SANFL Crowd Figures

[Jman]

I agree about advertising more about linking AFL players to the SANFL. We should use the AFL as an advantage instead of being so negative towards it.

Prices for SANFL are fine. I think one of the biggest contributers to low attendances is the draw. We need to abolish the Bye by either having an 8 team or 10 team competition. Also having more games at Adelaide Oval and night games would improve the crowds. The draw at the moment is so uneven (even worse than the AFL) where you play the same team 3 times in a year and can end up playing twice at their home ground, surely more neutral games can be played at Adelaide Oval

Agree we need the league to be an even number of teams to make it more even.
Cannot see the league sustaining a tenth team which would indicate maybe a mearger.
This however doesn't seem likely either.

[redden whites]

TV these days is surely the link to interest and numbers attending the competition.I hear all the time the basketball administrators cursing the loss of not just free to air but commercial free to air coverage.I'm am sure that we diehards love the ABC coverage so we can tape attended games or see the game if we cant make it but if you were watching from a "common freddy"point of view what would you really think? The telecast does our league absolutely no justice(especially the commentators).If doing the bopping remote control thing from the AFL on 10 to the SANFL on 2 at the same time and you would never contemplate packing up the kids to attend a game.Watching a boundary umpire jump the fence at Noarlunga to fetch the ball during a televised game makes me cringe with embarrasment.The SANFL should get top line callers and give them to the ABC for free,It would make the product appear much better and give our great league the respect it deserves.
Why hasn't the NRL,NFL or ARU telecasters taken up the idea of giving camera hats to officials under the sticks? Because its a poxy bloody idea.

[spell_check]

I have said before that the SANFL looks faster actually being there. The play looks slower watching it on TV than AFL does on TV, but if you actually go to the game there doesn't appear to be much difference.

[longtimewaiting_2]

a lot of people dont go to local footy any more simply because of the cows and powder if they go to the local footy they will get to the cows or powder match later than they want to.
i agree about the free pie and coke for the kids they r the future of the s.a.n.f.l. bring back the good ol days where there were cheersquads with floggers and streamers and torn up yellow pages to throw behind the goals duffle coats with your favourite player and no. on the back where kids had fun having big signs (banners) strung round the fence line

[holden78]

thebby had the best crowd and ave in 2005 5000+

[David Votoupal]

I think the extremes of weather- heat in the earlier part of the season, and rain during the course of it- may have adversely affected crowds in 2005. In any case, even as a Swannie there's quite a few things about AFL football that's left me cold lately, not least of them tactics. Fortunately ABC2 on a Tuesday night gives me the chance to see some SANFL action and there I can still see a lot of the things I enjoy about the game that the AFL is sorely missing these days.

[Spiritof64]

First step might be to stop the little league parents packing up and leaving as soon as their tin lids get out of the change rooms.

[redden whites]

I agreee totally with David V who posted above .The SANFL has plenty to offer and elements which leave the AFL for dead.The SANFL is a competition of men v men .Watch the old vfl games on fox footy pre 1990 you will see pack marks,not one skinny kid running around (there were real reserves teams back then) .How anyone believes the game is faster now amazes me .The average age of a debutante in 2005 compared to say 1988(some one please look it up I'm sure someone will).It was a huge novelty for a teenager to debut in the League .Now it is news if its a 22year old.Get down to men v men at your local league ground and be thankful we have it.

[Dog_ger]

From PhilH at footysa, interesting reading:

TOTAL CROWD FIGURES (Minor Rd & Finals)
2000 – 349,088
2001 – 344,135
2002 – 352,059
2003 – 313,215
2004 – 312,360
2005 – 303,354

Surely the wheather hasn't effected the crowds for the last 6 years...?

[Strawb]

It is interesting to see how the figures have dropped in recent years. One might say because port isn't doing to well the SANFL ain't doing to well. The bye does have it's merits as well as its problems. Living in Victoria now ther VFL formally the VFA is just the ressies for the AwFuL football league. The SANFL is a much better compition but alas i won't be seeing Westies play that much anymore. So I will go and Watch Werribee play instead i prefer Local footy to the AwFuL.
What the SANFL need to do is bring back the Local footy idea it is tribal West Adelaide Vs. Norwood to area's of Adelaide battling it out. Kids are the future so we need to do something like market it towards them like a footy sticker album i know this might sound silly but the kids will get to know a few of the players then. Bring back the good old days with cheer squads and banners at most games. The SANFL need to rebuild Thebby and turn it into another Venue for games make it a nutural venue where just say Westies can play Glenelg. I do love Adelaide oval but using Thebby as a different venue for these games and possibly Finals has an appealing idea.
The league could hold the Grand Final back at the Adelaide oval football park looks shite when it is fuken empty. The problem is just that the Family might be only able to afford to go to the Cows or Powder games nothing else. This is what killed the Waverley football club in the VFA when the then VFL built VFL Park at Mulgrave most families could only go to one game a weekend and unfortunately Waveley missed out whe the VFL was playing out there. Thats the problem the SANFL is seen but a few as a small fish in a big pond against the AwFuL look at how much 7 and 10 paid for the television rights. What the SANFL can do is go to channel nine adelaide and offer them a deal to televise the SANFL and have a form of Football show not like the footy show but an SANFL show where players are interviewed and the teams are read out do it on a Friday night at 7:30 and have a game afterwards or something like that. It will promote the league better to the South Australian public.

[David Votoupal]

I agreee totally with David V who posted above .The SANFL has plenty to offer and elements which leave the AFL for dead.The SANFL is a competition of men v men .Watch the old vfl games on fox footy pre 1990 you will see pack marks,not one skinny kid running around (there were real reserves teams back then) .How anyone believes the game is faster now amazes me .The average age of a debutante in 2005 compared to say 1988(some one please look it up I'm sure someone will).It was a huge novelty for a teenager to debut in the League .Now it is news if its a 22year old.Get down to men v men at your local league ground and be thankful we have it.

I'm talking about free-flowing football and kicking to contested marks, things that have become seemingly endangered spieces at AFL level but can still be seen in the SANFL et al.

[Punk Rooster]

Why doesn't the SANFL allocate some of the AFL/Crows (Power don't know how to post a profit) windfall towards buying air-time? As Strawb07 said, do a deal with C9, get a game live each weekend, 7:30 start, get in before the AFL. I personally wouldn't attend a non-North match, but would watch it on tv. Even a highlights package each Sunday with player/coach interviews would be better than nothingf.