The Saints and the Blues took the trip across the ditch to Wellington, New Zealand to play the third game in New Zealand.
The previous two were the Saints against the Lions, and the Saints against the Swans.
Over these three years, the crowds have steadily dropped on each occasion.
2013 – St Kilda versus Sydney: attendance of 22,546
2014 – St Kilda versus Brisbane: attendance of 13,409
2015 – St Kilda versus Carlton: attendance of 12,125
So after a good crowd in 2013, there has been a dramatic drop since. An argument many put forward is that in the last two seasons, we have had three lowly sides sent to New Zealand. There are also those who argue that the sides sent have not been popular enough to pull a crowd.
I doubt it. You could play the best sides in the competition and it wouldn’t have much of an effect. New Zealand, right now, are just not into Australian football.
Are the latest attendance numbers really dismal?
Let’s compare the crowds to Hawthorn’s home games in Tasmania. Hawthorn, the best team in the competition over the last few years and considered possibly one of the best sides ever from 2008 until now.
2014
Hawthorn versus Brisbane: attendance of 12,430
Hawthorn versus West Coast: attendance of 15,504
Hawthorn versus Gold Coast: attendance of 13,178
Hawthorn versus Western Bulldogs: attendance of 14,187
Last year’s games averaged a crowd of 13,824 people. St Kilda’s matches in Wellington average 16,026 people. Can we really say that the crowds are bad in New Zealand because of the lack of successful teams playing? Was Sydney really the reason that the 2013 game had a much better crowd?
No. The ‘novelty-factor’ would have been a very real thing for the first match played over there. People going because they could say they went to the first game in New Zealand, people going to try and will their team over the line to WIN the first game in New Zealand.
The fact that the team that travels back their the next year is St Kilda, means that for every year the Saints (who unfortunately in a rebuilding stage right now) lose in New Zealand, that less Saints fans will take the trip again the following season.
This means crowds now look to stay around 12-13 thousand. There are still fans from the opposing side crossing for the same novelty factor of seeing their side win their first game across the waters.
So these games in Wellington are drawing crowds just as good or better on average then games in Tasmania, which is actually a part of Australia. Wellington is not.
Around 4000 Australians travelled to Wellington to watch the game, meaning around 8000 Australian expats and home grown New Zealanders attended the game. Is that really that bad?
Before we discard the New Zealand experiment we need to take into account its financial gains.
The economic impact for New Zealand was estimated 3 million and above. Wellington pay St Kilda $500,000 per year to host the game. Everyone gets a piece of the pie. That 500k that the Saints receive counts for 1/3 of their annual gate receipts, as mentioned in the Sunday Huddle on April 26th. That’s obviously a staggering amount, the financial game is the equivalent of eight games at Docklands or two games at the MCG.
It really is a good investment from a money point of view which will come in handy for a rebuilding club in the middle of a couple of unsuccessful seasons.
In comparison to other sports that are being played at Westpac stadium, suddenly the crowds that Australian Football attracts don’t look so bad. The last four games played at Westpac Stadium in the A-League, which involve Wellington Phoenix, average 8,692 people turning up to the game.
In Super Rugby this year, the (Wellington) Hurricanes first two games (that they won) at Westpac Stadium in Wellington managed crowds of 13,528 and 13,369. Despite this many still scoff at the crowds AFL games get in Wellington, when in reality in comparison to other sports played there, we are about the same or doing slightly better.
Actually growing the game in New Zealand will take a long time, no one is expecting it to happen overnight. But we are being active and making the right steps towards it, live game coverage of some AFL games each week in New Zealand would be a good start and is being discussed as we speak.
Players such as Joe Baker-Thomas, Giovanni Mountain-Silbery from the Saints and home grown New Zealanders recruited to other clubs are growing each season, so the AFL is doing some things right in getting hold of some New Zealand talent.
Hopefully we see more of this in years to come.
Wellington’s population is around 200,000, it’s not a huge place. Auckland for example has a population of 1.4 million. Perhaps an AFL-friendly stadium could be made in Auckland to get AFL games going in a larger city with more people and overall a greater attendance.
Whether or not the game will successfully become popular in New Zealand is yet to be seen, and it will be quite a few years yet before we start really seeing big changes, if we do. Right now it isn’t as doom and gloom as many are making it out to be.
See you at the ‘cake tin’ in 2016.
David
Guest
Melbourne city only has a population 122,000, but an informed person would say 4 Million.
David
Guest
Wellington's Regional Population in 500,000, many more that Hobart's 200,000.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
Wish they brought back the biff in AFL, mind you tonight Hawthorn did a good job of bringing it back in. Not sure they hand out flags but they certainly give leg ups to the likes of Collingwood and Hawthorn I have noticed. The league screwed the Swans. The ASADA thing upset a lot of true AFL fans. Personally I believe the Essendon club should have been folded up and the license handed to Tasmania. I cringe when I hear the name 'Hird'. It could be worse, the AFL could be called 'FIFA'.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
It's the old state parochialism still hanging in there. Well if people can watch cooking shows en mass there is still hope.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
It's more like a barnacle that clings to your boat.
conchie
Roar Rookie
about 6 ATM However, here is the current team where one or more parent or they were born is NZ. 2014 AFL New Zealand Heritage Team BP: Jasper Pittard Ben Rutten Greg Broughton HB: Kurt Heatherley Heath Grundy Jordan Russell C: Shane Savage Andrew Howison Nathan Van Berlo HF: Brent Renouf Beau Maister Aaron Edwards FF: Cameron Ilett Shem Tatupu Jay Van Berlo R: Khan Haretuku Dustin Martin Sam Mitchell I/C: Karmichael Hunt Joe Baker-Thomas Ben Miller Max Gawn
Jack
Roar Pro
Shane Savage (St Kilda) and Daniel Pearce (Bulldogs) are NZ-born. Shem-Kalvin Tatapu and Kurt Heatherley are Cat B rookies at Hawthorn. Saints have 3 more as international scholarship holders, Joe Baker-Thomas, Giovanni Mountain-Silbery and Barclay Miller. Those are the ones I know of.
lao hu
Guest
How many NZ born and raised players are currently on AFL roasters?
TW
Guest
It appears the Wellington City Council is having second thoughts about this fixture. They were the organisation who along with some encouragement from the Saints and the AFL agreed to stage the games. The local businessmen in that city had complained to the council that not enough "Events" were being held. Great point about the other codes fixtures at that venue not attracting really big crowds. It appears that the AFL fixtures have settled down to the norm in that city, which may prove to be the negative financially Even if the games are cancelled etc the game over there will still grow albeit slowly. It has established a small toehold in several schools on both Islands which is a big plus. This toehold has been achieved by a lot of very hard work by AFLNZ and their volunteers, and original funding by the Hawthorn Hawks A very clear pathway to the AFL Comp has been put down and will eventually produce more talent. I have another benchmark to gauge the effectiveness of the grassroots development over there. To my knowledege no NZ team has beaten a touring Australian team on NZ soil yet at any level. There have been some close results recently but no cigar for the Kiwis yet. A touring junior team from Victoria recently played a NZ U16 team in a fixture who actually led for most of the game but were overhauled in the last quarter by the Victorians. Speaking Internationally the AFL is just not sending any touring teams to PNG who IMHO are capable of playing at a higher level than the Kiwis. They are the current International Cup holders after beating Ireland in the Grand Final last year.
Penster
Guest
Carlton and St Kilda played in Wellington to give their fans a week of respite didn't they?
Jack
Roar Pro
IanK, it really depends on where you draw the border, I was simply going off Google.
conchie
Roar Rookie
I know a lot of people who live in QLD and like AF and the AFL. Many people don't consider it soft or fake A lot of people in the south don't dislike rugby of either persuasion, it is just not on the radar at all, the chip on the shoulder of RL fans in particular is obvious to see, it's a boulder.
conchie
Roar Rookie
I understand that Wellington make money out of it through tourism and extended stays and tourism, it is a win win. Where are your complaints about the Wellington region milking AFL fans. The benefit is quite apparent for both parties. Your are just another sook.
The truth
Guest
A lot of people I know up in QLD have a very strong dislike for AFL. Many people consider it soft and much like soccer. A lot of people don't like either Rugby code down south and that is fair enough but after the way the AFL gives certain teams P'Ships because it is good for business, people just see the game as fake. Also the way the AFL tipped off the bombers that ASADA was coming, this turned a lot of people off the game. AFL fans are just told what to think and they take it hook, line and sinker.
conchie
Roar Rookie
NZ is not part of Australia ?
Jeremy
Guest
Its just AFL milking money from a government authority prepared to willingly pay it for some apparent benefit to their area. Up to Wellington voters as to whether it is good value for Wellington. AFL will find another city or region to try soon enough.
Jack
Roar Pro
It wasn't the title I had originally entered when submitting this title, although it probably is similar to my main point that the crowds are not as big an issue that many see it as, and that playing this game over their, despite these 'low' crowds, still make St Kilda and Wellington good coin.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
We cannot even get tv ratings into six figures in the 1st and 3rd largest cities in OZ, but we are trying to go overseas. Mad. Concentrate on improving tv ratings in Sydney and Brisbane. If they can sell those cretinous cooking and home renovation shows they can surely a truely 'real' event. I'd be sacking the advertising company and promoters up in NSW and QLD. They have screwed it up.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
Fair points. There should be a league rule if your team is playing in town it is blacked out unless sold out and if they are playing interstate it should be on live free to air tv like it used to be. Otherwise, don't moan attendances are collapsing.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
It doesn't matter if peple in Wellington start to follow St Kilda or not. It also shows that the game exists locally. More important form the point of view of AFLNZ was that a naytional junior team played a warm-up match. A few thousand extra Kiwis are now aware that, if they want, they can get involved in the game locally. Obviously not many will do so. Most will walk away having experienced the game and deciding its not for them. But maybe a few will decide they want to know more; perhaps to play, umpire or take on other roles. That is far more important for growing the game off a practically zero base than whether somone follows a team in the big league or not. A few hundred more people invovled in Wellington would be of more benefit to the sport than a few thousand passively following a club via TV and turning up once a year. I don't think it will ever be so much as a novelty sport in NZ, but right now its not costing the game anything (thanks to the council's levy on local business to fund it). There is no harm in continuing, and maybe a very small benefit. Coming from such a low bsae, a small benefit each year may build into something noticeable (if still negligible in the overall sporting scheme of NZ or even just Welington).