AFL Crowds Falling?

[Johnny Member]

From a 3AW article...

"The AFL is on track to record its lowest average match crowds since 2004 and television broadcasters are reporting mixed results in audiences for games this season.

The patchy results have added to growing calls for the AFL to reform its fixture to improve the closeness of games and the fairness of the competition.

The average attendance at AFL games at the end of round 22 was 34,950 - the lowest average crowd per game since 2004.

Last season's average crowd was 36,908.

Channel Seven has recorded a 3.4 per cent decline in national metropolitan audiences this season for Thursday and Friday night AFL broadcasts and a 2 per cent audience decline for Sunday afternoon football."



God help us! How are the AFL going to rig things now to make games closer??!!

This is a bit scary for the future of the sport under this AFL administration. This has always been there response to any criticism ...."No, you're wrong, We're perfect - see, crowds are up, TV viewing is up. End of argument".


So what now? How do they prove their critics wrong now? Crowds are down. People aren't watching.

So how do they justify their performances now?



Or, will they cheat further and simply (as the above exert suggests) rig the comp to make it closer and keep people watching?




I've got a crazy idea. Why not allow the sport to be a sport. Leave it alone and focus on making it a legitimate sporting competition? I think people still love sport. I actually think people in Australia love sport more than being entertained.


I don't think the 'a close game is a good game' thing is correct. Well it is, if it's genuine. Not if it's choreographed artificially to make it close. People aren't stupid, they see through that.

And I think people are starting to see through the AFL.

[Johnny Member]

It's worth adding too, that these drops in numbes have occured with Carlton in the top 5, Collingwood on top and Essendon back in the 8.

Shouldn't that combination be a automatic recipe for huge numbers?


Imagine if they were all struggling?

[plugger66]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

[Johnny Member]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

[jonesy]

It's what happens when they start outlawing certain legitimate tackles, rubbing out guys for weeks for standing there ground in a collision. Paying free kicks against someone for having a fingernail touching someone's back

They haven't figured this out yet? Oh dear....

[plugger66]

It's what happens when they start outlawing certain legitimate tackles, rubbing out guys for weeks for standing there ground in a collision. Paying free kicks against someone for having a fingernail touching someone's back

They haven't figured this out yet? Oh dear....

Or maybe it is having a new club with limited people watching them at the moment but as always thinking long term and making sure every club survives.

[matrix]

how dare you say neg comments about our great sport
may plugger shoot you down and call you strange

ohh
never mind

[plugger66]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

And those other sports you follow are what? And how well are they going? You could negatives for every sport its just that you can find less for the AFL.

[plugger66]

how dare you say neg comments about our great sport
may plugger shoot you down and call you strange

ohh
never mind

See this is where you are strange. People write negative stuff about the AFL and I write positive stuff but people like you think I am negaitive because I write positive stuff. It seems to be positive when the AFL is mentioned you need to negative.

Now have you got all that. Because i dont understand a word of it.

[Johnny Member]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

And those other sports you follow are what? And how well are they going? You could negatives for every sport its just that you can find less for the AFL.

The negative, is that the concept of genuine fair competition is dead in the AFL. Demetriou has killed it off.

The best team does not win. Or maybe they do? Sadly, we never know who the best team is - because they don't start on an even keel.

[jonesy]

It's what happens when they start outlawing certain legitimate tackles, rubbing out guys for weeks for standing there ground in a collision. Paying free kicks against someone for having a fingernail touching someone's back

They haven't figured this out yet? Oh dear....

Or maybe it is having a new club with limited people watching them at the moment but as always thinking long term and making sure every club survives.

I know plenty of people around my age bracket who are going far less now due to the BS mrp,and other mickey mouse cr@p they trot out like hands in the back,etc. It's not the game it was,there is no doubting that

[plugger66]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

And those other sports you follow are what? And how well are they going? You could negatives for every sport its just that you can find less for the AFL.

The negative, is that the concept of genuine fair competition is dead in the AFL. Demetriou has killed it off.

The best team does not win. Or maybe they do? Sadly, we never know who the best team is - because they don't start on an even keel.

And how can you have a fair draw with 18 sides unless you have 34 games? But thanks for telling me these other well run sports you follow.

[ozrulestrace]

No-one dares say this but the elephant in the room is the Collingwood factor.

All we and everybody else has heard coming from the AFL and the media is that it's all about Collingwood and how far? (except Friday night which has put the cat amongst the magpies)

And as we all know having to deal with their supporters especially for the past 12 months has been a nightmare and I think has put a lot of supporters off going to the football. But Demitriou can reply on the CFC supporters to bump up crowd numbers for their games, but everywhere else you see smaller crowds.

[Johnny Member]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

And those other sports you follow are what? And how well are they going? You could negatives for every sport its just that you can find less for the AFL.

The negative, is that the concept of genuine fair competition is dead in the AFL. Demetriou has killed it off.

The best team does not win. Or maybe they do? Sadly, we never know who the best team is - because they don't start on an even keel.

And how can you have a fair draw with 18 sides unless you have 34 games? But thanks for telling me these other well run sports you follow.

It's not really any of your business what sports I follow.


And fancy finding out now that it's really hard to make the comp even and fair with 2 more teams in it??!!

I wonder if that crossed anyone's mind prior to introducing them?




The other negative, which is just as important as the other one I raised before, is of course their stuffing around with the rules and damaging the very fabric of the game.

They change rules and sometimes we're told why, but the changes don't actually achieve anything.
Or in the rare event that they do, there are other rules that still exist that cancel out the other one and render it a waste of time!

So effectively, these duds running the game ruin it by outlawing fundamentals of the sport, without actually achieving what they rule changes are designed to do.

'Sling tackles' is just one example. Guys getting between 1-3 weeks for sling tackles because a bloke is groggy after getting his head knocked on the ground.

Yet it's Ok to jump knee-first into a pack and send a guy off to hospital unconscious?

Weird.

They introduce the concept of 'reckless' and 'negligent' in order to rub guys out, but you can still 'recklessly' or 'negligently' knock out a teammate and it's all Ok.

Strange.

What is it that they're actually trying to achieve?



The list of stuff ups just go on and on and on. But really, the two I've mentioned are really the only ones I care about.

And sadly, they're probably the two that the AFL least care about.

[plugger66]

You are one weird unit. As I suggested why not follow another sport so see how badly run they are and then you will realise how well run our great sport is. The way you write you would have clubs folding, no salary cap, no draft and no competition.

I do follow other sports. And funnily enough, this is why the AFL's wrecking of the game has been highlighted to me.



Most of what 'I wrote' is as I stated, and exert from an article.

Feel free to comment on that, but if you're just looking for an argument then save your breath.

And those other sports you follow are what? And how well are they going? You could negatives for every sport its just that you can find less for the AFL.

The negative, is that the concept of genuine fair competition is dead in the AFL. Demetriou has killed it off.

The best team does not win. Or maybe they do? Sadly, we never know who the best team is - because they don't start on an even keel.

And how can you have a fair draw with 18 sides unless you have 34 games? But thanks for telling me these other well run sports you follow.

It's not really any of your business what sports I follow.


And fancy finding out now that it's really hard to make the comp even and fair with 2 more teams in it??!!

I wonder if that crossed anyone's mind prior to introducing them?




The other negative, which is just as important as the other one I raised before, is of course their stuffing around with the rules and damaging the very fabric of the game.

They change rules and sometimes we're told why, but the changes don't actually achieve anything.
Or in the rare event that they do, there are other rules that still exist that cancel out the other one and render it a waste of time!

So effectively, these duds running the game ruin it by outlawing fundamentals of the sport, without actually achieving what they rule changes are designed to do.

'Sling tackles' is just one example. Guys getting between 1-3 weeks for sling tackles because a bloke is groggy after getting his head knocked on the ground.

Yet it's Ok to jump knee-first into a pack and send a guy off to hospital unconscious?

Weird.



The list of stuff ups just go on and on and on. But really, the two I've mentioned are really the only ones I care about.

And sadly, they're probably the two that the AFL least care about.

So I will take you do not follow any other sports or if you do you are embarrassed in how badly they are run. Yep Id love to have your attitude that everything is wrong with the AFL but i choose to think they know what they are doing instead of crying negative all the time. Some people just love to hate popular things I suppose. The great Australian syndrome, tall poppy.

[Finna]

The constant rule changes is a disgrace.

There are no sports around the world - that I follow (Tennis, football, league) - that have the same number of significant rule changes tha AFL has.

Seriously, has there been a preseason in 5 years that hasn't had some sort of rule change?

It's no wonder the umpiring is so bad because no one actually knows what the rules are.

It has damaged the integrity of our sport - forever!

This administration are ONLY interested in creating a 'marketable product'.

Only problem is that, based on these figures - it's not working. Not sure who's advising the fools at the top but they certainly haven't listened to the fans who sustain this sport........

The question now is.......what rule will they change will they introduce to increase crowds and viewing?

Whatever it is, based on what they've done so far it will have the reverse affect.

Many people I know that follow AFL do so because we love our clubs. Nothing else.

This is also why I believe that, long term, the new franchises are not sustainable. It takes decades to build that love for your club and a culture and the sport is not very appealing to newbies in it's current form.

I live on the NSW/QLD border and have heard this first hand from newbies!

[Moods]

Sorry, but I'm with plugger on this.

How many times have I heard someone say 'they stuff around with the rules, I'm not going anymore.' Then I find out that that particular person follows Richmond or Melbourne and the reason they don't go is because their team just doesn't play finals.

The sport isn't perfect, but I reckon it's the envy of every other sporting code in Australia and one of the best run in the world.

I too am frustrated by the sanitised version of the game that the AFL impose upon us with regards to the bumps and sling tackles BUT I would also argue that in many other respects many of the other rule changes have made the game quicker and better. Imagine if the game had barely had a rule change in 100 years. We wouldn't have a centre square, players would still kick the ball out on the full and not be penalised, players would deliberately scrag and hold play up only to be given a 15m penalty, the game would move at a snails pace b/c there would only be 2 reserves. Blokes would be continually belted behind play b/c there would only be one umpire. Players would dive on the ball and there would be stacks on the mill, with about 200 ball ups a game b/c no-one would be penalised for holding the ball in. I could go on and on.

So yes, criticise away, but when ppl say they are no longer interested, it's usually b/c their team is no longer winning or that their lives have changed so they do something else OR they weren't that passionate to start off with and it's just a good opportunity to lay the boots in.

[plugger66]

Surely I ain that bad that you have to be sorry. Well maybe I am.

[Con Gorozidis]

The betting issue is a huge turn off for me. it seems to have become all invasive almost over night. constant betting advertisements. consume odds updates. i think they mate sold their soul for a large bucket of silver. Wherever big betting is present then corruption is bound to follow . It's almost a certainty.

[Johnny Member]

So yes, criticise away, but when ppl say they are no longer interested, it's usually b/c their team is no longer winning or that their lives have changed so they do something else OR they weren't that passionate to start off with and it's just a good opportunity to lay the boots in.

The worry for the AFL, that that is what they believe too. Or choose to believe.

They also choose to believe that any criticism levelled at them is a result of the 'tall poppy syndrome'.


The reality however is different.

[Legendary]

Simple maths.

Average crowds = total crowds divided by number of matches.

There are more matches this year with the entry of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast are also a low-drawing team, and have attracted small crowds.

Average crowds were always going to be down this year because of the Gold Coast.

What IS significant is that the average crowds at the MCG are up 2%. So the Melbourne teams are going very well ...

In addition, the Adelaide teams are struggling, and traditionally they have drawn well (particularly the Crows).

[Finna]

Simple maths.

Average crowds = total crowds divided by number of matches.

There are more matches this year with the entry of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast are also a low-drawing team, and have attracted small crowds.

Average crowds were always going to be down this year because of the Gold Coast.

What IS significant is that the average crowds at the MCG are up 2%. So the Melbourne teams are going very well ...

In addition, the Adelaide teams are struggling, and traditionally they have drawn well (particularly the Crows).

The real issue is TV not match attendance.

[desertsaint]

well there you go plugger - it looks like my boycott of all (bar saints) afl games is working

because i'm not the only one.
until the afl allows an equitable draw,
AND stop softening the game, removing a core ingredient of its attraction,
i will continue my boycott.
as will many others - afl has passed its tipping point.
many have had enough.

[saintspremiers]

I don't mind sensible rule changes. The games rules were too basic 20 years ago and needed to be more sophisticated. Softer footy means less injuries, so I'm happy with that aspect.

Back when I started following footy in the early 80's there was no time on for out of bounds nor ball ups, so the ball was often out of play if it was a close game to waste time. Things are better now for sure, just our team is a bit dull to watch.

As for TV, let's see what all games live next year does for ratings. Channel 7 deserve a drop in ratings due to not showing Friday night live.

[skeptic]

no disrespect to the umps but the game is ridiculously overofficiated (spelling)

watch any game, the team the gets the majority of free kicks for a period of time is usually the 1 that has the momentum

and free kicks are paid for the most trivial of reasons


I used to umpire and the rule was, you only pay the really obvious free kicks... these days the umps pay free kicks that r technically there but don't influence the play.


I don't care if in a marking contest some1 puts their hand on Roo's shoulder for a split second and doesn't infringe on his ability to mark

it shouldn't be a free

or that Roo got 2 close to man who has a free kick and diverted his direction too late - doesn't influence the play at all but BANG 50m penalty