2017 Crowd Watch

[Emu01]

A conversation between Rothfield and Greenberg is easily the low point of this thread.

What's the point of being a bitter negative merkin like Rothfield if he won't even challenge Greenberg on his slimy, politician piss weak answers?

Greenburg is just like a politician protecting his job.. He never ever comes up with a solution to poor crowds he just rambles about any little positive he can find.

What about dropping the cost of games and encouraging clubs to move away from anz stadium.. He actually encourages clubs to play at Anz..

I believe Greenburg should stand down or be sacked over the lack of crowds.. He is a piss weak politician!!

 

[Billythekid]

I'm sorry ...but when I get blokes bragging about how good a team in a one team states crowds are I laugh.
They hang shit on little clubs who are doing it under toughest conditions in the game.

f**king Melbourne??
Bank rolled to the roof from day one and then still cheated like merkins
They play like merkins
The best thing I've ever seen is manly and sharks kicking their arse in the GF.
I was cheering for Manly
A sharks fan cheering for manly !!!
That tells what people think of the cheating scum that is the Storm.
Bellamy couldn't lie straight in bed.



We know the crowds are not amazing.
It's no f**king secret that TV is killing it.

Typical response digging in your heels even harder and trying to obfuscate the discussion with irrelevant nonsense making any sort of back and forth impossible.

Let's stick to what the conversation is about. Why do you think soccer, by far the biggest sport in the world struggles to get a foothold in markets like the US and Australia when there is literally zero competition? Why does rugby league struggle to gain a foothold in the likes of the UK or literally any other country when there is no competition? Why don't the warriors pack out their stadium every week?

Truth is every sport is competing with each other for the time, attention and dollars of the average sports fan. Not even just sports fans but just entertainment dollars in general.

The storm had to break into a state where AFL is the national religion essentially. Most people already have a sports team which hey follow fervently, just look at the crowds and TV ratings. Rugby league essentially didn't exist before the storm entered the market. If you think that's entering a non competitive market then I don't know what to tell you.

Also if sports don't compete with each other and entering a new market is so f**king simple then why the hell are you constantly arguing against a team in Perth? You're literally contradicting yourself and you're so caught up trying to be contrarian that you can't see it.

 

[Clifferd]

I'm a firm believer that Gallen taking dives is ruining the crowds that turn up to nrl games.

Ban the merkin I say

 

[adamkungl]

Also did Rothfield really just point out negative media... then blame the clubs???

On a day they literally have a front page linking the NRL to terrorism??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111

 

[Billythekid]

Also did Rothfield really just point out negative media... then blame the clubs???

On a day they literally have a front page linking the NRL to terrorism??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111

It's pretty hilarious seeing an article from Rothfield blaming negative media for poor crowds. It's best to save your brain cells and ignore that dribble (I mean both Rothfield and Greenburg).

 

[Clifferd]

NRL journos are absolute f**king trash.

And if you think negative stories bring them clicks well illl remind you of the feel good story Trent Hodgkison had with that terminally ill girl taking her to her formal. That story got an insane amount of coverage on social media, newspapers etc then fizzled out pretty quickly then yesterday I turn on nrl 360 and here's ole mate Paul merkin still banging on about the booze brothers in origin.

I don't know of any other professional sporting code who gets dragged down so much by their own so called journalists. And these are the people that represent RL to the general audience

 

[carcharias]

Typical response digging in your heels even harder and trying to obfuscate the discussion with irrelevant nonsense making any sort of back and forth impossible.

Let's stick to what the conversation is about. Why do you think soccer, by far the biggest sport in the world struggles to get a foothold in markets like the US and Australia when there is literally zero competition? Why does rugby league struggle to gain a foothold in the likes of the UK or literally any other country when there is no competition? Why don't the warriors pack out their stadium every week?

Truth is every sport is competing with each other for the time, attention and dollars of the average sports fan. Not even just sports fans but just entertainment dollars in general.

The storm had to break into a state where AFL is the national religion essentially. Most people already have a sports team which hey follow fervently, just look at the crowds and TV ratings. Rugby league essentially didn't exist before the storm entered the market. If you think that's entering a non competitive market then I don't know what to tell you.

Also if sports don't compete with each other and entering a new market is so f**king simple then why the hell are you constantly arguing against a team in Perth? You're literally contradicting yourself and you're so caught up trying to be contrarian that you can't see it.

It's been 20 years.
Kids in Victoria have grown up into adults with the storm being there ...being at the top of the ladder for about ten years.
They literally do not know what life was like before the only team in Victoria existed.

There would be 30 year olds who would've grown up watching the storm .


Break in?
More like got carried in and continue to get carried.


I know why crowds are shit
I know why a one team state has better crowds than a small club surrounded by the clubs with the biggest memberships in the game.

 

[carcharias]

I'm a firm believer that Gallen taking dives is ruining the crowds that turn up to nrl games.

Ban the merkin I say

I thought of you when the Dragons got a try disallowed
Same as the Manly game on Sunday.

It's still against the rules.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

It's been 20 years.
Kids in Victoria have grown up into adults with the storm being there ...being at the top of the ladder for about ten years.
They literally do not know what life was like before the only team in Victoria existed.

There would be 30 year olds who would've grown up watching the storm .


Break in?
More like got carried in and continue to get carried.


I know why crowds are shit
I know why a one team state has better crowds than a small club surrounded by the clubs with the biggest memberships in the game.

The 5 'other code' teams located within 10km of the Storm's home base have collective memberships of 281k and an average home attendance of 38.6k, often played around the same time as the Storm, providing massive competition for support . How does that stack up against the sharks competition for crowd numbers? 19k > 12.7k.

 

[big hit!]

It's f**king embarrassing watching a match in prime-time with a heap of empty blue seats or a patchwork of folks on a hill.

f**k off thursday nights, f**k off friday 6pm, and make a prime-time slot something of a marquee event!

shorten the season, adjust the SOO schedule and make the NRL something to get excited about, FFS!

go back to one ref and get the touchies to officiate too rather than just be glorified flag-waivers.

the horse has probably bolted on proper officiating in the game now. so many infringements are let go that it's just a f**king mess.

 

[adamkungl]

It's f**king embarrassing watching a match in prime-time with a heap of empty blue seats or a patchwork of folks on a hill.

f**k off thursday nights, f**k off friday 6pm, and make a prime-time slot something of a marquee event!

shorten the season, adjust the SOO schedule and make the NRL something to get excited about, FFS!

go back to one ref and get the touchies to officiate too rather than just be glorified flag-waivers.

the horse has probably bolted on proper officiating in the game now. so many infringements are let go that it's just a f**king mess.

Why can every merkin but the merkins running the thing see it

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Why can every merkin but the merkins running the thing see it

$$$

 

[moffla]

It's been 20 years.
Kids in Victoria have grown up into adults with the storm being there ...being at the top of the ladder for about ten years.
They literally do not know what life was like before the only team in Victoria existed.

There would be 30 year olds who would've grown up watching the storm .


Break in?
More like got carried in and continue to get carried.


I know why crowds are shit
I know why a one team state has better crowds than a small club surrounded by the clubs with the biggest memberships in the game.

We've not always had it our own way, we were dealt some shit early on

1. Storm not being televised till midnight if channel 9 had the game. This lasted until about 2008. I remember having to sit around a radio for a Manly vs Storm game because we couldn't watch it on telly.
2. Playing in the shit heap that was Olympic park on a winters wet and rainy Sunday afternoon. Was hardly inviting for fans. (I still miss it, though)
3. Having literally 2 paragraphs of advertisement in our newspapers each week. Even after making four grand finals in a row, the only double page spread we ever seem to receive was after the salary cap breaches were revealed. This is still the case.
4. While we are on the topic, at the time the Salary cap revelations certainly wasn't helpful to our supporter base.
5. Being up against the AFL - this doesn't need an explanation.

Jesus, even now I get asked questions like "So are the storm the team that rugby or the other one?"

It's not as black as white as you make it, nor is it as clear as some people make it about the Shark's, and other clubs crowd situation. There are many inconvenient factors at play.

I look at the sharks and think that your ground needs some serious life around it. A few bars where fans can go pre game and stroll to the game etc etc. That kinda atmosphere helps bring people back

Obviously the NRL are incompetent monkeys and that doesn't help.

 

[Clifferd]

I thought of you when the Dragons got a try disallowed
Same as the Manly game on Sunday.

It's still against the rules.

The real question is, who did it better?

 

[Cumberland Throw]

This Buzz story is being picked up all over the news.com.au sites now.. awesome..

What we need is a real statement, to be made..

How about an SCG game with no finals implications, played at 5.59pm in front of 9283 people

That will show them all ..

 

[Clifferd]

Bulldogs v Eels 14k
Dragons v Souffs 11k
Cowboys v Storm 20k
Knights v Warriors 16k
Titans v Brisbane 17k
Sharks v Raiders 18k
Manly v Roosters 13k
Penrith v Tigers 20k (sell out??)

What a shame could've been a perfect round imo if not for the poor scheduling for the 1st two games. Those sort of games should always be locked in for either Sunday arvo or Friday night. No question

 

[Perth Red]

Anyone filled with a sense that the NRL knows how to solve the crowd problem after reading Greenburgs responses? Hell he doesn't even see the problem. "Crowds have been stable for 10-15 years", no they haven't you dckhead!

Be hard to do worse than last weeks miserable crowd avg, hopefully this week will make up some lost ground.

 

[carcharias]

We've not always had it our own way, we were dealt some shit early on

1. Storm not being televised till midnight if channel 9 had the game. This lasted until about 2008. I remember having to sit around a radio for a Manly vs Storm game because we couldn't watch it on telly.
2. Playing in the shit heap that was Olympic park on a winters wet and rainy Sunday afternoon. Was hardly inviting for fans. (I still miss it, though)
3. Having literally 2 paragraphs of advertisement in our newspapers each week. Even after making four grand finals in a row, the only double page spread we ever seem to receive was after the salary cap breaches were revealed. This is still the case.
4. While we are on the topic, at the time the Salary cap revelations certainly wasn't helpful to our supporter base.
5. Being up against the AFL - this doesn't need an explanation.

Jesus, even now I get asked questions like "So are the storm the team that rugby or the other one?"

It's not as black as white as you make it, nor is it as clear as some people make it about the Shark's, and other clubs crowd situation. There are many inconvenient factors at play.

I look at the sharks and think that your ground needs some serious life around it. A few bars where fans can go pre game and stroll to the game etc etc. That kinda atmosphere helps bring people back

Obviously the NRL are incompetent monkeys and that doesn't help.

Ok
The club is actually getting rebuilt with bars.
Basically a small suburb is being built on sharks land as we speak
f**ken hell ...please tell me you knew this????

All that stuff you said about the storm is the same for teams like the sharks.
Shit grounds
Shit weather
Shit time slots
Next to no FTA - I'll bet storm have had more that the sharks in the last 20 years.
The AFL thing is real but why can't they follow both?
Plenty of NRL fans follow their team and the swans.
Their team and a cricket team
Their team and a soccer team
Their team and a rugby union team
Their team and a state of origin team

That's because those teams are not actually contesting the same competition.

Virtually nobody follows 2 NRL teams.
I'd don't personally know of one.

There is a much bigger chance of an AFL fan casually follow the only NRL team in Victoria.
Maybe even jump on the old bandwagon

It's not even a comparison.
There is no way on Earth old George from Kogarah is going to think.
Gee sharks are playing tonight
I might pop down and show a bit of support for them.
He might do it for the swans though.

 

[moffla]

Ok
The club is actually getting rebuilt with bars.
Basically a small suburb is being built on sharks land as we speak
f**ken hell ...please tell me you knew this????

All that stuff you said about the storm is the same for teams like the sharks.
Shit grounds
Shit weather
Shit time slots
Next to no FTA - I'll bet storm have had more that the sharks in the last 20 years.
The AFL thing is real but why can't they follow both?
Plenty of NRL fans follow their team and the swans.
Their team and a cricket team
Their team and a soccer team
Their team and a rugby union team
Their team and a state of origin team

That's because those teams are not actually contesting the same competition.

Virtually nobody follows 2 NRL teams.
I'd don't personally know of one.

There is a much bigger chance of an AFL fan casually follow the only NRL team in Victoria.
Maybe even jump on the old bandwagon

It's not even a comparison.
There is no way on Earth old George from Kogarah is going to think.
Gee sharks are playing tonight
I might pop down and show a bit of support for them.
He might do it for the swans though.

Regarding the bold: Yes, I know...that's why I suggested it's going to help. Didn't word it correctly perhaps.

I'm not here to argue, I just found it strange how you raised points to suit your argument but completely ignore the disadvantages we've had in the past 20 odd years. I agree, a lot of AFL fans adopt the storm, and we use that to our advantage (Last year in particular we hyped up the whole "No AFL, come along!" technique and it worked like a charm).

But it remains the case that many AFL fans would still prefer to watch a neutral game of AFL, then they would the Melbourne Storm if the two clashed. That will hopefully change in time, but we aren't quite there yet.

I understand why crowds for sharks games aren't as good as they can be, I'm certainly not disagreeing with the points you've raised, they're quite valid, but to suggest that AFL and the AFL controlled media has played a part in stagnating our crowds is a bit naive.

 

[carcharias]

Regarding the bold: Yes, I know...that's why I suggested it's going to help. Didn't word it correctly perhaps.

I'm not here to argue, I just found it strange how you raised points to suit your argument but completely ignore the disadvantages we've had in the past 20 odd years. I agree, a lot of AFL fans adopt the storm, and we use that to our advantage (Last year in particular we hyped up the whole "No AFL, come along!" technique and it worked like a charm).

But it remains the case that many AFL fans would still prefer to watch a neutral game of AFL, then they would the Melbourne Storm if the two clashed. That will hopefully change in time, but we aren't quite there yet.

I understand why crowds for sharks games aren't as good as they can be, I'm certainly not disagreeing with the points you've raised, they're quite valid, but to suggest that AFL and the AFL controlled media has played a part in stagnating our crowds is a bit naive.

A one team state/city regardless of what other codes is nearby has it easier than any NRL team in Sydney.
There is no direct NRL competition in Melbourne.
It is ridiculous to suggest AFL makes them worse off.
Every NRL team has rival codes nearby
Only Sydney teams have a direct NRL competitor to compete with their crowds.