Reasons for disenchantment / lower attendance

[joe444]

I honestly wonder what (if any) our reasons are for losing a little love for the game.

The Herald Sun frequently cite cost of living and wokeness; for me, it's a sense that the game really doesn't value a fan like me, who used to go every weekend to stand in the outer. I've come to loathe the ground pep announcements and 'fantainment' in general.

But today seems to sum it up. It's a lovely day for spring footy. Until comparatively recently, there'd be at least one game in Melbourne at 2pm. Unticketed so even a neutral might decide at the last minute they'd tag along with a mate who followed one of the teams to see the game.

For myriad reasons, that sort of level of engagement with the game seems completely unvalued and totally unavailable.

Lord knows how much worse it must be for old timers interstate who remember their state leagues at their peak.

I'm surprised how quickly the game is becoming something to have on in the background.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Did wonder about the additional 'ticketed' games in Melbourne....must be blowing a few minds...

 

[smasha]

Uber gone up from 10 bux to 25 to travel 3km.

I drove my diesel into the city instead.

We will be riding horses to the games soon.

A mid strength beer,16 bux.

Poor paying the rich to get richer.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

I honestly wonder what (if any) our reasons are for losing a little love for the game.

The Herald Sun frequently cite cost of living and wokeness; for me, it's a sense that the game really doesn't value a fan like me, who used to go every weekend to stand in the outer. I've come to loathe the ground pep announcements and 'fantainment' in general.

But today seems to sum it up. It's a lovely day for spring footy. Until comparatively recently, there'd be at least one game in Melbourne at 2pm. Unticketed so even a neutral might decide at the last minute they'd tag along with a mate who followed one of the teams to see the game.

For myriad reasons, that sort of level of engagement with the game seems completely unvalued and totally unavailable.

Lord knows how much worse it must be for old timers interstate who remember their state leagues at their peak.

I'm surprised how quickly the game is becoming something to have on in the background.

The sad thing is AFL is relying on gambling to keep the current level of engagement they still have. You get rid of sports betting and AFL audience easily drops 20-30 percent.

People are disenchanted due to the lack of eveness in the comp. Too many teams are making up the numbers only. The other thing being just too much investment in the non AFL states with little return. Money spent elsewhere is money deprived elsewhere which hurts things such as ticket sales and AFL participation which would be alot higher if the money was spent elsewhere

As much as AFL likes to pretend the participation numbers are higher, the reality is it isnt. Partial participation that provides zero value outside of the freebies they get isnt the grand achievment they think it is

 

[manutd/dogs]

The blaring music I'm assaulted with for every possible second of non-play over three hours at Marvel games, completely obliterating the possibility of conversation is so ridiculously loud and offensive that this will probably be my last year watching live football. The juice is sadly no longer worth the squeeze. A huge part of the reason people go to watch live football is to take their mates as a social catch up to talk about coaching tactics and their team's chances at the finals, yes, but also about life in general. The AFL is killing that by thinking we are all TikTok fiends with the attention span of a goldfish.

I can guarantee that if you polled every single person at the ground as to whether they wanted loud blaring asinine nonsense drilled into their ear canals at the rough decibel level of a 767 coming into land, then it would be a resounding 'no'. So why are we being subjected to it?

**** off with your gormless wannabe DJ booth and let people at least attempt to appreciate the last vestiges of magic that make this the greatest game to experience live there is.

 

[Partridge]

For me I've got many reasons. I've said it before - death by a thousand cuts. One small slice at a time and there's not much left now. Without too much thinking, here's a few things that either annoy, infuriate or outright shit me:

Dumbing down of the game's skills

• Kicking out from a point - kicking it to yourself was something you learned as a small child and could effortlessly do. But apparently elite professionals can't do it.
• Giving a possession to the person who takes the kick in. It artificially pads stats and makes you think that player did more than they really did.
• Taking a mark in the goal square to the goal line. Again, a tricky but very doable feat of kicking straight from an angle. I've seen forward kick goals from tight angles for literally 40 years.
• Allowing hands in the back in a marking contest. Pretty basic this but it's amazing how many can't grasp it.

Unnecessary rule changes

• The 6-6-6 rule. Trumpeted from the hilltops as some amazing innovation that would increase scoring - it in fact resulted in the lowest scoring season in 51 years (prior to Covid too). So what if coaches want 7 or 8 or 9 players in their backline? Let them. The coaches and players will always find a solution. Arbitrary rule changes rarely do.
• The Stand rule. I've put it second, but comfortably the worst rule change ever devised.
• The below the knees rules. Almost as idiotic. Because one player got injured ONCE by a completely different action anyway, let's remove the most fundamental part of footy - putting your head down and getting the ball first.

Overall presentation / saturation of the game

• Music after songs, or actually at any point during the game.
• Horrible annoying announcements during games - and even worse - during quarters when play is still going on. I don't need some 24-year-old twerp to tell me to "get excited" or "make noise". I'll decide when to do that you fecking idiot.
• Relentless price gauging by clubs.
• More and more players becoming arrogant entitled knobs with zero self-awareness.
• Totally gutless footy media afraid of offending their corporate overlords.
• Footy commentators - with very few exceptions they're borderline unlistenable to me now. Too many cringing fanboys, far too much barracking, and some possess the amazing quality where 50+ year old men (theoretically anyway) manage to impersonate embarrassing lovestruck teenagers (Mark Howard top of the list but far from the only one).

 

[Bedi]

For me I've got many reasons. I've said it before - death by a thousand cuts. One small slice at a time and there's not much left now. Without too much thinking, here's a few things that either annoy, infuriate or outright shit me:

Dumbing down of the game's skills

• Kicking out from a point - kicking it to yourself was something you learned as a small child and could effortlessly do. But apparently elite professionals can't do it.
• Giving a possession to the person who takes the kick in. It artificially pads stats and makes you think that player did more than they really did.
• Taking a mark in the goal square to the goal line. Again, a tricky but very doable feat of kicking straight from an angle. I've seen forward kick goals from tight angles for literally 40 years.
• Allowing hands in the back in a marking contest. Pretty basic this but it's amazing how many can't grasp it.

Unnecessary rule changes

• The 6-6-6 rule. Trumpeted from the hilltops as some amazing innovation that would increase scoring - it in fact resulted in the lowest scoring season in 51 years (prior to Covid too). So what if coaches want 7 or 8 or 9 players in their backline? Let them. The coaches and players will always find a solution. Arbitrary rule changes rarely do.
• The Stand rule. I've put it second, but comfortably the worst rule change ever devised.
• The below the knees rules. Almost as idiotic. Because one player got injured ONCE by a completely different action anyway, let's remove the most fundamental part of footy - putting your head down and getting the ball first.

Overall presentation / saturation of the game

• Music after songs, or actually at any point during the game.
• Horrible annoying announcements during games - and even worse - during quarters when play is still going on. I don't need some 24-year-old twerp to tell me to "get excited" or "make noise". I'll decide when to do that you fecking idiot.
• Relentless price gauging by clubs.
• More and more players becoming arrogant entitled knobs with zero self-awareness.
• Totally gutless footy media afraid of offending their corporate overlords.
• Footy commentators - with very few exceptions they're borderline unlistenable to me now. Too many cringing fanboys, far too much barracking, and some possess the amazing quality where 50+ year old men (theoretically anyway) manage to impersonate embarrassing lovestruck teenagers (Mark Howard top of the list but far from the only one).

Can't disagree with any of that. Had no idea the person who takes the kick in gets a possession now. WTF, when did that come in?

 

[dmc333]

I honestly wonder what (if any) our reasons are for losing a little love for the game.

The Herald Sun frequently cite cost of living and wokeness; for me, it's a sense that the game really doesn't value a fan like me, who used to go every weekend to stand in the outer. I've come to loathe the ground pep announcements and 'fantainment' in general.

But today seems to sum it up. It's a lovely day for spring footy. Until comparatively recently, there'd be at least one game in Melbourne at 2pm. Unticketed so even a neutral might decide at the last minute they'd tag along with a mate who followed one of the teams to see the game.

For myriad reasons, that sort of level of engagement with the game seems completely unvalued and totally unavailable.

Lord knows how much worse it must be for old timers interstate who remember their state leagues at their peak.

I'm surprised how quickly the game is becoming something to have on in the background.

Last week I heard Caro say something about a survey that cited political issues starting to become a turn off.

I doubt the AFL would care. A lot of big leagues seem to operate on the premise that the average fan/chud is locked in for life.

I imagine the opening round and byes are starting to be a turn off, plus no FTA coverage on Saturday would start to hit overall interest.

 

[Hank Scorpion]

Constant rule changes.

I don't have the time to follow AFL relentlessly like I did as a kid. I go to games now and don't understand what rules have/haven't been changed in offseason, or why some free kicks are being awarded.


How many times in the past 15 years have they changed; stand/protected area, deliberate/out-of-bounds, the interchange/subs, 6-6-6?

Set the rules, stick with them, and let the game evolve naturally. Stop trying to engineer some desired outcome.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Thursday Night sacrificing crowds for Channel 7 ratings. I hate it when Dogs get that timeslot.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Uber gone up from 10 bux to 25 to travel 3km.

I drove my diesel into the city instead.

We will be riding horses to the games soon.

A mid strength beer,16 bux.

Poor paying the rich to get richer.

Yeah much cheaper to watch at home.

 

[Bostonian]

Playing against manufactured teams that add nothing to the fan rivalries at games.

****ing around with rule changes that nobody asked for.

Garbage like round 0.

Being told what kind of football we want.

Clueless dipshits running the game.

The AFL shitting on grassroots football and taking it for granted.

 

[Partridge]

Constant rule changes.

I don't have the time to follow AFL relentlessly like I did as a kid. I go to games now and don't understand what rules have/haven't been changed in offseason, or why some free kicks are being awarded.

Yep, and right alongside it - absolutely incessant brainwashing by every single member of the footy media. They'll all talk about it and amazingly enough they're all in favour - no matter how stupid. Bought and paid for cowards, every one of them.

You realise pretty quickly too how many footy fans do get sucked in and converted. Enough propaganda and they'll agree to anything, and be happy about it.

 

[JackFlash]

Primarily the cost and difficulty of just going. I grew up deciding what game to go too on the Saturday morning, i followed Geelong and lived in Melbourne, i could only go to Geelong away games, but my best friend as a kid barracked for Richmond so i saw them a lot and i grew up in Moonee Ponds and played local footy in the EDFL so most of my friends were Bombers supporters, i went to Windy Hill often. We also still made it out to VFL Park or any of the suburban grounds by the time of the first bounce, we got in easily and found a spot with 70k already there 15 minutes before the game!. Today is not so easy, the days of walking around the MCG at half time are over. Then there is the AFL virtue signalling and over focus on social issues that have nothing to do with the game, it's become absurd and the game itself has suffered for it. We don't even know how to start the season anymore! I've seen the peak of AFL football in the 70s, 80s and 90s and any similarity to the game they played then and the one they play today is purely coincidental. I will always like it, it's still the greatest game in the country, i just don't love it anymore. I know its not a game for blokes like me these days, but i'm mighty glad i have the memories of a unique magnificent game.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Is there actually lower attendance?
Different people will have different tastes, etc. So, this would be a personal list.

Music after goals, etc. All the unnatural attempts to create atmosphere. A lot of it after goals, the one time you can almost guarantee some crowd noise. Its not basketball, stop telling the crowd when and what to chant.

Related to that, the noise and frequency of ads. Being able to discuss the game, or anything else, in breaks became almost impossible a long time back. Its got so much worse.

More games being on paid services. People have to make a choice, especially in Victoria. Either go to games (you won't see your team many weeks), or pay for Kayo. The latter is much more cost effective, especially for families. A few hundred dollars across the season for all games, whereas going to all games in town for a familiy might be over a thousand. And for supporters of smaller clubs, who never get live (or near-live) games for free and often have more out of state games (including interstate home games) on top of that.
A lot don't know the AFL site has many hours delayed free replays, staying spoiler free for that long can be difficult too.

Living interstate, the floating fixture is a big deal. Flights often become expensive by the time the fixture is known.
That is probably hundreds of dollars worse here than most other places, flying into Canberra from Melbourne on Sunday requires booking 10-11 months out to have a hope of avoiding price gouging.

Thursday nights presumably do not work well for families, outer suburb residents and/or workers, etc to attend. Very much a broadcast time slot, if not as club destroying as Sunday twilight.


And obviously in my case, a team that has been somewhere between less than ordinary and total shit since pre-covid.
Age as well, most of it has been seen before.
The AFL's media domination of off-season almost gets to the point of being tired of footy by the time the season starts.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

I honestly wonder what (if any) our reasons are for losing a little love for the game.

The Herald Sun frequently cite cost of living and wokeness; for me, it's a sense that the game really doesn't value a fan like me, who used to go every weekend to stand in the outer. I've come to loathe the ground pep announcements and 'fantainment' in general.

But today seems to sum it up. It's a lovely day for spring footy. Until comparatively recently, there'd be at least one game in Melbourne at 2pm. Unticketed so even a neutral might decide at the last minute they'd tag along with a mate who followed one of the teams to see the game.

For myriad reasons, that sort of level of engagement with the game seems completely unvalued and totally unavailable.

Lord knows how much worse it must be for old timers interstate who remember their state leagues at their peak.

I'm surprised how quickly the game is becoming something to have on in the background.

A good topic but must laugh at that rag the Herald-Sun quoting 'wokeness' for people losing their love of the game. Without trying to get political it just shows how bastardized the work 'woke' has become.

'Woke' is supposed to mean "being alert to injustice, specifically racism" - how does that effect someone going to a game of football. I guess someone will say they don't go to football because they don't want to hear the 'Welcome to Country' ?


I would cite cost and timing as some of the biggest issues in not going.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

For me I've got many reasons. I've said it before - death by a thousand cuts. One small slice at a time and there's not much left now. Without too much thinking, here's a few things that either annoy, infuriate or outright shit me:

Unnecessary rule changes

• The 6-6-6 rule. Trumpeted from the hilltops as some amazing innovation that would increase scoring - it in fact resulted in the lowest scoring season in 51 years (prior to Covid too). So what if coaches want 7 or 8 or 9 players in their backline? Let them. The coaches and players will always find a solution. Arbitrary rule changes rarely do.
• The Stand rule. I've put it second, but comfortably the worst rule change ever devised.

I've no problems with these new rules. Disregard finals football as it always opens up in knockout finals, but I thought the week to week football in the period from 2013-2020 was some of the worst I'd ever seen and had stopped me going. It was a lot of flooding the backline and rugby maul style tackling and packs.

And I'd argue the coaches hadn't worked out a solution to this ugly footy after 6-10 years of it.

 

[Partridge]

A good topic but must laugh at that rag the Herald-Sun quoting 'wokeness' for people losing their love of the game. Without trying to get political it just shows how bastardized the work 'woke' has become.

'Woke' is supposed to mean "being alert to injustice, specifically racism" - how does that effect someone going to a game of football. I guess someone will say they don't go to football because they don't want to hear the 'Welcome to Country' ?


I would cite cost and timing as some of the biggest issues in not going.

It's not a reason but I definitely don't. Politically rally, go for your life. I'm there to watch the footy. That's all.

 

[Clark G]

Making games reserved seat only is surely a factor. As well as starting the season too early. And regardless of when the season start is, makes no sense to not play nine games.

 

[emuboy]

Ridiculous early round fixturing because of 'Opening Round' and starting the season so early might be factors. Seriously, why are sides sitting out matches with byes in Round 2 and 3?

Just start the season in Round 1 with all 18 teams playing and have the NSW and Queensland teams playing home fixtures. Easy solution.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

Making games reserved seat only is surely a factor. As well as starting the season too early. And regardless of when the season start is, makes no sense to not play nine games.

Agree with this. We are a family of 5 members but live in rural Victoria. I can say on several occasions we've said we'd come up to the footy, been forced to book seats on Ticketek but using our memberships (or whatever it's called) and basically given up - just all too hard.

 

[kozi]

Games being decided now by who stands to attention better on the mark. You can’t take it seriously

 

[fusion]

• The below the knees rules. Almost as idiotic. Because one player got injured ONCE by a completely different action anyway, let's remove the most fundamental part of footy - putting your head down and getting the ball first.

Overall presentation / saturation of the game

• Totally gutless footy media afraid of offending their corporate overlords.
• Footy commentators - with very few exceptions they're borderline unlistenable to me now. Too many cringing fanboys, far too much barracking, and some possess the amazing quality where 50+ year old men (theoretically anyway) manage to impersonate embarrassing lovestruck teenagers (Mark Howard top of the list but far from the only one).

Great post - agree with every point you made, but highlighting those above. Lindsay Thomas injured ?Gary Rohan in a wet weather game. Now they aren't protecting the player with their head over the ball. The incidences of concussion v's broken legs should make it obvious which one should be prioritised.

Constant rule changes as overreactions.

And the media are unlistenable. They want to be the personalies and the entertainment, rather than the footy.

 

[PrancingPony]

I'll be honest I don't share the same view as people here about songs after a goal, I love them, and you can see the crowds love them too, just gives the atmosphere some good vibes, party-like in a way.

 

[jwikked]

For me, it's the constant rule changes every year. It's the AFL never being able to admit when they get things wrong. Their insistence on Opening Round in its current format spits in the face of the fans.

Whenever Dillon is told nobody likes Opening Round he instantly starts talking about crowd figures and broadcast numbers. He thinks that everyone else is wrong, because the games are still well attended.

Stand rule is terrible, the 50 meter penalty is far too harsh of a punishment. I'm glad they cut back on giving 50 meter penalties for talking back at umpires - that was a farce.

The AFL champion every year that they've had a price freeze on tickets and food. That to me suggests that the price of ticketing and food was way too high 6 years ago, if they're able to absorb the intended price rises since then.

Then you've got the gameday experience. Constant noise and flashing lights. People are there to watch the football, not listen to a partial concert.

I think I'm in the minority, but I hate Thursday night games. I like Friday-Sunday. Have teams announced on Thursday. I like consistency in the fixture, but we don't get that.

And we've got far too many bye rounds. I think it's 9 rounds that don't have all 18 teams playing - farce.

If the AFL ignore fans (a consistent 75% across almost all polls) and move the Grand Final start time - they will never get another cent from me.
75% of fans want it to stay where it is. The rest is made up of people who want Twilight, people who want Night, and people who don't care.

I'm tired of the AFL ignoring what the football public wants.