Late reply, have been to busy lately.
Parra v Saints - 2 rivals with big years - and the chronic f*tards at the Telegraph telling the world that 30 000 fans would be turned away 2 weeks in advance. If that aint sabotage I dunno what is - like telling the world that Maccas will have no more Big Macs - yet they still sell 18000. A good effort considering the rampant panic the Telegraph instilled in the f*cktards of the League world.
This is 2 of the biggest teams in Sydney playing in the first game of the year with a huge amount of hype. One team won the minor premiership last year whilst the other made the GF. Parra have also had a surge with their season ticket numbers in the last year.
This is basically as good a build up to a game in Sydney as you can get. Excuse some of us for thinking that our great game is capable of attracting more than 18K to such a clash.
Brisbane v Cowpats. With the worst round 1 Brisbane have ever fielded, against a crap Cowpats side - their furthest Australian competitor -and they jagged a great crowd.
How many people have questioned this crowd? It was absolutely fantastic to see a near packed out Suncorp. You're clutching at straws bringing this up.
Dogs v Knights. The Knights with the worst pre season since Norths players turned up and were handed a maroon and white jumper and introduced to their new boss Arko. Crowd - not a bad effort under the circumstances.
It was quite a good crowd. The dogs were playing an out of town team and if 18K is the low bar for dogs crowds than they are in for a big year.
Again though i don't see many people bagging this crowd so i'm not sure why you would bring it up.
Then there were 2 home games to teams with dabolical recent histories versus out of town teams with less fans than Peter Garrett. Combined total of 23k on a saturday night - suggests far better crowds against other clubs.
The problem is that after all the hype of the off season and people having waited so long for football to come back some of us thought we may get a better crowd.
11,000 for the first game of the year to me just looks terrible. After waiting so many months that is all we can muster in some of leagues heartlands.
You're right we should have been expecting it (especially from Cronulla) but that doesn't make the crowds any better.
I still try to see the positives. At least they managed to not go below 10K in a match up which i am guessing has posted 4 digit numbers in recent years. So at least it looks like crowds may grow a bit.
The panthers was the more disapponting crowd IMO. Yes it was probably slightly up on figures for recent matchups between the 2 clubs but it was still a poor figure.
People on here are always talking about how the AFL club in Western Sydney will flop (i agree) and talk about their lack of support. Than in our first game of the season we get a sh*t crowd like that.
Gold Coast vs NZ. The home side requiring a home mortgage for tickets - the away side perennial underachievers from another country with a worse travelling record than the HMAS Melbourne. 16k sold the family jewelles tpo make it. Not bad at all - no game will rate worse at Skilled Park
Ticket prices are the reason for the poor crowd not an excuse. I guess when the GC team came in with their fantastic stadium some of us thought that they would go close to packing it week in week out. I still believe that is what they should be doing.
Fair enough it is probably going to be close to their worst crowd of the year but i was still hoping for more in their first game back.
Souths v Easts - the "traditional" rivals where the combined fan base of 6 yell at each other - and one team as spooners last year, and carrying the baggage of the "thrown game" allegations, and the other being excited about recreating 1967 - with the same bloody game plan. 23k - good crowd considering they were both failures last year.
This was a good crowd and i don't think to many would question that. Souths and the roosters haven't had much to crowe (double pun:sarcasm
about recently so getting 20K+ out to see them is pretty good.
Shame that the rooster only supplied 1 or 2 fans as souths fans were out in numbers and it could have been a massive crowd if roosters fans had shown up (and i am sure they would not have regretted it :lol
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Edit: sorry for the double post.
