Crowd Watch 2011 Mk II

[BunniesMan]

Don't pretend you speak for everyone on this forum you douche.

Noone but you is so anti sydney. So yes, he's right in saying "everyone".

 

[adamkungl]

Well, everyone that matters. People that disagree with me don't count, as their opinion is incorrect.

 

[Teddyboy]

Why were the Sharks and Penrith added back in the late 1960's.The ARL should of let in Newcastle and Illawarra back then.

 

[Hallatia]

Well, everyone that matters. People that disagree with me don't count, as their opinion is incorrect.

*like*:thumn

 

[Cliffhanger]

That's why we're demanding a statue of Kungl be built when he retires from LU.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Why were the Sharks and Penrith added back in the late 1960's.The ARL should of let in Newcastle and Illawarra back then.

Penrith were added for the same reason they are in the competition today - rugby league mad area with massive junior participation. Their crowds may not be spectacular but Penrith are an integral part of the competition.

Cronulla were added because the powers to be saw a potential for growth there. For all the doom and gloom about the sharks they have survived for this long. And there is nothing stopping them continuing to survive (and prosper).

In the sixties the Illawarra and Newcastle were not connected to Sydney via infrastructure as they are now.

 

[Saint Doc]

Cronulla were also partly added to stop StGeorge dominance. We'd just won 11years in a row and our area was everything south of Tempe, ie airport to the south coast, shire and Illawarra included.

 

[Teddyboy]

Penrith were added for the same reason they are in the competition today - rugby league mad area with massive junior participation. Their crowds may not be spectacular but Penrith are an integral part of the competition.

Cronulla were added because the powers to be saw a potential for growth there. For all the doom and gloom about the sharks they have survived for this long. And there is nothing stopping them continuing to survive (and prosper).

In the sixties the Illawarra and Newcastle were not connected to Sydney via infrastructure as they are now.

Were they also added because the game was semi pro back then so in a view getting crowds between 5000-10000 every week was good in a semi pro environment.

 

[adamkungl]

doubt they were getting anywhere near 10000 a week back then.

 

[Teddyboy]

doubt they were getting anywhere near 10000 a week back then.

Well I was being kind more like 5000 ?.

 

[DIOGENES]

The average crowds in the late 60s were 10-12K. After 1971 there was a long decline and average crowds didn't again permanently stay above 10K until 1988 - it should be remembered that during those 17 years 2 games a week at best were shown on TV - the game really was dying. I remember Arko in about 1994 saying that he expected crowds to be above 15K within 10 years and everyone laughed. However he was correct and the first year with an average crowd >15K was 2005 - The game's recovery has been slow but continuous and that's why I find it amusing when posters on this blog seem to expect every game to be >20K

As a Newcastle fan in the 60s and 70s, I can tell you that there was no inclination to join the Sydney comp - not just because of the distances and lack of money but because we liked our local comp and thought it was the equivalent of Sydney - ageing players like Johnny Raper and Peter Diamond would spend their last years at Newcastle clubs. Kangaroo teams would always have one or two players from the Newcastle comp. The country championship was also a strong competition - Newcastle Division won the state cup in 1964 and Western Division won the Amoco cup in 1974. Things have changed a lot.

 

[Teddyboy]

The average crowds in the late 60s were 10-12K. After 1971 there was a long decline and average crowds didn't again permanently stay above 10K until 1988 - it should be remembered that during those 17 years 2 games a week at best were shown on TV - the game really was dying. I remember Arko in about 1994 saying that he expected crowds to be above 15K within 10 years and everyone laughed. However he was correct and the first year with an average crowd >15K was 2005 - The game's recovery has been slow but continuous and that's why I find it amusing when posters on this blog seem to expect every game to be >20K

As a Newcastle fan in the 60s and 70s, I can tell you that there was no inclination to join the Sydney comp - not just because of the distances and lack of money but because we liked our local comp and thought it was the equivalent of Sydney - ageing players like Johnny Raper and Peter Diamond would spend their last years at Newcastle clubs. Kangaroo teams would always have one or two players from the Newcastle comp. The country championship was also a strong competition - Newcastle Division won the state cup in 1964 and Western Division won the Amoco cup in 1974. Things have changed a lot.

Good post but how was the game dying as looking at crowd stats after 1971 there was good crowds in 1972 for SCG games and Manly,St.George and Eastern Suburbs got some good crowds esp at the SCG.Looking at crowds at the 1970's it seemed the good crowds were starting to shrift from the SCG to the suburban ground don't you think but looking at it it wasn't really dying don't you think ?

What was the state cup and what was the crowds like for that comp and for club games in the Newcastle comp.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Also at the time, Penrith was also considered out there like the Central Coast or Illawarra is today.

 

[Perth Red]

Pretty depressing crowds seem static for last 5 years despite population increase, memberships, better grounds etc.

 

[DIOGENES]

The state cup was a weekend knockout competition between the 10 Sydney teams and 8 Country divisions in the mid 60s - I don't know how many years it ran for but I was at the game when Newcastle beat St George in 1964. They were runners up against Parramatta the next year and I can't remember it taking place after that, This was at a time when real Country would occasionally beat Sydney - I suspect the changes in RL in country NSW are due to the professionalism of the Sydney competition from the 70s onwards - any worthwhile player realised their future was in the big smoke.

The Newcastle grand final was held at No 1 Sports Ground (which was destroyed during the earthquake) and had a capacity of 25K -it used to be pointed out that on a per capita basis Newcastle crowds were bigger than Sydney.

Ignoring 2005 which seems to have been a rogue year.
Ave crowd 2006 16,484
Ave crowd 2010 17,367
A 5% increase or 1% a year -it would be great if it was higher but at least its in positive territory

 

[bobmar28]

Way to avoid the question, douche.

Ok, the merger of Wests and Tigers added more fans....Douche.

 

[Chook Norris]

Pretty depressing crowds seem static for last 5 years despite population increase, memberships, better grounds etc.

Have grounds actually gotten better though? The only ground which seems to have gotten any noticeable increase is Newcastles

 

[Raiderdave]

Ok, the merger of Wests and Tigers added more fans....Douche.

you sure about that

Balmains average in 1999 was 9710
Wests was 8224

a total of 17,934

Wests Tigers average 2010 was 18,086

its about the same
no new fans have been created out of this merger .. they just all attend the same game now :shock:

 

[Raiderdave]

Pretty depressing crowds seem static for last 5 years despite population increase, memberships, better grounds etc.

the same can be said for the AFL too
static crowds .. despite increases in all of the enviromental considerations you've put up

& as for the other 2 codes
A League ..... gone backward at a rate of knots :shock:
Super Rugby .... nearly as bad as the A League :shock:

we're doing alright when taking into account the above

 

[DIOGENES]

Was the League dying in the 80s?
Roy Masters produced "The Big League" in 1983 for 4 Corners - all the attention went to the last half when he made accusations about Neville Wran and Murray Farquarhe but the first part of the program was interesting.
He claimed that falling crowds, TV ratings and Juniors meant that the League was in crisis for 2 reasons.
1. The 5 metre rule and contested scrums made the game too defensive and slow
2. More importantly the game had kept to its working class roots while the rest of Australia had moved on. His evidence:
a. Over-reliance of poker machines for income
b. amateur administration
c. too much biff
d. badly behaved crowds
e. terrible ground facilities

At the time I was working in an office when an interest in league would automatically label you as a Westie. To get ahead I took pains to pretend an interest in the rivetting clash between Varsity and the Gay Gordons.

The League has got out of a deep hole since then -partly because of the fight between Packer and Murdoch for control of the game and partly because the problems Masters identified have been recognized.