2008 Crowd Watch - Final Totals in Post #3778

[dallymessenger]

hmmm 60,000 in Perth or 13,000 in NZ, I think I'd take the former!

Mute points anyway, we know the AFL hands us our ar5e when it come to crowds, has for years and no doubt always will.

no champ its 13,000 in NZ vs zero.

they dont have a team in NZ you know
:lol:

 

[brendothejet]

As stated a few pages back, Hawthorn v Geelong got 86,179 at the MCG for a regular home and away match, 1 v 3. If two Sydney-based sides played off as 1 v 3, the game would be lucky to get 20k. It's a really worrying trend, all these small crowds. People will offer excuses aplenty, and I'm sure many of them are valid... but the fact remains that Melbourne's major code and the NRL's major rival, has similar issues (eg: 10 Victorian teams), freezing weather, high costs of living, but the fans still turn out game after game, week after week. The lowest AFL club membership is higher then any Sydney club attendance average. Something has to be done to get people back watching the game, or RL will look like the AFL's little brother in terms of rivalry. I suppose TV numbers are a positive at least.

Why dont people understand that rugby league has never had massive crowd averages??? For the majority of our existance we havent averaged over 10k for a season.

crowds are picking up and as teams realise they need bums on seats to survive we may turn this thing around.

maybe.

 

[fanatique]

what kind of crowds does AFL get for its state of origin champ

we got 67,000, 51,000 and 78,000 this year so can you fill me in on the AFL numbers.

and hows your AFL WC going?
:lol:

Mate this week alone they had 86K and 65K at regular games....they don't need Origin to get a crowd. If they did they would have it, market it and draw huge crowds. They drew well over 60K to the one off Victoria V the rest thing with no real rivalry or noting at stake. SA V VIC would pack AAMI. WA V VIC would pack Subiaco. You, I and we all know this.

What Perth Red is saying is what I say. they are light years ahead of us in terms of getting people to a game and we need to learn from the best, which in Australia is the AFL, instead of stupidly pretending we are even on the same ball park. For Pete's sake DailyM Carlton are about 11th or maybe 10th in the ladder and are averaging more than the Bulldogs, Souths and Dragons combined whilst my club in Sydney gets by on 12,000 a game and is ignored by all but the faithful. It's time we got with the programme instead of being silly pretending a once off exhibition series which robs NRL of attendance in some way bridges the gap of MILLIONS there is in attendances.

 

[eastsrule]

Mate this week alone they had 86K and 65K at regular games....they don't need Origin to get a crowd. If they did they would have it, market it and draw huge crowds. They drew well over 60K to the one off Victoria V the rest thing with no real rivalry or noting at stake. SA V VIC would pack AAMI. WA V VIC would pack Subiaco. You, I and we all know this.

What Perth Red is saying is what I say. they are light years ahead of us in terms of getting people to a game and we need to learn from the best, which in Australia is the AFL, instead of stupidly pretending we are even on the same ball park. For Pete's sake DailyM Carlton are about 11th or maybe 10th in the ladder and are averaging more than the Bulldogs, Souths and Dragons combined whilst my club in Sydney gets by on 12,000 a game and is ignored by all but the faithful. It's time we got with the programme instead of being silly pretending a once off exhibition series which robs NRL of attendance in some way bridges the gap of MILLIONS there is in attendances.

Very well said.

 

[JW]

Think they just announced 8,700 @ Mt. Smart.

 

[dallymessenger]

Mate this week alone they had 86K and 65K at regular games....they don't need Origin to get a crowd. If they did they would have it, market it and draw huge crowds. They drew well over 60K to the one off Victoria V the rest thing with no real rivalry or noting at stake. SA V VIC would pack AAMI. WA V VIC would pack Subiaco. You, I and we all know this.

What Perth Red is saying is what I say. they are light years ahead of us in terms of getting people to a game and we need to learn from the best, which in Australia is the AFL, instead of stupidly pretending we are even on the same ball park. For Pete's sake DailyM Carlton are about 11th or maybe 10th in the ladder and are averaging more than the Bulldogs, Souths and Dragons combined whilst my club in Sydney gets by on 12,000 a game and is ignored by all but the faithful. It's time we got with the programme instead of being silly pretending a once off exhibition series which robs NRL of attendance in some way bridges the gap of MILLIONS there is in attendances.

so to sum up :

1. no origin
2. no team in nz
3. no team in north queensland
4. no team on the gold coast
5. no world cup
6. no tests against nz or england

yeah, little wonder i dont take AFL seriously.

at least AFL has the inner suburbs of melbourne covered i guess

 

[camsmith]

what kind of crowds does AFL get for its state of origin champ

we got 67,000, 51,000 and 78,000 this year so can you fill me in on the AFL numbers.

and hows your AFL WC going?
:lol:

hahah state of origin.

Ok, lets take the 3 highest drawing AFL games away, and take the 3 state of origins away.. and the AFL would still have massive averages.

Thats the most pathetic argument I have heard on why RL get poor crowds.

 

[brad_19]

what kind of crowds does AFL get for its state of origin champ

we got 67,000, 51,000 and 78,000 this year so can you fill me in on the AFL numbers.

and hows your AFL WC going?
:lol:

Firstly, let's get one thing straight. I am no AFL troll. I have and always will love the sport of Rugby League, I just live in an AFL dominated area so tend to know a sh*tload about the sport.

Secondly, as stated previously, the AFL drew close to 70k for a representive match earlier this season, higher then the first two SOO matches.

Anyway, all I was eluding too, is that for any sport to be successful in this day and age, gate reciepts and memberships will continue to play a bigger part. Having regular crowds around the 10k mark is not going to be enough to see this sport survive in the long term. The point of my initial post was to look at AFL as the benchmark crowdwise, and try and well, maybe not match them, but challenge them in terms of big crowds. If NRL games can regularly draw 30-40k in the next 15-20 years, the game will be in a far healthier state then it is atm.

 

[Dr Crane]

Think they just announced 8,700 @ Mt. Smart.

Twice as big as it had any right to be. f**king brilliant.

 

[brad_19]

Twice as big as it had any right to be. f**king brilliant.

Yeah, Warriors fans were making a fair bit of noise on TV as well, sounded like a good atmosphere. For the record, exactly how cold was it?? The commentators were saying it was freezing and had rained for days. Fair effort considering the circumstances.

 

[dallymessenger]

hahah state of origin.

Ok, lets take the 3 highest drawing AFL games away, and take the 3 state of origins away.. and the AFL would still have massive averages.

Thats the most pathetic argument I have heard on why RL get poor crowds.

so the answer to my question as to what crowds AFL gets for its origin would be ZERO.

thanks.

 

[dallymessenger]

Firstly, let's get one thing straight. I am no AFL troll. I have and always will love the sport of Rugby League, I just live in an AFL dominated area so tend to know a sh*tload about the sport.

Secondly, as stated previously, the AFL drew close to 70k for a representive match earlier this season, higher then the first two SOO matches.

Anyway, all I was eluding too, is that for any sport to be successful in this day and age, gate reciepts and memberships will continue to play a bigger part. Having regular crowds around the 10k mark is not going to be enough to see this sport survive in the long term. The point of my initial post was to look at AFL as the benchmark crowdwise, and try and well, maybe not match them, but challenge them in terms of big crowds. If NRL games can regularly draw 30-40k in the next 15-20 years, the game will be in a far healthier state then it is atm.

and to put things in perspective there are loads of things AFL can learn from RL :

ie

1. having an origin
2. having a team in nz
3. having overseas nations playing it
4. having a world cup
5. having a majority of australian people following your sport

 

[brad_19]

Absolutely, no arguments there. The AFL would love to have sides in mentioned areas such as NZ, trial games have been played there before with some level of success.

The point of my post though, was to talk about crowds, and not expansion. For RL to remain a sport in the next 20 years, it has too be pulling higher crowds then 16k average. Fair enough, it my never reach the AFL's standards, but in this case, if you use AFL as the benchmark, it is something to aim for. If we can get 30k averages in 20 years time, the game will be in a good place, with high amounts of season ticketholders and gate reciepts bringing in handy streams of revenue week after week. Hopefully the clubs in non-RL heartland can get some decent crowds as well, eg: Swans and Lions getting big crowds in non-AFL heartland (btw, not asking for direct Broncos comparisons here;-)).

Anyway, it's just something to aim for. 99% of people may hate AFL on here, but it doesn't mean we can't learn some lessons from their model.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Secondly, as stated previously, the AFL drew close to 70k for a representive match earlier this season, higher then the first two SOO matches.

What a ridiculous comparison, LP's capacity is 52,500... It's would make sense to compare the % of the stadium filled if you want to compare something like.

Anyway, all I was eluding too, is that for any sport to be successful in this day and age, gate reciepts and memberships will continue to play a bigger part.

Memberships /crowd attendances are increasing every year and have been doing so for a while now. All the trends a pointing up.

Having regular crowds around the 10k mark is not going to be enough to see this sport survive in the long term.

The sport of RL will always survive, you're getting that mixed up with the NRL remaining the premier football comp in Australia. Big difference. Not to mention that sub-10,000 are becoming much rarer, yet another good sign.

The point of my initial post was to look at AFL as the benchmark crowdwise, and try and well, maybe not match them, but challenge them in terms of big crowds. If NRL games can regularly draw 30-40k in the next 15-20 years, the game will be in a far healthier state then it is atm.

Clubs should be aiming for an average of 20-25K in the next 10-20 years and there a are already a few who are past that or nearing it.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

For RL to remain a sport in the next 20 years, it has too be pulling higher crowds then 16k average.

You're getting RL the sport and the NRL comp mixed up again mate.

 

[brad_19]

You're getting RL the sport and the NRL comp mixed up again mate.

Yep, sorry my bad. You know what I meant though, that's the most important thing.

 

[Dr Crane]

Yeah, Warriors fans were making a fair bit of noise on TV as well, sounded like a good atmosphere. For the record, exactly how cold was it?? The commentators were saying it was freezing and had rained for days. Fair effort considering the circumstances.

Put it this way: I'm very thankful to still have my fingers, toes and ears.

Coldest I've ever been at a football game. Presuming Auckland reached the predicted high of 12 today, there would have been at least -4 in windchill, plus the extra chill the rain brings.

 

[Chook Norris]

huge storm brewing up here in SYdney

 

[Frederick]

Pretty sure I just heard the ground announcer at EAS say 20,104

 

[dallymessenger]

2bg said around 20,000 and if so, well done.

cant wait to watch this on Nine, its a big game.

looks like a massive crowd in newcastle as well, not a bad game either