Attendance Boost For SANFL Finals Opening

[Wedgie]

MEDIA RELEASE
ATTENDANCE BOOST FOR SANFL FINALS OPENING
The SANFL was delighted with the opening round attendance of the 2006 SANFL ‘be active’ League Finals series. The 11,902 people who flocked to Adelaide Oval for the exciting Port v South Elimination Final and the important North v Central Qualifying Final represented a 26% increase on the 2005 crowd for the same fixture.
This increase is reflective of the increased attendances the League has enjoyed during the home and away series. The 2006 season has seen fans show renewed enthusiasm for the SANFL’s attacking style of football and they would not have been disappointed on Sunday.
SANFL Executive Commissioner Leigh Whicker says “our SANFL players have put on exciting, attacking matches all season. Fans have enjoyed an average of 30 goals per match and this week was no exception with an average of 32 goals scored in both matches.”
“This week presents a new challenge for us with the Crows playing a home final, but we have two SANFL Semi Finals well worth the $9 entry adults and $2 entry children would pay. These finals are the culmination of what has been a great year for the SANFL.”
This weekend’s finals action at Adelaide Oval sees the effervescent South Adelaide take on North Adelaide in the do or die first Semi Final. The second Semi Final sees the 2005 Grand Finallists’, the Eagles and Central District, battle it out with the winner securing a Grand Final berth. TV and radio broadcast times are detailed on the SANFL website http://www.sanfl.com.au

[spell_check]

There was an attendance boost because it did not rain.

[southee]

Please can someone tell Jars that.

Read his article in todays paper (Mon).

Not very positive is he?

[Wedgie]

Please can someone tell Jars that.

Read his article in todays paper (Mon).

Not very positive is he?

Whilst I don't agree with a lot of what Jars said he merely said he expected more people to get to watch SANFL as its such a quality product.
I too can't understand why some half wits go and watch slow downs but don't go and watch real good footy like SANFL finals.
He wasn't categorizing it compared to previous years just saying it should have had and desrved a bigger crowd.
I agree with him.

[TroyGFC]

If they played it Saturday they would of maybe got at least another 5000 people, and if another team besides Souf was playing!!!

[zipzap]

Always amusing how quickly the SANFL pats itself on the back when it gets a 'decent' crowd but is painfully quiet when the crowds are a bit thinnner a'la the flop that was the Back to 70s round.

I've never heard a football club described as "effervescent" before.

[southee]

Oh so the huge bay supporter base troy?

Wedgie,

Yes i agree with him in that respect too. Slowdowns should not get more but think its only a goin coin donation so you get all the "tight fisted" people going not wanting to pay the $9.00 which i think is great value. Especially on the weekend!!!

[giffo]

I thought it was a reasonable crowd. Perhaps if the Advertiser had covered the local games with as much effort as they put into two games being played in Perth it might help with the crowds.

[Hazydog]

Couldnt agree with you more Wedgie- probably being generous by describing them as HALF-wits.

Given the ideal conditions & the fact that 3 of the 4 sides were the Leagues best supported clubs, anything less than 15,000 was always going to be a disappointment in my eyes.

Not sure if petrolheads were at Mallala paying homage to Brocky or if City to Bayers were too knackered but wouldnt have thought either event would have had much impact on the attendance.

With the Eags replacing Port this week, and rain forecast (as if!), we could be looking at 25% less than last years figure.

[Brad]

I thought 11,000 was pretty average considering I went to Jamestown on Saturday and there was over 8000 for the Northen Areas Grand Final.

[-]

What Jars said is spot on. People just dont care anymore. The last two years there has been patches of rain throughout the day. So the crowd wasnt really that good.

[Punk Rooster]

Crowd numbers will drop this week, as the Eagles are playing...

[-]

Crowd numbers will drop this week, as the Eagles are playing...

Naturally. Biggest base out one of the three smallest in.

[sturtpeter]

I have the following points to make:

Attended the games to watch as an unbiased observer after we lost the U17's Second Semi-Final.

1. The crowd in my view was a major disappointment given the conditions compared to last year and the fact it didn't clash with any Major Footy event; except once again the Bay Run was staged. When will the SANFL realise that people with family etc competing and the rise in petrol etc., are placed in an awkward position?

2. A small point but another reason why I'm a little angry at the moment. I paid my admission, went to enter the Members' area and was told by a most polite official my yellow pass wasn't valid during Finals. Last year I was able to enter the Members' enclosure producing the same pass without any query or acrimony. The guy felt for me and let me in. No big deal, but, since SACA and AAMI MEmbers are admitted free, why don't the loyal people from SANFL Clubs who renew their Membership year in year out receive similar treatment?

3. The SAFC has a very small supporter base. They rank with West and the Eagles as having the fewest spectators at MOST games in the Minor Round.

4. Should have been played on Saturday to avoid the clash with the Bay Run.

And... finally my biggest sour grape post lol.

Sturt, Port, Glenelg, Norwood are arguably the best supported Clubs history says.

Only Port played yesterday.

[Ecky]

Sturt, Port, Glenelg, Norwood are arguably the best supported Clubs history says.

Are you sure SP? Why would people follow an "underachieving social club" like Glenelg?

(apologies for referring to a footysa debate on this forum)

[blues2002]

I have the following points to make:

Sturt, Port, Glenelg, Norwood are arguably the best supported Clubs history says.

Only Port played yesterday.

I think recent history shows that North and Centrals are also among the best supported clubs IMHO.

In both the outer and the grandstand there appeared to be a lot of south support - or was that just anti-port support?

[Brucetiki]

That was the first time I'd been to Adelaide Oval for a final, and it only strengthened my argument that all finals must be moved back to AAMI stadium.

1. Parking - due to other commitments, I got to Adelaide Oval at half-time of the EF, yet entered the ground 27 minutes into the 3rd quarter after having to park near Channel 10 and a 20 minute walk, and a few other people I talked to resorted to parking in the Riverbank car park after looking for a spot for over 45 minutes (and paying $12 - more than the price to get in!). Parking's a non-issue at AAMI - it takes 30 secs to find a great, free park, and in 2 minutes you're in the ground.

2. Facilities - to have league teams walking through the crowd to access change rooms in this say and age is simply unprofessional. It is clear Adelaide Oval does not have the facilities for double headers whereas AAMI Stadium does. As much as AAMI's stadium's PA system is criticised, it's 100% better than Adelaide Oval's.

The sooner all SANFL finals are back at AAMI the better

[FlyingHigh]

I wonder whether it was Jarman or the editor who used the phrase "SANFL lovers" rather than "footy lovers", because that gives all these so-called footy supporters, ie the ones who only follow the AFL, an easy out, whereas they are the ones who should be blasted for not going on Sunday.

To play the games on a Saturday would have got 2-3000 less with all the Amateur and country GF's.

Brad - was there really 8000 at Jamestown? There would barely be that many in the various towns that make up the league. Their GF crowds seem to grow and grow by about 1000 every year. Great if ther was, just seems a little far-fetched.

[FlyingHigh]

And Eagles playing instead of Port will be the 7th-best supported team instead of the 6th, so if the weather holds the crowd should be fairly similar.

[Punk Rooster]

Carparking problems were only evident due to the City-Bay fun run- entrants had parked their cars there, & there was a constant stream of traffic exiting the carparks. Surely the SANFL could've demanded exclusive use of the car parks?
The atmosphere was 100 times better than Footy Park could ever provide.
Agree that playing the game on a Sunday was the better move- Saturdays is tied up with Amateur League & Country finals, & these guys do support the SANFL when they can.