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Opinion

With crowd numbers trending down, can the APL turn it around?

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Roar Rookie
26th January, 2022
27

The APL and ViacomCBS have worked hard so far to help football in Australia.

Increased exposure through games and advertisements on free-to-air TV, and a larger and more impressive advertising campaign leading into the season had many fans excited to see what 2021-22 and the future held for the A-League Men competition.

Despite the increase in exposure that fans have been screaming for, however, it looks to have made little impact on dwindling crowds that seem to be shrinking week by week for the last few seasons. A lack of proper advertisement and exposure has always been touted as the biggest reason for this, with Fox Sports seemingly disregarding the A-League in their later years holding the rights.

But now with proper exposure and little to show for it, it may be time to think of other methods to get people through the turnstiles.

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For perspective, after some decent crowds in the first round of the season, the only team in the competition that has managed to reach the 10,000 mark for their home games since has been Melbourne Victory. Averages from Round 2 until the most recent weekend of football have dropped from 6533 to 4830.

Issues outside of the APL’s control have hindered attendances, with the current Omicron outbreak leaving many fans hesitant about attending matches, as well as in isolation and unable to attend should they want to.

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Not to mention Wellington relocating to Wollongong meaning no home support and uncertainty about fixtures being completed making fans hesitant about committing to away trips. Western United and Perth Glory are also not playing out of proper home grounds, while Adelaide United have part of their stadium sealed off for renovations.

Hindmarsh Stadium

(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

The constant postponement of games, however necessary, has been the biggest source of fan disengagement. With fans unsure of which fixtures are going ahead, which games are off and which matches have been created to ensure there is football being played, it’s not hard to imagine why this is occurring.

I know in my own personal life I have seen fellow football fans slowly become disengaged over the uncertainty of fixtures. This is the biggest issue the APL must address, where rescheduled games and games played through the heaviest period of postponement had little attention brought to them.

Although fans have been quick to point out the issue of crowd numbers in the league, this has been an issue with a number of other codes currently running also. As the issue of COVID doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, it may be up to the league to ride this current wave out as best as possible, but for the future of the competition, they could plant the seeds for stronger attendance numbers post-pandemic.

Social media engagement
Both the APL and ViacomCBS see the 12-17 age group as the biggest targets for engagement with the A-League. There has already been a revamp of the league’s social media presence, however, there could be more done to ensure even casual fans who may not be followers of the league’s social media are still aware of what’s on.

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Investing in sponsored posts on Facebook and Instagram is one way of doing this. Putting fixture details on the league’s TikTok is another example, as this is a platform allows users to come across videos solely based on what they already engage with, without the need to follow the account making said videos.

The primary users of the app are in that 12-17 age group, thus making this a useful opportunity in the current climate.

Kids deals
It’s typically is up to the clubs to create discounts and promotions for kids to get discounted or free entry to matches, however, the APL could incentivise this for clubs to make this an appealing option. Clubs may be hesitant at this present moment due to match day revenue already lost to the pandemic, but if the APL were to offer subsidies to clubs to help get more young people to games, the effects of this could be longstanding.

Getting young people to matches is the first half of the issue, but getting them to stay is going to be the key going forward.

Revamping/rejuvenating active support
The biggest downfall of the previous people in charge of the league was a failure to defend the fans when they needed it most.

Wanderers fans

(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The flow-on effect has been devastating for active support across the country and thus the league lost the biggest drawcard for fans. A bright and enthusiastic atmosphere was what separated our code from the rest and despite comments from the media saying it created an “unsafe” environment, it was what young people went to matches to see.

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The APL’s plan moving forward from this pandemic should touch on how to rejuvenate this part of the game to give the league their edge back over other codes.

Outside factors have clearly had their influence over people ability and willingness to go to football matches this season, so the numbers we see may not be all doom and gloom.

However, action does need to be taken now to ensure that once the fear of the pandemic passes, fans are not permanently turned off getting to games.

The APL and ViacomCBS have shown good signs so far in their mission to do this so far, and this certainly isn’t a criticism of their efforts, but hopefully, a little more can go a long way.

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