For the second week in a row, patrons attending The Championships at Randwick fell well short of expectations.
On a glorious day in Sydney, in near perfect weather conditions, just 25,000 attended Royal Randwick.
The ATC surely must be extremely disappointed with this number based on the amount of prizemoney on offer, the excellent facilities they now have and an advertising budget that must have run into the millions. It was still an enjoyable day, but you had to wonder what Randwick would have to do to attract 40,000 people.
Cut across to the Sydney Swans match at the SCG, again in pristine weather conditions, and 25,000 people also decided to turn up. In Round 2 only 32,000 people bothered to attend Homebush Stadium to see the Swans and Buddy play Collingwood.
Playing next door to the SCG on Easter Saturday, the Waratahs attracted around 15,000. Not bad, but not good given their performance hitherto.
Over at the NRL, a respectable 41,000 patrons attended Homebush on Good Friday to see the Doggies just beat the Bunnies and over 50,000 watched the Eels go down tot he Tigers on Monday. But these were the best two NRL crowds of the season so far.
Talking of Doggies and Bunnies, only 3500 managed to turn up to Wentworth Park on Easter Saturday night to watch the conclusion to the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg. Despite Wentworth Park’s location and the great evening weather, this was a pretty ordinary crowd compared to previous years (albeit again an enjoyable evening for this punter).
So why the poor crowds?
Adelaide and GWS managed to get 45,000 to the Adelaide Oval on Sunday and West Coast attracted 35,000 on Saturday night against Port Adelaide. Geelong and Hawthorn hit 88,000 at the MCG on the weekend, and Flemington never fails to attract a big crowd to the Melbourne Cup even in torrential rain.
Are Sydneysiders more inclined to ‘do’ than to ‘watch’? Do we prefer to watch our sport on TV than live because transport in Sydney so horrendous now that people do not dare go anywhere that involves motor transportation?
Is there too much sport in Sydney? Or is it simply a case that all forms of sports entertainment have been diluted by other forms of entertainment in the Emerald City?
Is it a combination of each of these? Do I ask too many questions?
Titus
Guest
Yeah, the Sydneysider does seem a bit strange for not wanting to go and watch the local Alice Springs Aussie Rules carnival, we're definitely a weird mob in Sydney....Lol.
Shouts Chen
Guest
And Sydney is the home of Sport in Australia - AFL, NRL, Rugby Union, Big Bash League, Domestic and International Cricket, Netball, Horse racing, Tennis Events and Golf.
Bondy
Guest
SharksFan That's a primary driver The Easter Show also every form of professional sport was being illustrated over the weekend from A League, NRL, Sup 15's ,AFL the point to the article is why dont they turn up for Racing at Randwick my point is what would the Spring Carnival in Melbourne look like crowd wise if all of those sports were on at the same time in Melbourne plus The Easter Show,it wouldn't hold the amount of attendance it currently receives ,all of the sports have not really been taken into consideration and the Show plus 3 Racing channels 2 subscription Ch7 or whatever it is dedicated themselves to The Championships,that's why people haven't turned out in the volume Strummer would've liked. Congestion or Saturation.
AR
Guest
Who's talking about "most cultured"? This is about getting out of the house to do stuff. And all the data (not mine, but the ABS) shows that people in Sydney, on a per capita basis, seem to stay at home more compared to people in other cities around Australia. All that traffic and stuff.
Bondy
Guest
Will that have been be the biggest crowd GWS plays in fornt of this year,if the dont play in the GF.I'm just curious.
Nicholas Hartman
Roar Guru
Things to do in Melbourne during the day: Hence the high crowds for sport
Nicholas Hartman
Roar Guru
The Poms don't care about AFL. What's the point at playing a sport if you can't beat the Poms at it?
Adam Smith
Guest
They need to lower the costs if they want more people attending. Why would I waste $50 a night (travel, tickets, food, drinks) when I can watch it free on TV or the Internet? I'm a huge sports fan but I simply can't afford it on my salary.
Adam Smith
Guest
Spot on there mate, it's the traffic and transport problems that is the main headache in my view. I live very close to both Olympic Park and Parramatta Stadium and yet it's still an ordeal getting there and back. If I can watch something on TV I will.
GaryGnu
Guest
Easter weekend feature races have an established history in Sydney, including arguably the best mile handicap race in the country (Doncaster) and the AJC Derby. Perhaps not as prestigious as Melbourne's spring but sufficiently attended none the less. The races and schedule may have been slightly altered over the years. The big difference this year appears to be the expectations of bigger crowds following an infusion of public money for capital works and heavy promotion. Those expectatios were not met.
Titus
Guest
Er, ok, so the people of NT and ACT are in fact the most cultured Australians, probably even more cultured than Parisians on a per capita basis.. Thanks AR.
Renegade
Guest
Yeah so this is the list of live sporting contests I attended last year: Australian T20 match at ANZ Thunder vs Sixers - BBL match 10 NRL regular season matches 1 state of origin match 1 bledisloe cup 1 NRL qualifying final 1 NRL elimination final 1 NRL semi final 1 NRL Grand Final Travelled to Europe for: RLWC semi finals at Wembley and RLWC Final at Old Trafford 1 Liverpool game at Anfield. So please go on and tell me that I don't appreciate live sport or make an effort.... unlike you of course who went to some community carnival. Sydney born and raised, by the way :)
Bogga
Guest
Being from a middle class school in a middle suburb (eastern), there was almost a complete mix of teams. Hawthorn, Essendon, Richmond, Carlton, Collingwood being the most supported with a few Geelong, ST Kilda and even less Kangas, Demons, Bulldogs and a sprinkling of others from interstate. These days, very few kids actually live in the heartland areas of AFL, most kids grow up in the outer suburbs and have no connection to the suburb of the team they support. Not many families can afford to live in Hawthorn, Richmond, Essendon or Carlton these days. Obviously even harder for Melbourne and North Melbourne. Nobody would want to raise kids in Collingwood or St Kilda. But kids tend to follow who their parents support and the parents who were raised in the inner suburban strongholds have moved to all outer areas of the city. I've always thought Sydney people seemed more tribal than Melbournians, which is why I've never figured out the low League crowds. Must just be a cultural thing, I've become convinced it's because Sydneysiders have more things to do outdoors throughout most of the season (beach is still worth going to, Autumn racing, lots of places to go for the holidays.) Easter in Melbourne is about the last weekend you might assume half decent weather, it gets pretty grim from there on in and there isn't much else to do than sport.
Alicesprings
Guest
Well that proves my point..u must be from sydney. Obviously not predisposed to appreciating live sport.
bilbo
Guest
The SFS was built on top of the old Sydney sports ground Jorji.
Tah-Man
Roar Pro
Are you serious? The SFS is awesome! It's in a brilliant entertainment and restaurant precinct, and is only a 20 min walk from Central station (not that you need to walk - they provide bus services to the station).
Jorji Costava
Guest
Why on earth did the build the Sydney rugby stadium right next to the SCG? Surely the intelligent thing to do would be to space them around the town and close to a major train stop?
Tah-Man
Roar Pro
If God came down from heaven and his primary concern was what sports we'd be allowed to keep... well, it would confirm where I imagine his priorities are at :P. Each to their own I guess. I just don't get it - the whole midgets on weighted horses thing followed by gamblers playing dress-up. It all just seems stupid. That said, my old man loves it. But he's from the country and used to ride horses, so I sorta get that. For your average city dweller though, it just seems more like a pretentious excuse to get trashed in fancy clothes while handing your cash to soulless bookies
mds1970
Roar Guru
On Saturday in Sydney, there was AFL at the SCG, Super Rugby at the SFS, NRL at Kogarah & Cronulla, A-League in Gosford & the races at Randwick. Plus the Easter Show. It's just not possible to go to everything. Crowded? Absolutely. But get used to it - we're spoiled for choice these days.
AR
Guest
I think the Championships are more like the Dubai World Cup or the WGC Tournament (golf) in South Africa. Both are the richest of their type in the world, offering a $10m purse each. Both, given the money, will attract some of the best athletes in the world and hundreds of industry folk. But they're not the people Sydney is trying to attract. As I said, whether it catches on, time will tell. And as with everything, money helps.