The Bulldogs aren't playing red, settle that farm lol.Why? Surely the two best supported clubs in Sydney can draw a crowd on a dry Friday night?
Cruising the Boggers no doubt.cumberland will be at the swans game for sure
But i bet you have a problem pissing standing up.AFL certainly doesn't seem to have a problem with Thursday night football
400K sydneysiders to 70K watching the respective games on TV
FMD people open your eyes
I honestly believe the crowd issues are the single biggest problem in the game, and here is why
- most of us know that NRL and AFL are the most popular sports in the country, with things like social media merchandising , tv ratings we are equal if not ahead of AFL.
The problem is when new people are introduced to sport on tv they see 9000 people on a grass hill or 14000 at anz , then flick over and see a packed house at the other game. to them the bigger and more popular sport is AFL
Their game just gives the impression that its healthy because there is an atmosphere and passion that comes through the screen whereas our game looks like the supporters are going through the motions.
I was at tonights game with a few friends who didn't realise we could use of Eels membership to gain free entry to the game. Didnt hear 1 ad for the game, not any promotion. Only the diehards know whats going on
The NRL really need to put this issue above everything other than the 2018 salary cap, otherwise we will be ave less than 15000 a game by the end of the year
Another problem is origin, they literally spent most of the pre game on fox talking about origin line ups!
And who got the bigger tv deal? So in summary they piss all over our crowds and get more money for less viewers on tv. If there is one thing we do well in RL it's mediocrity.
That really is an awful crowd considering who was playing.
Yet again we can see SOO sucking the life out of the NRL. It's had months of buildup and now it's all the media talk about when it comes to rugby league. With the reduced games and weakened teams the fans lose interest (and rightfully so).
We need to end this shit. SOO needs to be standalone for the sake of the regular comp (and even SOO would benefit). Have 3-4 weeks where everything is totally focused on SOO drowning out all other sports.
Then when it finishes hype up the return or the NRL and the run to the finals.
SOO isn't the only problem for crowds and apathy towards the NRL but it's a huge contributer. The fact that it seems to suck up all of our marketing budget doesn't help either.
Suspend the NRL for the month of June.
During June:
1. Play 3 state of origin games.
2. At club level play a month long Nines competition (each team playing at least twice a week...triple headers etc) including teams from all of the expansion areas (South Island, Perth, Adelaide, Ipswich etc)
3. Play a womens Nine competition at the same time.
4. Shorten the NRL season by at least 4 weeks.
isn't there an american sports game you could be watching ??