TOPIC:

I remember going to a derby as a neutral with a 10K+ bumper crowd at Shark Park maybe 5-6 years ago. The only reason I went was for the experience to absorb the derby rivalry between these 2 traditional foes. There were upwards of 5000 kids there I shit you not. Horrible day out at the footy for me on the outer, a million kids kicking missiles at your head from all directions but a good thing for the WAFL. I left at half time such was the annoyance factor missing out on a cracking 2nd half where i think SF stole it from memory although might have my wires crossed. Not sure how EF achieved that crowd with that amount of kids. I'm sure it was a freebie on some level but these are the thing WAFL clubs need to do if they are going to have any fans left in future. Or we can just sit around and bicker amongst ourselves about who has the less smallest audience. I don't get it. Are we so pre conditioned by AFL over here to only have a one team audience in the crowd that we despise the opposition having good audiences. It only adds to the whole experience. All WAFL clubs should be combining their efforts to achieve the biggest audiences possible for each other, both home and away, instead of comparing the sizes of their man swords at the weak-as- piss trough.

Bazza wrote:

MarkOlsen wrote: the point was the derby when not on a long weekend doesnt draw a crowd, that is disappointing for the wafl that the greatest home and away rivalry in the comp is now also been affected by low crowd numbers.
we only get decent crowds for public holiday games and one-off free ticket games.
the WAFL as a whole hasnt been able to regain any footing in the WA footy market despite all the marketing dollars spent and hollow promises form the aligned clubs about increased attendances.

Not necessarily , we did ok with friday night derbies, although they seem to have been limited of late, dont forget its been a very very long time since both sides have been powers in the comp at the same time, despite this the fixture still draws a good crowd, yes the clubs pioneered the foundation day stand a lone fixture which still does well to this day. albeit in a much more crowded "special event" market.

I agree though that overall the WAFL has lost all standing in the publics eye as a go to event each weekend purely to support a team/comp. As a said earlier, we can be a lest thankfull for events like the foundation day derby as a reminder of the remnant days of glory, because outside that overall it is pretty much chicken feed as a spectacle atmosphere wise.

Those of us lucky enough to attend Bassendean Oval games and especially the scenes after the match last Saturday would certainly not be calling it 'chicken feed' atmosphere wise!

BC wrote: hahaha....don't try to confuse them with facts freezin otherwise you'll get my good friend 42 on here mangling plain english in a futile bid to sound intelligent.

BC put simply I don't need to try to "sound intelligent".

Freezin wrote: thanks for those stats MO...selective.... but much appreciated....perhaps those EF/SF fans are of the religious kind and the day of the sabbath is a no no for footy....ya got to admire such folk with strong principles....

I will add some more stats to the debate for a bit of banter

2013 Thurs EF v SF 3985 WP v SD 2695
2014 Fri EF v SF 3421 SD v WP 2656
2014 Sat EF v SF 2224 WP v SD 1806
2015 Mon SF v EF 5060 WP v SD 3340

amazing to think when the WAFL puts the best two supported clubs (SD/WP) head to head with a Freo Derby match the derby wins every time....not bad for an out dated powder puff rivalry.....

Freezin in the interests of full disclosure perhaps you can provide the statistics for all South Freo games, East Freo games, Swans' games and West Perth games for those three years.

Bazza wrote:

BC wrote: hahaha....don't try to confuse them with facts freezin otherwise you'll get my good friend 42 on here mangling plain english in a futile bid to sound intelligent.

Please dont BC, 42 will blame Tony Abbott and or the LNP...lol

Bazza whilst there are many things that one can blame Abbott for, include his base opportunism as the leader of the "Noalition" before the last Federal election, he is not to blame for the low attendances of the WAFL. To put it further into perspective I think that I would prefer T Abbott to be in charge of the WAFL compared to those we currently have running the WAFL competition.

Just had a quick look at the Wafl website, and bewildered to see the tv broadcast match!?! One would think in this 'floating round', that the match of the round would be televised? The West Perth v's Claremont game would have to be the pivotal match of the season, given the importance to not one, but two clubs riding on the outcome. If that's not a BIG enough or important match, not sure what is?

[/quote]Freezin in the interests of full disclosure perhaps you can provide the statistics for all South Freo games, East Freo games, Swans' games and West Perth games for those three years.[/quote]

42....pretty sure someone has posted 2015 crowd figures on here some where....with EP, WP EF & SF in the top 4 possies....as for previous years?... well I am sure they have been collated and posted here on oz footy too.....as for full disclosure?...mate are you asking me to break down how many WP, SD SF EF or neutral fans were part of those numbers....fark not too sure that can be even done mate......

anyway I was just putting it out there, that even in this SD/WP fan dominated WAFL climate,...it was interesting to see, that over the last 3 years, games between WP & SD and EF & SF, when played on the same day, showed that out of the two, the Freo derby pulled in the most punters every time.....

mate I am fully aware SD and WP are the life blood of the comp....just nice to know that the EF and SF rivalry isn't completely dead yet and can pull in a few punters....surely that is good for the WAFL isn't?.......but then like I have said before that doesn't sit too well with you SD fans and your perceived number one status....think it is time SD & WP ventured out of the WAFL and started their own comp.... with every WP/SD game having ego exclusive rights on Channel 9.. ....no annoying alignment disparity to whinge about, no Channel 7 to worry about, Channel 9 logo to stay on WP jumpers and that never before seen WP/SD GF....fark win win for all don't you think?

Freezin wrote:

Freezin in the interests of full disclosure perhaps you can provide the statistics for all South Freo games, East Freo games, Swans' games and West Perth games for those three years.[/quote]

42....pretty sure someone has posted 2015 crowd figures on here some where....with EP, WP EF & SF in the top 4 possies....as for previous years?... well I am sure they have been collated and posted here on oz footy too.....as for full disclosure?...mate are you asking me to break down how many WP, SD SF EF or neutral fans were part of those numbers....fark not too sure that can be even done mate......

anyway I was just putting it out there, that even in this SD/WP fan dominated WAFL climate,...it was interesting to see, that over the last 3 years, games between WP & SD and EF & SF, when played on the same day, showed that out of the two, the Freo derby pulled in the most punters every time.....

mate I am fully aware SD and WP are the life blood of the comp....just nice to know that the EF and SF rivalry isn't completely dead yet and can pull in a few punters....surely that is good for the WAFL isn't?.......but then like I have said before that doesn't sit too well with you SD fans and your perceived number one status....think it is time SD & WP ventured out of the WAFL and started their own comp.... with every WP/SD game having ego exclusive rights on Channel 9.. ....no annoying alignment disparity to whinge about, no Channel 7 to worry about, Channel 9 logo to stay on WP jumpers and that never before seen WP/SD GF....fark win win for all don't you think? [/quote]

Freezin I trust that wooden spoon of yours is not too heavy for you. I think DW made the point that perhaps as per Olympic scoring style if we eliminate the best and worst crowd figures for each club it may present a different picture.

Anecdotally in my opinion crowd have been DOWN this year. Twice when Swans played "Peel" it was the biggest crowd for the round. I can't recall what other matches were played for those two rounds.

It would be a very boring life if we all supported the one team; that is why you are integral to banter on this site Freezin. In concert with the Subi supporters it makes for interesting reading.

Crowds are definatley down Swan42, thats is becuase the two lifebloods of the comp, SF and Ef have underperformed.

As the great Percy Johnson used to always say, when Fremantle foootball is weak WA Football is weak.

Very rarely in the WANFL.WAFL history have theor been periods when both teams have been poor.

The fact that the greatest ever GF attendance was a derby speaks spades.

btw the second greatest involved SF as well!, 1975.

and the greatest post VFL/AFL era crowd is a SF GF as well. 1989

What records do SD hold?

swan42 wrote:

Bazza wrote:

BC wrote: hahaha....don't try to confuse them with facts freezin otherwise you'll get my good friend 42 on here mangling plain english in a futile bid to sound intelligent.

Please dont BC, 42 will blame Tony Abbott and or the LNP...lol

Bazza whilst there are many things that one can blame Abbott for, include his base opportunism as the leader of the "Noalition" before the last Federal election, he is not to blame for the low attendances of the WAFL. To put it further into perspective I think that I would prefer T Abbott to be in charge of the WAFL compared to those we currently have running the WAFL competition.

42, Yes mate we are on the same page with that one.