The perception is A-League crowds are falling and so is the sky for Australian soccer. The reality is not necessarily so. Average crowds are up for four of the clubs who were in the league last season, and down for the other four.
There are certainly areas of concern. Brisbane Roar have shed around 25 per cent of their 2008-09 average attendance this season – Newcastle even more off lower numbers.
Newcomers Gold Coast have brought with them the competition’s smallest average crowd, as well as heavily criticised plans to cap their attendance at 5,000 to save money.
While it’s known Football Federation Australia is concerned about Brisbane and ropable over Gold Coast’s crowd-capping philosophy, elsewhere the picture is brighter than many will have you believe.
Perth Glory’s crowds are rising towards their old NSL levels, while Sydney FC, Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix have lifted their attendances on average.
FFA boss Ben Buckley insists crowds at most clubs are in line with expectations, and any attendance dips are “performance-based”.
As for why some clubs’ crowds are down, there are some overarching factors to consider.
More games. 27 games for each club in a season rather than 21 means consumers can be more discerning with the matches they actually venture out and buy a ticket for.
Starting the A-League in the middle of the business end of the AFL and NRL seasons has been a massive failure.
A lot of fans have simply “lost” the competition in amongst it all, particularly in AFL-obsessed Melbourne where everything plays a distant second-fiddle at footy finals time.
Fox Sports’ excellent television coverage – every game is televised live against the gate – may also be contributing to lower attendances as serious A-League fans will probably have pay-TV.
A plastic seat and a $6 beer in a plastic cup? Or plasma TV, beer from your fridge, replays of contentious incidents you won’t see at the ground and matches to follow from the English Premier League straight after your A-League game?
Also, in the first four seasons, crowds have probably been higher than most anticipated.
Before the inaugural season, FFA chairman Frank Lowy said he expected crowds to be around 10,000 on average. They were markedly higher, while TV figures were around five times those originally projected in season one.
Plateauing is perhaps inevitable.
For all the discussion about crowds, the A-League is not even at the mid-point of this season.
Where crowd figures go from here – and how clubs cope – will be watched with interest for the rest of the season.
Club-by-club, here’s how they’re faring so far (teams are in current ladder order):
SYDNEY FC: Surprisingly, the Sky Blues’ average crowds are up – just – on last season. The burning question is whether 12,000 is a good crowd figure or an indifferent one for Australia’s largest city. Either way, they have built a rusted-on supporter base of 12,000. Staying near the top of the table should see that grow.
MELBOURNE VICTORY: Starting at the business end of the AFL season in footy-mad Melbourne was guaranteed to hurt the Victory. Add two unpopular Thursday night kick-offs and they have excuses why crowds have dipped around 16 per cent. However, they maintain an average crowd more than double that of most other A-League clubs.
GOLD COAST: With arguably the competition’s best player and an excellent start to the season, there’s little doubt the Gold Coast should be attracting more than 5,000 a match. What kind of stadium deal are they in where it’s cheaper to shut three-quarters of the joint down? A real cause for concern.
PERTH GLORY: When the Glory bossed the NSL, the stadium was full. Now the good times are back in the west, and the crowds are lifting after four seasons of A-League underachievement. A highest attendance of nearly 13,000 – they haven’t managed that big a crowd since season one – is most promising.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS: Have suffered a marked dip in averages, but bear in mind their lowest home crowd of the season was actually the match they hosted at Canberra in round five. Matches at Bluetongue Stadium have attracted their usual 8,000-10,000 off the league’s smallest population base, which is a solid performance.
ADELAIDE UNITED: The surprise packet in terms of attendances, recording a decent lift in their average crowd. Not once has Adelaide’s crowd dropped below five figures. Considering they play out of a 16,000-capacity stadium and sit mid-table, the Reds are obviously tuned in to their fans’ needs.
WELLINGTON PHOENIX: Crowds are up across the ditch, probably in part because Kiwi soccer is in excitement mode with the prospect of a World Cup appearance. Sadly, their lowest crowd of the season turned up to watch probably the best performance anywhere in the A-League in two years – their 6-0 defeat of Gold Coast.
BRISBANE ROAR: A nightmare, and those who want to whack the A-League over crowds are seizing their figures to do it. There’s no positive spin to dropping 25 per cent from 2008-09. Especially when you’ve put up ticket prices and have off-field dramas. Put another way, the Roar’s home matches fill Suncorp Stadium to about one-ninth of capacity.
NEWCASTLE JETS: The biggest shedder of A-League crowds – dropping around one-third on average from a season they were defending champions. If you believe the FFA’s line that crowd dips are performance-based, here’s your example. This season, crowds have consistently been around 6,000 for home matches regardless of opposition.
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY: The newcomers have brought the third worst average gate, and the 7,000 average is less than optimistic pre-season projections of around 10,000. But the Fury have been good news for the rest of the competition. Marquee player Robbie Fowler has boosted attendances for every club they’ve visited this season.
A-LEAGUE CROWD AVERAGES FOR PAST TWO SEASONS
TABULATE UNDER 2008-09, 2009-10 (so far), up or down on previous year
SYDNEY FC 12375 12673 up
MELBOURNE VICTORY 24516 20243 down
GOLD COAST UNITED — 5621 new team
PERTH GLORY 7606 7942 up
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 10465 8145 down
ADELAIDE UNITED 11712 12149 up
WELLINGTON PHOENIX 7193 8120 up
BRISBANE ROAR 12995 9254 down
NEWCASTLE JETS 9729 6004 down
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY — 6975 new teamA-LEAGUE 2009-10 SEASON’S HIGHEST AND LOWEST CROWDS PER CLUB
TABULATE UNDER HIGHEST, LOWEST
SYDNEY FC 16699 8456
MELBOURNE VICTORY 30668 15168
GOLD COAST UNITED 7526 4209
PERTH GLORY 12872 8057
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 10029 5139
ADELAIDE UNITED 15038 10262
WELLINGTON PHOENIX 10024 6571
BRISBANE ROAR 19902 6433
NEWCASTLE JETS 6655 4738
NORTH QUEENSLAND FURY 8897 6191
Michael
Guest
Guy, your “logic” is quite laughable. So, let me get this straight, attendances have dropped because of excellent TV coverage?! Excellent TV coverage is meant to attract people to the sport, which should result in increases. I’m a basketball fan, and when I first saw the Victoria Titans on ABC TV one Saturday afternoon, I didn't say to myself: "Wow, I love this, next week I’m going to order a pizza and watch another game on TV!" I said "Wow, I love this, I’m going next week!" Guy also fails to mention the percentage increases for Sydney et al. Their average would have been boosted by a decent crowd they got earlier in the season, which I heard was heavily comprised of freebies. Their most recent crowd was sub-10k, which is pathetic for the country's biggest market. And then Guy suggests that crowds haven't really dropped, because earlier attendances just exceeded our expectations? That's irrelevant. The fact is, these "unexpected" people did attend games in the first 4 seasons and they're not now, meaning they have deserted the game. The A-League has had a dream run from the media during this time of crisis, with The Age being a major sponsor of the Victory and therefore becoming their official newsletter full of fluff pieces from Muscat and Merrick. Yet, the competition still hasn’t capitalized on these opportunities. Let me guess, people aren’t going to games because they’d rather read Michael Lynch’s excellent game reports the next day? So please, Guy, instead of making pathetic excuses, you’d be better off spending your time asking yourself why the A-League is an A-Grade stuff-up.
Alex
Guest
It could have something to do with them qualifying 1st . . . 1st. You bring up a reasonable argument. I'd agree with you more if the Socceroos were filling the stadiums they play in though. The MCG is a tough ask but surely they should have filled the SFS and Bruce Stadium despite the cost of tickets. I don't know if it they are the number one national sporting side. They are certainly helped by the poor performances of other national sides. The public excitement just seems to be lacking. It will certainly be more intense whe the world cup is on and we finally get to play some big names rather than the might of north east centre west division four side Oman.
danny
Roar Rookie
the fury are doing quite well, aren't they? compare to pre-season where the gold coast would be the team to which all others aspire, both on and off the field, and north queensland were a basket case of washed-up has-beens who were destined to fold within two seasons at most. how the tables have turned.
Robbos
Guest
Don't get me wrong Chris, I may be wrong in my assumption, I have been wrong once before. But I don't think you really like Football, or Soccer as you may call it. I may be wrong here, just a feeling I get. I suppose if I'm correct, why are spending so much time in a football blog, not this 'Hate' thing again is it? I mean the 4 nations is on, the pinnicle of Rugby League, why aren't you on a Rugby League blog discussiing whether Lockyer, Aust's most capped player deserves another run or whether Hayne or Slater at fullback or which Morris brother is better?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Actually, the one thing I got from Clive's graph was how well the Fury are doing!!
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Chris fair enough Norm apologies
Chris
Guest
He seems to have picked one of the smaller definitions of Gold Coast for his population figure.
Chris
Guest
Pip - I'll agree with most of what you said, with one exception: The SCG was NEVER "a crappy cricket ground".
Chris
Guest
Version three average crowd: 14,610. Version 5 average crowd: 10,231. That is (regardless of which excuse the apologists chose) a MASSIVE fall.
Chris
Guest
No Colin - I and many Australians call it soccer. You calling me "retarded" is offensive to many and does nothing to advance your view.
Norm
Guest
pippy boy try & leave the bad language out of it.
Michael C
Roar Guru
as I said elsewhere, to start with, why when Cockerill is only quoting Federal figures for everyone else, does he only quote all 3 tiers with respect to the AFL? A shame that his big ticket item Fed funding for the AFL is actually a Vic State grant to the MCC - - Melbourne Cricket Club. And, when it comes to a project that is a 3 tiers project, invariably, if it involves local govt, you know damn well it's a 'community facility' anyway, and note, that once you remove his false assertion of $77mill re the MCG, then, you're left with a grant to Geelong and funding for community facilities in South Australia. And all this - on the back of his assertion on Monday that Public funding upgraded the MCG for the 2000 Olympic Soccer tournament?!?!?!?! (which did not happen). Cockerill has lost his marbles.
collin
Guest
its called football you retard
Pippinu
Roar Guru
AndyRoo Cockerill is saying that the AFL "has received" $400+ million. And it's false.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
AFL does benefit from Government money. They may not cash the cheque but there damm sure telling us who to write it out too. Wether it deserves it or not is a different debate but lets just say yes.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
AndyRoo if you go to this google search page: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=AFL+revenue&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU&aq=f&oq= the very top item is the AFL's 2006 annual report - smack bang in the middle of the period Cockerill is talking about - you can see a breakdown of where it gets its revenue - there is no mention of receiveing any money from government of any description.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
AndyRoo he has said that the AFL "has received" $400+ mill, and I repeat again - that is completely false. If you look through the financial statements going back to 2003, you will not find anything even approximating a figure like that. 99% of the AFL's revenue comes from normal sports activities: TV rights, mechandise, memberships, sponsorship, etc.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
He is counting all 3 levels of government and it’s based on cheques for related activities to those sports. The figure for AFL seems right to me The figures for League seem low So go ahead and call me stupid because I buy it.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Norm I'll repeat it again. You can go through the financial statements of the AFL since 2003 - and 99% of its revenue will be from its own commercial operations such as TV rights, memberships, merchandise,etc. I'd be surprised if the Government has provided even 0.1% of their total revenue. I'm not sure what your maths is llike, but that's a very low percentage. In other words, Cockerill is talking bull shit. Aussie rules has built the MCG to what it is today over the course of 150 years. Aussie rules build the Dome with not one cent of government money. Subi and AAMI are all built by aussie rules money 100%. The Gabba and SCG are formerly crappy cricket grounds that have benefitted immensely from staging aussie rules - it's the people that go to watch aussie rules that allow these grounds to be bigger than they would have been otherwise. The SCG used to have a grass hill up to about 15 years ago!! The Gabba used to have a dog track around it about 15 years ago!! Without aussie rules - both these cricket grounds would have remained shitty little cricket grounds.
whiskeymac
Guest
and still he didn't seem to convince the bloggers on 442 =) whats a billionaire to do?