TOPIC:

I think dropping admission prices is a pretty good idea BH although you'd have to get agreement from all the clubs given they keep the revenue. The old ground sharing chestnut is also starting to happen and should go for all clubs to keep costs down. I also see no reason why the WAFC can't schedule two league games at one ground on one afternoon to likewise keep costs down and create a bit of atmosphere.

Some good suggestions starting to be aired here. Custodian is right, we need to rise above club loyalties and look at this as our competition which is on the decline. In my view we need to find a way to differentiate the WAFL from the AFL. Of course its all football but the AFL is a far superior standard so we cannot attract people based on the quality of the footy.

We need to find some sort of market niche that would attract a person who may be interested. This may be a combination of marketing strategies such as having AFL players available to access and sign kids shirts, a family friendly atmosphere, theme days, having grounds in places where there are other activities and providing discounts to people who come to the footy and say go to a restaurant for dinner in Oxford Street afterwards, double headers under lights, making it a cheap afternoons entertainment in comparison to AFL. It just needs a few creative minds to get together and come up with some ideas. we still have a marketable product, I think we are just competing in the wrong market at the moment.

How can the WAFL get it so wrong yet the SANFL is still seeing good crowds at Grand Finals. Can't blame Subiaco's dominance as Centrals dominated the SANFL for many years and still saw good crowds. What do the Crow eaters do that we don't.

Why didn't the WAFC have a pre season marketing campaign based around the WAFL being the best League of football outside of the AFL? We have comfortably accounted for the SANFL, VFL, NEAFL in the last 3 years and we will do a number on TAS this year. What has happened to all the pride we had in WA footy that I grew up with in the late 70s and 80s were we would beat the drum about how good our footy was? The WAFC like it or not have no interest in the WAFL anymore and see it as a burden rather than promoting the good points of what it actually is the premier feeder of talent into the AFL. Also where was the so called extra promotion and support the Budgies & Dorks were going to provide the WAFL when they got their Reserves teams in?

Having said all that 3 years back into the host club sham and 3 clubs are guaranteed every year of making the finals leaving not much excitement for the G6 clubs fans to look forward too and if any of those clubs have a raft of injuries or poor form as experienced by the likes of SD & WP this season it can really see a drop off in interest as it so far from being a level playing field it is not funny!

BC wrote: that would be you included....yourgoodself and 42 are very quick to criticise anyone and everyone about the state of crowds at WAFL games but so far, haven't thrown up any ideas or solutions. 42 in particular carries on about the small number of Subi supporters that stayed behind for the premiership ceremony at last years GF...so what? what's the solution...why make detrimental observations without coming up with ideas to fix it?

BC I refute your comments completely. I have already said that part of the problem is due to the host club alignment.

Why do we have a final five rather a final four: simply to allow two clubs other than Subiaco, "East Perth" and "Peel" to make the finals.

I have also said that part of the problem is the recruiting of elite players from clubs by a club that has in the main dominated for the past 10-15 odd years. The solution to that would be to include a points surcharge where a club that finished higher recruits a player from a lower placed team. E.g. if the first placed team recruits a player from the 9th placed team the points surcharge should be the difference between the two. In this example it would be an additional 8 points. If it was the 4th placed team recruiting from the 5th placed team, the surcharge would be one additional point.

Of course, the BIGGEST help would be to have a WAFC that is interested in the long term viability of the WAFL. Sadly, that desire and inclination is the antithesis of what we have with the current WAFC.

your comment re the alignment doesn't ring true given WART have the 4th highest average attendances according to Custy's stats...500 a game more than SD. I agree with your idea of a points surcharge or even better, a complete moratorium of clubs finishing in the top 4 signing players from the bottom 5 without ticking a number of boxes. I'm not sure it's such a huge problem historically but at least it's a step in the right direction.

BC wrote: I think dropping admission prices is a pretty good idea BH although you'd have to get agreement from all the clubs given they keep the revenue. The old ground sharing chestnut is also starting to happen and should go for all clubs to keep costs down. I also see no reason why the WAFC can't schedule two league games at one ground on one afternoon to likewise keep costs down and create a bit of atmosphere.

The double header at Bassendean back in 2010 worked good, over 3k turned up on a wettish day up against a Federal election on that day too and it had a limited build up and promotion from memory

yep...I certainly think it would work for clubs that share grounds such as Subi and WART...and EF and SF in the future. You could schedule both teams as home games on the same day and play say Subi v Claremont early afternoon and the second maybe EP v WP as a twilight game for example. Both clubs split the gate takings evenly and as they already have individual social premises get to keep respective bar revenue. Fans are winners as they get 2 games for the price of one and there would at least be a bit more atmosphere with bigger numbers.

BC wrote: your comment re the alignment doesn't ring true given WART have the 4th highest average attendances according to Custy's stats...500 a game more than SD. I agree with your idea of a points surcharge or even better, a complete moratorium of clubs finishing in the top 4 signing players from the bottom 5 without ticking a number of boxes. I'm not sure it's such a huge problem historically but at least it's a step in the right direction.

One of the fundamental problems is that with the host club alignment and Subiaco' contuing dominance supporters are disillusioned with where the WAFL is heading and the attendances reflect this situation.

swan42 wrote:

BC wrote: your comment re the alignment doesn't ring true given WART have the 4th highest average attendances according to Custy's stats...500 a game more than SD. I agree with your idea of a points surcharge or even better, a complete moratorium of clubs finishing in the top 4 signing players from the bottom 5 without ticking a number of boxes. I'm not sure it's such a huge problem historically but at least it's a step in the right direction.

One of the fundamental problems is that with the host club alignment and Subiaco' contuing dominance supporters are disillusioned with where the WAFL is heading and the attendances reflect this situation.

I did point that out in my earlier post 42 but it seems to get overlooked for whatever reason and you can and in sides that do have good support in SD, WP & P struggling early and it all adds up to why the attendance figures are set for the lowest in history!