Think it was 2002. It was definitely soccer fever used as the excuse.
Call it bullsh*t if you want, I sure as sh*t can't be bothered trying to find the statistics to prove it.
2002 Tigers v Melbourne on a saturday arvo at Leichhardt in front of 5k. Fitzy had just cracked into the top grade and was playing fullback.
BTW people need to stop trawling for excuses and acknowledge that the decline in crowds at Campbelltown is a real problem. The club needs to seriously look at new marketing strategies to reinvigorate support in the Macarthur region.
First thing to note is that the composition of the crowds at Leichhardt and Campbelltown are completely different because of the geographical separation between the grounds. In other words, we could never expect that the entire 17k at Leichhardt a few Sundays ago would also attend home games at Campbelltown. However, there's no reason why the club couldn't draw 15k from the local area, in addition to others supporters who make their way from out of area.
Secondly, if the club is serious about tapping the younger market, it seems counter-intuitive to schedule matches on a Saturday night. The young ones attend with their parents, and Sunday would be more appropriate to encourage a family-atmosphere. In regards to the older teens, I assume that going to house parties or trekking into the city would take preference to a night at the footy. Of course, the luxury of Leichhardt is its proximity to the city, which makes it feasible to go to the footy and have a big one afterwards.
Thirdly, the club needs to schedule a Manly (or Parra/Dogs) home game for Campbelltown. The fact that we could equally draw a crowd of 20k at Leichhardt is irrelevant- Leichhardt crowds aren't the ones that are waning.
Over the last 3 years the approach has been to give Leichhardt two traditional rivals & an interstate side. On the other hand, Campbelltown is allocated a token Sydney side (Sharks) and two regional teams. The club must consider allocating a traditional rival for Campbelltown (once Stad de Aus has its f**king allotment of games) and marketing the hell out of the game in the lead up. As an example, the Silvertails v Fibros rivalry was one of the most enduring memories of late-70s footy, yet the Tigers have continually failed to embrace this history (or exploit it for profits!) by not scheduling a Manly v WT game at Campbelltown... doesn't make too much sense?
It will be interesting to see how the club divides home games for next year with the possible addition of further home grounds- Gosford/ SCG. As a rule of thumb, the concrete sh*thole lis allocated most Sydney side in the top 8 + any other side that will be likely to draw a crowd IRRESPECTIVE of the expediency of playing that team at one of the traditional home venues (Manly and Penrith in past yrs). Once Stad de Aus has scrapped off the cream it is left for the traditional venues to fight for the dregs.
