Diminishing home crowds are detrimental to the game - and its players

We have all heard the story. The VAR is in shambles, the governance issues and the lack of appropriate free-to-air coverage (relative to Network 10’s efforts with the BBL) contribute to a slow decline in viewership and attendance figures.

What we have seen as a result of attendance figures dropping 12 per cent from this time last year is a halt in progression of the game.

Internal politics aside the fact is that South Australian sport minister Leon Bignell has gone on record to say “There’s no demand,” and “We’d love to see bigger crowds,” when Adelaide United approached them for improvements to Hindmarsh stadium.

Now while diminishing crowds certainly impact football’s bottom line in the future should the same ‘no demand’ argument be taken to big name sponsors I raise another issue that is seldom addressed – a lack of crowds psychologically impacts on the quality of the sport.

With all high-energy sports athletes and managers seek arousal; defined as the physiological and psychological state of being awoken or simulating sense organs towards a heightened sense.

In a grossly simplified process arousal can be achieved through the activation of the sympathetic nervous system of the human body. This results in the fight/flight or freeze response – determining whether the individual runs, fights or freezes up in response to a threatening stimulus.

During this response the body undergoes physiological arousal. The heart rate increases pumping more blood to muscles, the mouth becomes dry, the pupils dilate to allow more light to enter and many more senses are stimulated.

It would appear this heightened sense is perfect in a sport setting; however much like all the Christmas cookies this season too much of a good thing is detrimental to health. Too much arousal leads the body to be overworked and consequently run itself into the ground.

This information culminates into the widely accepted ‘inverted U hypothesis’ when describing performance. Performance increases when there is an optimum level of arousal and decreases when there isn’t enough or there is too much. Currently, there is not enough arousal at the game due to a lack of attendance.

So how can managers in the A-League achieve this optimum state? This is where the crowds come in.

According to a study by Daniel T Bishop, referencing the ability to dissociate perceived feelings of pain and stress on the athletes through the use music it is possible to infer that by having loud music (or an atmosphere) the perception of effort is decreased for the athlete.

Therefore, the athlete is able to focus harder on the task at hand while ignoring pain, tension or even anger. Admittedly such distraction may only occur for the home side as opposing fans may seek to get a rise out of the opposition causing the athlete to focus on these negative emotions.

Chants from the crowds accomplish this, encouraging shouts increase performance whereas demotivating cries create the inverse. A key example of a home-crowd advantage.

The problem is there simply isn’t enough of a voice at the games and quality is slowly diminishing as a result.

In addition, the use of crowds can create some form of Arousal Regulation. In the same study it was suggested that music can alter the emotional and physiological state of athletes prior or during a match.

Slower music can be used to destress athletes before the game whereas more energetic tunes can cause an increase in arousal – ultimately finding that perfect balance.

Why is it that Melbourne Victory must play Stand by Me before every home game? Is it traditional? Possibly, but it is psychologically rooted to calm players down who may have pregame jitters.

Further, the concept of synchronisation can be exploited through crowds. Large enough and fast enough chants can create faster movements in players. Professor Peter Terry of the University of Queensland proposes that “If you synchronise whatever activity you’re engaging in to the tempo of music there’s a very clear energetic effect,”.

Again using a Melbourne Victory example the ‘Leroy George’ chants are an example of this, constant high temp chants results in a much faster game – most of the time. Without these chants the game does become much slower and as we have seen ultimately halts progress.

Football fans are commonly referred to as the ‘12th man’ on the field this shows us that the comparison is apt and without our input on the pitch than the quality will decrease.

Do I know the solution to the problem? No, no-one does it is a complex issue and if someone had the solution then none of us would be writing about it. Simply put we need more attendance only then can the A-League grow both financially and mentally.