- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Police direct Gold Coast United fans after they stormed a closed off area of stadium in protest of a crowd cap at Skilled Park during the round 13 A-League match between the Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury , Saturday, October 31, 2009. Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer made the decision this week to limit the Skilled Park crowd to 5,000 people to save on stadium fees. AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
Ask a football fan what has convinced them to turn down a cheap night at home, a social engagement or call in a sickie at work to fork up the funds to attend a football match, and chances are you’ll hear something similar to one of the three responses below that I received on my way to Hindmarsh Stadium.
* “Backing up my love for the club and community, with financial support.”
* “Love of the game, seeing plays develop, taking in the whole playing area and sharing the excitement with thousands of others.”
* “I just love to be there. For my team, the intimacy of being so close to it all. The energy, the hope, the celebration, the horror when it all goes wrong.”
A-League attendances are a hot topic within Australia’s football circles as Season five has so far disappointingly been unable to turn around the decline in crowds.
The average attendance has dropped to under 10,000 a match.
Two new teams are contributing factors to the decline but the drop in the major markets of Sydney and Melbourne are worrying signs for the FFA. Clubs, pundits and FFA are all asking themselves how they can get more fans to games.
The beginning of the season saw Adelaide as a club that was bucking the trend and recording an improvement on the numbers attending the games. However, Adelaide United’s poor form on the park and its disastrous drop to the bottom of the A-League ladder has coincided with a drop in fan attendance.
Matt Rossi, the Ticketing, Membership & Merchandise Officer for Adelaide United, believes that improving the match day experience for supporters is the key to getting punters to attend the live games.
“We know that there are two things that make the match day experience more enjoyable and entertaining: on field performance, and crowd atmosphere. The on field performance of the team is somewhat out of our control, but we can control the crowd atmosphere to some degree.”
In theory, no one should know how to get supporters to the games more than the supporters who turn up every week. Adelaide United is heeding the calls of assistance from their supporter group.
“We have been working with the supporters group, who have shown interest in helping us to improve the atmosphere on match days, and to help get the wider crowd involved (and not just those in the supporter’s area). The supporter group suggested we play a particular song after we score a goal, which we have been trialling over the past few matches. We have also been working with them to assist them in getting more banners and flags at our matches in order to create more colour and vibrancy.”
Promotions and advertising is also a large piece of the puzzle.
“A strong focus on the promotion of AUFC matches through our community program helps drive match day attendances with the carefully organized distribution of child’s tickets to local clubs and schools.”
On the back of some of the worst attended rounds in A-League history, more needs to be done by the clubs to get more fans to the games. The financial viability of the clubs and the league as a whole relies on fan interest.
If it isn’t there, the league and the sport won’t be able to grow. Getting more fans to games is a necessity as is finding the answer of what needs to be done to get them there and soon.
How can we get more fans to games? Do supporter groups hold the answers?
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.