Despite the fact that very few people made their way to all bar one of the venues hosting Match Week 19 A-League Men fixtures, the results of the weekend just passed have set up a compelling finish to the season, with 11 teams still in the hunt for finals action.
Just over 18,000 fans made the trek to AAMI Park for the 1-1 draw between Victory and City, yet elsewhere, attendance figures were frightfully horrific.
Even after a 2-1 win on the road against the Reds at Coopers Stadium last Wednesday, Western Sydney Wanderers pulled just 5077 at CommBank Stadium for the rematch on Sunday.
A paltry 3269 turned up to Netstrata Jubilee for what was a potential finals preview between Sydney FC and Western United, whilst crowds at HBF Park and McDonald Jones Stadium were also under 5000.
With new rugby league, union and AFL seasons fully underway and fans back in stadiums across most of the country, the delusional views of those preferential towards a shift in seasons for Australia’s domestic football competitions should be torpedoed by the current and alarming attendance figures.
At this time of year, A-League football is swamped and thus lost to many who may turn up to matches in summer but not when their preferred code returns to competition.
(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
In spite of the disappointing crowd metric, there were goals aplenty, a few surprising results and the post-script to the weekend features plenty of chatter around a now congested A-League ladder.
Brisbane Roar’s 4-1 trouncing of the Glory in Perth has pulled them to within two wins of the top six; with games in hand on numerous teams ahead of them. What may have seemed near impossible for the men in orange a month ago, now looks doable. Challenging, but doable.
Similarly, Newcastle’s 4-0 thrashing of a Phoenix team missing a few key parts has kept them clinging to the fringes of the six. After three wins in February, the ‘rocks or diamonds’ Jets keep banging in goals and letting far too many in at the other end. Should they manage to tip that scale in their favour ever so slightly over the final third of the season, Newcastle will likely make the finals.
Just ahead of the Jets and on 19 points are the Western Sydney Wanderers, slowing creeping into contention after two wins and a draw thus far in March, with the team looking better under Mark Rudan yet still far from the finished article.
The ‘little engine that could’ Central Coast Mariners are rediscovering early season form and also enjoyed a thumping win in their most recent fixture. The 4-2 triumph over a stumbling Macarthur FC on Saturday night was compelling, with Nick Montgomery’s men appearing to have overcome the hectic scheduling of the mid-season period, as well as COVID problems and they currently stand unbeaten in March.
The Mariners’ clash with the Reds in Gosford this Saturday could well tighten things up even further on the ladder and the neutrals will be hoping for exactly that.
After two consecutive losses, Wellington’s grip on a finals position has loosened and Sydney FC may have played the odd match or two more than most, yet have now positioned themselves well for the run home.
March began poorly for Steve Corica’s team, but two recent sets of three points and a thumping 3-0 win over the impressive Western United now has the Sky Blues moving into contention and up against the Jets in Newcastle this Friday.
There appears no certainty as to how the final standings will look in late April after the final flurry of matches. Even Melbourne City’s claims on a top-two spot could be false considering their inability to put teams away when leading and current second placed Western United have won just once in March and now face tough tests against the Victory and Brisbane away from home and across just four days to end the month.
Frankly, it looks like something of a crapshoot and more is the pity that people are staying away in ever-increasing numbers. The football being played is dramatic and as is reflected in the current ladder situation, as highly competitive as we have seen for some time.
However, and as usual, it is a real shame that the league has not been able to convince enough people of those realities and draw them through the gates to actually watch the product on show.
Football is not the only code battling with attendances, yet some of the numbers from the weekend just passed were as scary as they have ever been.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
You are right FF. AUFC was set up in the first place to cater for all football fans in SA. They were the 'Peoples Team', and every aspect of the game was in some way involved. I know there will be some who don't like that concept, mainly because they are still emotionally tied to their local community club, and that's OK. But no one in their right mind, would or should want to see the AUFC base watered down.
AJ73
Roar Rookie
If you are saying that they count pets, then you need to admit that clubs like Sydney FC count kids in their training programs who never attend games. That is the only reason one of my kids has a Sydney FC membership. So if you are saying you can't trust AFL figures, then you can't trust Football Australia's figures. And it is no point continuing because you are reluctant to accept that they are counted. They do count the kids, the shorter time-frame memberships but not pets. Soccer in this country needs to accept it is not No. 1 and work towards producing players who move to Europe to continue their education in the game (i.e. the "Golden" generation) and be a nursery producing that talent. It also needs people to follow the A-League clubs like the support Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea, Roma, Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc. Even the kids I'm involved with through soccer don't really have an A-League team, they regular talk about the EPL, and the international players. They are not talking about Sydney FC or WSW (I live in Sydney), most wouldn't have a clue about the A-League and when the next game is on, but they can tell me who Liverpool is playing and when.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
You might want to add, who this new team will target as there fans? Will they actually bring new fans or will they just try and cannibalise the existing AUFC fanbase? Unless they represent some sort of geographic area than AUFC is somehow not representing then they have no hope of lasting. You only have to look at Melbourne City in a city of 5 million can't even muster a decent crowd after all those years and all that money backing them.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
No of course they don't, they just want me to register my cat as a member for no reason at all. Port claim they have 50,000 members who never turn up to games because half are busy chasing mice.
AJ73
Roar Rookie
AFL doesn't count pet memberships, children yes. Sydney FC count most kids who sign up to camps or training programs so what is the difference?
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Port Adelaide count babies and pets in their memberships. https://am.ticketmaster.com/portadelaide/Club-support
AJ73
Roar Rookie
Hearsay
AJ73
Roar Rookie
Still just heresy. It's just someone saying everyone who is part of a club's training program is a member. Sydney FC do exactly that, but will you believe me?
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
some sports also charge too much, aussie athletics champs will charge $17 per adult each day, but very few will go. Is that smart? Less popular sports should reduce prices if they want to attract fans. Football in Australia may also be trying to be too big.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
I always thought if the A-League could get a 10,000 average it would be doing incredibly well. That was before covid affected all sports. This season 5400. There is simply so much sporting choice for the Aussie sports fan, live or through tv.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
They appear to want mum and dad and their young children, maybe taking along nana and grandad sometimes and they all wear paper hats and cheer and smile and have their photos taken with club mascots -and they all live happily ever after. However, the little kids grow into teenagers and 20 somethings and if they are nailed on fans, you have to cater for them and that is where the current set up seems to fail badly.
GARRY
Guest
Sydney did NOT give up on Tilio, they were extremely put out after he switched to City. At the time he stated he would get more game play at City. Based on the City squad that reason was nonsensical to me but thru various reasons he got a lot of game time early..if you compare Sydney at the same time its highly likely he wouldve got MORE game time at Sydney
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Totally concur, and again, the security and management are of the Gen X bracket. Engagment, forums, discussions and listening are the key. I know this has been attempted in the past, and certain entities have thumb their nose at it. Like any genuine business you have to cater to your customer base. The question I have to ask is how well do club owners and management understand the teen/20's bracket and how much are they engaging to increase their understanding
Buddy
Roar Rookie
That's my hope too but the way that young fans (teenagers and into 20's in active support) are treated at games in Sydney, it id having the effect of driving them away and they are the future surely?
jupiter53
Roar Pro
Yes indeed, madness to have got rid of Tilio. Buhagiar’s speed over the ground does not make up for his clumsiness with the ball. To be fair, he is not terrible with the ball, but to me Tilio’s ball skills more than outweigh any deficiency in running speed. The perfect combination of course is ball skill and speed - like Cortnee Vine!
josh
Guest
Certainly, if you buy a membership of the GWS Netball team that makes you included in their AFL membership numbers. If you attended an AFL Auskick clinic in Western Sydney previously, you got a free membership. If you were an ex-member of GWS and you didn't renew, there was a time you would get a phone call offering a free membership. All done to fudge the numbers and make this incredibly unpopular expansion into Western Sydney look better than it really is.
At work
Roar Rookie
I think this is an issue with CommBank Stadium. Because it uses theatre lighting which darkens the stands and focuses the lighting on the field (which I like), but then has very bright advertising all around the ground, it's quite a distraction and probably annoying at the ground.
At work
Roar Rookie
Yeah the postponements were a joke, and the league are paying for it now with all the ridiculous scheduling of these matches that people are unaware are on half the time and other couldn't be bothered to go due to the short nature of changing scheduling. Seriously we have squads of 23 players (I think) plus NPL and youth teams, every single team had plenty of players available to field a team on the day.
At work
Roar Rookie
Problem is that sometimes players with speed are given a little too many opportunities and never actually turn into a decent player, and certainly lack technical ability, finishing or both. I know they play in slightly different positions, but SydFC kept Trent Buhagiar and let go of Marco Tilio (for example) which is showing to be quite the head scratcher...
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i'm going to need to be careful what i write here, well what i write in general about adelaide - because believe it or not, certain people read things online all i will say about supporter group's is, how many are actually led/run by a female? i cant name a single one in europe or south america it is incredibly difficult being a female in a supporters group, for several decades its been 95% men and i dont see that changing anytime soon change can be good sometimes, but alot of the time it is wrong - im still not sure the whole "inclusitivity issue" the APL have forced on fans for both womens and mens games is the step to have taken. the same as commentary, im not of the older generation of fans but i am not a big fan of women commentating on a mens match and men commenting on a womens match. as for the chants being changed, some of these chants have been around since the inception of the a league - each club has certain chants that are synonomous with the club now they cant be sung because certain words arent acceptable to use in todays society. as for cavallo, i agree with a lot of the supporter base that his form has been comprimised due to all the hoopla about his sexuallity. he is such a quiet assuming guy off as well as on the pitch, to then go and be thrust front and centre to the world with over a dozen media interviews as well as the amount of sponsorship deals and ambassador to product lines will dent anyones confidence.