There is absolutely no argument that the opening round of the new National rugby league season has been enthralling, ferocious and entertaining.
We have already seen our first golden point thriller, a homecoming of sorts for Ben Barba and the Sydney Roosters go down to fierce rivals, the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
But there has been a point made abundantly clear in week one that continues to plague the competition and that is the sea of empty blue seats at ANZ Stadium.
Some will argue that the hard-nosed Sydney public would rather stay at home and watch their favourite team on television.
Some might say the season has started too early or ticket prices are still too high.
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But there is another factor that has to be weighed up and that is the scheduling both by the NRL and the clubs themselves.
In week one we have seen the Rabbitohs and Roosters at ANZ Stadium on Thursday, the Canterbury Bulldogs take on the Brisbane Broncos on Friday and the St George Illawarra Dragons face the Wests Tigers on Sunday.
We can whinge all we want about how awful it looks on TV but who should take the blame?
These things will continue to happen throughout 2014 and there is no stopping it.
The Rabbitohs, Tigers and Dragons have all made deals with the Homebush precinct to host games.
Geographically these clubs are a world away from ANZ Stadium, yet people wonder why mediocre crowds continue to turn up.
The Rabbitohs and the Roosters, two intercity clubs, drew just over 27,000 on Thursday night.
Canterbury hosted the Broncos, a club from another state, on Friday and attracted just 18,000.
On Sunday old rivals in the Tigers and the Dragons looked like they were playing in front of friends and family only.
Keep in mind though that the Tigers, who are criminally based at Concord, have a large portion of their fans out in the Macarthur region.
To top it all off, the Dragons are from Wollongong on the south coast.
It’s smug, arrogant and absurd from clubs and the NRL to think that just because it is Round 1 and just because they projected a certain number of supporters through the gates that the fans will just show up.
Sure, the NRL negotiated a billion-dollar television deal.
But that was a television deal.
Rugby league fans will show up in their droves for the State of Origin, a grand final and, on most occasions, when their side is playing well and going up against another heavyweight.
This writer had started to believe that moving more games to bigger stadiums was a good idea and that fans deserved the best experience possible and top quality facilities.
But there has to be some common ground found.
It is becoming clearer every day that we are most definitely a TV product and that will continue to be the case until clubs and the NRL start giving fans that match day experience that has been missing for almost a decade.
Rugby league had a one-week window to showcase its product before the AFL season began and the Super Rugby season really kicked into gear.
Instead of packing out smaller venues and ramming these great games down people’s throats, we are again the laughing stock of the football codes.
It looks like we’re playing in front of empty stadiums when we’re really not.
Perception is reality.
That billion-dollar TV deal has pushed the NRL’s head further into the clouds.
Was there not better options for our Round 1 schedule?
The North Queensland Cowboys and the Broncos could have squared off in a Queensland derby at Townsville, Wests could have packed out Leichardt Oval.
The Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels could have played at Sportingbet Stadium and why wasn’t the Melbourne Storm versus Manly Sea Eagles game played at AAMI Park instead of Brookvale Oval?
This is Round 1 after all.
The competition’s opening weekend!
An argument for another day is why Souths and the Roosters are given opening night each and every year.
The blockbusters will come when the teams begin to sort themselves out over the season.
But do we not have a vested interest in showcasing every aspect of our great game in the first week of the season?
One day executives will realise that to grow crowd numbers you need to start from the beginning, and part of a great TV product is the picture behind the pictures.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Very old post that I have just revisited but Cathars arguments are so paper thin I must respond.Firstly did I mention Rugby Union no...so why did you we were talking about AFL and Rugby League. The great strides the game has taken in the last two decades...you are kidding.At the international level Rugby League has gone backwards big time over the last half century. Fifty years ago you had three nations all capable of beating each other on any given day plus New Zealad who tooka seriies off Australia in Australia in the early fifties. League is played in fifty countries or whaetever you are the one who is being disengenous you know this is a wank.. in a globalised world with cheap airfares etc there are tiny bits of all sorts of sports played in numerous countries.I am sure there are plenty of countries with little bits of Gaelic Football indeed there is a club right here in Brisbane. Indeed during the World Cup debate I noted the USA has many more Gaelic Football clubs than Rugby League clubs.I am sure there are small pockets of Australian Football played in many countries as well so what?Rugby League is a popular mainstream spectator sport in two and a half countries (semi mainstream in New Zealand) with some minor provincial interest in England. AFL is mainstream in one country the core of your argument is that makes Rugby League a superior sport and I simply pointed out that if we extend your logic then obviously both games are a waste of space and we should all be watching soccer something you didn't try and refute just went off on a tangent about a sport I never mentioned an a sport the supporters of which use exactly the same argument against Rugby League
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Agreed but union supporters like to deny the existence of RL 'communities' in a few more countries than they concede no matter how large or small. Some of these communities have also done enough to warrant govt recognition. It's just the plain arrogance, ignorance and denials I can't stand. I've never mentioned world domination of RL and hence your summation is correct.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Honestly, anyone who isn't association football or maybe basketball is really having a lend when they talk about how global their game is. And all appeals to global authority are really rather meaningless.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Well Glen Innes, one of rugby union's biggest club comps, the Aviva (it's limping around just as much as SL with 5,000 crowds in Sale & Newcastle these days, London clubs actually not playing in London, and one club so confident of its future it build a stadium with a 10,000 capacity), has crowds similar to Super League and TV ratings of much less, so union isn't exactly swimming with a large number of pro comps world wide. To say rugby league is in the same boat as AFL in terms of international presence is a little disingenuous on your part. Organisations like the RLEF have done great things in developing the sport and the fact league is govt recognised in over 15 countries and played in many more, can host a world cup overseas, have paid TV markets for the NRL & Super League in a number of countries etc suggests league is way ahead of AFL. To lob them together shows great ignorance at the strides RL has made in the last 2 decades.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Didn't stop some union fans saying the Waratahs poor crowd was due to the rain which in fact had stopped before hand.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
So what if it's ANZ members? The AFL count MCG members, then what's wrong with counting ANZ totals to the crowd attendances? They are their right? In every thread about this topic you make the same accusations.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Lets be brutally honest there is only one other pro League in the world and that is a busted arse half broke fiasco with it's glory days half a century behind it limpimg around pockets of provincial Yorkshire and Lancashire with about four clubs who can regularly pull 10k plus. Rugby League is a great game but global popularity is not one of it's strong points... indeed when argueing it's merits it is a subject best left alone.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Cathar - If I ever get in trouble with the law I certainly prey you are not my barrister. If international penetration is a guide to a sports virtue then Rugby League is only marginally ahead of AFL... both are so insignifant on the global stage that following your logic both must be crap games followed by brainwashed clowns and we should all be watching soccer..
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Gee Barry, tell someone who cares. How's the 90,000 who attend AFL overseas? That's right, you didn't get in and manipulate the media and your society for 150 years. hence, zero interest in AFL abroad bar a few thousand who travel to NZ now once a year and expats.
Boomshanka
Guest
And the AFL NAB challenge drew in the big crowds this year didn't it? 5000 at Etihad, 2894 at Geelong. 3000 for a game in Sydney. Embarrassing eh?
barry lunn
Guest
NRL crowds are so small compared to AFL crowds im going to richmond v carlton next week that will be around 90, 000 at MCG and same goes for collingwood essendon hawthorn etc if the AFL got the same figures as NRL it would be just embarrassing
alicesprings
Guest
If i had a dollar for every time I've heard an excuse for poor crowds id be a very rich man!
JezRu
Roar Pro
This is a great point Axle. My wife is from VIC and had no idea about RL til we met. Slowly I try and educate her on who is who and theonly real way to recognise a team Iimmediately is by what jersey they wear. To date the only teams she can recognise purely via jersey are souths, easts and saints. It's been mentioned before but jerseys need to be simple, recognisable, have less adverts and remain the same. 1 home jersey, 1 away jersey (only used if a clash is going to occur) and force clubs to register their "colours" and jersy design which must remain the same for at least 5 years.
ctar
Guest
I know lots of people who go to cricket test matches who couldn't give two hoots about cricket. They go because it's the thing to do or because they want to be outside drinking piss all day. Just because you attend the game doesn't mean you are a passionate fan of it.
marco
Guest
Is it also in the culture of WA,SA and Tasmanians to pack out AFL games? Its not just Victoria, AFL supporters just love going to the footy. The NRL needs a shake up.
Australian Rules
Guest
Cathar, you're now citing Big Footy as an authority..?!! Woah, not even I do that. The "article" you provided wasn't an article at all. It was titled "are the suns and giants fudging crowd figures?" and was a forum asking questions back n forth from people's observations at footy games. The Titans were actually caught fudging. They were handing out free tickets and counting all the tickets they had given out, rather than the people who actually attended. Big difference.
Australian Rules
Guest
See Mal, that's where the NRL fans have got it so wrong for so long. Offering to contribute tens of millions into stadiums isn't "conning" the government, its actually the opposite. Most NRL fans just want a 100% govt handout for all stadiums (despite not actually using them to attend games). . Heres how it works - The AFL goes to govt with a proposal, offers to chip in considerable capital, contracts X number of games in order to return the investment, finds other stakeholders to contribute, gets finance and planning approval in return. No conspiracy, just everyday common sense.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Yet AR you won't accept the Suns & GWS (in fact many AFL clubs) fudge crowds. Even AFL fans accept/question their crowds: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/are-the-suns-and-giants-fudging-crowd-figures.957119/ I remember when I went to see Melbourne demons v Adelaide at the G and their must have been 5,000 there yet they announced 19,000. Even Dee supporters laughed at that one. And I didn't know until I read the above on Bigfooty, but I wondered why a Demons supporter scanned his MCG pass & his membership. Now I know after just googling this interesting topic on Big Footy. Added, AFL posters on here say it's impossible to fudge attendances at AFL games due to certain stadium authorities controlling the gates yet the same NRL clubs you accuse also play in stadiums owned by state authorities. Also what stops an AFL clubs posting figures different from stadium announcements? There are many instances where AFL attendances aren't announced until hours after a game and sometimes a day or so later.
Sir Jamie Lyon
Guest
Nobody wants to go see there team cheated by incompetent refs. Whilst paying top dollar for a bottle of water and some chips. Manly vs storm the first rort of the year. George rose knocks on and nothing. Billy slater can do what ever he likes it seems
Australian Rules
Guest
True Epiquin, but the Titans were caught out a few times fudging home crowd attendances. In that scenario, it wasn't scanned tickets going through the gates - the Club itself was providing the official numbers.