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A-League fans across the country came good on their promise to boycott matches in Round 9, with the average crowd figures down by a monumental 32 per cent on the previous round.
The home teams from Round 9 (Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Wellington Phoenix, Adelaide United and the Central Coast Mariners) all recorded drops in crowd figures, which ended up being a season-low across the league.
Just 40,406 fans clicked through the turnstiles across the five games. This figure was even below that of Round 5, when only four matches were played.
The Mariners were the worst off out of all the teams that hosted games, with just 4,500 fans turning up to their match with Melbourne City. Incredibly, this is the second lowest attendance in the club’s decade-long history.
Elsewhere, the Red and Black Bloc failed to show for the Wanderers clash with the Brisbane Roar, leaving the North Terrace of Pirtek Stadium in Parramatta virtually empty. Allianz Stadium also suffered for Sydney FC’s victory over Newcastle, with under 10,000 fans in attendance and The Cove nowhere to be seen.
High-ranking figures around the league have begun to speak about the impact of not having big crowds at games, with Sydney FC CEO Tony Pignata saying players were put off by the lack of support. “We really missed them and speaking to some of the players they felt that as well,” Pignata told AAP.
Wanderers boss Tony Popovic also had his say: “They [the fans] have their grievance [but] we want them back as soon as possible. I’d love to see them behind the goals, filled to capacity, against the Victory next week.”
The massive drop in crowd figures comes hot on the heels of mass walkouts across the country during Round 8 in response to a published ‘name and shame’ list of 198 banned supporters.
While those walkouts didn’t necessarily affect crowd figures, they certainly left a bad taste in the mouth of all involved, and it wasn’t a good look for the A-League or football in Australia.
Central Coast Mariners vs Melbourne City
Crowd: 4514
Previous home game (versus Western Sydney Wanderers round 8 ): 10,519
Lowest ever home crowd (Regular season): 4,508, Feb 7, 2015 v Adelaide United
Highest ever home crowd (Regular season): 17,514 Dec 22, 2007 v Sydney FC
Sydney FC vs Newcastle Jets
Crowd: 9,155
Previous home game (versus Wellington Phoenix round 8 ): 9,253
Lowest ever home crowd: 4,012, Dec 1 2010 v Wellington Phoenix
Highest ever home crowd: 41,213 October 18, 2014 v Western Sydney Wanderers
Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory
Crowd: 10,852 (QBE Stadium in Auckland)
Previous home game (versus Adelaide United round 6 ): 13,654
Lowest ever home crowd: 4,025, Feb 27, 2013 v Newcastle Jets
Highest ever home crowd: 18,345, Nov 30 2007 v Adelaide United
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Brisbane Roar
Crowd: 9,680
Previous home game (versus Wellington Phoenix Round 7 ): 14,426
Lowest ever home crowd: 6,755 Dec 9 2012 v Brisbane Roar
Highest ever home crowd: 19,484, Feb 28 2015 v Sydney FC
Adelaide United vs Perth Glory
Crowd: 6,205
Previous home game (versus Adelaide United Round 7): 10,048
Lowest ever home crowd: 5,898, March 1, 2012 v Perth Glory
Highest ever home crowd: 16,504 October 18, 2013 v Melbourne Victory
With AAP
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