The 2015 Attendance Comparisons Thread

[whufc]

Respect to Rowey!!!!

[therisingblues]

Link to tonights Ch9 story on the news -> https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=85 ... tif_t=like

Thanks Dutchy.
Interesting that North's drop in crowds is the second highest, sort of correlates with what they were apparently told at their information night: to paraphrase tipper's account, North's management said they'd sooner close their doors than vote out the two interlopers.

[tipper]

i would be fascinated to see the answer to the same question now, and whether it has crossed the minds of those in charge that maybe, just maybe, the people against the reserves sides were right........

[JK]

i would be fascinated to see the answer to the same question now, and whether it has crossed the minds of those in charge that maybe, just maybe, the people against the reserves sides were right........

Sadly the ego's of most board members would never allow for them to admit they were wrong

[RB]

Update after this round, all are to the 2nd week of May:

1997: 3957 (24 matches, to Rd 7)
1998: 4132 (27, Rd 7)
1999: 3711 (27, Rd 7)
2000: 3296 (39, Rd 10)
2001: 4005 (27, Rd 7)
2002: 3761 (27, Rd 7)
2003: 3306 (27, Rd 7)
2004: 3589 (23, Rd 6)
2005: 3241 (27, Rd 7)
2006: 3256 (27, Rd 7)
2007: 3262 (23, Rd 6)
2008: 3672 (28, Rd 7)
2009: 3173 (28, Rd 7)
2010: 3580 (28, Rd 7)
2011: 3639 (23, Rd 6)
2012: 3286 (30, Rd
2013: 3407 (24, Rd 6)
2014: 3357 (25, Rd 6)
2015: 2637 (27, Rd 6)

In other words, this year has had the worst attendances till the second week of May, 500 worse than the next worst. 500 fewer people going each week is a disastrous result. I know the split round at the beginning of the season didn't help but the same happened in 2012 for a much more minimal discrepancy.

And Bickley had the nerve to tell us that 1,500 Crows fans were buying pies and pasties every week. (Which BTW is 2,500 less than the number originally promised.)

[topsywaldron]

I was the caller on air at the time he said that, I'm pretty happy the seven second delay wasn't called upon.

What a Crowist flog he is.

[Wedgie]

Its got to make you wonder if the clowns that voted for this (and dont blame clubs/boards as I'm quite aware of board members with a different view to the league delegate) are just clueless or have other incentives?
We all said last year things would be much worse this year when the novelty wore off and even last year's figures were a downward trend on most years.
Personally I'm hoping the director at my club will finally get voted out especially with the way the team is going on field but have my doubts, personally if I had any sort of integrity I'd move on.

[Wedgie]

From the Central v South thread:

One thing I think no one has reported on yet

The 1,342 attendance according to my records is the lowest of all time at Elizabeth Oval

[The Apostle]

[HoldenV8]

Rowe is a freaking hypocrite. Granted he was initially against the idea of the Crows and Power having teams in the SANFL, but as usual it didn't take him long to jump on board the AFL clubs bandwagon.

SANFL fans, those who actually follow(ed) the competition through the year and not just when it became obvious that either or both the Crows and Power wouldn't play AFL finals, are voting with their feet.

When I was growing up in the 1980's you could almost bet your house that any match involving Port would have the weekends biggest crowd. Not any more. And the really sad thing is that when you go to a Port reserves game these days, 90% of their supporters are wearing Power and not Magpies gear. Even though I am a Westies fan I went to last years GF (a mate had a free ticket) and I was hard pressed to find more than a handful of Port fans wearing anything Magpies.

[RB]

I wonder where they got the idea of the headstone from...

[therisingblues]

I wonder where they got the idea of the headstone from...

I'm glad you brought that up because I have seen something identical elsewhere and CANNOT for the life of me think where!
Let me know if you ever find out.

[topsywaldron]

Would there have ever been a four or five game SANFL round in history with a lower crowd average than last weekend?

[mighty_tiger_79]

But apparently the AFL sides are good and its the weather doing the damage!!!!!

When I went every week the weather didn't stop me. In fact I actually enjoyed going to matches when it was raining and going to be a big slog.

Footy is a winter sport.

perhaps the SANFL should provide every club with a roof......

[johntheclaret]

Link to tonights Ch9 story on the news -> https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=85 ... tif_t=like

I don't have Facebook

Don;t think you need it to view it.

Ah yes. I've already seen it.

[RB]

I wonder where they got the idea of the headstone from...

I'm glad you brought that up because I have seen something identical elsewhere and CANNOT for the life of me think where!
Let me know if you ever find out.

Sure thing ;-)

[spell_check]

Updated to Round 7

Code: Select all

Year   Round   Average   Matches
1997   8   3800   28
1998   8   4033   31
1999   8   3581   31
2000   10   3296   39
2001   8   3907   31
2002   8   3718   31
2003   8   3347   31
2004   7   3401   27
2005   8   3201   31
2006   8   3220   31
2007   7   3238   27
2008   8   3430   32
2009   8   3144   32
2010   8   3542   32
2011   7   3472   27
2012   9   3266   34
2013   7   3280   28
2014   7   3315   35
2015   7   2633   32

[csbowes]

Part 1

Greetings SANFLers...

I think I only posted once last year after being a prolific poster in seasons past. I've decided to jump on here again just to let you guys know how I've faired trying to get an answer from the league on the attendance issue.

I sent this brief email to the SANFL :-

I was wondering if the SANFL has been keeping track of crowds this year in order to compare them to the same point last year etc? I haven't the data myself, but it seems like crowds are well down on last season. I was wondering if the league could shed some light on this? Also, has the league got data on club memberships for this season versus last season to determine if they have gone up or done?

I received an email back from Jessica Wainwright who acknowledged that crowds were "slightly down" on last year, but that we had had unfavourable weather and played 3 less games. In terms of membership data, Jessica said they don't collect that data until years end.

I don't know who Jessica is but maybe she is an administrative assistant or something there and not trained to answer such questions. At the time I didn't have the figures posted on here about crowds, but "slightly down" is not how I would describe 20% down if the data on here is correct. In addition saying that 3 games less have been played is a bit odd.

That mainly effects aggregate, we're talking crowd average.

Anyway, that was the initial response.

[csbowes]

Part 2.

I then sent a reply to the SANFL with much more detail in it. It wasn't a trap sending them the brief email up front as initially I thought I'd just poll them and see what they say. Last time the SANFL rang me and had a chat on the phone when I raised concerns about Port Adelaide's Reserves team possibly stopping South Adelaide from winning its first flag in 50 years and how from a PR perspective that would be tragic. Anyway, after the initial response I then thought bugger it, I'll send a more comprehensive email next.

Plus, I decided to email the 8 SANFL clubs and see what they thought...

Here was my email...

----------

Sir / Ma’am,

I write to you as a long term supporter of the SANFL. I recently contacted the SANFL about what I perceived was a significant reduction in attendances and interest in SANFL matches.

By coincidence, this same concern has been raised in the media in the last 24-48 hours resulting in stories on Channel 9 and discussions on the 5AA Sports Show with Stephen Rowe and Mark Bickley.

The stats that I found on the internet tonight concerning crowds are as follows :-

1997: 3957 (24 matches, to Rd 7)
1998: 4132 (27, Rd 7)
1999: 3711 (27, Rd 7)
2000: 3296 (39, Rd 10)
2001: 4005 (27, Rd 7)
2002: 3761 (27, Rd 7)
2003: 3306 (27, Rd 7)
2004: 3589 (23, Rd 6)
2005: 3241 (27, Rd 7)
2006: 3256 (27, Rd 7)
2007: 3262 (23, Rd 6)
2008: 3672 (28, Rd 7)
2009: 3173 (28, Rd 7)
2010: 3580 (28, Rd 7)
2011: 3639 (23, Rd 6)
2012: 3286 (30, Rd
2013: 3407 (24, Rd 6)
2014: 3357 (25, Rd 6)
2015: 2637 (27, Rd 6)

This shows a 20% plus reduction in crowds when compared to last year and easily the worst crowd average for the last 19 years. Is this the club’s understanding of where things are too?

i.e. crowd averages across the league are down, even if some club averages are up

This is an alarming reduction in crowds if it is true.

Norwood v Crows #1 @ Norwood – 5312 (2014) v 3025 (2015) … down 2287
Eagles v Glenelg @ Woodville – 1747 (2014) v 1429 (2015) … down 318
Port v Sturt @ Alberton- 2,639 (2014) v 2038 (2015) … down 601
Central v South @ Elizabeth – 1990 (2014) v 1342 (2015) … down 548
West v North @ Richmond – 2251 (2014 Fri Night) v 1588 (2015) … down 663

http://footetimes.com/foot-e-times-daily-tues-may-12th/

The above shows 2014 v 2015 figures for the same games as published by the Foot-e-times website, which is run by match day commentators on the SANFL. That shows 4,417 less people attended those games.

My understanding is that the Port v Sturt match is the lowest attended game of those two clubs at that venue since 1915. The same website published Adelaide Crows crowds as being 43% down on last year to an average of 1,961 as at end of round 5.

As at end of Rd 5 2015 v Season Total 2014

1st – Norwood 4,239 per game (up 21% on 2014 figure – 3,516 pg)
2nd – Sturt 3,543 per game (up 16% on 2014 figure – 3067 pg)
3rd – Glenelg 3,194 per game (up 7% on 2014 figure – 2,992 pg)
4th – Port 2,915 per game (down 9% on 2014 figure – 3,219 pg)
5th – South 2,514 per game (up 16% on 2014 figure – 2,160 pg)
6th – North 2,399 per game (down 17% on 2014 figure – 2,885 pg)
7th – Eagles 2,368 per game (down 8% on 2014 figure – 2,571 pg)
8th – Central 2,217 per game (up 1% on 2014 figure – 2,187 pg)
9th – West 2,075 per game (down 2% on 2014 figure – 2,121 pg)
10th – Adelaide 1,961 per game (down 43% on 2014 figure – 3,420 pg)

http://footetimes.com/foot-e-times-daily-tues-may-5th/

Do these figures match or at least represent what the club has recorded itself?

If so, what is the club’s view on what is affecting crowds?

My specific questions related to what might be causing this drop in crowds are :-

Does the club believe the $14 admission price too high?

Does the club believe the introduction of the AFL reserves teams is the cause? (hence that it was a mistake to admit them)

What support has AFC/PAFC provided the club over the past 18 months to promote home games?

What is membership like this year compared to last year? (i.e. percent increase/decrease)

I’m just keen to find out what the club’s view is on this situation. I’ll be honest and say that I have concerns that the introduction of the AFL teams has disenchanted many SANFL supporters to the extent that they are no longer attending games. If the club doesn’t believe that is the reason, then what does the club think is the reason and what will it do to improve the situation?

I know it’s a lot of questions, but as it stands, I fear the competition is facing a real crisis and I really want to know what the view of the club is and want to be set straight on the facts rather than rely on what I read on the net.

----------

I sent that email on 13 May 15....

[csbowes]

Part 3.

The responses have been as follows :-

SANFL

After responding to my first email, I have not had a response since.

Norwood

Did not respond.

West Torrens

Did not respond.

South Adelaide

Did not respond.

West Adelaide

Did not respond.

Sturt

Did not respond. However, they did put comments up on Facebook. I will post them here.

Central District

Did not respond.

North Adelaide

Did not respond.

Glenelg

Did not respond.

By tomorrow, the SANFL and the 8 clubs would have had the email for one week. Personally, since I haven't had a single response, I'd suggest that the league has decided to put a media ban on public comment.

In addition, I think it would have been courteous to at least tell me they cannot comment. Just ignoring my query, which I think was written pretty fairly and without much prejudice, is a bit unreasonable on their part.