Sydney Team Crowd Watch

[TC Ink]

I am one hoping for the return of larger crowds to all Sydney teams. So in this thread I will analyse how the teams are going with their crowds starting from this weekend.

Tonight the Eels play the Cowboys at Parramatta. Now both teams have been struggling of late which doesn't help numbers. Away supporters will be few and far between and it is a wet and cold Friday night. In saying this the Eels are still fighting for a finals spot and are a team that SHOULD make the finals. Parra are not a team to sink to the depths of crowd numbers and have been one of the better Sydney teams this year, they average a decent 15.2k.

Minimum they SHOULD have: 11.5k
Consider it GREAT if the have: 14k+
Be very DISAPOINTED if they have: <10k

MY prediction: 10.5k

[TC Ink]

Official Crowd: 7,253
My Rating: (Worst Rating)

Well, looks like I put the mocker on Parra by saying they don't stoop this low. That is easily their lowest crowd for the season. Poor form from their fans. They are trying to establish some form in order to push for a finals place, but an empty stadium doesn't help their cause. What doesn't help is that they played very poorly and if the Cowboys had any sort of attack they would have won with the opportunities they had. If may be two points for Parra but wins like that aren't going to bring the crowds back. Next up is 2 games on the road for Parra, if they can pull off wins they should expect a big bounceback in crowd figures in what could be a crucial game against the tigers in a few weeks.

Sydney game number two for this weekend is Penrith vs Tigers. Crucial game for both these teams as they are neck and neck in the race for the finals. Penrith have had a very, very poor season crowd figures wise consider that they have been playing some decent footy. They are 2nd last in averages, nearly behind the Warriors. However this game should be an average booster for them. The weather doesn't look threatening, there should be some travelling tigers fans and as I said, it is a crucial game in regards to a finals spot. In the corresponding game last year they got just over 17k, however this was on a Sunday.

Minimum they SHOULD have: 13k
Consider it GREAT if the have: 17k+
Be very DISAPOINTED if they have: <12k

My Prediction: 15k

[TC Ink]

Official Crowd: 14,075
My Rating:

Decent stuff from the Panthers fans. I'm sure a day game would have helped their cause, but for a cold night at the foot of the mountains thats a decent turnup. Nearly on with my prediction this time.

Today we see the big game, Roosters vs Manly at the SFS. This SHOULD be a big crowd. But I don't think it will be. It's fine at the moment but showers are predicted later on which could put doubts in some fans. But honestly, it is 1st vs 4th and a small crowd is inexcusable. Unfortunately for the Roosters they have been coming up with a few of these lame crowds lately, considering the way they have been travelling. In reply to this, however, you can argue that the reason for this is that the Roosters have only had 1 home Sunday game the entire season, with that game drawing 14k. Today they should be boosted by a decent contingent of Sea Eagle supporters.

Minimum they SHOULD have: 15k
Consider it GREAT if the have: 20k+
Be very DISAPOINTED if they have: <14k

My Prediction: 16.5k

[::Richo::]

I reckon your prediction is to high

[TC Ink]

Well the Roosters got 14k to their only other Sunday game this year, that was against the Knights. Now this is a big game for them, and their will be more Sea Eagles fans going than there were Knights fans. So if the Roosters can't get over 15k they shouldn't consider themselves worthy of a semi finals bound team.

[TC Ink]

Official Crowd: 22,681
My Rating:

Great work from Roosters fans. A big turnout was needed and a big turnout was achieved. I think they had a kids in free promotion which would have been a boost, clubs need to do these sort of things more often.

This also highlights the importance of Sunday games. Most teams will get more people in on Sunday, on cold winter Saturday nights people generally decide to stay home and watch than go out to the game. Roosters Sunday average is about 17k while their overall average is 13k. NRL wake up, get rid of a Friday game and the Monday game and give us more Sunday action!

Tomorrow we have Dragons vs Bulldogs. We have seen Dragon's fan relluctance to travel to ANZ for home games and I definately don't expect this to improve on a Monday night. They are coming off the back of a drubbing from the Storm last week and the Bulldogs are coming off the back of a drubbing from $BW. The stupidity of Monday night football may be highlighted rediculously well tomorrow.

Minimum they SHOULD have: 9k
Consider it GREAT if the have: 13k+
Be very DISAPOINTED if they have: <8k

My Prediction: 7k

[::Richo::]

Dude why are you only talking about the home supporters, the away supporters have some part to thank and blame to.

[Sammy]

I don't know much about NRL, but they will never get rid of Fri night games..
Think about how much influence television has on the game, and think about whether channel 9 would be happy to lose the friday night game.
Will never happen.

[supercoach]

the crowd figures at aussie stadium (and other grounds) are fabricated and inflated.

in reality rugby league is now a TV game for couch potatoes.

[TC Ink]

This is the whole issue with the game at the moment. It is run my a regime that only cares about filling their own pockets, and in the process the game itself is suffering. One Friday night game is fine, 2 is over kill. Something must be done, we need someone in charge who offer our game to channels other than 9, reformat the weekend so people would prefer to go and watch rather than watch on telly.

Look what they do with cricket. Cricket isn't run by the TV station that broadcasts it so they can decide what happens for the good of the game. The telecast would not start until half way through the game for host cities, unless the game was a sell out, in order to encourage people to go. Does channel 9 like this? Course not! Cricket Australia do well with their TV contracts.

[::Richo::]

NRL is failing, my prediction is that unless there is a massive overhaul of the game NRL will be dead within 5-10 years.

[TC Ink]

Jul 27, 2008 19:36:03 GMT 10 supercoach said:

the crowd figures at aussie stadium (and other grounds) are fabricated and inflated.

That's impossible to be sure of. Although figures are probably overexagurated a bit. Its the same for all sports anyway.

I hope you having been believing what you've been reading in the telecrap

[Sammy]

Nah, John goes there and does a headcount.
He doesn't trust the internet conspiracy theories!
Did they land on the moon supercoach???

[TC Ink]

To add to my notes about tonights game, it has been pouring with rain in Sydney all afternoon and it is below 10 degrees. What was probably already going to be a miniscule crowd just got decimated even more.

[TC Ink]

Dragons vs Bulldogs Official Crowd: 7,802
My Rating:

Manly vs Panthers: 7,862
My Rating:

Sharks vs Dragons: 18,256
My Rating:

Souths vs Warriors: 9,276
My Rating:

Tigers vs Bulldogs: 16,121
My Rating:

[TC Ink]

I expect all Sydney teams to surpass 10k this weekend, in fact there is a good chance, with the Bulldogs playing in Suncorp, that all home Sydney teams will get over 15k.

Should the Bulldogs game be counted in this though? It is a Sydney team's home game yet it is being played in Brisbane... I don't think it would be fair to count it in this study