Penrith Crowds

[Fibroman]

The best thing about Penrith and the shire is that 99/100 people speak english. I don't care if the crowds aren't the best, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

 

[beave]

On behalf of Big Mick, he appreciates your input. He was struggling there on his own, its good to have lollipopers around like you to back him up.

hahaha,seriously, is that the best you have you have????

 

[Flapper]

Penrith's a wonderful place. Simple as that.

 

[murraymob]

The best thing about Penrith and the shire is that 99/100 people speak english. I don't care if the crowds aren't the best, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

are you sure fibro.By halftime you have lost your English and are usually speaking jack daniels or that even harder to understand language cask wine

 

[thommo4pm]

And just to add support to the other Penrith locals on this thread, I wouldn't live anywhere else either.
It's a great place to live....wouldn't even think about moving anywhere else.

 

[simostorm]

i take it you never watched the grand final replay last night should have been a full house st kilda geelong unless the fudged the crowd as they normally do in afl there was lucky if there was 10k there

58208 ppl at Geelong vs StKilda.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/06/25/185841_news.html

abit wrong wasnt he.

 

[simostorm]

I am a Penrith member and I didn't go last night.

It was impossible. I work in the CBD. I finished work at 6:30pm...how can I get out there in time?

I often find myself missing Friday night/Monday Night games..that doesn't mean I don't pay my $300 for my grandstand membership

So a membership is a excuse not to go to the game hey?

You could have gotten there before halftime.

 

[simostorm]

Yesterday was one of those days where it was cold during the day, but because of the cloud it keeps the temp up above what it normally would be at night...so it was 16-17 degrees for most of the afternoon, but only dropped down to 14-15 for the game!

But I can't blame the supporters for that, most people would've been put off by the weather during the day and thats to be expected...not everyone's a meteorologist

Dont they sell jackets in Sydney.

wow.. 14-15 for the game. Bunch of softcocks arnt yous.

 

[Big Mick]

So a membership is a excuse not to go to the game hey?

You could have gotten there before halftime.

You really are becoming a bitter wanker aren't you since everyone found out your team are a bunch of cheating pricks and your success was a fraud.

Yeah...i'm going to travel 3 hours in traffic, with my disabled father to watch 20 minutes of football...yep...I'm sure you'd do that.

f**kin spastic Storm supporter.

 

[Perth Red]

never could understand how a club with such a huge area that is interested in RL can draw such poor crowds. There stadium is 1/2 decent, the team are travelling well and people in the region seem to like RL (judging by jnrs playing teh game anyway) so why the disconnect between the Panthers and the Penrith public?

 

[Proud2BeCanberran]

I think that there are several similarities between what we are talking about here and the situation that the raiders face in Canberra.

Both the panthers and the raiders have had successful periods in their existence (2 and 3 prmeriships respectively), and long success droughts (i'm still waiting for my first raiders premiership that i can fully appreciate and remember).

Being a raiders fan in canberra, i can tell you that we VERY much so suffer from not having a winning culture. There are of course at least 10k loyal raiders fans that will go to the games rain, hail, apocolypse, but for such a large area (compared to penrith for instance), it should be more.

Granted, we are a transient city, with many blow ins, but even without that we have a diverse spread of supporters. This is regularly seen when away supporters of clubs such as wests, dragons, bulldogs, even souths make up anywhere from 20% to even 50% of the crowd. (see raiders v dragons in canberra last year for a real 50/50 crowd.)

There are HUGE numbers of wests, dragons, and souths fans here. Lots of ex-brissie broncos fans, and you will definately find a few bulldogs or eels fans around.

However, I have no doubt whatsoever that were we to become successful again, the fairweathers, the "oh they are my second team of course", the "I don;t really follow footy" bandwagoners would be out in full force.
Even our last moderately successful season (top 4 in 2003), i remember our crowds getting to 23k at the end of the year.

People would say "who are WE playing this week", instead of "who are they playing this week".

Penrith sounds the same from what i have heard from people who live there. I traveled from canberra to penrith in round 1 and what i saw gave me an indication of the penrith fanbase. There were only 11k there, for a round 1 game! There were also quite a few hundred raiders fans there too, if memory serves me correctly, which is a pretty decent turnout for an out of town team.

 

[VictoryFC]

Attendances fall short of expectation because the culture of attendance still doesn't exist. The league has only recently put an emphasis on attendance through membership drives. You cannot change attitudes towards attendance over night. It may take well over a decade or two to see real growth.

 

[Karlos]

No, the attendances are poor at Penrith because its cold, rainy, friday night, long way to go, stadium is like Canberra's (oh thats the cold thing again), hard to get off work early, supporters live in Cronulla, very cold (3 degrees apparently), team hasnt been doing well in the last few years and its near on impossible to get there by 7.30am.

ITS NOT BECAUSE THE FANS ARE FICKLE OR LAZY.

Its very cold out that way by the way, very cold.

 

[simostorm]

You really are becoming a bitter wanker aren't you since everyone found out your team are a bunch of cheating pricks and your success was a fraud.

Yeah...i'm going to travel 3 hours in traffic, with my disabled father to watch 20 minutes of football...yep...I'm sure you'd do that.

f**kin spastic Storm supporter.

What has the Storm being over the cap got to do with your poor efforts to get to the games?

If your father slows you down, why didnt you say that in the first place instead of tryin to whimp out with the excuse you gave.

 

[elie76]

A few people have mentioned that there isnt a lot of support for the players in the area even though their junior league is really big..

My son plays in Penrith comp and I have actually noticed that a lot of the kids in our club go for Parramatta mostly and other teams. We arent in the Penrith area..we are borderline Penrith and Parra comp, but I think perhaps if the club involved the kids a bit more in what was happening at the club.

All the kids do get their players pass (free pass) to all Panthers games but I dont think a lot of their families use them, unless their actual team is playing against Penrith..which is a bit sad I guess.

I dont live in actual Penrith, so I dont know what involvement the team has there..maybe heaps! But one thing I know is this, when i asked Penrith could they send a player out to our club on a training night I was told no and last year for our end of year function when I asked I was also told no...to their credit though they did allow my sons team to attend their training session this year and meet the boys.. this was fantastic for our kids but sadly apart from the ones who study footy and read Big League (probably two of them inc my son) the rest didnt know any of the players names etc, however after this session meeting the boys..the kids were really familiar with them and we took them to a game and they were very excited to yell out oh there is Petro or there is Kevin etc ... so this exercise worked but isnt actually something that is offered, it was only after I sent an email requesting a player.

But that is only 8 boys out of an entire club, so perhaps they really need to start broadening their PR.. we as junior league families receive a letter to join membership every year.

One other thing that should be considered is this: at my sons school, the AFL Development Squad visit monthly at assemblies, recruit kids for the after school Auskick program, give them freebies and at every visit they have been pushing to the kids the GWS team big time. We havent had a visit from anyone at the Penrith Development team... I spoke to Mario Fenech at a function about this and he himself couldnt understand why. I then spoke to a Penrith Devpt person who said he hadnt heard of our school, so wasnt sure if the teachers had been contacted...

Most of the kids at our club go to this school or surrounding schools, but are doing Auskick after school because that is what is being offered.

I dont have solutions, but I think if kids are actively involved in supporting a team their parents will feel more like taking them to watch a certain team??

I think Panthers has enormous potential to be huge, but so many surrounding suburbs seem to be big Parra fans...

 

[Vossy]

ok the weather could be a reason but I'd love to bring out my scarve and beanie more often and go watch the footy but not too many opportunities here in Brissie!

you can not complain about the weather until you come to a sharks home game..

 

[Karlos]

A few people have mentioned that there isnt a lot of support for the players in the area even though their junior league is really big..

My son plays in Penrith comp and I have actually noticed that a lot of the kids in our club go for Parramatta mostly and other teams. We arent in the Penrith area..we are borderline Penrith and Parra comp, but I think perhaps if the club involved the kids a bit more in what was happening at the club.

All the kids do get their players pass (free pass) to all Panthers games but I dont think a lot of their families use them, unless their actual team is playing against Penrith..which is a bit sad I guess.

I dont live in actual Penrith, so I dont know what involvement the team has there..maybe heaps! But one thing I know is this, when i asked Penrith could they send a player out to our club on a training night I was told no and last year for our end of year function when I asked I was also told no...to their credit though they did allow my sons team to attend their training session this year and meet the boys.. this was fantastic for our kids but sadly apart from the ones who study footy and read Big League (probably two of them inc my son) the rest didnt know any of the players names etc, however after this session meeting the boys..the kids were really familiar with them and we took them to a game and they were very excited to yell out oh there is Petro or there is Kevin etc ... so this exercise worked but isnt actually something that is offered, it was only after I sent an email requesting a player.

But that is only 8 boys out of an entire club, so perhaps they really need to start broadening their PR.. we as junior league families receive a letter to join membership every year.

One other thing that should be considered is this: at my sons school, the AFL Development Squad visit monthly at assemblies, recruit kids for the after school Auskick program, give them freebies and at every visit they have been pushing to the kids the GWS team big time. We havent had a visit from anyone at the Penrith Development team... I spoke to Mario Fenech at a function about this and he himself couldnt understand why. I then spoke to a Penrith Devpt person who said he hadnt heard of our school, so wasnt sure if the teachers had been contacted...

Most of the kids at our club go to this school or surrounding schools, but are doing Auskick after school because that is what is being offered.

I dont have solutions, but I think if kids are actively involved in supporting a team their parents will feel more like taking them to watch a certain team??

I think Panthers has enormous potential to be huge, but so many surrounding suburbs seem to be big Parra fans...

This is a concerning post. Sounds like the Panthers need to get a bit more involved with the community to bolster their fan base. Maybe they dont care, maybe their leagues club brings in so much pokies revenue they dont need fans at their games?

I think people are underestimating AFL's efforts to undermine League in Sydney's west too. The NRL needs to take action to counteract this before the situation becomes irreversible.

 

[elie76]

yeh i do think they care truly, but i think it might be a lot more penrith-centric... and here in blacktown it is a little bit on the border with parra and right smack bang near the AFL team.. See last year Parra players came to Stanhope Gardens twice for fan signings etc...

I try and take my son to all the home games at Penrith just so he gets to see NRL games.

On a brighter note though..he does tell me if he ever makes it to NRL cause he is a Penrith junior he "will" be playing for Panthers!

Obviously with them doing so well, they will pick up some momentum. I remember back in the 80s going out to Penrith games it was always pretty packed...

I think all teams have ebbs and flows...

I am not a Penrith supporter but I truly hope they continue getting lots of people to their games. They are a great team and a nice bunch of boys!

 

[Fibroman]

I think it is because the toilets aren't big enough and you have to line up for 10 minutes to have a horses hiss.

 

[Big Mick]

What has the Storm being over the cap got to do with your poor efforts to get to the games?

If your father slows you down, why didnt you say that in the first place instead of tryin to whimp out with the excuse you gave.

I pay my membership cash. I live far enough away from the ground to make it an inconvenience. I have the right to go to the game or not if circumstances dictate I cannot.

And no scummy f**kwit Storm twig is gonna tell me off if I can't make one game out of 13. Who made you judge and f**king jury bitch?

I can't wait for your scummy team to be ripped apart.