Low crowds a concern for NRL

At certain times. At least when a game of Rugby Union is dominated by a whole lot of kicking.

All great points! The footy show while being slightly amusing at times there's piss all talk of the actually games a 90mins show and 20mins at the most of talk about the game is stupid. The change in demographic is a hard thing, you dont want to lose the fans you already have but while gaining new fans which is a tricky thing. It may be how the game is promoted just isnt working to bring in new fans. Theres also the whole issue of to many teams in Sydney theres 9 teams? So despite Sydney being a large city your still splitting the fanbase of Sydney 9 ways and fans dont travel to other Sydney teams home games. Syndey Clubs need to organize something to get there fans out to away games which would boost all Sydney games crowd figures. Maybe organize meeting at there league clubs, meet in greet with plays bus trip to the game with discounted ticket prices or whatever something to motivate these Sydney fans that dont travel to go to the away games

Ah the formula for curing insomnia :)

I think it's hard to generalise a crowd due to one game sitting in one area of a stadium. my times at Suncorp as an away supporter I have not to my knowledge seen the element you have described. I only hear some inane bogan comments from fans when their team get one over my team but it's lame at best. I've never seen a 13 yo girl (or whatever her age) make racial profanities at a player or the Hawthorn supporter recently aiming one at an African descent player at the AFL, or opposition supporters (and a coach) give it to an alleged rapist with language most foul, and have you witnessed the riots at A league games involving WSW, the tearing up of seats? So, perhaps your partner was in the wrong place at the wrong time for her senses as the aforementioned examples highlight all sports have their moments of fan bogan craziness. Perhaps she should assess her experience and realise she may not feel comfortable at any sporting event or at least the football codes. As a question, does she not read a newspaper, watch the news to know this ain't a RL specific issue?

Well, the likes of Marco shouldn't shoot off without the full picture instead of manipulating pieces to suit his agenda. I am SICK of these AFL, union or soccer types en masse on league threads like vultures. hence, I shall attack like a dog cos they are beyond courtesy.

Just a fact. about 180 years

Cathar is there ever a time you don't go in full "attack dog" mode and just start denigrating other posters and sports if they say anything remotely bad about RL? Rather than acting like a tool with a massive chip on the shoulder why not provide some evidence to refute their claims and do it like an adult rather than an angry 12 year old? Calm done sometimes man.

Rugby Union.

Solution... Only have 5 teams but spread them around the country Then add 4 more NZ teams plus 5 from South Africa Add a couple more forwards to each team, allow competition for the ball, fix the scrums and include line outs Problem solved

Sydney has four football codes and so the attendance pie is only so big. If soccer is expanding then the other codes are going to be affected because sporting fans can't increase the size of the pie by going to matches from more than one or two football codes, the cost for many fans would be too much.

Not sure you get the Australianism "bums on seats here." It isn't calling you a hobo. Your bum is your backside, you know the part that is actually on the seat. It isn't offensive at all. Just a pragmatic part of the Australian vernacular. Enjoy the colour of our lingo! And if you are still offended then perhaps you are the arrogant one; Australia isn't Europe and nor should it try to be.

As a devout Cowboys fan living in Brisbane, I think I can shed some light on why NRL struggles to get huge crowds. Let me address Turbodewd's post first - I agree with everything he says, which isn't often. I'm a white collar worker, I own by own business, I grew up in CQ and have always supported Cowboys and the Broncos as my second team. I lived 2km from the stadium until recently, but would only attend 1 game, at best, a season. I took my partner along to a game and the language and behaviour from the crowd was disgraceful, she was made to feel very uncomfortable sitting in the seats watching it. The culprits weren't young arrogant fans, actually older women and their children who were yelling c bombs like they were on sale at Lowes and calling for players to be 'killed dead' in a tackle. I'm in my mid 20's and grew up in a rough town so I'm no shrinking violet, but this was over the top. Perhaps that's a Broncos Friday Night fan problem, I'm not sure, but I'd be interested to hear from other posters about their home club games. The other problem, in my opinion, is that the continual changes to the rules and the ever increasing dependency on the video referee is creating a rod for the NRL's own back. By over-scrutinising tries and sending pretty well everything up to the video referee, the viewer is detached from fluidity of the game, which is its strong suit and appeal - it's a quick game and best played in a flowing nature. This increasing dependency on technology to get decisions right has resulted in the NRL increasing the number of cameras filming the game, which in turn makes the televised product much more appealing than the live one. I hope the NRL can pick its socks up and clean up a few things, because it's a great sport with a rich history that deserves to be enjoyed by not just the working class but the entire spread of society.

Brookvale as well. Local is best.

I forgot to add that Parramatta Stadium certainly fitted the bill over the weekend.

Surely if the clubs played at their own home stadiums you'd be talking about sell-out crowds. Why weren't Kogarah Oval or Campbelltown used over the weekend ? How come Canterbury-Bankstown don't play at Belmore ? Or South Sydney at Redfern Oval. Much smaller home grounds with sell-out crowds in the local area looks a whole lot better than huge stadiums with all those empty seats and zero atmosphere. Far less travelling time, as well.

Boy you AFL lot are desperate. Did you know Foxsports rating are up, and Channel Nine Sunday is up by a lot. The ratings on Thursday & Friday will tell you one thing, don't kick off at 8pm and don't delay as in QLD. But boy, jumping on something after 1 round. You guys need a life, honestly. There is life other than AFL. Go bully & taunt on your own threads. Didn't Vlad tell the world AFL was spreading its wings to the world? Can't even get past the Iron Chef in Sydney.

tv ratings are down as well remember.not just crowds. smiths dream of being number one maybe a bit far fetched.

Ok, so tonight in the Sharks played the Titans. Both teams work very dark shorts and jerseys with busy designs featuring light blue. You shouldnt have to concentrate to tell the teams apart. Who is in charge at the NRL that allows this to happen?! Im at a loss for words some days, lucky I can smile and keep my sanity, here, let me prove it >>>> :^)

maybe we should not hvae night games then, wont someone think of the children.

Well Dave, let's see A League, union & AFL play regularly on Monday nights or Thursday. Let's kick off games at 8pm on a school nite and let's see how this will affect crowds. People aren't asking a lot 7pm kick off, a few more day games. The only thing I'll say a league fan should keep quite about, is the cost. Be a member and it brings it down a lot and more clubs are getting reciprocal rights to away games.