Falling A-League attendances should be of great concern to the FFA after last weekend’s round pulled an average of just 7,000 fans to the five A-League games.
This week’s round wasn’t much better at around 7,500. While it’s still not the lowest A-League round average ever, which was about 6,500 in 2009, the signs are there that the A-League might need some assistance.
Even Sydney FC, the second highest crowd puller in the A-League’s history, although currently bottom of the table, attracted its lowest ever home crowd of 7,500. That figure is roughly 40 per cent down on last season’s average SFC attendance.
The A-League season average attendances are slowly declining and look like falling even lower than last season, which was the lowest yet.
The tragic irony is that season six of the A-League has clearly been the best so far and the most entertaining to watch.
The standard of play is the highest, Australia’s new coach has been watching with interest, three very talented new European coaches have joined us, high scoring games, some outstanding goals, a new team Melbourne Heart, have all added excitement and class and some stunning goals.
Then throw in a magnificent, purpose built new rectangular stadium in Melbourne, built to accommodate the growing crowds, and season six should be the FFA’s best ever.
But the crowds haven’t reflected this at the stadiums.
Despite a strong first few rounds that averaged higher than last year’s overall average, this season’s attendances are starting to drop markedly.
Some have suggested the reason for the declining attendances could be the novelty factor of the A-League wearing off, the declining interest in football and the Socceroos after their worse than expected performance in South Africa.
The FFA also seems preoccupied with the bids for the FIFA World Cup and its finances and resources are stretched.
A season proper average of 14,612 in season three was the best so far in the history of the A-League, built on slowly increasing crowds in season one (10,955) and season two (12,940).
Season four saw a drop-off with 12,180 the average. That drop-off headed dramatically lower in season five to hit the 9,500 mark and season six looks like drifting even lower.
No one really wants the A-League to die off like the old NSL did. The sport of football really needs a strong national competition to keep growing. The National Youth League and A-League proper is providing a wonderful nursery to develop our greatest football talent for home and overseas.
Even if people aren’t attending A-League games there are a lot of people who still like watching the A-League on Fox Sports. And the international coverage of the A-League has really taken off – last year the highlights package and final series were shown live in over 100 countries around the world.
Most people thought last year that Archie Fraser’s response was not satisfactory and really did nothing to stop the slide. Archie has subsequently stood down from his position as the Head of A-League Operations.
A more acceptable plan to turn things around is awaited from FFA CEO Ben Buckley and his new Head of A-League Operations Lyle O’Gorman.
Another season of lack of action on the FFA’s behalf will be another year closer to the death of the A-League.
AndyBollocks
Guest
Just so you all know...... This one year after ARL (former name for NRL) expansion into Illawarra & Canberra The game got better admin in and marketed the shiznit out of it. E.g. Simply the best campaign etc.... A-League V1 had best marketing....need another push like that. HIP BEATS & EDGY IMAGE! Lowest Crowds 1365 Wests v Newtown Lidcombe 20-Mar-1983 2034 Newtown v Wests Henson 26-Jun-1983 2041 Wests v Souths Lidcombe 17-Apr-1983 2097 Balmain v Newtown Leichhardt 09-Jun-1983 2364 Penrith v Newtown Penrith 21-Aug-1983 2409 Norths v Canberra North Sydney 18-Jun-1983 2433 Wests v Illawarra Lidcombe 08-May-1983 2489 Norths v Parramatta North Sydney 20-Mar-1983 2503 Newtown v Illawarra Campbelltown 09-Jul-1983 2532 Wests v Cronulla Lidcombe 07-Aug-1983 2553 Penrith v Canberra Penrith 05-Jun-1983 2624 Cronulla v Illawarra Endeavour 21-Aug-1983 2820 Penrith v Cronulla Penrith 14-Aug-1983 2895 Souths v Newtown Redfern 19-Jun-1983 3142 Cronulla v St George Endeavour 20-Mar-1983 3174 Cronulla v Penrith Endeavour 08-May-1983 3182 St George v Penrith Kogarah 07-Aug-1983 3210 Norths v Newtown North Sydney 06-Mar-1983 3240 Penrith v Illawarra Penrith 17-Jul-1983 DONT PANIC THINGS WILL GET BETTER!
Viv richards
Guest
The ARL and AFL are long finished mate and we are still waiting for A-League crowds to grow. Maybe the novelty of the A-League has worn off and people realise it is basically just a crap competition. Sure people will come out in droves and watch a really big game of soccer such as the Socceroos in a World Cup Qualifier or a touring major international team, but why spend a lot of hard earned dollars to watch a bunch of third raters, who are often old and unfit, playing in near empty stadiums. Besides if your team discovers a young player who has the the potential to become a real star, then you know he will be off overseas by season's end, not to be seen again for next 15 years before he comes back as an old unfit Marque player!
Glen
Guest
WRT to cowds; I started going to watch AU as my son plays soccer, I now go because I enjoy it as well. What I don't like is the lack of parking and the way in which the council don't seem to want it to be there (inspectors sent around to make sure noone is parking illegally even though there is not enough parking to accomodate the crouds. If I was interested in soccer and went once to have a look, I doubt if I would return given the hassle of parking - Also games are only televised on FOX, let some games go free to air to let people know or see away games - Not everybody has FOX but everybody can watch free to air! Just within my son's team (which is where the A league should be pitching) out of 15 kids 2 of us are members of AU Get the players out and about promotingthe game to the local clubs - interest is built up from a young age. I started going after we had a past player of my son's club turn up for a training session with the club, the kids really enjoyed it. AND open the members bar upstairs again.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
The A-League's total crowd was a bit above the average thus far for the season. From what I heard it was the lowest Semi-final crowds in the AFL for decades ... AFL Semi-Finals a) Expected: 140k over 2 games b) Actual: 84.6k
George
Guest
you were way off mate.. check a few comments below.. haha
Bob
Guest
Take your point on ratings, yet Storm will never get 30 or 40k to a game like MV have done (it actually used to get 50k+). Storm recently gave away tickets for $1 and could not even fill the stadium. MV would have got 100k to the grand final a couple of years ago if it was at the MCG, such was the level of interest. I think MV would easily out-rate storm on TV. I think there is more interest in victory than storm down here. I think the storm getting penalized by the NRL was probably a good thing as it gave them far more tv coverage down in Melb. My main point is the total lack of promotion and media coverage of a-league compared to the constant self-interest coverage through news ltd, foxtel, herald-sun etc which actually own the storm. NRL has a free-kick in that regard, which just means the A-league have to work on other ways of getting a-league in mainstream media. Having SBS telecast would be a huge plus. FFA seem to have lost focus on a-league with world cup bid and get pre-occupied with syd fc, rather than building up local rivalries between other states.
beaver fever
Guest
http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20100913125132371 You might be interested in this Midfielder, Eamonn Flanigan may as well. Apparently his view that the AFL is not liked , is way off base, but we all knew that anyway.
George
Guest
Another shocker of a weekend on the crowds front.. wonder when the first domino (newcastle) will fall... i hear in good faith that it is seriously bleeding money......
Redb
Roar Guru
Crowds are the primary source of spectator - they pay to go to each game. TV ratings are a sample of 2-3K people.
Neutral Fan
Guest
Also, the ratings for Union & NRL surpass AFL in the Sydney market by a long way too. You can harp on about crowds all you want but it's only one measure of interest.
Neutral Fan
Guest
Bob You take into consideration about the Victory having better crowds than the Storm since it's a 'better' product same with the Swans. But ratings wise both are non-existent in comparison to AFL and NRL respectively, so add ratings into the equation and one can argue that the NRL and AFL is a better product that the A-League all together.
Bob
Guest
Main problem with A-league: 1. Not enough main stream media coverage. MV gets a lot bigger crowds and has more committed supporters than Melb Storm, yet storm gets 10 times the media coverage because it is owned by News Ltd. Soccer is a much better product than NRL down here and MV could average 30k crowds if FFA got its act together. 2. Media coverage is too Sydney biased / centric. People don't support sport in Sydney, yet they think they do. Collingwood averages 63,000 to its home games this year which is what the NRL get to their way over hyped, beloved state-of-orgin and more than all of the NRL games in Syd each week put together. Syd swans get more than any Syd NRL team because it is a better product. AFL gets its fair share of coverage up there. FFA should forget about syd and stop propping up Syd FC.
zach
Guest
Actual crowds: Perth 10,450 MV 13,792 Ad 9,579 Mariners 6,326 Nix 8,453 TOTAL 48,600
Kurt
Roar Pro
Good question, I have no idea. When I've been to the footy it's mostly been as a club member, as would be the case for the majority of AFL fans I'd hazard a guess. So $180 per year / 12 games = approx $15 per game. Less obviously for junior members.
Fez's are cool
Guest
the NRLs are up by around 100k each year for the last 2 years. Next season is already shaping to improve on this. Clearly, introducing (and promoting heavily) memberships is paying off.
Fez's are cool
Guest
Actually, RL does have plans for growing the game into the future. The problem is the current admin set up is weak and unable to make the game as a whole move in the direction that is the best interests of the game. Take expansion for instance. Another Sydney/NSW side in the Bears against Perth, Ipswich, Wellington and Central Queensland. The NRL has stated having an Ipswich side and Perth side are vital for the future of the game, but just watch the Bears bid get up and one of these sides (which are more important in the long term) miss out. The problem is the NRL admin is weak, and clubs, state leagues, the ARL, News Ltd, et cetera all take bites out of it. Independant Commission to fix this, then some fresh legs at the top.
David
Guest
Why doesn't the A-League wait until the NRL/AFL seasons finish to start their season? If anyone is like me, they watch their winter sport and then watch the A-League instead of the boring cricket. Plus they would receive greater media coverage for their season build up if they started a bit later. Maybe the A-League should also reduce the amount of games in the season so you aren't playing the same team 4 times. I don't think the dorky looking Reebok strips help as well as the crap / expensive merchandise. Marketing wise, the clubs look quite lame. And I think the A-League needs a free to air deal with either One HD or SBS to boost the wider knowledge of the A-League. In regards to Sydney FC games, they have failed to schedule the matches to take advantage of the CBD work crowd on Friday nights. I am keen to head to a game with my workmates after work but there is not one Friday night game scheduled. This is something that teams like the Waratahs thrive off. It is quite hard for most people to get to the SFS and not many people actually live close to the ground. Perhaps Sydney FC should move their games to a suburban ground such as North Sydney Oval. I think they would be able to maintain a crowd on par with an NRL team (say 15,000 per game) at a suburban ground.
chocolatecoatedballs
Guest
could not have said it better myself.
beaver fever
Guest
Revenue may be up ( taking your word), but it must split between more teams !!, and over a longer season/time frame !!. I find it amusing, that you seriously think you can point the finger at anyone, regarding the adding up of figures.
jimbo
Roar Guru
A higher aggregate means more ticket revenue for the FFA. Although avges were down last season the total revenue for the FFA from the A-League was up because of higher aggregate and more finals series games. Did you have trouble staying awake during Maths classes at school?