- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There was a game in Europe last weekend which drew a capacity crowd for a fixture many football fans have never heard of. Just under 75,000 supporters turned out at one of the most historic venues in world sport, casting doubts on the oft-repeated claim that the city in question has no passion for football.
The city I’m referring to is Berlin, where league leading second division side Hertha lost 2-1 at home to city rivals Union in front of a sold-out Olympiastadion – the monumental structure where Jesse Owens so famously smashed Adolf Hitler’s notions of racial superiority and Zinedine Zidane so disastrously smashed into Marco Materazzi’s chest.
Hertha are averaging crowds of around 40,000 in the second tier this season, with the club from one half of the German capital aiming to make a swift return to the top flight.
Attendances have been larger and considerably louder than they were during a disastrous first division campaign last time around, while former DDR-representatives Union contributed a solid core of those in attendance at the derby.
The question is, why did so many fans turn out on a cold winter afternoon in Berlin to watch a second division fixture taking place midway through the season?
And the answer, at least partially, stems from the fact that football fans revel in being part of a big-match atmosphere.
It’s one of the reasons so many fans were excited by the prospect of a Melbourne derby this season and it’s why the Grand Final invariably attracts the largest A-League crowd of the season.
So if fans enjoy the atmosphere created as part of a capacity crowd, why shouldn’t Brisbane Roar aim to attract a full house when they take on Gold Coast United in their final round fixture at Suncorp Stadium?
After all, a triumphant Roar have already sealed the premiership plate, they’ve played some of the most attractive football in the league this season and they’ve got an upcoming finals campaign to look forward to as well.
More importantly, the match marks the return of professional sport to one of the venues hardest hit by the recent floods, so there’s plenty of emotion behind what is already a heated fixture.
And with the Roar struggling financially, the club could certainly use the kind of boost to the coffers a full house brings.
Sadly, any hopes of a full house actually turning out for the match are little more than a pipe dream.
The general Brisbane public have shown an unwillingness to forgive the Roar for a considerable hike in ticket prices last season which saw thousands of fans desert the club, never to return.
Nor has the mainstream media really jumped on the Roar’s achievements as a feat worth celebrating, even if coverage today is better than it once was.
And of course the general lack of advertising doesn’t help, particularly when it comes to attracting more casual fans.
Sadly though, the real reason we won’t see a full house at Suncorp Stadium is because so many genuine football fans appear to have simply given up on the A-League.
From complaints about ticket prices to the quality of football, the weather and Ricki Herbert’s old-school hairdo, just about every excuse under the sun has been trotted out for so-called football fans not to attend A-League matches.
And it’s hurting the league’s image, not to mention its bottom line.
When Brisbane Broncos play the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL this season, there’ll be close to a full house in attendance.
We should see the same for Brisbane Roar’s derby day showdown with Gold Coast United on Saturday, but it’s never going to happen unless Brisbane’s football community pulls its finger out, stops making excuses and actually gets along to the game.