You’re on the couch on a Sunday afternoon thinking about how quickly the weekend has gone and how long the week is going to drag on, and as we know the best cure for this is Sunday afternoon footy.
You’ve got one of the games of year unfolding in front of you, it’s the last quarter and as a team kicks one of the most important goals of the game, the camera pans to the crowd and suddenly the intensity drops when about 50 people are celebrating in a camera shot of thousands of seats.
We all know attendances are down and we can blame of up to a series of reasons, but today I’m going to pick on the fact of a lost in sense of tribalism in the game. Having a sense of pride in your area represented by your club essentially.
How good is country footy? We all know it. One of the best feelings is being able to travel to your team’s rival town and to be able to knock them off and win in enemy territory, or being able to host your most hated team in your own town and to beat them convincingly on YOUR turf and send them home with their tail between their legs.
Back to AFL, on Saturday night you had St. Kilda host Richmond in front of 28k people, and Sunday we have the Bulldogs take on the Deamons which probably won’t be anywhere close to a sellout. Last Sunday we had St. Kilda play West Coast in front of 17k, all these clashes being played at a 55k Etihad Stadium. Later that Sunday Melbourne hosted North Melbourne with 26k attending in a 95k capacity stadium.
An idea, clubs should aim to all have their own smaller stadium of some sort. I’m sure these 25 odd thousand people would look better all packed in to a 30k-35k stadium and then we can have teams actually play a home game in their area rather than two Melbourne teams playing on Neutral ground. Big games such as your Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon Games will be the games that either Etihad or the MCG will host reserving either one or two games a round at these venues.
By doing this, it could entice people that are only every-now-and-then supporters to come down to support their local team as they would feel more connected to their club as a result of being more based in the area.
At the end of a day, a sold-out 35k stadium would have more of an atmosphere than a half empty MCG.
A few problems; Money, I’m pretty confident that say St. Kilda who are struggling the pull 20k to a home game although against an out-of-state team, are not going to have millions of dollars they are willing to invest in a new stadium just so they can get an extra 20per cent of people to a game, or to even feel more connected to the people, they’re a business after all. I can tell you also the Victorian government won’t be forking out hundreds of millions for five or six more stadiums with two state of the art stadiums in Eithad or at the MCG.
Second problem, time. After this project would be completed in the mid 2020’s the AFL would have already probably solved the attendance problem and new love for the game would be taking over the country all over again.
In the end, just a thought
dave
Guest
Fremantle is a footy mad town with a stadium right in the heart of it,Unfortunately It cant be upgraded due to heritage buildings etc. If one day i could stroll through town for a beer or coffe then stroll down to watch the dockers play in the heart of town it would be amazing. It will never have the capacity for AFL but I will say the "house of pain" would look like a lolly shop compared to teams having to play Freo In Freo.
vocans
Guest
Aami Stadium in Adelaide did not cut it in so many ways. Adelaide Oval does. Showdowns now include territory rights over the jewel in the crown - the 'Fortress' - in a way Aami couldn't. AO is in the heart of the city, it is an historic ground, and even those from down the Port feel that. It is the scene of many great Port victories - a history of Grand Finals, as we know, without parallel in the code. AO is much closer to the vast majority of Adelaide fans - it feels like a hearth, whereas West Lakes, with respect to all who love it, felt a bit anonymous, a bit lost in the sea of suburbia. So, the new AO with all its other add-ons, like the bridge, is a veritable focus for tribalism. This city is feeling tribally-renewed. It has also helped that Port have got back to their traditions as a team - who could not again respect their formidable presence? The Crows are getting back to their best and will remain threatening for years to come. Adelaide owns the Fortress as of Sunday, but it will be inspiring the territorial rivalry again in 2015, unless, of course, the final 8 should produce another Showdown in 2014!
AR
Guest
Todd, in a perfect world, every club would own its stadium outright, and enjoy 100% of the gate revenue. But in our world, that will never happen. If AFL clubs had hung on to their suburban homes, they would be now facing the same problems as many NRL clubs are - small crowds, crap facilities, immovable debt, no identity beyond their own post codes, reliant on pokies revenue from the leagues clubs (though there's a few AFL clubs which are being seduced by the latter). Rationalising stadia was a common sense move for the AFL, and turned out to be a major win for the League and for clubs. When the AFL takes control of Etihad in 2025, that will become a sharper reality.
Franko
Guest
Nice piece Todd :) Yes tribalism is just about gone from AFL, largely replaced by franchises but then again, we live in a globalised, franchised world. Most people would love to see the odd game at Western Oval, Punt Road or Princess Park but it simply isn't going to happen. Clubs could have a smaller staff, cut back on the overseas trips and divert their pokey revenues to investing in local infrastructure, but for most it simply doesn't add up, nor does the AFL want it. * "the Bulldogs take on the Deamons" - Subs please!