2006 // Crowd Watch

[Misanthrope]

Bulldogs draw only 14,000-15,000 for a home final. If we needed any further proof that the game needs to be shifted away from Sydney and to centres such as the Central Coast or Perth, that's it right there. Weather played a part, I'm sure, but it's still a woeful crowd for a final. Being out-drawn by Melbourne is pretty weak.

 

[Perth Red]

It is interesting that the seasons decent crowds are predominantly down to non Sydney teams. Apart from the Bulldogs and occasional Tigers games the other Sydney teams are really struggling. I guess whilst we see crowds of 15-20,000 as "great" this will be the case. Not sure of the answer but maybe with the amount of teams in Sydney and the general apathy fo Sydney fans to go to games it won't change.

Will be really interesting to see what happens in Melbourne when the new stadium happens. They could well get 20,000+ regularly if the marketing and NRL support with SOO continues.

 

[Timmah]

Bulldogs draw only 14,000-15,000 for a home final. If we needed any further proof that the game needs to be shifted away from Sydney and to centres such as the Central Coast or Perth, that's it right there. Weather played a part, I'm sure, but it's still a woeful crowd for a final. Being out-drawn by Melbourne is pretty weak.

The weather didn't just play a part, it kept 10's of thousands of people away. On a fine night that final would have 100% drawn 30k plus. I'm not sure you understand just how bad the weather was. Yes, the crowd was disappointing, but using that particular argument, especially comparing a good-weather Storm crowd to an absolutely abhorrent weather-Bulldogs crowd, to advance an expansion argument, is stupid. The Bulldogs and Tigers were the two highest averaging teams this year.

 

[ledzep]

The weather didn't just play a part, it kept 10's of thousands of people away. On a fine night that final would have 100% drawn 30k plus. I'm not sure you understand just how bad the weather was. Yes, the crowd was disappointing, but using that particular argument, especially comparing a good-weather Storm crowd to an absolutely abhorrent weather-Bulldogs crowd, to advance an expansion argument, is stupid. The Bulldogs and Tigers were the two highest averaging teams this year.

exactly
there's rain, and then there's the torrential downfall that sydney has received over the weekend
not to mention the very strong winds

 

[Dr Crane]

There was weather similar to that in Auckland recently.

The unnamed team was pilliored by some people.

Shoe/Other foot.

 

[yakstorm]

I know ;-) . Sorry if that sounded accusatory, but I was talking about the Storm, not you.

Haha thats alright mate, I was going to say my powers don't extend that far

That still shouldn't affect how the crowd looks on TV imo. OH&S regulations aren't changed in accordance with the average size of human

A fair point, some questions do need to be asked, maybe the Storm are going to the other way, however of 'under-announcing' crowds for fiscal reasons...

 

[ouwet]

exactly
there's rain, and then there's the torrential downfall that sydney has received over the weekend
not to mention the very strong winds

Never seen anything like it... It was freezing, Raining heavily, windy and to top it off a their was a little bit of hail. Shocking conditions and the fact that 14,000 people turned up in those conditions is a testament to the Bulldogs and Raiders fans! The easy and best option was to watch it live on TV in the warmth and comfort of your lounge.

But I’m sure I speak on everyone’s behalf that did go, it was an awesome night!! Glad I went!

CW Bush I remember once there was a game at the Central Coast between the Doggies and Manly... 4 or 5 thousand people turned up on that particular saturday night in bad conditions (But nothing like we saw 3 days ago)... Let me tell you if it wasn't for us sydneysiders that travelled there on that night the crowd would of been a couple of hundred.

They had a chance and blew it!

 

[yakstorm]

So finals crowds for Week Two:

Dragons v Sea Eagles - 30,907
Broncos v Knights - 22,081

Total: 52,988

In 2005: 53,373....

 

[Timmah]

Only 400 less. I'm surprised. Thought it would be a lot less.

 

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Totals/Averages for the first two weeks of the finals since the introduction of the McIntyre system.

1999
126,478/21,080

2000
128,431/21,405

2001
113,646/18,941

2002
146,931/24,489

2003
125,776/20,963

2004
138,498/23,083

2005
144,347/24,058

2006
157,445/26,241​

 

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Best aggregate crowd for a finals series since the introduction of the McIntyre system is 313,418 in 1999. This, of course, includes the 107,558 record crowd for the grand final.

So we need 155,973 from the final three games to achieve that. 37k each for the preliminary finals and 82k for the big one will do that.