TOPIC:

Excellent interview with The Ages Rohan Connelly on Saturday on 6PR, really demonstrated issues confronting the AFL at the moment it is in series trouble in its hearland.

btw latest media ratings reveal ratings have dropped 9% nationaly this year.

Dirty Weekender wrote:

Leather Stops wrote:

UNKA2 wrote: When was the last time subi oval had 40,000?, my guess is the ave is around 33,000 this year. As for melb its a disaster last fri North ( say 30,000 members ) Bombers 60,000 members, so outta 90,000 members on a fri night 30,000 turned up. One in three. Teams no longer play at home grounds, which only adds to the souless feel of many sides over there. They AFL chased money, in every area, NOW they are realising ( albiet some 10 years too late) that they have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

Only 23,000 to watch Essendon vs Adelaide. Essendon's lowest crowd at Etihad ever.

That's approx 500K the AFL lose in gate attendance income from a usual Essendon crowd. One can only wonder the cost to the AFL since the blackest day in sport presser.

If it keeps going this way SANFL will be pulling bigger crowds!

The Melbourne writer Rowan Connelly was saying in his interview on 6PR that he went along to the real madrid game at the MCG. What he noticed was the huge amount of youth there, he said his young bloke and all his mates seem to be drifting away from AFL , he said its a real trend in Victoria that is becoming noticable, AFl is drawing an older 40 plus crowd, baby boomer with few youth, he reckons AFL administrators are being left behind and tend to rest on laurels they just fail to adapt to the changing demographic.

58shark wrote:

Bazza wrote: 100000 at the MCG watching the soccer, how many at that shambles hawks v blues.

Get grip sport and stop putting your negative gates up. 90k at a poofball game that has a world class team with world class players here once every few years is going to attract people. What about the games played every week with no names worth mentioning - they get 50, 80, 100k every week do they? Oz rules footy has it's problems, but they will sort themselves out. I get sick of the negative people of the world continually tell me our game is fcuked.

Thing is though 58, figures speak for them selves, be it attendance or tv ratings. Beleive me if the powers at Soccer headquarters see 100,000 at the g for an exhibition match, it will become a regular occurance. Secondly the second tier of our national game here gets what 10,000 in TOTAL for 4 games . Its not negative spin, its merely ewatching and reporting on what is happening. Crowds at AFL have droped if not stagnated for 10 plus years. SA and WA crowds for thier AFL teams have remained ok, BUT the rest of the comp is crap. Ohh and dont forget one the socceroos play here in tournaments they also get around the 70,000k mark. Soccer crowds are up and afl crowds down, its just facts 58

UNKA2 wrote:

58shark wrote:

Bazza wrote: 100000 at the MCG watching the soccer, how many at that shambles hawks v blues.

Get grip sport and stop putting your negative gates up. 90k at a poofball game that has a world class team with world class players here once every few years is going to attract people. What about the games played every week with no names worth mentioning - they get 50, 80, 100k every week do they? Oz rules footy has it's problems, but they will sort themselves out. I get sick of the negative people of the world continually tell me our game is fcuked.

Thing is though 58, figures speak for them selves, be it attendance or tv ratings. Beleive me if the powers at Soccer headquarters see 100,000 at the g for an exhibition match, it will become a regular occurance. Secondly the second tier of our national game here gets what 10,000 in TOTAL for 4 games . Its not negative spin, its merely ewatching and reporting on what is happening. Crowds at AFL have droped if not stagnated for 10 plus years. SA and WA crowds for thier AFL teams have remained ok, BUT the rest of the comp is crap. Ohh and dont forget one the socceroos play here in tournaments they also get around the 70,000k mark. Soccer crowds are up and afl crowds down, its just facts 58

Understand what you say unk. The poofball big teams keep drawing big crowds, but look at the local games. Not a real lot better than our WAFL crowds. If they can get a world class European team here every week, then we'll keep seeing the big number of bums on seats, till then.... I do think however, that if the AFL isn't looking at the gate numbers and also listening to the drums that are beating, then they will lose the battle. Perhaps they need someone with more vision and stronger character than Gillon?

The AFL is not a national comp. It is the extended vfl and it must change. No one is interested in 10 vic teams (9 of them with in a 10 k radius of Melbourne) play against Capital states like Sydney, Perth, Adelaide.

Not another dollar to northmelbourne, footscaray, st killed or carlton. They should be playing in the proud VFL.

North are still trying to sell their games to the highest bidder. They were offered the world to go to GC. But ego got in the way.

Should be 7 big games a week - not 3 big games and 6 games that no one gives a rats about.

14 teams playing the other 13 twice for a 26 round comp.

Proud and financial second tier comps.

58shark wrote:

UNKA2 wrote:

58shark wrote:

Bazza wrote: 100000 at the MCG watching the soccer, how many at that shambles hawks v blues.

Get grip sport and stop putting your negative gates up. 90k at a poofball game that has a world class team with world class players here once every few years is going to attract people. What about the games played every week with no names worth mentioning - they get 50, 80, 100k every week do they? Oz rules footy has it's problems, but they will sort themselves out. I get sick of the negative people of the world continually tell me our game is fcuked.

Thing is though 58, figures speak for them selves, be it attendance or tv ratings. Beleive me if the powers at Soccer headquarters see 100,000 at the g for an exhibition match, it will become a regular occurance. Secondly the second tier of our national game here gets what 10,000 in TOTAL for 4 games . Its not negative spin, its merely ewatching and reporting on what is happening. Crowds at AFL have droped if not stagnated for 10 plus years. SA and WA crowds for thier AFL teams have remained ok, BUT the rest of the comp is crap. Ohh and dont forget one the socceroos play here in tournaments they also get around the 70,000k mark. Soccer crowds are up and afl crowds down, its just facts 58

Understand what you say unk. The poofball big teams keep drawing big crowds, but look at the local games. Not a real lot better than our WAFL crowds. If they can get a world class European team here every week, then we'll keep seeing the big number of bums on seats, till then.... I do think however, that if the AFL isn't looking at the gate numbers and also listening to the drums that are beating, then they will lose the battle. Perhaps they need someone with more vision and stronger character than Gillon?

Trouble is 58 ( and i agree) then business men ( suits) at AFL are like judges in the judicial system, they just aint in the real world, they would not know what a genuine footy fan was. Its so hard to unravel the mess they have made, from destroying home grounds to ( now serioulsy think about this) ...playing a man who has NEVER played AFL ( Ireal Folua) more than say a Pavlich Fyffe etc etc, it makes a sham of our great game. Now thats before "making up teams" in states that in reality dont give a rats toss bag about AFL. Umpires, rules, changing rules, having rule of the week (WTF), ever changing time slots , and trying to sell this as a genuine SPORT. They expect the pulic to accept anything they ( AFL) dish up, and that the public will cop it. Can it be fixed?..... serioulsy i worry.

UNKA2 wrote:

58shark wrote:

UNKA2 wrote:

58shark wrote:

Bazza wrote: 100000 at the MCG watching the soccer, how many at that shambles hawks v blues.

Get grip sport and stop putting your negative gates up. 90k at a poofball game that has a world class team with world class players here once every few years is going to attract people. What about the games played every week with no names worth mentioning - they get 50, 80, 100k every week do they? Oz rules footy has it's problems, but they will sort themselves out. I get sick of the negative people of the world continually tell me our game is fcuked.

Thing is though 58, figures speak for them selves, be it attendance or tv ratings. Beleive me if the powers at Soccer headquarters see 100,000 at the g for an exhibition match, it will become a regular occurance. Secondly the second tier of our national game here gets what 10,000 in TOTAL for 4 games . Its not negative spin, its merely ewatching and reporting on what is happening. Crowds at AFL have droped if not stagnated for 10 plus years. SA and WA crowds for thier AFL teams have remained ok, BUT the rest of the comp is crap. Ohh and dont forget one the socceroos play here in tournaments they also get around the 70,000k mark. Soccer crowds are up and afl crowds down, its just facts 58

Understand what you say unk. The poofball big teams keep drawing big crowds, but look at the local games. Not a real lot better than our WAFL crowds. If they can get a world class European team here every week, then we'll keep seeing the big number of bums on seats, till then.... I do think however, that if the AFL isn't looking at the gate numbers and also listening to the drums that are beating, then they will lose the battle. Perhaps they need someone with more vision and stronger character than Gillon?

Trouble is 58 ( and i agree) then business men ( suits) at AFL are like judges in the judicial system, they just aint in the real world, they would not know what a genuine footy fan was. Its so hard to unravel the mess they have made, from destroying home grounds to ( now serioulsy think about this) ...playing a man who has NEVER played AFL ( Ireal Folua) more than say a Pavlich Fyffe etc etc, it makes a sham of our great game. Now thats before "making up teams" in states that in reality dont give a rats toss bag about AFL. Umpires, rules, changing rules, having rule of the week (WTF), ever changing time slots , and trying to sell this as a genuine SPORT. They expect the pulic to accept anything they ( AFL) dish up, and that the public will cop it. Can it be fixed?..... serioulsy i worry.

As Karl Langdon was saying the AFL should be worried because getting that many to a soccer match just 15 to 20 years ago would of been un immaginable for two foreign teams in a pointless scratch match. In the meantime bugger all turn up to AFL games. Dont forget they sold out the Adelaide Oval.

I could not believe what I was hearing last week when I heard Paul Roos on 360 say he was delighted when his Melbourne side had only kicked 2 goals in a half whilst keeping Brisbane to only 1 goal ..That bloke has got a lot to answer for in regards to the way the game is currently played with continual ugly stoppage orientated garbage and no emphasis whatsoever on actually scoring goals that the fans who pay good money actually want to see!

I saw some stat that the amount of goals getting kicked has dropped to an all time low.

Dunstall described the WBull v Coll game as a shootout.
It wasn't long ago that 15 goals to 13 was a 3/4 time scoreline.

How many sides do we see these days that kick under 9's scorelines?
Just this last round we saw this.
Sydney kicked just 1 goal in the first half.
GWS kicked 2.3 in the first half.
Brisbane kicked 2 goals in 3 quarters.
Carlton 4 goals for the whole game, under a roof.
Geelong kicked a winning score (9.15) in perfect conditions.
Melbourne scored 6.10, which is about standard for them.

The Essendon/Port game was a breath of fresh air, which is suprising considering Essendon have been the kings of the goal glut most of the year.

Paul Roos is a coach who is notorious for his congestion style. And yes its very ugly. He won a premiership at Sydney on a perfect day kicking just 7 goals. That was probably the worst thing for the comp in terms of that style getting a flag. Other coaches have followed suit and its detrimental to the game and what it has always stood for. Many will hate seeing Hawthorn win a flag again, but I can tell you if their attacking and scoring based style win them this years premiership, then I will be happy. This is the way the game should be played.