S7 H&A of the AFLW was attended by 231,388 peopl at an average of 2,571 #Aggregate season #3 average

[The_Wookie]

Round 10 of AFLW Season 7 was attended by 14,386 people at an average of 1,598 per match, using 12% of venue capacity. S7 of the AFLW was attended by 231,388 peopl at an average of 2,571 using 17% of venue capacity. This is the highest aggregate for any AFLW season, but #3 for average.

AFLW Crowds Season 1-7 by Aggregate and average

AFLW Crowd averages by round in Season 7

Port Adelaide had the best attendance average of the season with 6,739 (helped by more than 20k at the first AFLW Showdown). The Bombers, Dees, Swans and Crows make up the top 5. At the bottom its the Suns averaging just over 1,000 per game, just behind the Dockers, GWS & Dogs

35 venues were used during the Home and away portion of AFLW Season 7 with 13 of those regular AFL stadiums Of 90 matches, 22 games (24%) were held in AFL class venues (at 13% of capacity)

Adelaide Oval was the most attended ground of the AFLW season - all in one match with 20,792 attending the first AFLW Showdown. The Dees/Roos curtainraiser at the MCG had 17,851 on its own. Ikon Park came in third, also hosting the most games of any ground with 9 (ave 1,908).

For AFLW venues with at least 2 matches played, Alberton Oval (Port Adel) came out on top with an average crowd of 3,256 - about 93% if its current reduced capacity, The Gabba, ETU Stadium (Port Melb), GMBA and Wigan Oval (Unley) make up the top 5 venues.

 

[petits]

The low attendances for some of the best teams in the comp have surprised me this season. I'm getting out to watch GWS's consistent mediocrity, and the Lions are getting 1000 to Metricon? Same for Melbourne. I guess it just shows that fan bases map mostly to the size of the existing men's ones. Or too many dead rubbers at the end of the season? At any rate those banging on about the absolute standard of football being too low are obviously not right. It's not the determining factor at all.

From that point of view I'm very happy with expansion this season, even if some think it was rushed. More fans turning up to watch Essendon play pretty good footy is better than less fans watching Brisbane play great footy. Better atmosphere, better advertisement for the league, more fun. Taking on the Swans as my second team and now having a whole sub-forum on here, dedicated supporter groups on FB, more people at every game - it just increase your enjoyment in the game.

 

[Munga]

Great post. I love stats. But I don't think that averages are appropriate. Use medians instead, or exclude the outliers which inflate the averages. E.g. counting curtain raisers to the mens, yeah nah, that ain't gonna fly hehe.

Once the novelty of the newest clubs wanes you get a more accurate measure of attendances. Those last four rounds are about where it's at.

The standard of play is up, regardless of the expansion. The new clubs were great. The timing of the season seems a pretty obvious failure, most of us knew that beforehand.

 

[petits]

E.g. counting curtain raisers to the mens, yeah nah, that ain't gonna fly hehe.

The men's game had 78k so they obviously didn't just count the crowd at the end of the game. Not sure exactly how they did it, but it seems like a reasonable count of how many had turned up early to watch the women. Yeah, those people all came for the men as well, but it's still a relevant data point in eg. thinking about whether to have more games as curtain raisers. (Not a big fan of curtain raisers myself but maybe a few will be good).

 

[Munga]

The men's game had 78k so they obviously didn't just count the crowd at the end of the game. Not sure exactly how they did it, but it seems like a reasonable count of how many had turned up early to watch the women. Yeah, those people all came for the men as well, but it's still a relevant data point in eg. thinking about whether to have more games as curtain raisers. (Not a big fan of curtain raisers myself but maybe a few will be good).

Yeah, obviously the 78k figure wasn't used hahaha. Still, the number would've been inflated by people either completely disinterested in womens footy and just waiting for the men to start, or they went along because of the bonus of seeing two matches. Take that away and you get closer to a genuine figure of interested parties to womens footy. It's just being realistic.

As far as curtain raisers going forward, I'm not that fussed really. But I understand that the players don't want to thought of like that, "curtain raisers". It's a moot point for me anyway as I think the season timing is wrong in the first place haha.

 

[The_Wookie]

Great post. I love stats. But I don't think that averages are appropriate. Use medians instead, or exclude the outliers which inflate the averages. E.g. counting curtain raisers to the mens, yeah nah, that ain't gonna fly hehe.

I dont cherry pick the data. The showdown was the highest attended game - would you like that excluded? Hawthorn/Essendon at Marvel? The Swans first game at North Sydney? I dont roll that way. I add context, but I dont alter the averages any more than I do for AFL matches.

 

[Munga]

I dont cherry pick the data. The showdown was the highest attended game - would you like that excluded? Hawthorn/Essendon at Marvel? The Swans first game at North Sydney? I dont roll that way. I add context, but I dont alter the averages any more than I do for AFL matches.

Nah they're cool. Your averages do their thing and I appreciate them. As far as giving a more realistic account, I look at medians and exclude data that probably corrupts, like the mens footy crowd. It's just two different ways of presenting, yours is a great, no sweat.

 

[Vacuous Space]

The standard of play is up, regardless of the expansion. The new clubs were great. The timing of the season seems a pretty obvious failure, most of us knew that beforehand.

As cynical as I am about the leadership of the comp, I think moving to this time of year was more about the next four weeks than the last ten. It was less than ideal having clean air for most or all of the home and away season only to have finals get overshadowed by men's preseason or home and away matches. At least in theory, finals should do a better job of selling the comp as a concept than the H+A does.

I'm not expecting massive crowds for finals either, but there's a lot of reasons for that - not just the time of year.

 

[briztoon]

The low attendances for some of the best teams in the comp have surprised me this season. I'm getting out to watch GWS's consistent mediocrity, and the Lions are getting 1000 to Metricon? Same for Melbourne. I guess it just shows that fan bases map mostly to the size of the existing men's ones. Or too many dead rubbers at the end of the season? At any rate those banging on about the absolute standard of football being too low are obviously not right. It's not the determining factor at all.

From that point of view I'm very happy with expansion this season, even if some think it was rushed. More fans turning up to watch Essendon play pretty good footy is better than less fans watching Brisbane play great footy. Better atmosphere, better advertisement for the league, more fun. Taking on the Swans as my second team and now having a whole sub-forum on here, dedicated supporter groups on FB, more people at every game - it just increase your enjoyment in the game.

Playing Lions games at Metricon would be like playing Carlton games at GMHBA Stadium.

Except Metricon is sort of in the middle of nowhere, with next to no public transport, and limited parking.

Put a game on Friday night, and many are going to struggle to get down there from Brisbane.

And Saturday afternoon makes for a big day if your kids play weekend sport as well.


Springfield might not be much better attended, as a game day venue. It’s basically located in traditional rugby league territory, in the far outer south Western suburbs. Technically it’s actually not in Brisbane, but part of Ipswich.

It’s on a train line, but will require most fans catching at least two services to get there, any where from an hour to two hours depending what part of Brisbane you’re travelling from.

Plenty of parking, but still a long drive if you’re coming from the North side of Brisbane.

 

[petits]

Playing Lions games at Metricon would be like playing Carlton games at GMHBA Stadium.

Except Metricon is sort of in the middle of nowhere, with next to no public transport, and limited parking.

Oh I see, should have looked at locations first. Just assumed it was somewhere convenient, but that sounds typical of scheduling this year.

 

[The_Wookie]

Oh I see, should have looked at locations first. Just assumed it was somewhere convenient, but that sounds typical of scheduling this year.

Im surprised they didnt try and play at a ground in Brisbane

 

[Section 5]

Round 10 of AFLW Season 7 was attended by 14,386 people at an average of 1,598 per match, using 12% of venue capacity. S7 of the AFLW was attended by 231,388 peopl at an average of 2,571 using 17% of venue capacity. This is the highest aggregate for any AFLW season, but #3 for average.

AFLW Crowds Season 1-7 by Aggregate and average

AFLW Crowd averages by round in Season 7

Port Adelaide had the best attendance average of the season with 6,739 (helped by more than 20k at the first AFLW Showdown). The Bombers, Dees, Swans and Crows make up the top 5. At the bottom its the Suns averaging just over 1,000 per game, just behind the Dockers, GWS & Dogs

35 venues were used during the Home and away portion of AFLW Season 7 with 13 of those regular AFL stadiums Of 90 matches, 22 games (24%) were held in AFL class venues (at 13% of capacity)

Adelaide Oval was the most attended ground of the AFLW season - all in one match with 20,792 attending the first AFLW Showdown. The Dees/Roos curtainraiser at the MCG had 17,851 on its own. Ikon Park came in third, also hosting the most games of any ground with 9 (ave 1,908).

For AFLW venues with at least 2 matches played, Alberton Oval (Port Adel) came out on top with an average crowd of 3,256 - about 93% if its current reduced capacity, The Gabba, ETU Stadium (Port Melb), GMBA and Wigan Oval (Unley) make up the top 5 venues.

Love your figures for this year, great post
I predicted a sharp fall in attendance once the powers that be decided to charge going to AFLW games. (excluding finals)
I doubt by charging to attend the vast majority of games clubs/venues make any money.
Costs to issue/process tickets.The day time staff manning gate checks etc, etc
Less people attending also greatly reduces the concession stands revenue
Just gets too expensive for families even at the low $10 + free children price

I usuall look at the figures from the site link below. However they drop games off as the season unfolds
The AFLW has been a very disrupted competition since inception
Very difficult to guage overall the fans preferred system
Best the AFLW can achieve is a slight overlap of the mens competition at this stage
They also need to play more than 10 games in the future
I realise you can only take figures as they are recorded
However the new and not so good Port team average and Adelaide is an outlier
There may be others but that is the one i remember

2022

AFLW: Port Adelaide v Adelaide Crows

20,652

AFLW Results & Attendances | Austadiums

List of recent AFLW results and scores, including attendance figures.

www.austadiums.com

 

[Section 5]

Im surprised they didnt try and play at a ground in Brisbane

They used to play at Hickey Park reasonably close at 9k to the CBD on the northside of Brisbane
Regularly had close to capacity crowds (around 4k from memory)
I went to all the games and it was a very good atmosphere but hot.
In the end it was too much of a disruption to the local competition. Same with other grounds

Then the games were played all over the place the next few years
Has not been an easy ride for the Lions AFLW team "home ground advantage" venue wise
Also not great for the travelling teams

Southpine sports complex 20k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Moerton Bay sports complex 50k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Maroochydore AFL club on Sunshine Coast 110k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Metricon Stadium 73k from Brisbane CBD. Southside

 

[The_Wookie]

Love your figures for this year, great post
I predicted a sharp fall in attendance once the powers that be decided to charge going to AFLW games. (excluding finals)
I doubt by charging to attend the vast majority of games clubs/venues make any money.
Costs to issue/process tickets.The day time staff manning gate checks etc, etc
Less people attending also greatly reduces the concession stands revenue
Just gets too expensive for families even at the low $10 + free children price

I usuall look at the figures from the site link below. However they drop games off as the season unfolds
The AFLW has been a very disrupted competition since inception
Very difficult to guage overall the fans preferred system
Best the AFLW can achieve is a slight overlap of the mens competition at this stage
They also need to play more than 10 games in the future
I realise you can only take figures as they are recorded
However the new and not so good Port team average and Adelaide is an outlier
There may be others but that is the one i remember

2022

AFLW: Port Adelaide v Adelaide Crows

20,652

AFLW Results & Attendances | Austadiums

List of recent AFLW results and scores, including attendance figures.

www.austadiums.com

Outliers are all indicated on the round by round graph

 

[petits]

Love your figures for this year, great post
I predicted a sharp fall in attendance once the powers that be decided to charge going to AFLW games. (excluding finals)
I doubt by charging to attend the vast majority of games clubs/venues make any money.
Costs to issue/process tickets.The day time staff manning gate checks etc, etc
Less people attending also greatly reduces the concession stands revenue
Just gets too expensive for families even at the low $10 + free children price

I just don't think we know the impact that charging had, when there was the sharp fall due to COVID, of which we are possibly just in a gradual build-up again. Maybe I'm out of touch but $20 for a family seems insignificant compared to transport costs and the inevitable icecream and chips for the kids. If anything, having to buy a ticket online is the annoying part now, not the fact it costs money. I wish they would just take cash at the gate like old local footy times, at least for the grounds that are never near capacity.

Agree that they are probably not making much money off the $10, but it would at least cover some of the costs of opening grounds. And we never have to hear 'no one would come if they charged for it'... oh wait the facebook nuffies are still saying that, but they'll learn one day...

 

[briztoon]

They used to play at Hickey Park reasonably close at 9k to the CBD on the northside of Brisbane
Regularly had close to capacity crowds (around 4k from memory)
I went to all the games and it was a very good atmosphere but hot.
In the end it was too much of a disruption to the local competition. Same with other grounds

Then the games were played all over the place the next few years
Has not been an easy ride for the Lions AFLW team "home ground advantage" venue wise
Also not great for the travelling teams

Southpine sports complex 20k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Moerton Bay sports complex 50k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Maroochydore AFL club on Sunshine Coast 110k from Brisbane CBD. Northside
Metricon Stadium 73k from Brisbane CBD. Southside

From what I read on the QAFL board, there really wasn’t a cost benefit to the local clubs hosting AFLW games.

 

[Section 5]

From what I read on the QAFL board, there really wasn’t a cost benefit to the local clubs hosting AFLW games.

I don't think this would have applied to Hickey Park when it was free entry
I would be amazed that Wilston Grange (Hickey Park) did not make good money out of their concession and bar takings for 3k-4k people
They may have had to pay for security or maybe the AFLW/AFL paid for that to promote the game
Most likely the ground was also rented out to AFLW to compensate for loss of fixtures that day

I can't remember when the temporary fencing was erected as that would have been a big costs
The temporary fencing was definitely in place when they started charging, for obvious reasons
Just can't recall for the free games as it was not really needed

I agree that the other venues would have had no cost benefit at all playing AFLW on their grounds be it free or paid admittance
Those other venues were to far away or just unknown to people
Also all Lions AFLW games televised live on 7 Mate.

As you previously mentioned Springfield in 2023 will be a test for crowd numbers being 30klm from the Brisbane CBD.
A bigger test for Brisbane northside residents which i am one.

But it will be a proper home ground base with what should be good viewing facilities for the fans
For those not sure about the $70 million Lions AFL/AFLW new facility an image below as it looked today 4.09pm
For anyone wondering it does have a 4th light tower. Just a weird camera angle
The ground will be ready for training early December

 

[briztoon]

I don't think this would have applied to Hickey Park when it was free entry
I would be amazed that Wilston Grange (Hickey Park) did not make good money out of their concession and bar takings for 3k-4k people
They may have had to pay for security or maybe the AFLW/AFL paid for that to promote the game
Most likely the ground was also rented out to AFLW to compensate for loss of fixtures that day

I can't remember when the temporary fencing was erected as that would have been a big costs
The temporary fencing was definitely in place when they started charging, for obvious reasons
Just can't recall for the free games as it was not really needed

I agree that the other venues would have had no cost benefit at all playing AFLW on their grounds be it free or paid admittance
Those other venues were to far away or just unknown to people
Also all Lions AFLW games televised live on 7 Mate.

As you previously mentioned Springfield in 2023 will be a test for crowd numbers being 30klm from the Brisbane CBD.
A bigger test for Brisbane northside residents which i am one.

But it will be a proper home ground base with what should be good viewing facilities for the fans
For those not sure about the $70 million Lions AFL/AFLW new facility an image below as it looked today 4.09pm
For anyone wondering it does have a 4th light tower. Just a weird camera angle
The ground will be ready for training early December

It was the Wilston Grange board member who said it really wasn’t a benefit for them, and the club was happy when the arrangement was over.

 

[Section 5]

It was the Wilston Grange board member who said it really wasn’t a benefit for them, and the club was happy when the arrangement was over.

Fair enough
They (WG) must have bad management if they can't run a profit on those attendence numbers
But that may not have been the deciding issue.
They (WG) cancelled the arrangement
The reason given at the time (in media) was the scheduling of the AFLW games was to disruptive to their junior and senior fixture
In other words they were happy when the arrangement was over as it was of no benefit to them as a junior and senior AFL club

All clubs have a board and they are beholding to the members, parents and players of the club and what is in their constitution

Back to the attendance numbers
On The_Wookie's excellent charts the Lions average home crowd this S7 season is 1979 (2000 looks better)
Having just received the Lions membership renewal it looks like the $10 AFLW admission charge will be in play for 2023
On this assumption i predict an average crowd of around 3000 for the 5 games. Assuming the season stays at 10 rounds
There will be a big turnout for the opening game at Springfield.
Then the next 4 games a dropoff of numbers
This dropoff will be determined by the teams performance as well as the game day experience and any travel issues

 

[Teen Wolf]

The timing of the season seems a pretty obvious failure, most of us knew that beforehand.

The purpose of the change wasn't to achieve arbitrary crowd figures as determined by Munga on BigFooty.

The number one purpose was to have it played in cooler weather. Everybody knew that. 2 of 90 games (as opposed to 42 of 75, like last season) played in 25-plus degrees = pretty obvious success.

 

[Munga]

The purpose of the change wasn't to achieve arbitrary crowd figures as determined by Munga on BigFooty.

The number one purpose was to have it played in cooler weather. Everybody knew that. 2 of 90 games (as opposed to 42 of 75, like last season) played in 25-plus degrees = pretty obvious success.

I can’t say that I’ve missed your brash posts, Teen Wolf. We’ve had this discussion before, but I’m happy for you that you think it’s a success. If there’s a purpose to sell a Fabergé egg and you sell it for one dollar, that’s a “pretty obvious success” by your reasoning, as it was sold. It doesn’t mean that the best outcome was achieved.

Just because the league used an excuse of “cooler weather” to shift the season doesn’t at all mean that the season is played at the best time. The league wanted cooler weather, it got cooler weather, it does not make the season a success. Again, by your reasoning the season would’ve already been a “pretty obvious success” before it had even started, just by means of shifting it to the cooler weather.

Anyway…. I’m yet to see how this change was player driven, nor the benefits of this season’s timing outweighing previous seasons' timing. I’ve heard more players complain about the cold this season than they ever did the heat. Plenty of sports are played during summer, including longer game-length aussie rules matches. “Cooler weather” is the weakest of weak excuses.

The way you like to get personal with others is always disappointing. You often end up with people fighting back. I’d put you on “Ignore”, but I do actually appreciate a lot of your other posts.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I can’t say that I’ve missed your brash posts, Teen Wolf. We’ve had this discussion before, but I’m happy for you that you think it’s a success. If there’s a purpose to sell a Fabergé egg and you sell it for one dollar, that’s a “pretty obvious success” by your reasoning, as it was sold. It doesn’t mean that the best outcome was achieved.

Just because the league used an excuse of “cooler weather” to shift the season doesn’t at all mean that the season is played at the best time. The league wanted cooler weather, it got cooler weather, it does not make the season a success. Again, by your reasoning the season would’ve already been a “pretty obvious success” before it had even started, just by means of shifting it to the cooler weather.

Anyway…. I’m yet to see how this change was player driven, nor the benefits of this season’s timing outweighing previous seasons' timing. I’ve heard more players complain about the cold this season than they ever did the heat. Plenty of sports are played during summer, including longer game-length aussie rules matches. “Cooler weather” is the weakest of weak excuses.

The way you like to get personal with others is always disappointing. You often end up with people fighting back. I’d put you on “Ignore”, but I do actually appreciate a lot of your other posts.

Total babble.

Just explain why 230k people attending H&A matches, an AFLW record, is sufficient evidence that the season timing is a failure.

Tell us the number that would make you deem it a success. What orifice you're pulling that number from. And why it's more important than the variety of factors that led to the change.

 

[Cdog71]

Anyone across the amount of serious knee injuries this year compared to other seasons?
More games and more players but softer ground to move a little for stops when the boots planted.

 

[RunningBounce]

Anyone across the amount of serious knee injuries this year compared to other seasons?
More games and more players but softer ground to move a little for stops when the boots planted.

This was one of the reasons for the move that the AFL stated. Not sure on the data. Be interested to hear.

 

[RunningBounce]

As one punter, I attended less games this season. Not through lack of interest, or the $10 admission. Mostly through local footy filling up my weekends in the early part of S7.

I can see why the move in timing was made, but I didn't like it. It felt like it didn't give much notice to the players to uproot their lives for a second time in 12 months. Good luck to the 17 y.o. draftees now playing finals while doing Year 12 exams...

But the Players Association accepted it, so I accept it too. They had to get to a winter schedule, and the only other option was delaying S7 until March 2023.

I'll always be a bit misty eyed, remembering the early seasons, having football to watch in the summer, cans of full strength beer in the shade with the awesome family atmosphere.

I don't think we can make much of the comparison of attendances, given the constant changes (grounds, teams, timing etc) and Covid. Apples and oranges. Onwards and upwards. I'm hoping for a longer season in 2023.