Gold Coast cap crowds to 5,000

[David Votoupal]

Does anybody buy the idea that the popularity of overseas leagues holds back the growth of the A-League, or is it a weak excuse? I tend to believe the latter.

 

[dibo]

i think that's bollocks. the brisbane broncos (different sport, i know) were an entirely synthetic club that developed a massive and loyal fan base.

there's no reason why football can't achieve the same things, and if anyone thinks that there are, they've surely got to believe that the whole a-league is an exercise in futility, doomed to fail.

Does anybody buy the idea that the popularity of overseas leagues holds back the growth of the A-League, or is it a weak excuse? I tend to believe the latter.

the popularity of overseas leagues is a problem, but that's not how i'd phrase it. the FFA and the a-league haven't managed to convince people to come to games or watch them on tv when they can watch european (and especially english) sides instead.

for the entire time that the a-league has been on, the main reason i've heard from people who like football but don't follow the local game is that the quality's not good enough.

 

[David Votoupal]

Well for a lot of us fans it's because we've been raised on our clubs, so they have greater importance in our football lives.

In the Nordic countries, following English, Spanish, Italian, German, etc clubs is a popular thing but fans also support their local leagues. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the local leagues (Irish League and League of Ireland) once had big crowds for derby games, Cup finals and European games (and clubs from those leagues put in decent showings in Europe as late as the 80s despite being part-time), but that dropped away due to a fall in standard and exposure to football across the channel. But these are different situations because it's obviously a lot easier for fans to either tune in or travel since it's closer.

It's different here because the profile of overseas leagues has never been higher, the exposure of them to markets like Australia, much of Asia, etc likewise.

 

[LFCMariners]

F**k what a stupid idea. I don't get how someone like Clive Palmer can throw millions at getting an A-League team off the ground and running, but then want to cripple future support for the sake of saving a few dollars on public transport subsidies. And $42 for a ticket? 

The Gold Coast- where sports teams go to die.

 

[dibo]

Well for a lot of us fans it's because we've been raised on our clubs, so they have greater importance in our football lives.

In the Nordic countries, following English, Spanish, Italian, German, etc clubs is a popular thing but fans also support their local leagues. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the local leagues (Irish League and League of Ireland) once had big crowds for derby games, Cup finals and European games (and clubs from those leagues put in decent showings in Europe as late as the 80s despite being part-time), but that dropped away due to a fall in standard and exposure to football across the channel. But these are different situations because it's obviously a lot easier for fans to either tune in or travel since it's closer.

It's different here because the profile of overseas leagues has never been higher, the exposure of them to markets like Australia, much of Asia, etc likewise.

so what's your point? are ireland's crowds crap because of leagues over the ditch or is it a weak excuse?

 

[Arabmariner]

There's no serious competition to football in most European countries.So most people will have an interest in the local team whether they attend regularly or not.When the teams playing well and results are good the glory hunters will come out of the woodwork.

But here we don't have that same situation.There are other more popular (in terms of crowds and TV viewing) sports to contend with.It's them that people have that "rusted on support" for.

They also get to see the top competition for that particular sport be it RL or AFL.

In football we get a third rate competition compared to what we see on TV week in week out.And tbh while we all might love having every A-League game on live I don't think it's good for the game at all for the same reason just mentioned.People see the full 90 mins and think it's shit compared to the EPL etc.We'd be better off with 1 or 2 select live matches every week and highlights of the rest.Even the worst game can look exciting in a highlights package.

Should we ever get a RL team up here we'll have our work cut out keeping a lot of our fans imo.

 

[dibo]

In football we get a third rate competition compared to what we see on TV week in week out.And tbh while we all might love having every A-League game on live I don't think it's good for the game at all for the same reason just mentioned.People see the full 90 mins and think it's shit compared to the EPL etc.We'd be better off with 1 or 2 select live matches every week and highlights of the rest.Even the worst game can look exciting in a highlights package.

I don't quite agree with that. I want every game live, but what we're missing is the FTA exposure (through a highlights package like you mentioned).

The main thing I've noticed in past seasons has been the poor finishing. That's less of a problem than it has been - this season some of the goals have been belters. Last weekend for example, Kwassie, Cernak and Hernandez all put in deadset bombs. They're not in isolation - pretty much every week there are some great goals being scored.

Put them out there to the 75% of the population that doesn't have Fox and 'supports' a football team in the sense that they watch the Champions League highlights on SBS every month and you might get some more takers.

 

[Arabmariner]

I agree with that Dibo......I neglected to say the highlights package would need to be on FTA.

I wouldn't be showing live games other than maybe one select game every week on FTA though.

Football is a bit like cricket to the uneducated..........they just don't get it and most never will unfortunately.

 

[MrCelery]

$42 for the cheapest ticket?

Those of us travelling to up to the Gold Coast for the game and already have their air tickets booked should maybe research the best pub in the area, watch the game there.

 

[Alicia]

I just went to ticketek website and checked prices for our December 5 game up there, and for away supporters bay, adult ticket is $29.

Maybe buy now before prices go up??

 

[Alicia]

Mmm... interesting point though, tickets that are on sale now for GC game V Fury, it only lists Platinum, Category 1 and Category 2 prices.  You'd think they'd have home and away bay prices like they do for the other games.

 

[serious14]

$42??

You pay less for Championship tickets here!!!

 

[northernspirit]

maybe they need to look into hiring Carrara Stadium instead, would look shitty on tv but at least there would be fans on the tv

i think the damage they have done is beyond repair now anyway imo

 

[MagpieMariner]

Our problem is that unlike other countries we don't have rusted on support for clubs built up over the generations that will stick by them through thick and thin. Will we ever build that up?

Not in my lifetime and I suspect probably not in yours either.

The other problem here is that football is competing with other codes which DO have that "rusted on" support.

 

[jiggles]

Won't have to worry about crowds reaching the 5k anymore...$42 starting price, f**king kidding right?

lol, the cost of a flight from sydney to the gold coast

My flights were $32.50 or something.

So...it's cheaper for me to get to the Gold Coast...than it is to see them play?

W...T...F...

 

[jiggles]

I just went to ticketek website and checked prices for our December 5 game up there, and for away supporters bay, adult ticket is $29.

Maybe buy now before prices go up??

Hopefully, if we do get them at that price, they can still be used on the day?

 

[curious]

i think that's bollocks. the brisbane broncos (different sport, i know) were an entirely synthetic club that developed a massive and loyal fan base.

there's no reason why football can't achieve the same things, and if anyone thinks that there are, they've surely got to believe that the whole a-league is an exercise in futility, doomed to fail.

Brisbane, and Qieensland for that matter had a head start of many generations of traditional Rugby League support, Dibo. Albeit at state level. They were ready & waiting for decades for national league representation, with an established following. Newcastle were an identical situation.
The Aleague/football doesn't have that advantage in Queensland and virtually have to start where RL started generations ago. You can't hold a gun the peoples heads and demand they like what they don't. Consider a similar scenario to Melbourne Storms limited following in Victoria, where AFL/VFL has been the overwhelming traditional sport for 6 to 8 generations and the club with the lowest average crowds out of the 16, still averaged 24k.

Even at Roar the honeymoon appears to be over with the initial curiosity settling back the last two seasons after a decent first few years. Besides Sydney, Queensland would have to be the most difficult football market in the country.

 

[bjw]

A-league crowd averages are gonna get f**ked over by this.

 

[dibo]

Curious - what about the AFL? The Lions are doing quite well, as are the Swans (after a decade and a half of bleeding cash they boomed in 95-96-97 and have never looked back). These are clubs in 'hostile territory'.

In Melbourne, the A-League team is already stronger than the NRL team, and if four straight grand finals, three minor premierships and two premierships (I think) can't get the Storm above the Victory then nothing can.

I don't think we're ever going to be the number one sport, but if over time we can have a league that averages 15k across the board (and i think we can) then I think we'll be looking perfectly respectable. Even 10k across the board (where we are now) is not too bad. Smaller markets will have smaller crowds, but the big markets will help. Melbourne are fine as always, Adelaide's up, Perth's up, Sydney's steady. When the Roar sort their ticket prices and their form out we'll get a bump up there too.

A-league crowd averages are gonna get f**ked over by this.

Which is why we should put a gun to their heads and say 'sort it or we're taking the licence'. Even still, they're averaging below 5k at the moment and the league average is over 10k. They're not doing that much damage in crowd averages, it's more in perceptions. This is why the FFA needs to stick the slipper into them.

For example, the Mariners' average is down about 1k because of the game in Canberra, and it's only going to get worse with Saturday's match, but that shouldn't disguise the fact that the crowds at our home ground are perfectly respectable at just below 9k with the holiday boom to come.

 

[curious]

Well for a lot of us fans it's because we've been raised on our clubs, so they have greater importance in our football lives.

In the Nordic countries, following English, Spanish, Italian, German, etc clubs is a popular thing but fans also support their local leagues. In both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the local leagues (Irish League and League of Ireland) once had big crowds for derby games, Cup finals and European games (and clubs from those leagues put in decent showings in Europe as late as the 80s despite being part-time), but that dropped away due to a fall in standard and exposure to football across the channel. But these are different situations because it's obviously a lot easier for fans to either tune in or travel since it's closer.

It's different here because the profile of overseas leagues has never been higher, the exposure of them to markets like Australia, much of Asia, etc likewise.

David, you might not realise, but you made a good point. The Countries you named (and many other like them) have had football as their traditional #1 sport, and spectator sport, for generation after generation. Very different in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where their traditional sports with a very strong support and attendance is Gaelic football and Hurling.

Why I say you made a good point is, Australia is in the same boat, along with America and a number of other countries.