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NRL crowd atmosphere not a patch on UK: Eels right to lock rival fans out of CommBank Stadium

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6th March, 2022
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Parramatta Eels fans love a bandwagon. After crushing Penrith in an ultra-meaningful trial game, they’re all in. Get the ribbons on the trophy now.

Of course, that’s in jest, but it wasn’t exactly ideal timing for that stereotype when the club announced they would become the first NRL club to lock opposing fans out of their games, declaring their Easter Monday clash with the Wests Tigers and the Battle of the West against Penrith Panthers would be member-only events.

The move, according to the Parra higher-ups, was to ensure their membership, which is now equal to the capacity of the stadium, would be able to fill CommBank Stadium.

The Eels’ 2022 membership has now topped 30,000, which is higher than the capacity of the ground in rugby league configuration, and demand is expected to be high.

It seems logical that a team sells tickets to its own fans first, but that was not how the move was interpreted out on the NRL Twitterverse, where it was seen as a decision to lock rival fans out – particularly Wests Tigers supporters – from one of their biggest fixtures.

The pair haven’t played to a crowd in the Easter Monday fixture since 2019, which was the opening NRL game at the new Western Sydney venue, which doubled down on the irritation of opposing supporters.

Step back for a second, however, and you can see where the Eels are coming from. With a membership now in advance of the capacity of their ground, it makes total sense for them to sell to their own first.

One of the key reasons that people buy memberships is to get priority access to the biggest fixtures, and indeed, this year Parramatta has sold a specific membership for fans just for the Easter Monday game, priced at $48.

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If nothing else, it’s a good way to pad the membership numbers. There’s nothing to stop Wests Tigers fans simply buying a $48 ticket and essentially getting a Parra membership for free.

The second purpose of the decision might well have been to drive buzz around memberships, and it has more than done that.

Club memberships tend not to mean that much, given that NRL games rarely sell out, but this one has likely driven a few swithering Eels fans over the line and created a raft of publicity.

Once you’ve got them on the membership deal, you get their contact details, you get to market directly to them and thus hopefully drive repeat sales.

By the time the game rolls around, CommBank might have something almost never seen in the NRL: a partisan atmosphere.

I’ve attended plenty of matches in this country, and many multiples more in the UK, and it continually astounds me there’s not a better atmosphere at NRL games.

A derby between Rochdale Hornets and Oldham in the English third grade in front of a thousand people tops has a better atmosphere than the average big-ticket NRL game.

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In fact, a Friday night game at Leichhardt Oval last year has been the only crowd experience that I’ve had that comes close to a Super League game.

Perhaps that’s because I’ve never been to a sold-out night at Parramatta – we’ll find out on Easter Monday, assuming, of course, the Eels fans answer the call from their club and show up.

I was at CommBank Stadium for a Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney FC derby last year, and the 23,000 crowd created a fair old din, so it certainly can be done.

There is one tip they can take from the Super League that would solve this whole problem, too: bring in an away end.

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