it were even a couple of weeks later.

I have been to about 6 Qld Roar Games this year, the poor home perfomances havent helped them and a least 5 games I been to it has rained. The key is the kids you get a football fan as a kid you get them for life. The AFL have done outstanding work i this area. Infact modelling off the AFL growth would be a good idea. Its a funny thing about Brisbane football I have played grade football for a number of years but still not alot of actual football players know much about the Roar. I can guarentee that in 10 years time when all the 8 year olds get a chance to play with or get promotional material from the Roar that they will watch it. It will be interesting when the Roar move to Ballymore next year a smaller ground located in Brisbanes inner north. I probably will still attend but I cant see me going to as many games. The public transport isnt as good and there isnt any pubs or clubs to close to the ground. And I going to miss having a few drinks before and after. It sad that they cant afford Lang Park as it is a great stadium. I think that the 11,000 average will drop to 7000 or 8000. But finally we should never think of League, Rugby, AFL as then enemy but just as another sport, they hardly clash in the calander year. League / Union / AFL tend to hate each other but there is room for football. Dont market football as another code but something totally different, kinda what the A- League has done already. Example no one feels that you cant watch cricket and Union but you tend not to follow league and AFL. You want to have people following like this. Sport A - Cricket or Basketball - State and National Team Sport B - League or Rugby or AFL - National Team Sport C - A- League and Socceroos

Tuesday night promises to have a massive crowd 1st vs 2nd 30 k. Should be a interesting game.

MegaA I went to almost every Adelaide City and Adelaide United home game in the last four seasons of the NSL and I don't remember any big fights. Ok there were usually crowds of about 3,500 for the City games, but there was a big contingent of 'away' fans when we played Croat or Greek teams and aside from the odd flare going off I don't recall too many incidents. I certainly never felt a threat of being bashed up or anything like that. I went to a game at Marconi Stadium once and one guy told me to "go home" but aside from that I was left alone. The United games were packed during that last season but I don't remember even a scuffle. On the other side of the coin, I have seen a few fights at A-League games (and outside the stadiums) and I have been threatened - ironically though only by fellow United 'supporters.' It's funny how soccer is always accused of having the violent fans yet, based on my experiences, fights are a standard occurrence at the footy and I've seen plenty of them at the cricket as well. I agree RE: the passion. These are for the most part brand new teams so it is obvious it will take time for people to become attached to them. I also agree with the lack of coverage point. In the last days of the league Channel 7 did a very good job of hiding the NSL from the public's eyes and the rest of the media wasn't much better.

The old NSl did not survive as it did not have the publicity that these clubs have. Ads on tv were few and far betrween - the abiliuty to watch a game live on tv was just not there and radio coverae was poor. Papers didn;t publicise too much with you needing to look 10 pages in to get a brief paragraph on your club. Had the old NSl had the publicity this league has then the crowds would of been there and even though the publicity was not there I remember going t games which were packed - standing on the terraces shoulder to shoulder. People talk about fights and politics but they were few and far between. People talk about the old NSl with descriptions of "that league had fights ALL THE TIME", alot of these people were not even supporters or followers of the league therefor were not in the position to comment. hm had fights all the time... I think they may of been incidents every few years. I for ne cannot ever rememeber one fight at Heidelbergs ground and I've been to many games at Heidleberg some of them involving Preston and South Melbourne our firrcest rivals. This league is ok and the crowds are good but you won;t replace the genuine passion of fans who were following their club for decades - at least that won't happen overnight.

Adrian, it has been a good weekend for the A-League. It was nice to see Member's Equity relatively packed -- just a shame the Glory couldn't make the most of their chances. A Melbourne-Sydney crowd of 25,000 was, however, much lower than recent encounters between the two in Melbourne. Although perhaps fair enough considering the results in those matches (the 2-0 loss this year and the two 0-0 draws). So if there was a positive to come out of that game, it was the thriller on the park (not in the stands) which provided a much-needed spark to a rivalry that had turned somewhat stale. Similar circumstances in Newcastle. The same fixture earlier in the year drew 16,000 -- on the back of a grand final between the two teams. But since then, it has been the Jets have gone stale. So given this weekend they nearly doubled last weekend's crowd, 11,000 is still an achievement. What I find interesting, though, is that in the first three seasons a weekend like this was not possible. There was a christmas break. The FFA should be congratulated for branching out into the festive season and utilizing public holidays like Boxing Day.

Adrian I am not saying a-league figures have been over exaggerated, but maybe understated in some cases. Such as the Melbourne and Newcastle games this weekend some people believe were understated. Maybe they don't count for example someone who might get in through a promrotional deal eg 2 for 1 deal in the Sydney v Mariners game that was given.