My childhood is littered with memories of attending Dragons games at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.
The ground was a fortress for the Nathan Brown-led team that included stars such as Mark Gasnier, Trent Barrett and Nathan Blacklock.
I remember sitting on the famous hill and hearing the crunching of waves from city beach in the background and watching as the seagulls would fly onto the field, then scatter whenever a kick came near their resting place. Dad would often take me behind the southern grandstand to watch my favourite players warm up and I still remember Mark Riddel jumping into the grandstand and applauding his own try.
Now tell me, can you get an experience like that at ANZ or Allianz? With the announcement of upgrades and a new stadium in Parramatta, it seems like grounds such as WIN will be lost to league. This article will provide solutions to bump crowd attendance at suburban grounds.
You only have to look to Round 1 to highlight the low crowd attendance at suburban grounds. In that round the two matches with the lowest attendances were Shark Park and Kogarah.
Solution one: Change match times at suburban grounds
If we analyse the plain data it creates a narrative that suburban grounds are less popular than the major Sydney stadiums. Yet let us dig a little deeper and look at the timing of these matches.
In Round 1, the Sharks home game was at 6:30pm on a Sunday, the Dragons game at 7pm on a Monday night.
Cronulla, a family area, has a game on a night before school. The game may not finish until 8:30 and while it may be OK for any families living in the immediate area for any fans travelling they may not return home until 9:30 or 10pm.
The next morning they then have to get the tired kids up for school and get ready for work. The same applies to the Dragons game that was on a Monday night.
Geographical location and demographic make-up should also be considered in crowd attendance. Let’s use the Sharks as case study. Of their 12 home games of the year, five were played on either Friday, Sunday or Monday nights.
For a community in which a large majority commute to the city, getting to a 7:30 or 7 game on a Friday or Monday is virtually impossible. While Friday night games are successful in Brisbane, their application to suburban grounds should be re-hashed.
I am not saying that suburban grounds should not receive any weeknight games (this is inevitable) but the draw should be moderated to limit the possibility of poor crowd attendances. With the axing of Monday night games suburban ground average attendances will rise.
Solution 2: Change who teams play at Suburban grounds
Now let us dig a little deeper at the opponents and supporter bases of the teams that go to suburban grounds.
Wests Tigers played eight games at Leichardt and Campbelltown this year.
Opposition included the Warriors, Knights, Panthers, Titans, Cowboys, Storm, Raiders and Dragons. Do you see the pattern emerging here? Six out of the eight teams are from outside of Sydney, with five being interstate, making it impossible for supporters of the teams to travel to the game.
In the two games that had potential for large crowds one was played on a Monday night (Dragons), leaving one game on a Sunday afternoon against Penrith with the potential for a big crowd.
So what happened on that Sunday afternoon at Leichardt? The Tigers got 14,200 to the game, their biggest crowd of the year at either of the two venues. That almost matches the season average of 14,900 which is influenced by high crowds in Brisbane.
So the answer is simple NRL, improve the scheduling of games and watch the crowds at Suburban grounds increase. They need to think smarter, playing a Tigers versus Panthers game at Campbelltown in front of a packed house instead of a quarter full stadium.
The atmosphere is better for everybody, the players, the fans and the viewers at home. I am not saying that all fixtures at ANZ should feature interstate teams but balance and equity needs to be achieved if the NRL are going to be serious about saving the suburban grounds.
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