How can we get more fans to games?

Soccer will go the way of basketball....

Yep singing will do it, it will bring the crowds back. Make it fun for the crowds. Do you hear what you are saying !!

I believe that the best way to get people to go and watch football is firstly try to advertise it more and try and get some famous players who are getting older to come play for the a-league like what ex liverpool player Robbie Fowler did and he has brought great publicity to the game cause alot of people want to go to watch him and if you try and get more players like him in then more people will turn up. other than that the only way to start to see more people go to games is patience, if we let the competition grow so will crowds it may take some years but eventually the a-league will be a very big and strong competition. Also what i would love to see happen in the a-league is singing i think the competition would be better if fans thought of chants for there team and against rivals make it that little more fun for crowds and have the main singers and big supporters behind the goals like in english football i have a chant for the new sydney rovers team it is " We hate Sydney fc we hate victory to YES YOU, We hate adelaide UNITED but ROVERS WE LOVE YOU" yes it is a chant used by liverpool just with words changed but its a song to sing and it would make the competition better and more enjoyable for the supporters. They are my thoughts on how to make the competition not just better but more enjoyable for the familys and the die hard fans. and yes there is singing but it could be better and of course with singing you need to be pulling good crowds so they need to work on that. I have plenty more to say about how to make the comp better but i do not want to make this comment to long.

And the Bundisliga is lauded as being sensible as it’s one of the better regulated comps in football! That is why I am not a big fan of those who want the A league salary cap scrapped, as you say it’s an arms race that we will never win, a lot of money will go up in a huff and we won’t be left with much that is sustainable. With a cap after you ahve spent all your money on players if you want a competitive advantage you have to invest in other areas, youth development, coaches and facilities. All things I would prefer clubs to spend their money on at this stage than making sure Danny Allsop stays in Australia. In football there is constant calls for us to follow the European model….but if the AFL played football instead of Australian Rules and was getting the same type of numbers it gets now people would be applauding Australia for how well we punch above our weight. Most countries of 22m have a dud league, Holland seems to be the exception and I think Lowy’s on a winner with bringing in AFL people and Dutch coaches. Manchester City and Chelsea are rich play things and I am not surprised they have bad financials. Of more interest is what is happening at Liverpool and Manchester United. Two big brands that were bought by owners who then saddled that debt to the clubs, and recently this week (on the Guardian Online) the details have emerged about how bad the situation is. The champions league money gives the top 4 clubs a $50m plus advantage over the other 14 clubs in the EPL and has made the league predictable. These huge debts have the potential to bring them back to the fold and cause a shake up. Back to Danny Allsop, he along with Adam Griffiths went on huge deals (with decent transfer fees paid to the Australian clubs) less than 6 months ago to West Asian teams. They have both since been released and are back in OZ. Those leagues have average crowds of 2 men and a goat and everyone seems to only support 2 teams….. and that is the model a lot of football fans want us to follow.

I've noted this 'soccer' argument seems only a big deal in countries where Association Football is not absolutely huge and that a domestic or alternate code of 'football' sits above it. Thus - we've had ignorant people claiming that 'soccer' was a US construct!?!?!?! Designed to 'put down' the game?!?!?!!?

"If I was to spend 100m on a football team i wouldn’t be using much of it on players." problem in the global economy of world soccer - that the 'regulated' standard of the Bundeliga is what? 60% of revenue on players. Compare to AFL and NRL around 26% or so. The UK big clubs rely on owners writing off huge debts - because they pay more than their revenue permits, Abramovich the other day covered what was it, £340 million that was owed to him, (so, £700 million all up 'written down' by him), and they have still operated at a loss the last 2 years of £65 and £44 million respectively, so, in a sense - it's a fight you could never hope to win if you chose to engage in it. Not against those sorts of numbers. Poor Portsmouth might be finding out that the hard way. It'll be interesting to see how the moves go towards establishing regulations on debt levels from Fifa or Uefa

Lets not blame the FFA again - the FFA doesn't pay for Marquee players, the clubs do and its a business decision about who they buy, what the perceived value is and what extra revenue they might bring to the club.

Time will tell MC but from what i heard it sounds like its not what was reported in the paper. Good luck to them if they get it but with falling ratings and crowds it would be a bit suprising, the crowds already low seem to be falling even further, what can the soccer boys do ... i know lets bid for a world cup, but use other codes grounds.

@itscalledfootball - well ive libved in the uk my entire life and i think the statement that the average person only has a passing interest is perfectly true. Not everyone is obssessed with sport. the main events are massive though.

By passing interest I meant they have a team and keep in touch with the scores but if their side wins or loses it isn't the end of the earth. Much the same way that people in NSW have some idea of how their team is doing in the NRL and the same with the AFL in Melbourne but don't go out of their way to watch or attend matches.

I have lived in London, Hamburg and Amsterdam for most of the last ten years. Never been to St Kilda and don't like AFL. Ajax disappointed me the most. My cousin is a huge fan and told me all about it. Come game day though you wouldn't notice unless you were right next to the groud. Good atmosphere though. The Euro Champioship 2008 was a highlight though. This will rock your socks as well. People don't melt if you accidentally call it soccer. In fact, they don't even care over here.

Marcel - an Asian woman at the cricket?? have you not gone to a cricket match involving India? or Sri Lanka?? I've seen many Asian women at the cricket....

reply to Tinhat - I've gained that impression from my Danish based relatives - that, it's take it or leave it - sport never really took on that same importance as for example in 1860s Melbourne on the back of gold rush wealth/8 hour day and clubs/suburbs growing together in a brand new city (less than 30 yrs old........all a rather particular scenario and no European/world war on the door step including occupation from a neighbouring nation.........so, I can well understand the position that sports hasn't attained that cultural 'position'). Denmark def Germany final of '92 Euro's was all time classic.....nothing else can match it. (been to the top of the mountain).

Tinhat, which part of Europe did you live in - the Archipelago of St Kilda? Do you really believe that the average European just has a "passing interest" in football. You obviously haven't lived in Europe at all.

AFL supporters only want to discuss A-League attendances . . . ho hum . . . What's wrong with an average attendance of 13K and a high of 56K? In its fourth year, Australian Rules crowds averaged about 100. The A-League is 130 times better than the AFL at the same stage in in its developing years!

Having lived in Europe for many years I realised that they football isn't really an every day thing for the average person. Most people just have a passing interest but they are by no means are they all die hards as they are portrayed in Australia. In fact the die hards are often laughed at as it is just a game. It does take on some real importance during international events though as this is really the only time those countries all compete against one another in the same sport. They all have other significant participant sports which not all the Euro nations play. I personally find the Euro Champ better than the world cup. For a start you are playing your neighbour rather than some country you have never heard of who qualified ina ridiculously easy pool.

Oh dear I left out Wednesday---and you are offended---maybe I am not a fan of the sport after all, but just an Australian pundit who merely likes to state the truth...

Now why would we want to play English football or indeed Italian or even Greek football in Australia, when we have our own Australian Football... And you Aussie Rules to entertain us both---living in total harmony in Australia... Yes it was a sad case in that Tom Wills was suffering from English Football envy when he hijacked the English moniker Football but not its code, which has spread successfully and emphatically throughout the rest of the world... And I thought you said you did not suffer from Australian cringe about Australia's true indigenous heritage, Aussie Rules, it seems I was mistaken... :D ~~~~~~~~ AF

I don’t know if the stat by itself proves anything but it’s definitely interesting in the Euro vs Aussie debate (more important to me personally than the code wars) that often occurs in football. As someone who grew up supporting Greystanes (soccer) and Parramatta (League) rather than barcelona I quite like the less is more approach to games (though I enjoy mid week fixtures), like finals and am not a big fan of promotion & relegation or scrapping the salary cap nor games between professionals and semi pros. I think what we have going for us is nous and we lose that by just blindly following what apparently works in other leagues and a stat like that gives a lot of food for thought.