TOPIC:

When you go through the gates you'll see a sheet of paper with several categories. Depending on your category, the gatekeeper puts a line through the number in that category that they are up to. I'm not saying it's perfect but it's as good as it can be without spending a zillion bucks on an AFL style automatic scanner. At 3/4 time of the league match the gates are opened for free entry and that's when the counting ends. From there it goes to the CEO and then to the WAFL on Tuesday usually.

By the way, sadly there really have been crowds of less than 1000 at WAFL games in the past. A lot of them were in the years 1995-2002 which were the poorest attendance years in the comps history - around the time when Peel were introduced to the comp and Claremont took a big hit when the Dockers were formed after already taking a big hit when the Eagles were formed in 1987. 616 is the lowest recorded between Claremont and Peel at Claremont in 1999. A lot of the sub 1000 games involve these two clubs.

As follows.
964 P v SF (1995)
850 WP v P (1996)
800 S v CL (1996)
853 CL v PT (1997)
981 S v PT (1997)
822 PT v SF (1998)
944 CL v PT (1998)
996 S v SF (1998)
976 PT v CL (1999)
922 CL v SD (1999)
616 CL v PT (1999)
954 EP v PT (1999)
927 S v PT (1999)
918 CL v SD (1999)
798 CL v PT (2000)
815 PT v EF (2000)
953 S v PT (2000)
--- (2001)
--- (2002)
852 SF v PT (2003)
--- (2004)
--- (2005)
955 PT v WP (2006)
936 PT v CL (2006)
911 PT v EP (2006)
920 PT v WP (2007)
874 PT v P (2008)
932 PT v CL (2009)
992 EF v PT (2010)
817 PT v S (2010)
--- (2011)
--- (2012)

Found those figures very interesting. Couldnt remember many games where WP v PTH where we only had 800 spectators as shown on your 1996 numbers.

Did a bit of research and suspect it would of been a early round where WP and Perth were not doing well. Unfortunately it is a FACT that when a WAFL team is not winning games a lot of cupboard supporters dont attend.

As you didnt show what round it was (which isnt a problem Ben as it is hard enough comming up with the research and figures anyway and well done)

Here are the WAFL ladders for Round 6 and Round 19. As can be seen WP obviously got their game together and ended up on 36 points and just out of the 4 on percentage.

Round 6 1996 Ladder



Round 19 1996 Ladder




My point here is if for example it is an even comp and up to 7 teams are neck and neck and all winning games which would give them a chance at finals we would have bigger crowds at the games these teams played for therefore increasing WAFL attendances.
But
If only 4/5 teams were leading after round 1 and the others were basically out of the running the attendances would drop involving these 4/5 teams because of their supporters not attending.
Of course teams with big followings e.g WP and Swans to name 2 would still get a reasonable crowd even against these teams but not as big as if 2 teams were playing each other in the top 5.

Hope that makes sense. Just another slant on attendances. Do you agree?

Yeah, ladder position is very important. Very good info there mate.

Or if a side is fairly low down on the ladder the fans still want to believe they have a chance to win. No point turning up otherwise.

If they believe the season is over, then it's just about curtains - unless they introduce some exciting youngsters that give hope for later. Sometimes that can tide the fans over.

The exception to all that is Claremont. Years of success in every grade and yet most years, including this season, they sit bottom two on attendances. A real worry.

Maybe Western Suburbs people think that WAFL is too low brow for them? Claremont have a huge area to draw fans from, so no excuse really.

I know you take a real interest in this Cardy, as I do. I think the WAFL has to get smarter with it's fixturing.

By that I mean, every single game has to be placed in a timeslot where it has a chance - apart from the ABC TV game which is permanent Sat 2.10pm.

The AFL hasn't left us with many gaps anymore.

AFL hasnt left many gaps you say.. Agree.. and lets not forget we have a lot of Vics or people support clubs besides Dockers and Eagles. Unfortunately that is the way of the beast now and we can do nothing about it except fixture our games so they dont clash with AFL games. I would be interested to know though how many WA AFL fans actually attend both AFL and WAFL games and we must remember if the games are interstate they would watch one of these games rather that goto a WAFL game.
I dont know if its just me but I tend to see a lot more people wearing Eagles colours at the WAFL games that WP play but that could be because of WP location and the same could apply to SF and EF games with Dockers supporters?

If a third AFL team comes out of the West it will be the end of the ball game for WAFL if it isnt already with the Alignments next year.
There is talk of a WP and EP merger to bring in a third WAFL team in a few years.
I am suspicious this could be close to the Mark with the money being handed out to Joondalup Even our president has not totally disagreed with the proposal.

Of course EP will already be in Alignment with EP so the merger with WP could be another inner City club. I could guess but who can OUTGUESS the AFL!!!!

That would bring the WAFL back to 8 teams with 3 clubs AFL aligned Clubs.
Would like others opinions on this. I know it basically Hypothetical but a distinct possibility from what I have heard on WA Media etc.

Fark I am going to have nightmares tonight...

Hopefully by the time the third WA team comes into the AFL, I'll be long gone, if the AFL is so foolish to water down their comp even further. The depth of talent just isn't there to add more teams for a long while.

I dont think they care LH - Its just about the "branding"

Cardy wrote: Found those figures very interesting. Couldnt remember many games where WP v PTH where we only had 800 spectators as shown on your 1996 numbers.

Did a bit of research and suspect it would of been a early round where WP and Perth were not doing well. Unfortunately it is a FACT that when a WAFL team is not winning games a lot of cupboard supporters dont attend.

As you didnt show what round it was (which isnt a problem Ben as it is hard enough comming up with the research and figures anyway and well done)

Here are the WAFL ladders for Round 6 and Round 19. As can be seen WP obviously got their game together and ended up on 36 points and just out of the 4 on percentage.

Round 6 1996 Ladder

Round 19 1996 Ladder

My point here is if for example it is an even comp and up to 7 teams are neck and neck and all winning games which would give them a chance at finals we would have bigger crowds at the games these teams played for therefore increasing WAFL attendances.
But
If only 4/5 teams were leading after round 1 and the others were basically out of the running the attendances would drop involving these 4/5 teams because of their supporters not attending.
Of course teams with big followings e.g WP and Swans to name 2 would still get a reasonable crowd even against these teams but not as big as if 2 teams were playing each other in the top 5.

Hope that makes sense. Just another slant on attendances. Do you agree?

Cardy and La Hincha,

The WP v P game would have been the round 19 fixture. I remember it was pouring down that day and Perth ended up winning by about 7 goals. Perth won 5 of their last 8 that year and handed the wooden spoon to Subi in the process. Wayne Blackwell really built momentum near the end of the season which lead into a successful 1997. He had started to form a good side with Corey Robertson, Troy Cook (2 real hard nuts), Russell Thompson and Dean Bertram. It was topped up in '97 with Brett Spinks and more WAFL games from Winston Abraham.
Sorry to indulge but definitely the round 19 match. I recall there was literally no one on the outer wing.

eres round 19 from 1996... Perth had a good win but not against WP.
Dont know how I determined WP V PERTH but was wrong on that one. Will have to have another look. Heres the round 19 Fixture and nice by Perth
Your Right about the wooden spoon to Subi Cesspit.




You were spot on with your comments Cesspit just got the round wrong.

The actual round where 850 attended was round 16.
Crowd attendance is up the top
It was played at Joondalup and Perth won 85 pts to WP 30...

I would of been at this game but cant remember it well (do you blame me)
As you say Cesspit it must of been a shit of a day contributing to crowd.

Something that is a big factor in the WAFL as well. If its wet an cold no one turns up. Click on link below for full details of ROUND 16

www.wafl.com.au/games/view/4545

1,532 at Bassendean for a Swan Dist v South Frem game? I saw the game. It seemed like a lot more than that to me.

LaH a good indicator of the crowd is how many are in the can bar on the scoreboard wing. On Saturday it was a sparse crowd; so the 1,532 figure rings true to me. I am not sure why our numbers have been so low this year. It certainly won't be helped with a five week break for our next home game.

I don't believe it has been caused by our win/loss ratio as we were 1/1 for the game against Perth and that game was poorly attended. A possible cause may be the 'host club scenario'. Another possibility was the problem with our first home game where the gate attendants were not briefed sufficiently as to the costs.

Perhaps some other people might have some ideas and whether it is a trend for most of the WAFL games this year.