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A-league attendances 24/25

Hillbilly55 said:
There's the thing. We should respect a person's decision whether they chose to follow a particular sport, or even a particular league within a sport. Famously one of my friends who is an avid NRL fan was talking about the upcoming State of Origin game and another friend innocently asked "Who's playing?" the first friend still cannot believe the (so called) ignorance of our mutual friend.
I have taken the second bloke to an A League game, which he enjoyed, but he won't ever become a fan of the game.
PS, good for you to watch the "enemy".
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Interesting post, Hillbilly.
 
I've gone back pages and pages for some recent crowd figures.

I can't find any?

I'm always interested.

Auckland has been a revelation. I'm still cross with Gallop for awarding teams to Macarthur and Western U in preference to a better bid from Tas.

Both teams are playing some very good football, with a lot of young players playing.

Huge credit to the coaches, Sterj and Aloisi, but their crowds are really disappointing. We could have had one of these franchises in Tas, drawing more live spectators. Townsville, who were axed from the AL, drew 6 - 800 per game too. A lot more than than Mac and WU.
 
someguyjc said:
MV vs SFC - 14038
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I remember finally getting Fox in about 2007 and I turned on the TV with Muscat on the ball.

I think the Big Blue drew 41 000 in Melbourne in that game, which was common in that era!

How does this current 14 000 figure look compared to recent Big Blues in both Sydney and Melbourne?
 
TheSelectFew said:
I don't know why we don't play in winter.
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I'm keen to see a winter season.

The disadvantage is our players have to play in heat in summer ATM. However, it acclimatises AL national team players to play in Asia, where it is often hot.
 
Decentric said:
I remember finally getting Fox in about 2007 and I turned on the TV with Muscat on the ball.

I think the Big Blue drew 41 000 in Melbourne in that game, which was common in that era!

How does this current 14 000 figure look compared to recent Big Blues in both Sydney and Melbourne?
Click to expand...

There are a few factors with the old Victory crowds. Firstly Marvel (then Etihad) is much bigger than AAMI and has much more cheap seats available. The entire upper level at Marvel was general admin. Whereas at AAMI, the only GA is in the stands behind each goal (excluding active area). The other stands are all more expensive. The other factor is the copious amounts of free tickets. There were alot back in the day. I never paid to go to a MV game before the move to AAMI and I went to nearly every game. Members would get sent two free tickets at least every second home game. One of my mates would get them every game without fail. If he couldn't find someone to take them, he would just hand them to people queuing to buy tickets at the stadium. The third factor is the league was still shiny a new. Stadium was packed every week (boosted by the freebies) which gives the illusion of popularity. People love to do the popular thing. Now the freebies have dried up, league is very stale, various issues have driven people away and right now we are in a cost-of-living crisis. Young people especially don't have the same entertainment budget that we had 20 years ago. As a result, crowd numbers have settled to a more organic average.
 
Hillbilly55 said:
There's the thing. We should respect a person's decision whether they chose to follow a particular sport, or even a particular league within a sport. Famously one of my friends who is an avid NRL fan was talking about the upcoming State of Origin game and another friend innocently asked "Who's playing?" the first friend still cannot believe the (so called) ignorance of our mutual friend.
I have taken the second bloke to an A League game, which he enjoyed, but he won't ever become a fan of the game.
PS, good for you to watch the "enemy".
Click to expand...
that sounds like the sort of question I would ask about State of Origin.... I asked a Melbourne based Kiwi why they where wearing a QLD Rugby jersey once (It was state of origin match down in Melbourne a couple of years ago now) and why they supported one state over the other ..... the response wa NOT friendly.... lol
 
someguyjc said:
There are a few factors with the old Victory crowds. Firstly Marvel (then Etihad) is much bigger than AAMI and has much more cheap seats available. The entire upper level at Marvel was general admin. Whereas at AAMI, the only GA is in the stands behind each goal (excluding active area). The other stands are all more expensive. The other factor is the copious amounts of free tickets. There were alot back in the day. I never paid to go to a MV game before the move to AAMI and I went to nearly every game. Members would get sent two free tickets at least every second home game. One of my mates would get them every game without fail. If he couldn't find someone to take them, he would just hand them to people queuing to buy tickets at the stadium. The third factor is the league was still shiny a new. Stadium was packed every week (boosted by the freebies) which gives the illusion of popularity. People love to do the popular thing. Now the freebies have dried up, league is very stale, various issues have driven people away and right now we are in a cost-of-living crisis. Young people especially don't have the same entertainment budget that we had 20 years ago. As a result, crowd numbers have settled to a more organic average.
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Good informative post, SGJC.
 
someguyjc said:
There are a few factors with the old Victory crowds. Firstly Marvel (then Etihad) is much bigger than AAMI and has much more cheap seats available. The entire upper level at Marvel was general admin. Whereas at AAMI, the only GA is in the stands behind each goal (excluding active area). The other stands are all more expensive. The other factor is the copious amounts of free tickets. There were alot back in the day. I never paid to go to a MV game before the move to AAMI and I went to nearly every game. Members would get sent two free tickets at least every second home game. One of my mates would get them every game without fail. If he couldn't find someone to take them, he would just hand them to people queuing to buy tickets at the stadium. The third factor is the league was still shiny a new. Stadium was packed every week (boosted by the freebies) which gives the illusion of popularity. People love to do the popular thing. Now the freebies have dried up, league is very stale, various issues have driven people away and right now we are in a cost-of-living crisis. Young people especially don't have the same entertainment budget that we had 20 years ago. As a result, crowd numbers have settled to a more organic average.
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And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with an "organic average" .. Aleague needs to start winning the trust of its fans back, from an outsiders perspective.
 
@someguyjc A good post, the only disagreement I have is the alleged staleness of the A League. It does appear that, finally, the powers that be within most of the A League clubs/franchises have accepted their place in the world football pyramid and know they are a selling League, Hence the predominance of younger players and their preference to older team fillers. This has produced a lot better spectacle than past seasons.

I know that some will want to dive down my throat and rip my heart out for saying this, but this is the fundamental selling point of the old NSL. It knew its place (mostly) and survived.

I credit the FA's movement towards an NST for this step in the right direction by the A League. I am therefore quite optimistic that, come 2034, we will have a full P & R pyramid.
 
Hillbilly55 said:
@someguyjc A good post, the only disagreement I have is the alleged staleness of the A League. It does appear that, finally, the powers that be within most of the A League clubs/franchises have accepted their place in the world football pyramid and know they are a selling League, Hence the predominance of younger players and their preference to older team fillers. This has produced a lot better spectacle than past seasons.

I know that some will want to dive down my throat and rip my heart out for saying this, but this is the fundamental selling point of the old NSL. It knew its place (mostly) and survived.

I credit the FA's movement towards an NST for this step in the right direction by the A League. I am therefore quite optimistic that, come 2034, we will have a full P & R pyramid.
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Im NOT gonna bite :) I personally hate the concept of settling for a "selling league" identity whether that is the NSL, the NPL or the Aleague ... but thats just me.... :P
 
H55 the APL forced their own hand accepting their space because they used up all of the P+ funds mate, the owners arn't dipping in more to buy players for they only had 500k split amongst them all hence using their youth players.
Logical business sense.
No worries about your NSL comments doubt anyone would bother countering.
Yep the FA fingers toes crossed get the NST together with current accepted Clubs and the future working ahead and long before bloody 2034 P/R is humming along without the APL actually :)
 
I know P&R involves problems with the way the A League licence system is constructed, but I agree with Hillbilly 55, that the problem with A League is staleness. It has become claustrophobic. No risk, no energy. The way I see it, we have 3 problems, in this order of priority:

- inappropriate stadiums, a disaster for the promoting the competition
- the salary cap, means we can never complete in Asia, which reinforces stagnation of the competition and negative perceptions of the quality of the League
- lack of P&R, which means stagnation, loss of interest, and a lack of consequence for poor performance, which undermines the integrity of the comp.

I can't see any of these being resolved, to be direct. I've been a rusted on supporter of the comp since, literally, game 1, and this year I have not watched a single full game. I watch mini matches of the best games, but I'm losing interest in even those. I recognise that is in part because I'm older, my kids no longer play, and I have other things that take my time now, but the overriding factor is the lack of anything at stake in the comp. It's like watching a fairground carousel going round and round and round, the same horses all the time. There's no edge to it.
 
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Frankly Speaking said:
I know P&R involves problems with the way the A League licence system is constructed, but I agree with Hillbilly 55, that the problem with A League is staleness. It has become claustrophobic. No risk, no energy. The way I see it, we have 3 problems, in this order of priority:

- inappropriate stadiums, a disaster for the promoting the competition
- the salary cap, means we can never complete in Asia, which reinforces stagnation of the competition and negative perceptions of the quality of the League
- lack of P&R, which means stagnation, loss of interest, and a lack of consequence for poor performance, which undermines the integrity of the comp.
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oh but its all about the exciting finals mate even though the list of bridemaids sit there looking forward to next season having nothing to worry about.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
I know P&R involves problems with the way the A League licence system is constructed, but I agree with Hillbilly 55, that the problem with A League is staleness. It has become claustrophobic. No risk, no energy. The way I see it, we have 3 problems, in this order of priority:

- inappropriate stadiums, a disaster for the promoting the competition
- the salary cap, means we can never complete in Asia, which reinforces stagnation of the competition and negative perceptions of the quality of the League
- lack of P&R, which means stagnation, loss of interest, and a lack of consequence for poor performance, which undermines the integrity of the comp.
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swap 1st and 3rd on your list and I agree :)
 
I think many people underestimate how destructive our repeated club failures in the AFC have been long term.

I recall attending the all conquering Roar's first ACL home game with FC Tokyo. It was crushing. Broich and co were absolutely owned by the Japanese team. Brisbane were on the whole slower, smaller, and less skilled.

That, folks, is a salary cap issue. Sure, we may have a more even comp than some, but what point is that if our club's results in the ACL constantly embarrass us?
 
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