At Kardinia Park yesterday

[SJ]

I think your drawing a long bow there.
There was a few years ago we played at Kardinia I think three years in a row.
General consensus is right. You play mostly minnow sides, and even then the couple of more popular away sides don't have the cohorts that come and watch.
Also, WCE travel across the country every second week. The idea of a Geelong away game is Etihad stadium. Relax dude.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying due to you being the last suburban home ground team, with the team you have had for 6 years, you've got the biggest home ground advantage.

Not really, as generally we play interstate sides there almost exclusively. So in seven games per year we have superior ground knowledge and crowd support. Only seven (West Coast would have eleven). This is less than 'interstate' teams and also about the same as the Melbourne teams.

 

[cammania]

Not really, as generally we play interstate sides there almost exclusively. So in seven games per year we have superior ground knowledge and crowd support. Only seven (West Coast would have eleven). This is less than 'interstate' teams and also about the same as the Melbourne teams.

And how often do you fly four hours every second week?

Arguments and discussion that could go on forever and ultimately get no where.
We travel.
you get minnows/easy games at your home ground.

And you travel to WA twice. 20 weeks apart.
We have to travel to and from Tasmania this week.

We could nit pick, bitch and moan all the way along and let it be.


As for yesterday
-half your ground is missing
-alot of your supporters are old.
-it was pissing rain and wind chill factor if negative ten yesterday. Factors that stop some people from going to a game.

 

[SJ]

And how often do you fly four hours every second week?

Arguments and discussion that could go on forever and ultimately get no where.
We travel.
you get minnows/easy games at your home ground.

And you travel to WA twice. 20 weeks apart.
We have to travel to and from Tasmania this week.

We could nit pick, bitch and moan all the way along and let it be.


As for yesterday
-half your ground is missing
-alot of your supporters are old.
-it was pissing rain and wind chill factor if negative ten yesterday. Factors that stop some people from going to a game.

Yes but that is no different to nine other teams.

Basically Geelong plays seven games with a home ground/crowd advantage per year, no different to any other Victorian teams. And it plays 15 games a year where it loses that advantage.

Also we don't get 'easy' teams, we get teams with low support in Victoria. If you want to argue we get "minnows", this this is actually a disadvantage as I could argue we could beat them anywhere and we'd rather have the harder teams in Geelong.

I'm not saying West Coast doesn't have it tough, but I don't buy that Geelong has the "biggest home ground advantage". We might if we played eleven home a year in Geelong.

 

[vinum coupe]

KP would be a great advantage IF we played higher placed sides there.
I would be nowhere near as concerned about our next 8 games if we were playing every 2nd game at KP.

 

[footscore]

would certainly be lacking any atmosphere as well when you consider quarter of the ground is no longer there

Wait until it's finished and we got the new lights up and we play some evening/night matches....it's going to be absolutely electric.

 

[patience]

Never been much of an atmosphere at KP/Skilled/Simonds Stadium. Too much of the 'well this is what we do at the weekends we take our afternoon tea to the game'. Even last year when we were close to kicking a record score against melbourne the crowd was quiet, people leave as soon as the siren goes or just before so less there at the end to appluad, never hear anyone singing the song before the game and just afew at the end, and no real barracking during. A group of us used to try to get the crowd chanting but they all looked a little bored at the throught.
It is not the fortress that the commentators say it is. Nothing to do with the way that the team is playing at themoment or three premierships

I don't agree with this. There had been an awful lot of chanting and noise down through the years. The gapping hole at the river end is sucking the life out of the ground at the moment, and frankly so is a lot of the footy being played.

Regarding the 'too much of the well this is what we do...take our afternoon tea to the game.' I find this attitude annoying. There is an inference that the crowd should consist of a certain kind of supporter. Your 'afternoon tea' brigade are most likely people who have been going to the footy all their lives through thick and thin. You know, paying their memberships and keeping the club going. They were most likely chanting and yelling their lungs out in the 70s and 80s. There is no 'right' way to be a Geelong supporter.

 

[Turbocat]

Pay top dollar to watch poor interstate teams play , the weather was ordinary and we are playing very uninspiring football.

 

[Stig_90]

I was there making as much noise as possible, I promise.

Our form has got a lot to do with it. If we had the long running goals and big pack marks the fans would be getting into it a bit more. I guess the weather and AFL fans not seeming to get along to Sunday games as much doesn't help either.

 

[romeoh]

I have always found it more relaxed. people are wandering about out the back and chatting. Everyone in a pleasant and genial mood. It never has the intensity of a game at the G/Etihad-possibly because of the teams we play there and other things mentioned etc. It is like a suburban football ground in some aspects and I like all of that. Going onto the ground at the end. Am really glad we have retained it, still tribal, still great regardless of noise levels.

 

[AWOL]

On top of this, yesterday was bloody cold and wet (everyone in ponchos, I know I didn't move about too much wearing one) which stifles everyone's volume quite a bit.

This. And it is difficult to hear clapping with gloves on!

 

[SleazySimon]

I think your drawing a long bow there.
There was a few years ago we played at Kardinia I think three years in a row.
General consensus is right. You play mostly minnow sides, and even then the couple of more popular away sides don't have the cohorts that come and watch.
Also, WCE travel across the country every second week. The idea of a Geelong away game is Etihad stadium. Relax dude.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying due to you being the last suburban home ground team, with the team you have had for 6 years, you've got the biggest home ground advantage.

No way. Youre mostly right but, we are not a Melbourne side, we dont have a 'suburban' ground. And Im sorry but playing Melbourne teams in Melbourne is no 'home' game. We are the only side not allowed to play at our natural home in finals. Look at all those collingwood/st kilda/hawthorn finals in the last 5 years Geelong fans made up about 30% of the stadium, huge disadvantage.

 

[The Casey Cat]

As I just posted on the main board, in the last five years the Geelong home crowd has lost a fair bit of its atmosphere I believe due to the follow reasons:
- Winning a premiership. Other games aren't as important or exciting.
- Opposition. Generally weak/bottom eight teams.
- Opposition supporters. Generally very few. Best atmosphere comes from where both teams are supported.
- Margin. Generally large margins where the Cats haven't needed us to 'get behind them'.

You very rarely hear the entire stadium get a 'Gee-long' chant up and running at home anymore, I can only remember it once or twice since 2007. Before this it would happen most games.

On top of this, yesterday was bloody cold and wet (everyone in ponchos, I know I didn't move about too much wearing one) which stifles everyone's volume quite a bit.

And finally yesterday was also the smallest crowd at Kardinia Park since 1991.

Yep I think this is it pretty much. However i do remember in 2008 when we played the then 3rd placed Dogs and it was close for 3 quarters there was a terrific atmosphere and the Cats crowd were pretty rowdy and vocal. Has been the same for some of our games against the Swans too with an excellent showing of Swans fans there and an entertaining contest (08 and last year).

 

[stevothedevo]

Going back a decade or 2 I remember Whitten oval having more atmosphere than Kardinia Park. I'd always put it down to the fact that Whitten Oval's outer had a roof therefor acting as some sort of amplifier. Fast forward to the 2000's and Kardinia Parks upgrade (with grandstands and what not) hasn't really added any volume to the crowd. Which I thought it would've.

Reasons already mentioned are quite valid but I'd like to add that the continual decline of 'walk up' patrons has also contributed to the cone of silence that is Simmons Stadium. The crowds become stale. There's no "yob" factor. It's all family friendly. Too family friendly. For all the bad press that "yobs" get, I believe they're still a necessity for football matches. Now I'm not talking about reinviting dudes who are blind drunk & punching everyone's head in. No no. Just a bunch of blokes who rock up to the footy, have a few laughs and go home (of course they're going to be hard to split). In any case they're not going to plan weeks in advance and pay double for a seat. But that's exactly what you have to do at Geelong.

Just on the grandstands at Geelong, do they have standing room under the terraces like at Docklands or the 'G'? If not, why? They're the noisiest places to be at the footy and the sound just booms out.