Souths effect on Crowds since 1966:
1967 - Souths were premiers - average crowds were down by almost 600 people per game (13613 pg in 1966, 13015 in 1967)
1968 - Souths were premiers - average crowds were up on 1967, going from 13015 to 13931, however this may have been largely attributed to Souths woeful start of the year. At the midpoint of the season, they were 7th on the ladder. 4 crowds in their first 13 games were over 30,000. A feat they only achieved once in their winning run over the last 9 games.
1969 - Souths were minor premiers and lost the Grand Final to Balmain. Crowd figures dropped from 13931 down to 13148
1970 - Souths were premiers. Crowd figures dropped from 13148 down to1 1990, their lowest avg in 8 years.
1971 - Souths were premiers. Crowd figures continued to drop, this time from 11990 to 11775 per game.
1972-1974 - Souths were still competing in the finals (except for 1973 when they narrowly missed out) and crowds continued to tumble from 11775 in 1971 down to 9267 in 1974.
1975 - Souths won the wooden spoon. Crowds spiked upwards from 9267 per game in 1974 to 10916.
1976 - Souths finished second last and crowds rose again, from 10916 to 11552 per game.
from 1977-1979 - Souths finished mid-table, but the fibros v silvertails helped spike crowds in 1978 after they'd dropped the previous year. In 1979 they dropped again to 1977 levels.
1980 - Souths made it to the finals and the avg crowd again dropped, although by very little, from 10872 to 10860 per game.
From 1981-1985 Souths were again mid-table, making the finals in 1984. In this time, average crowd sizes dropped to their lowest since WWII.
1986-1989 saw Souths feature in the finals, and while crowd figures rose, most of them were due to new teams reaching the finals and entering the competition.
1990 - Souths picked up the spoon - and crowds went up from 11152 in 1989 to 12073 per game.
1991 - Souths continued to struggle and crowds continued to rise dramatically, this time from 12073 to 13188 per game
1992 - Souths performed better in 92, and again, crowds dropped from 13188 to 12540
1993 - Souths were back near the spoon and crowds jumped upward again, from 12540 per game to 14426.
1994 - Souths again struggled, luckily for them, so did most of the comp, but buoyed by Big Mal's last season, crowds again jumped up from 14426 to 15013 per game.
1995-1997 - heavily affected by Superleague - crowds dropped down to 10610 per game.
1998 - Souths almost collected another spoon, and crowds increased against the ARL figures for 1997 from 10610 per game to 11546.
1997 - The Souths-less Superleague had average crowd figures of 13039. ARL (containing Souths) had 10610
1999 - Buoyed by news of Souths getting punted, crowds flocked to the games to catch their last glimpses of Souths losing. Crowds jumped massively from 11546 to 15310 per game.
2000 - Crowds continued to rise in a Souths-less comp from 15310 to 15521
2001 - Crowds dropped off upon hearing news Souths would return in 2002, going from 15521 to 14346
2002 - Souths return to the comp and crowds continue to drop, from 14346 to 14252
2003-2004 - Souths collected back-t-back spoons and crowd figures again rose rapidly, from 14252 in 2002 to 15720 in 2003 and 15940 in 2004.
2005 - Souths were again at the bottom of the ladder and crowds continued rising, up from 15940 to 17401.
2006 - Souths collected the spoon again, but news of being bought out and having money and the threat of success saw crowds dwindle again, down from 17401 to 16488
2007-2011 - Souths have been more competitive, finishing midtable and crowds have struggled to increase consistently.
