AFL Falling Crowd Numbers

[Us against the rest]

My take on why numbers are dropping.

1. VFL AFL rule changes constantly frustrating for supporters.

2. Too many teams, causing a thin spread of the talent pool, leading to poor quality games.

3. Time slots are not great if you take kids to games.

4. Covid.

5. Bald umpires.

6. Ken Hinkley's Brilliant mind.

 

[PortWTF]

Coaches have spoiled the game for me. The overly defensive nature of the game, the number of players around the ball, the lack of space to show off the players athleticism and skill. Probably the 2004 grand final was the end of an era. The Sydney/West Coast era was when it became a dour slog, and everyone followed.

 

[Grave Danger]

My take on why numbers are dropping.

1. VFL AFL rule changes constantly frustrating for supporters.

2. Too many teams, causing a thin spread of the talent pool, leading to poor quality games.

3. Time slots are not great if you take kids to games.

4. Covid.

5. Bald umpires.

6. Ken Hinkley's Brilliant mind.

Venn diagram of bald umpires and bad umpires:

 

[bow and arrow]

Coaches have spoiled the game for me. The overly defensive nature of the game, the number of players around the ball, the lack of space to show off the players athleticism and skill. Probably the 2004 grand final was the end of an era. The Sydney/West Coast era was when it became a dour slog, and everyone followed.

Totally agree! The coaches started the rot and the afl keep changing the rules to accommodate the coaches boring, negative game tactics. It's a mess all round compounded by what our supposed leaders are doing to our club!

On SM-G781B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Rexie J]

My take on why numbers are dropping.

1. VFL AFL rule changes constantly frustrating for supporters.

2. Too many teams, causing a thin spread of the talent pool, leading to poor quality games.

3. Time slots are not great if you take kids to games.

4. Covid.

5. Bald umpires.

6. Ken Hinkley's Brilliant mind.

I seem to recall Ross Oakley saying when Port joined that the AFL was for the elite players.

Arguably three AFL squads could be culled to improve the quality of games but that won't happen, so we are stuck with this hybrid game with a passing resemblance of Australian Rules Football.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Venn diagram of bald umpires and bad umpires:

View attachment 1413034

Hmm suddenly I feel like sashimi

 

[PortWTF]

Totally agree! The coaches started the rot and the afl keep changing the rules to accommodate the coaches boring, negative game tactics. It's a mess all round compounded by what our supposed leaders are doing to our club!

On SM-G781B using BigFooty.com mobile app

I know. It wasn't that long ago that the only time you would see all 36 players in a half of the ground was at the end of the game when it was close. Now you get that at every kick-in, every stoppage in the forward or defensive 50, all game. It's common that every player is in front of the kicker, and you have to zigzag across the ground multiple times before you get it inside 50. You can see where the interchange cap thinking came from. I remember Brett Chalmers (I think it was) sat on the bench the whole game, and being benched was something you didn't want.

 

[Steve Dore]

Venn diagram of bald umpires and bad umpires:

View attachment 1413034

The rules may as well be written in Japanese.

 

[Steve Dore]

Totally agree! The coaches started the rot and the afl keep changing the rules to accommodate the coaches boring, negative game tactics. ...

The coaches definitely started this rot but the AFL aren't changing the rules to accommodate them. It's actually the opposite, the AFL keep messing with the rules to try and counter certain coaches tactics but coaches just adjust their style to counter the rule changes. It's become a downward spiral. It would be better if the AFL stopped tinkering with the rules and let nature take its course so to speak. Eventually a team will be successful at countering the negative defensive tactics with attacking tactics.

 

[Long live PAFC]

Do the fans have to take some responsibility? There are a group of fans who are unpleasant and who target other fans, coaches, umpires and other players. Caroline Wilson mentioned Ken Hinkley asking for ‘danger money’, there is a rumour that Karl is keen to leave partly due to the toxic fan culture, Rocky and his kids got spat on at an Dons game, indigenous players get racially abused at every west coast and Gold Coast game.

So with the rising ticket, food and drink prices, variable quality of games, easy access to good quality TV games, would you take your family along? Now would you take your family along to a game with an increasingly toxic fan culture?


Now I’m not necessarily saying that fan culture is actually worsening but I think it’s something that we, as engaged fans, need to think about.

 

[StrappingTape]

You'd have to be incredibly rusted on to bother these days. The product is s**t so unless your team is a contender there isn't much point.

And it's not even cheap. You can go see a movie or go out to dinner for the same price or less, which will probably be more fun and also won't involve getting cold and wet.

Considering the movies used to be an expensive outing to take a family too these days I can get four tickets and make a dent in food at the movies for the same price as one adult guest pass the western stand.

The absolute s**t stain that is the Adelaide oval catering and hospitality is a huge turn off. Compared to melb etc we have by far the worst run stadium, abysmal is too nice a word for the people working there and the food and drink quality and pricing.

The AFL appears to have moved today to bring in a consultant group to hire the "best" candidate for the next CEO. I read this as as a ploy to hide behind hiring a woman outsider coz Gil wants to check that box on the way out. Now I don't give a heck what sex they are but they have to be a football person to fix this s**t show and the clear stand out is Gale. So we will most likely instead will get some corporate person with no understanding of footy and grass roots but that checks boxes and we will be in an even worse spot. Gil lacked that component because he's never been close to one of us and it shows in his decisions, imagine someone with nfi at all.

 

[finbarr]

I seem to recall Ross Oakley saying when Port joined that the AFL was for the elite players.

Arguably three AFL squads could be culled to improve the quality of games but that won't happen, so we are stuck with this hybrid game with a passing resemblance of Australian Rules Football.

I'd be going the other way. If it were up to me i'd be expanding AFL list sizes to extend the season so that every team plays each other twice, once at home and once away. This would necessitate mid week matches, and "road trips", where clubs would go on the road for extended periods to play blocks of games. It would be up to clubs to manage their lists better to avoid player burn out and injuries.
To my mind the most important issue for the competition is it's integrity, and a full home and away season is the only way to ensure this. The AFL looks completely amateurish by world standards in the way it constructs it's fixture with the sole purpose of maximising television revenue and crowds.
Whatever it takes to get a genuine home and away season i'm in favour of at least looking at it.

 

[simba_]

- price of food/drink being extortionate and the tale to go along with it re: earnings trickling down to our club (eradication of gameday village for us in particular stings)

- spectacle (gameplay) is not what it used to be (again in our case particularly bad)

- cringe pre-match and general festivities. this used to be good and it was good when in around 2014 we made the entire league up their game as we showed how stale it had all become. but again it is stagnating. they love to draw influence from the NBA but cannot capture the razzle dazzle that they do so well.

- lack of "match ups"? i was thinking about this earlier. the one-on-ones was always a big drawcard in my eyes, a part of the story. the key fullback vs the big forward was a proper thing every week. the tagger taking the best mid out of the game. the lockdown defender on the small forward. these used to tell the story of the makeup of a side but have been watered down by the systems the teams all play. this is/was a big part of footy as a sport.

- messing with the fabric of the game. i think a lot of people feel the league went way overboard with themed rounds and squeaky clean fabricated nonsense that turned off a lot of traditionalists. a feeling of regularity and consistency with the game and how its played has been lost.

- Vic bias. have to mention this as it is a genuine thing. the MCG and the inequality of playing time there as the GF venue. Geelong having a genuine home ground but nobody else does. you could go on.

i read in a main board topic similar to this)someone mentioning goalkicking accuracy which is a big part too. it is shocking that players, especially forwards, cannot regularly kick a goal inside 50, if basketballers have made hitting 3s consistently look easy our players can surely kick the ball through the big sticks at a decent conversion rate.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Kill two teams in Victoria.

Remove umpire's interpretation from as many rules as humanly possible and then stop frigging around with them from year to year.

Get rid of the perpetual entitlement of certain teams to premium timeslots and marquee games and award these instead on merit.

Reduce the length of the season by a couple of games.

Rotate the GF venue from year to year.

Get rid of the MRO.

Remove priority picks and introduce a lottery for the first handful of draft picks.

 

[PowerLil]

Do the fans have to take some responsibility? There are a group of fans who are unpleasant and who target other fans, coaches, umpires and other players. Caroline Wilson mentioned Ken Hinkley asking for ‘danger money’, there is a rumour that Karl is keen to leave partly due to the toxic fan culture, Rocky and his kids got spat on at an Dons game, indigenous players get racially abused at every west coast and Gold Coast game.

So with the rising ticket, food and drink prices, variable quality of games, easy access to good quality TV games, would you take your family along? Now would you take your family along to a game with an increasingly toxic fan culture?


Now I’m not necessarily saying that fan culture is actually worsening but I think it’s something that we, as engaged fans, need to think about.

'danger money'?

 

[Cuzz09]

Ive gone from a footy head that watched at least 5-6 games per week including Port games so being a casual watcher that only watches Port games. At times i dont even watch our away games and just check scores.
Sometimes when im flicking channels i might watch a different game for 10 minutes before moving on.

Yes i still go to the footy each week but ive gone from it being the crux of my weekend planning to not being fussed if i cant go because i have something else on.

Basically im falling out of love for the game in a big way for these reasons

• Vic Bias. AFL, media and umpiring
• Hinkley & Koch and how my club is being run
• Stupid rule changes (stand, dissent, deliberate out of bounds, nominate rucks, inconsistent everything
• Rubbish umpiring
• Entertainment value is poor. Going to the footy is a pretty boring experience these days. Not even the footy is good enough anymore
• Food and Drink prices at AO are out of control
• Port being generally s**t (Hinkley again)

I still go because my kids love going but i dont enjoy it much anymore. If it wasnt for the kids i'd be pretty close to turfing my memberships and spending the money on something else

AFL in its current form is a terrible over officiated piece of garbage..

I thought I was reading my own thoughts. Exactly how I feel down to the First paragraph.

Im happy to go do something during a game and check scores later.

I wont even watch a replay if (lol) we win just the highlightsm thats enough for me these days but geez a few years ago Id watch every game available and tape others.

Dunno. Maybe just getting older and annoyed

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Cuzz09]

Kill two teams in Victoria.

Remove umpire's interpretation from as many rules as humanly possible and then stop frigging around with them from year to year.

Get rid of the perpetual entitlement of certain teams to premium timeslots and marquee games and award these instead on merit.

Reduce the length of the season by a couple of games.

Rotate the GF venue from year to year.

Get rid of the MRO.

Remove priority picks and introduce a lottery for the first handful of draft picks.

this all sounds perfect

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[tonygeeks]

If it’s just AFL that is having this sort of a drop off in crowd numbers then yeah it’s a big problem but if as I suspect it’s a problem for a lot of sports these days then I don’t know ‘ sign of the times ‘ I guess


Sent from my iPad using BigFooty.com

 

[Mikey13G]

Kill two teams in Victoria.

Remove umpire's interpretation from as many rules as humanly possible and then stop frigging around with them from year to year.

Get rid of the perpetual entitlement of certain teams to premium timeslots and marquee games and award these instead on merit.

Reduce the length of the season by a couple of games.

Rotate the GF venue from year to year.

Get rid of the MRO.

Remove priority picks and introduce a lottery for the first handful of draft picks.

The comp definitely needs to be less Vic-Centric. It won't happen now, but 20 years ago there was talk about Melbourne and Hawthorn merging. The Vic teams that have been perpetual receivers in recent times are North Melbourne and the Bulldogs. North Melbourne have been reducing their debt in recent times, but it's easy to save $$$ when you skimp on investment and the results have shown on the field.

The suggestion of having a bonus point for 100+ points would be a good change as well. Would provide an incentive to play more attacking footy.

 

[OneGreatClub]

The game is s**t to watch.
The umpiring is un-decipherable.

The AFL does not listen to the supporters, especially of the non Vic clubs.
Give us the Bars you morons.

 

[Us against the rest]

The comp definitely needs to be less Vic-Centric. It won't happen now, but 20 years ago there was talk about Melbourne and Hawthorn merging. The Vic teams that have been perpetual receivers in recent times are North Melbourne and the Bulldogs. North Melbourne have been reducing their debt in recent times, but it's easy to save $$$ when you skimp on investment and the results have shown on the field.

The suggestion of having a bonus point for 100+ points would be a good change as well. Would provide an incentive to play more attacking footy.

I like your thinking but then Port would never get a free kick in the forward 50 and the dogs would play in the GF every year.

 

[Rising Power]

The suggestion of having a bonus point for 100+ points would be a good change as well. Would provide an incentive to play more attacking footy.

And bad luck to the teams that have to play in wet and/or humid conditions.

 

[FishingRick04]

The modern game is rubbish. There I said it.

Minimal high flying marks, collissions like SPP v Draper happens twice a year.

 

[chiwigi]

- price of food/drink being extortionate and the tale to go along with it re: earnings trickling down to our club (eradication of gameday village for us in particular stings)

- spectacle (gameplay) is not what it used to be (again in our case particularly bad)

- cringe pre-match and general festivities. this used to be good and it was good when in around 2014 we made the entire league up their game as we showed how stale it had all become. but again it is stagnating. they love to draw influence from the NBA but cannot capture the razzle dazzle that they do so well.

- lack of "match ups"? i was thinking about this earlier. the one-on-ones was always a big drawcard in my eyes, a part of the story. the key fullback vs the big forward was a proper thing every week. the tagger taking the best mid out of the game. the lockdown defender on the small forward. these used to tell the story of the makeup of a side but have been watered down by the systems the teams all play. this is/was a big part of footy as a sport.

- messing with the fabric of the game. i think a lot of people feel the league went way overboard with themed rounds and squeaky clean fabricated nonsense that turned off a lot of traditionalists. a feeling of regularity and consistency with the game and how its played has been lost.

- Vic bias. have to mention this as it is a genuine thing. the MCG and the inequality of playing time there as the GF venue. Geelong having a genuine home ground but nobody else does. you could go on.

i read in a main board topic similar to this)someone mentioning goalkicking accuracy which is a big part too. it is shocking that players, especially forwards, cannot regularly kick a goal inside 50, if basketballers have made hitting 3s consistently look easy our players can surely kick the ball through the big sticks at a decent conversion rate.

Vic Bias is the HUUUUUGE one for me, really hecks up the experience with the umpires and the commentators.

 

[Long live PAFC]

So all the ‘big Vic clubs’ are doing well. Support in Sydney and Brisbane is strong and there are more young people playing than ever before.

They have a dedicated ‘look of the game’ officer.

More investment has been pumped in than ever before. Engagement with online news and forums is at all time highs.

But despite this, crowds for all teams are down. Even the premiers struggled to pull a crowd against an in form Freo.

If there is a sense of disenfranchisement, then you would think that other sports would be gaining, but they aren’t. Soccer, rugby, league, cricket - all have seen sharp declines. I would be keen to see if the local leagues had picked up, suggesting a closer engagement with a local ‘tribe’ and the advantage of cheaper games/food/drinks.

Whilst cricket has a corporate body hell bent on destroying the product, just like the AFL, rugby and soccer don’t.

I really think people are out of the habit of attending the AFL or live events in general thanks to covid.

The sporting codes have to make it cheaper and easier and deal with some of the toxic fan culture I mentioned previously. Sort the online ticketing, have a stable fixture.

Clubs are also going to have to dig deep and get back in at a community level. Attend schools and local clubs, play games in the country or at ‘home grounds’ like Alberton and win back the crowds.

I also think the AFL needs to look at a state of origin series and bring in a national reserves. Return to the days where you watch the juniors, then reserves, then the seniors. Make it tribal again. Get everyone invested again.